Despite its divine sounding name, the Hindu pushup is more commonly associated with the realms of bodybuilding and wrestling than with yoga.
Visit any “akhara,” or traditional Indian gym, and you’ll see hordes of wrestlers and strongmen performing what seems like a very advanced form of pushups. The rather complicated-looking movement is called the Hindu pushups and it offers wonderful effects on upper-body health, including increased mobility and muscle tone.
Hindu pushups, or dand, have been used by Indian wrestlers and martial artists for ages to maintain fighting condition. This is because Hindu pushups strengthen several muscle groups and various joints without putting undue strain on any one area.
While not entirely identical to traditional push-ups(Hindu push-ups are actually much harder), these are nonetheless a fantastic way to strengthen your upper body.
In this post, you will learn how to do Hindu pushups with proper form, muscles worked, and benefits.
How To Do Hindu Pushups
Stand up straight with your feet a little farther apart than shoulder-width. From that position, lower yourself and place your hands on the floor by bending at the knees while keeping your arms and legs straight. Maintain a neutral neck and spine by looking down at the ground. Avoid excessive neck extension by avoiding upward and forward gaze. Your body should now be in the shape of a reversed “V.”
Here, you should start by bending your arms and lowering your torso while keeping your legs straight. You should stoop down until your chin almost touches the floor. Stretch your back and neck, and gaze at the ceiling. It’s best to keep your hips low.
To finish the move, raise your hips and push your body back to the starting “V” position with your arms and legs straight, as they were at the beginning. The movement should become graceful on its own, with a steady flow between the beginning, middle, and endpoints, and each rep should flow into the next. Be careful not to move in a jerky way, as this can hurt you. Repeat until you fail.
Muscles Worked in Hindu Pushups
Primary muscles: Shoulders, chest
Secondary muscles: Arms, legs, back, hips, abs
Benefits Of Hindu Pushups
You can tell this pushup is unique simply by observing the motions involved in performing it. Since it consists of two phases—a concentric and an eccentric—it provides a tremendous stimulus for your body to grow sturdy ligaments, a flexible spine, and battle-ready muscle. That’s right, you get a multitude of benefits all in just one workout!
Excellent Compound Exercise
While traditional push-ups are beneficial, they only focus on the pectoral muscles. The Hindu push-up, on the other hand, targets all of these muscle groups and more. Muscles in the shoulders, upper arms, back, and hips (including the erector spinae) are all worked. In addition, the action itself will assist in opening up the body, making it the ideal antidote to the sedentary modern lifestyle.
Hindu push-ups are a great way to boost your fitness because they are a complex exercise that use many muscle groups at once. The Hindu pushup has several advantages, as does any other type of compound exercise.
Great For Your Core
HIndu pushups are a great way to work your core because they are done in a way that is somewhat similar to doing pushups on an unstable suspension device.
This type of training is recommended for people who want to do functional resistance training and improve their health. There is a lot of evidence that using unstable devices can lead to more core activation (Behm et al., 2010).
Strengthens Lower Back Muscles And Thus Helps Reduce Low Back Pain
Since low back pain is linked to having weak core muscles, there is a lot of focus on strengthening the trunk muscles. Instability resistance training can also increase limb muscle activation.
Boosts Endurance
Hindu pushups, which traditional Indian wrestlers would do by the hundreds, were known to increase stamina and strength. Incorporating these in your workout will get you stronger in the cardiovascular department, lengthen your spine’s range of motion, and condition your entire body with this one move.
Take Away
If you’re short on time but still want a good workout, incorporate Hindu pushups into your program. One word of warning, though: given its intensity, it’s not a good idea to dive right in without first warming up, and you should always stretch afterward.
Remember that the arch in Upward Facing Dog causes significant compression of the spine, which can be very taxing on the lower back. And if your back hurts or you have stiff shoulders or trouble moving your upper body, you might be doing more harm than good. To sum up, Hindu pushups are not for the unfit or the stiff.
