A chaturanga push up is a powerful exercise. It requires an incredible amount of stabilizing muscles to hold plank alignment and then layers on movement that targets the triceps, biceps, chest and shoulder muscles. Although this exercise has amazing strengthening and toning benefits it also can cause strain on the shoulder and rotator cuff if repeatedly done improperly. Here are a few tips for a proper chaturanga, I know, sounds British :).
Start in your high plank position with the front of your shoulders aligned with the front of
your wrists. Shift your weight forward so that the shoulders are forward of your
fingertips, then bend your elbows. The upper arms should stay parallel with
your side body - so at a full chaturanga, you would have a 90 degree bend at the
elbows, with elbows stacking directly over the wrists.
A strong emphasis is needed on maintaining hand foundation.
There is a tendency to roll to the pinky edge side but you want to maintain
foundation on all 4 corners of the palm of your hand with fingers wide and
fingertips anchored down. This
foundation and the energy of drawing your hands towards one another will directly
translate to better shoulder alignment and stability.
The alignment of your upper arm and the stability of your
collarbones and shoulder blades is key. Focus
on keeping your collar bones wide by externally rotating your upper arm bones
and stabilizing your shoulder blades wide on your back with an emphasis on the
outer tips drawing down your back. For
your neck imagine a headrest on the ceiling and energize the back of your head
towards it. RELAX YOUR JAW!
The power in your legs will also help you perfect your form
and keep the load off of the shoulder joint by supporting more of your body
weight. Your heels should begin over the
balls of your feet but as you shift forward to lower down you will come onto your
toes. Keep your legs powerful by hugging
your inner thighs to the centerline, pressing your thigh bones up towards the
ceiling and keeping hamstrings engaged (like you’re trying to do an isometric
hamstring curl). Then focus on your
pelvic stability by lifting up and engaging the base of your seat, engaging
your pelvic floor and keeping your abdominal muscles corseting your spine.
I love this picture, because she shows great form and a full
expression of a chaturanga - which is really HARD... and not for everyone
(certainly not me many days)! Stay true
to where you’re at each moment. Only
bend your elbows as low as you can maintain complete stability of the rest of
your body. To modify, you can bend the elbows
to a lesser degree. You can also come to
the knees to decrease the load even more but be cognizant of the shift forward as
you lower down so that your elbows stay stacked above the wrists.
Here’s to many aligned chaturanga’s in your future!
-- Jill
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