Fit Tip Thursday: Ten Push-ups to Get You Ripped

The push-up is extremely versatile and can be modified in an almost infinite number of ways. Young or old, beginner or advanced exerciser, we can all use the push-up to challenge ourselves at our specific fitness levels. Here are ten different types of push-ups that you can add to your exercise library:

Back when I was around fourteen years-old, I read an article about a famous football player's workout routine. He swore that he never used free weights or machines, but rather did 300 push-ups and 300 sit-ups every day. So, being young and impressionable, I decided I would copy his program exactly.

I started off slowly, doing sets of 10 throughout the day until I hit 300. The sets of 10 gradually increased to 20, then 30; before too long I was doing 6 sets of 50 with relative ease. I remained at sets of 50, but began to throw in variations to keep the workouts interesting and my body changing.

And boy did my body change. Dramatically. My teenage experiment illustrated just how effective this simple bodyweight exercise is. It is what is known as a "compound movement," meaning that is a multi-joint exercise that works multiple muscles at the same time, specifically the chest, shoulders and triceps. With slight modifications it can really challenge your core as well.

The benefits of the push-up are numerous. It is a functional movement, one that helps build upper-body strength that we can use in our activities of daily living as well as help with our sports performance. Push-ups require no equipment so you can do them anytime, anywhere.

Like what you see? Watch more Fit Tip Thursdays for great tips to help enhance your workouts.