4 hours Ago
A Canadian grandmother of 12 recently pushed past a Guinness World Record by cranking out more than 1,500 pushups in one hour — and it wasn’t even her first world record. This spring, DonnaJean Wilde became the woman who’d gone the longest time in an abdominal plank position, holding the pose for four hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds, according to Guinness. The 59-year-old completed 1,575 pushups in 60 minutes, the most for a woman, beating a previous record of 1,207 pushups, Guinness announced last week.
As per the Guinness World Records guidelines, Wilde’s pushups had to be low enough so that her elbows were positioned at a 90 degree angle, and she was not allowed to bend her knees or waist. Additionally, Wilde was allowed to take as many breaks as she needed while competing for the record. “I had to fight back the happy tears and emotions and keep going,” Wilde said, according to Guinness, adding that she “felt quite strong.
” A video showing Wilde compete for the world record captures a sweet moment: Wilde takes a break from doing pushups after about 40 minutes, before someone in the background yells, “Go grandma!” “Make time to do the things that you love, so you can make things happen and write your own story,” she says in the clip after breaking the record. If Wilde’s story motivates you to do pushups (though maybe not over 1,000), there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to the proper technique. For starters, you should make sure you set your body in the correct position.
According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, your hands should be placed at chest level and slightly more than shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be hip-width apart and your hips should be in line with your shoulders. Your lower back should have a neutral curve, and your head should be positioned so that your ears are in line with your shoulders.
As you lower your body, NASM recommends you tighten your core and squeeze your glutes as you get as close to the floor as possible. Then use your chest muscles to push yourself away from the ground. Push-ups are a beneficial body weight resistance exercise that works all the major muscle groups in your body, the CDC states.
You may need to do modified pushups, keeping your knees apart but letting them touch the floor. Or you could try wall pushups, in which you stand up, face a wall and place your hands on the wall at the level of your shoulders. As you engage your core, bend your elbows and lower your chest until your chin reaches the wall.
( The Mayo Clinic has a tutorial .) But pushups, modified or not, may not be realistic options for everyone. People with limited mobility, for example, may need access to other exercise tools to pursue their exercise goals.
“Having a mobility limitation can mean different things for different people, so the key is to tailor any sort of exercise or activity program with each person’s ability and their interests,” Samia Rafeedie , an associate professor of clinical occupational therapy at the University of Southern California and a member of the Occupational Therapy Association of California, previously told HuffPost . Whether you want to perfect your pushup technique or try something else that’s specifically tailored to you, you should try to find an exercise regimen you enjoy, as Sandra Corcione, a personal trainer at FITloft Gym in New Jersey, previously told HuffPost . Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls.
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Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages. “The key here is to stay consistent with that activity. .
.. The gains happen when you consistently do something for years and throughout your life, even as you get older,” she said.
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