Pushups are a great exercise to lose fat and tone up the entire body. If you are in a hurry to build a beach body for Spring break or summer, or you just want to start working out and your schedule does not allow you to go to a gym, then pushups are for you! Because they require the simultaneous use of a several muscle groups, pushups build muscle mass on the entire body- resulting in a large total muscle gain.

Although pushups are thought to be a chest workout, they also give the abdominal, leg, and back muscles an awesome workout. If you try holding the pushup form, without performing any repetitions, you will identify which muscle groups are being used as stabilizers. Pushups are much more than a bench-press substitute!

If you are new to doing pushups, you will probably notice the day after your first workout, that you thighs and abs are surprisingly sore. If you cannot do a lot of pushups at first, do not be discouraged. This is normal, even for people that lift weights regularly. For example, many people perform much better doing pull-downs (machine) than they do pullups (bodyweight).

For beginners, I recommend doing your workout over the course of an entire day, doing a set here and there whenever you feel ready. Set a low repetition goal for each set and a low total rep goal for the day. Your stabilizer muscles will need some time to ramp up, before they will be ready for a high-rep workout.

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