Tag Archives: close grip pushup

Close Grip Pushup Mountain Climber

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Hello HomeBody Training followers!  It’s time for another Home Exercise of the Week and this time I have an upper body and core combination exercise to show you called the Close Grip Pushup Mountain Climber.

This is a great exercise to work your chest, tricep, shoulder, and abdominal muscles!  Also, since this move incorporates many muscle groups you will be burning more calories making this an effective fat burning exercise as well as a muscle building one.

Let’s take a look at the key points to doing the Close Grip Pushup Mountain Climber properly.

  • get in to the pushup position with your hands closer together than a standard pushup
  • make sure your hands are directly under your chest
  • from this position slowly lower yourself down to about an inch from the floor while keeping your elbows tucked in to your sides.  Don’t let them flare out.
  • push back up to the start position and from here you will drive one knee up underneath you while squeezing your abdominals
  • return the leg to the start position and repeat with the other leg.  That’s one rep.
  • repeat the whole movement starting with the close grip pushup then the mountain climber
  • make sure to keep your hips down and body as straight as you can while doing the pushup and the mountain climber
  • if you have trouble doing a full close grip pushup then perform the pushup from the modified knee position then go up on your toes to do the mountain climber
  • as with all exercises make sure you engage your core throughout the movement

There you have the Close Grip Pushup Mountain Climber!  It will be tough and some of you may dislike this one but it is very effective in strengthening and toning the upper body especially the triceps and the core.

Three Close Grip Pushup Superman

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This week I have a combination exercise for the Home Exercise of the Week.  Combination exercises are great to add an extra challenge to your workout and you can target many muscle groups in one move.  The more muscles being used the more calories you will burn and the higher your metabolism will be.

The combination exercise I would like you to try this week is the Three Close Grip Pushup Superman.  I say three pushups but you can definitely do more or less before the superman.  The idea here is to do enough rounds of this in a set so you get around 10 to 15 total reps of each.

With the Three Close Grip Pushup Superman you will be working your triceps and lower back muscles primarily but you will also be working your chest, shoulders, and upper back muscles.

Let’s take a look at the key points to doing this exercise properly.

  • start by doing the pushups from your knees if you find you can’t go down all the way on the pushup portion of the exercise.  You can build up to doing the pushup from your toes over time.
  • keep your abs tight and body straight the whole time (no bending at the waist)
  • throughout the pushup you will want to keep your elbows tucked in to your sides…this will allow your triceps to do most of the work
  • keep your head in line with your spine throughout
  • during the superman part of the exercise keep your arms straight out in front of you and raise them up as high off the floor as you can while at the same time lifting your straight legs up as high as you can
  • hold the superman for a second or two then go right back to your close grip pushups

So there you have the Three Close Grip Pushup Superman.  Your lower back and arms will thank you for this one but I’m fairly certain you won’t be thanking me once you add this to your routine! 😉

Close-Grip Pushup

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The Home Exercise of the Week this week is the Close-Grip Pushup also known as the Military Pushup.  This is a great exercise to work your tricep muscles, inner chest muscle, anterior deltoid (front shoulder), as well as your core!

This is generally more challenging than a regular pushup because the tricep muscles are the prime mover whereas your chest does more of the work in a regular pushup.  Since the tricep muscles are smaller than the muscles of your chest they won’t have as much strength.

If you are new to performing the Close-Grip Pushup, you will most likely find that your elbows tend to flare out from your body because your chest takes over and does the work to compensate for the weaker tricep muscles.  You will want to try and keep your elbows tucked in to your body as much as possible to avoid this.  Over time, as your triceps get stronger, it will be much easier to keep your elbows from leaving your sides.

Another key point to remember when performing this exercise is to always keep your body as straight as possible.  There is a tendency, especially from the kneeling position, to just move your upper body down towards the floor while leaving your butt up in the air.  You will want to make sure that your hips come down with you so you get the full benefit of the exercise.

So there you have the Close-Grip Pushup!  Add this effective exercise to your routine and you’ll be on your way to sculpting strong and shapely arms!