The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (68 page)

Bring the cables across and in front of the body until the two hand grips touch at the level of or just above your upper chest.

Make sure to contract the chest muscles as hard as possible in this position and hold for a one second count.

Once the two hands touch and you have forcefully contracted the chest muscles, let the resistance of the weight stacks bring the arms back to the starting position in a slow controlled manner.

Repeat the movement.

Push-Up

The push-up has become a neglected exercise that hasn’t received the acclaim it warrants. The push-up is a very powerful exercise for developing the chest muscles, triceps and anterior deltoid muscles. It allows the trainee to utilize the proper biomechanics, which can better help isolate the chest muscles. Push-ups work beautifully in a super-set protocol, helping to fully exhaust the chest muscles for total recruitment of the muscle fibers in the chest.

Please notice the variation of hand widths that you can play with here. The wider the hand width, the more focus on the outer chest muscles. The closer the hand width, as shown in the diamond hand position, the more focus on the inner chest muscles and the triceps muscles of the arms. It is truly remarkable how you can customize your exercises according to what feels right and what doesn’t.

PROPER ALIGNMENT

Align your body face down with your arms extended in an elevated position. Keep your elbows slightly bent.

Your hands should be flat on the floor directly underneath and a little wider than your shoulders.

Keep the legs completely straight and your toes on the floor.

Throughout the exercise, keep your head looking down in a neutral position.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

With your body properly aligned, lower yourself to within one inch of the floor. Ensure that your elbows travel out away from your body. Push-ups performed with the elbows traveling close to your body mainly target the triceps muscles.

Make sure to inhale through your nose on the way down and exhale through the mouth on your way up.

Focus on your chest muscles (feel them working here) and push your body off the floor using your toes as a pivot point.