Mat Matters, Episode 18: Ben Discusses Yoga (And Fitness) Push-Ups

[I convinced Ben to be on Mat Matters again! And he's much less nervous this time around!]

This week on Mat Matters, my husband, Ben, and I discuss the proper alignment for push-ups--both the yogic version of push-ups, chaturanga, and the more fitness-oriented version of push-ups that we're all familiar with (and for the most part, hate--or is that just me?).

If there's one thing that I think *almost* everyone does wrong in their first few yoga classes, it's chaturanga. I spend half of my classes just reminding people to pull their elbows in towards their ribcage, and I still see it happen non-stop. I believe that one of the reasons for this is what we discuss today--the fact that no one knows how to do a regular push-up correct, either! And that most of us have been doing them wrong since we first learned them back in gym class...

So, I decided to bring in my resident fitness expert, Ben, to teach us about push-ups. Although he claims he's not an "expert," I would argue that he is, as he's been CrossFitting for 4 years now, and has probably spent many more hours watching coaching videos than most coaches have (trust me, I know! I've bitched about it for years!). 

I'm so glad that Ben decided to join us again, and watch out--I think he really enjoyed doing it this time, so he may become a much more regular guest in this video series ;)

Enjoy! 

PS. For a more in-depth discussion of chaturanga and the mechanics of a chaturanga vinyasa, check out this post. Xoxo!