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Would you like to have some beautifully sculpted and toned arms, shoulders, pecs and abs? There are various ways to get those, but by far the most versatile and effective exercise is the push-up.

There are so many ways in which this body-weight exercise can be used to target the various muscles of your upper body. Not only is it very versatile, but because it is a body weight exercise there is much less chance for injury and it works all the way into the core.

With Push ups you can get stronger and more toned triceps, chest, shoulders as well as rock hard abs!

Push ups  can be performed in very many ways.

There is the regular push up with your body in plank position and the arms at shoulder level and just wider than shoulder distance apart.

Then there is close grip push up – the closer the hands are together the more difficult this movement becomes.

Wide grip push ups – the wider apart the hands are placed the more difficult this push-up becomes

Tricep push ups when the hands are lower than shoulder hight and the elbows are tucked in close to the body. This targets the triceps in a big way to get rid of that extra under-arm flab.

Then there is the military push up where the hands are even lower down towards the waist and the fingers turned slightly outwards.

The Pike push-up gives you more shoulder work. This is when you start in a “pike” or “downward dog” position and aim the crown of your head towards the ground as you bend your elbows.

Plyo push-ups can be done with any of the previous hand positions, but every time you push up with an explosive burst so your hands jump up off the floor and then land back down. Make sure you bend through the elbows when you land if you do these.

Those are only a few examples of how you can make push ups work for you. They can also be performed with push up bars, stability balls and kettlebells in many variations on the theme.

In my Hot Burning Body workouts I show you quite a few of these variations to give you toned arms, strong pecs and shoulders as well as sculpted abs.

So don’t slack off – start doing your push ups and see great results!

To your Health and Strength

Vanessa Bader

P.S. I am so excited – got the first proof of my new Kettlebell Extreme workout yesterday and it looks so great! This is a kick-butt workout that will singe off those extra pounds in only 24 minutes a day. Keep your ears to the ground, I’ll make sure you are the first to know when I release this Extreme fat burner!