Transcription
What if I told you there's one simple exercise that works over 25 muscles of the body at once? In fact, it's one of my favorites, certainly for my over 50 clients because it's so functional and so effective. And I actually recommend it to anybody who wants to build real strength and fitness in just one exercise simply because it works with the right tweaks. It's safe, it's simple, it carries over directly into real life. And that exercise I'm talking about is called the push press. And in this video, I'll show you exactly how to do it, the proper form, how many sets and reps that you need, and exactly how much weight you need to use, plus maybe some safe modifications. So, if you got sore shoulders, maybe sore knees, we can get this right for you.
So, if you haven't met yet, I'm Gavin. I co- New Zealand's only fitness studio for people over the age of 40. And fitness coaching is all I do all day long. And in fact, I've coached nearly 1,000 people over the age of 40 to get stronger, lose weight, and live a much fitter and more functional healthy life.
All you need to get this exercise done properly is a dumbbell and a chair. So, let's just jump into the gym and I'll show you how to do it.
Now, before we jump in though, I just wanted to let you know about a free full body strength guide that I have. It's been downloaded nearly 5,000 times and I'm having fantastic feedback from our YouTube community of how effective it is. It hits every single major muscle of the body and all you need is a set of dumbbells. So, if you want to grab a copy of that free guide, just comment strength down below and I will send that over to you.
So, first of all, we just need to find out what weight we need to use for this exercise. And the rule of thumb that I like certainly for this one is to find a weight that you can do an overhead shoulder press for 15 reps. Okay, so these are these are twelves and I can comfortably push these above my head 15 times and that's going to be plenty.
Okay, so these this exercise in fact works all the muscles of the legs. It's going to work your core, your triceps, your shoulders, your rhombo at the back. All right? Hits 25 muscles. Massive. Okay? And because it's so demanding, it's also going to have a cardiovascular effect as well. Because once you've done 12 to 15 reps of this exercise, you're going to start to pant a little bit as well. So, we know we're getting a cardiovascular benefit.
And once I've shown you the original version, I'm going to show you a modification as well. And exactly the same principle applies. All right. So, I'm going to use a chair to do this. Okay? You can do it free without. I like to use a chair because it's a bit of a safety net and it also gives me a target. So when I'm getting tired, I may not be doing the rep in the full range of movement and this allows me to keep honest. All right.
So what we're going to do, we're going to now we've picked the right weight. Okay, the set of dumbbells. You're going to load them up this way. I don't like it out wide. I like it this way because our shoulders are safer in this position, certainly when you're using a weight like this as well and lifting above your head. So, what you're going to do, you're going to lean forward and as you stand, you're going to press it slowly, bring it back down, come to the position, and then explode up, stand, bring it back down, sit, and explode it back up. And you'll feel all the muscles in the body firing at the same time. And even now, I'm starting to get a little bit out of breath. Okay.
So, the reason I love this exercise is because it's very effective. You could do this basically on its own if you just wanted a a really quick full body workout to build some strength. Basically, anybody can do it with the right modification.
So, modification number one would be you can't squat down this low. So, what you would do is I'm going to use the side of a chair. Okay? You could use a higher surface this way, right? So, we can the same process here. I'll come down. I'll touch. I'll push back up. Down, touch, and come back up. And you can see I'm not squatting down super low. And this could mean that you may be not strong enough to go from that position or you got a sore knee and you're using a different range of motion. Right? So that would be the first modification that we're going to do.
Second modification would be something called a push fly. All right? Maybe that you can't lift overhead or maybe your dumbbells are too light, let's say, and you could, you know, just need a different alternative, right? So we're going to do a fly instead. So, we're going to take it out to the side and again, find a weight that you can do 12 to 15 flies with. All right? And then it's the same process. You're going to have your hands on by your side. You're going to stand up and fly it out. Slowly back down and sit. Come back out and sit. And this is a nice modification for if you got maybe sore shoulders. Some people with sore shoulders can't lift overhead very comfortably. And this is a nice way to do it. You're still hitting the main muscles. Maybe less than 25, maybe it's just 20, but it's a good good way to do it. And again, if it's too low, you could turn it on its side this way and do exactly the same thing. Already I'm puffing and panting.
So that is the exercise that I love. Okay? Hits 25 muscles of the body, hits your cardiovascular capacity, hits your strength, very efficient, very time effective.
Now, if you like the video, please let me know in the comments. And don't forget to grab that guide. So just comment strength down below. I'll email that guide over to you. I'm going to leave a video in the top corner there, which is another exercise that hits multiple muscles all at once. So, go and check that video out.