A Terrific Way to Build Strength and Fitness

By Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., CNS

High-tech gadgets and shiny exercise equipment are "musts" for any big city gym. So it's easy to lose sight of the many benefits of old-fashioned, low-tech, equipment-free bodyweight exercises. I'm talking specifically about the plain old push-up.

Push-ups are a terrific way to build upper-body strength and endurance. They're also a symbol of fitness and vigor. (Ask anyone who watched 71-year-old Jack Palance drop to the floor and do his now-famous one-handed push-up routine during his Oscar acceptance speech.) Push-ups engage multiple muscle groups, including the chest, the triceps, and the shoulders. Plus, they require abdominal strength for stability. And you can do them anywhere.

Push-ups are particularly valuable for older people. As science reporter Tara Parker Pope says, "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."

Here's how to do a push-up using proper form:

Keeping your back straight, put your palms flat on the floor a little wider than your chest. Bend your elbows to lower your shoulders and upper body till your nose is almost touching the floor. Then straighten your elbows to raise back up. Be sure to keep your neck in line with your body. (A good illustration of how to do push-ups can be found at ABC-of-Fitness.com.) Women - who have about one-fifth less muscle than men to begin with - can start with their knees bent and build up to the harder version.

If you really want to test yourself, the Army's standards are the way to go. Passing the test for the military requires at least 24 repetitions for a 37- to 41-year-old man, and six for a woman in the same age group. Want to be better than average? Go for 34 if you're a guy and 13 (or more) if you're a woman.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Jonny Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition, and health.]

It's Good to Know: Fire Alarms for the Deaf

Fire alarms that alert you with a loud, blaring noise are obviously useless for deaf people. So a Japanese company has developed an alarm that sprays the scent of horseradish in the air when there is a fire. Tests conducted by researchers at Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital have shown that the spray is very effective in waking up sleeping subjects.

(Source: Boing Boing and WCTV)

Word to the Wise: Autochthonous

Someone or something that's "autochthonous" (aw-TOK-thuh-nus) - from the Latin for "of the land" - is native to the place where it's found.

Example (as used by Anthony Pagden in The New Republic:) "For cultures are not monoliths. They are fragmentary, patchworks of autochthonous and foreign elements."

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2321, 04-04-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.