An Enduring Measure
of Fitness:
The
Simple Push-Up
By TARA PARKER-POPE
As a symbol of health and
wellness, nothing surpasses the simple push-up.
Practically everyone remembers
the actor Jack Palance performing age-defying push-ups
during his Oscar acceptance speech. More recently, Randy
Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon professor whose last lecture
became an Internet sensation, did push-ups to prove
his fitness despite having pancreatic cancer.
“It takes strength to do
them, and it takes endurance to do a lot of them,” said
Jack LaLanne, 93, the fitness pioneer who astounded
television viewers in the 1950s with his fingertip push-ups.
“It’s a good indication of what kind of physical condition
you’re in.”
The push-up is the ultimate
barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging
muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and
legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with
toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and
lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the
very fit.
“You are just using your
own body and your body’s weight,” said Steven G. Estes,
a physical education professor and dean of the college
of professional studies at Missouri Western State University.
“If you’re going to demonstrate any kind of physical
strength and power, that’s the easiest, simplest, fastest
way to do it.”
But many people simply
can’t do push-ups. Health and fitness experts, including
the American College of Sports Medicine, have urged
more focus on upper-body fitness. The aerobics movement
has emphasized cardiovascular fitness but has also shifted
attention from strength training exercises.
Moreover, as the nation
gains weight, arms are buckling under the extra load
of our own bodies. And as budgets shrink, public schools
often do not offer physical education classes — and
the calisthenics that were once a
childhood staple.
In a 2001 study, researchers
at East Carolina University administered push-up tests
to about 70 students ages 10 to 13. Almost half the
boys and three-quarters of the girls didn’t pass.
Push-ups are important
for older people, too. The ability to do them more than
once and with proper form is an important indicator
of the capacity to withstand the rigors of aging.
Researchers who study the
biomechanics of aging, for instance, note that push-ups
can provide the strength and muscle memory to reach
out and break a fall. When people fall forward, they
typically reach out to catch
themselves, ending in a move that mimics the push-up.
The hands hit the ground, the wrists and arms absorb
much of the impact, and the elbows bend slightly to
reduce the force.
In studies of falling,
researchers have shown that the wrist alone is subjected
to an impact force equal to about one body weight, says
James Ashton-Miller, director of the biomechanics research
laboratory at the University of Michigan.
“What so many people really
need to do is develop enough strength so they can break
a fall safely without hitting their head on the ground,”
Dr. Ashton-Miller said. “If you can’t do a single push-up,
it’s going to be difficult to resist that kind of loading
on your wrists in a fall.”
And people who can’t do
a push-up may not be able to help themselves up if they
do fall.
“To get up, you’ve got
to have upper-body strength,” said Peter M. McGinnis,
professor of kinesiology at State University of New
York College at Cortland who consults on pole-vaulting
biomechanics for U.S.A. Track and Field, the national
governing body for track.
Natural aging causes nerves
to die off and muscles to weaken. People lose as much
as 30 percent of their strength between 20 and 70. But
regular exercise enlarges muscle fibers and can stave
off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle
you have left.
Women are at a particular
disadvantage because they start off with about 20 percent
less muscle than men. Many women bend their knees to
lower the amount of weight they must support. And while
anybody can do a push-up, the exercise has typically
been part of the male fitness culture. “It’s sort of
a gender-specific symbol of vitality,” said R. Scott
Kretchmar, a professor of exercise and sports science
at Penn State. “I don’t see women saying: ‘I’m in good
health. Watch me drop down and do some push-ups.’ ”
Based on national averages,
a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups
and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the
age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for
women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what
is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular
push-up tests. If the floor-based push-up is too difficult,
start by leaning against a countertop at a 45-degree
angle and pressing up and down. Eventually move to stairs
and then the floor.
Mr. LaLanne, who once set
a world record by doing 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes,
still does push-ups as part of his daily workout. Now
he balances his feet and each hand on three chairs.
“That way I can go way
down, even lower than if I was on the floor,” he said.
“That’s really tough.”
