Some exercises safely force a higher degree of concentration and awareness. Bare knuckle push ups are one of them. On a hard surface, like concrete, doing bare knuckle push ups forces you to move more slowly, and to be more precise in the movement. Whereas standard push ups allow sloppy, half-hearted execution, bare knuckle push ups punish sloppiness via pain in the knuckles.
Bare knuckle push ups develop the chest, triceps, shoulders, and a host of other muscles, including your stomach. They strengthen the wrist and hands and forearms. Executing these slowly and with a lot of focus hits every muscle from your head to toes.
- Position your knuckles shoulder width apart
- Keep your feet together
- Keep your body straight, head up
- Inhale and pull yourself down into the ground, corkscrewing your shoulders (as if you’re twisting your knuckles into the ground)
- Pause at the bottom
- Exhale and push yourself away from the ground, maintaining the corkscrew you used while lowering yourself
- Repeat
Eventually this can be an endurance exercise, but for starters a few reps 3-5 times per week for four weeks will build a good base. 10 highly focused, slow and concentrated reps at the end of this period is good. Then you can add speed and reps, while maintaing the rigid form you established in the early weeks.