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122 of 127 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Home Exercise Equipment For the Upper Body, February 19, 2009
There are some advantages and disadvantages to this product that buyers need to be aware of before purchasing:
-this is a great in-home piece of equipment to primarily exercise the chest (pecs), front shoulder (anterior deltoids), and back of the arms (triceps)
-once you can do 20 reps in a row with this item, you will not get these muscles any stronger using this piece of equipment. The srength training literature is quite clear (ex. Fleck and Kramer) that anything OVER 20 reps of an exercise will build primarily muscle ENDURANCE and NOT strength. Thus, you can strengthen the above named muscles only to a certain extent- since this exercise equipment is unable to provide progressive resistance (unlike a weight machine or dumbbell where you can keep adding a little more weight now and then which challenges the muscle and makes it grow bigger and stronger). Having said that, it is a great tool to use for moderate strengthening and to maintain a certain level of fitness. Just know it won't turn you into Hercules...
-this is an especially good piece of equipment to use if you have wrist problems since it can rotate and let your wrists do what they do naturally with you do this pressing type motion- unlike other exercise equipment where your hand is fixed on a bar.
-using this piece of equipment is vastly superior to regular floor push-ups as it allows the torso to "sink down" to the floor more which increases the range of motion for you to exercise in. Thus, the muscles are exercised more thoroughly thru a greater range.
When all is said and done: Its a good product for someone looking for a moderate upper body workout and wants to "stay in shape". Also recommend Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff if you have a shoulder problem that interferes with your workout.
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742 of 824 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Push ups transformed into serious weight training by a deceptively simple device., May 22, 2007
I lift weights at a gym 3x a week and don't have room for a serious weight setup at home. I have a few dumbbells and medicine balls. I figured push ups would be a way to get the bench press in at home. I ordered Perfect Pushup because doing push ups hurts my wrists and the product looked like a good idea.
First impression - 'hey, it's plastic'! I thought it was going to be metal, based on the pictures. I was disappointed by their lightweight plastic build. Once I started using them, the disappointment turned to appreciation. These transform push ups into serious weight training three ways: 1) Proper wrist angle - means that I can do push ups until muscle fatigue stops me; not sore wrists. 2) Elevated hands means you can go deeper than when your hands are on the floor. This greater range of motion had an unexpectedly large impact. 3) Rotation reduces stresses and brings even more muscles into play. The hand grips rotate freely, forcing you to exert effort to keep your hands oriented. You can feel different muscle groups come into play as you alter your wrist position. The wrist naturally rotates as you move through the push up motion in different ways depending on how far from your body you place your wrists. It takes a moment to learn how to do push ups this way (the included chart is a good starting point) and rewards some experimentation. Once you've gotten used to Perfect Pushup you will not want to do push ups on the floor ever again. Going back to the floor really shows you how conventional push ups strain the wrist by bending back and punish your elbows by forcing them into a single plane of motion when they naturally want to twist.
Throwing a few sets of these "super push ups" into the mix on weekends has greatly enhanced my home workouts and my overall fitness level. Now that I've used Perfect Pushups for over a month I'm not worried about their durability. They seem quite sturdy in use.
Follow-up: There is some confusion between the two non-travel versions of this product: "Perfect Pushup - Original" (the one sold here and many other places for around $40) and "Perfect Pushup - Basic" (the one sold at Walmart and Ebay for around $20). The Perfect Pushup - Basic has a red stripe under the "Perfect Pushup" logo and the text "Basic" within the red stripe. It has a similar design to the Perfect Pushup - Original but lighter weight plastic build and comes with the handles unattached from the base and you snap them on yourself. I haven't used the "Basic" model - but you can readily see the difference between the models in the photographs: "Original" has a metal handle embedded in a larger, single piece, plastic rotating part. The stanchions holding the handle are molded and of a single piece with the rotating part. The "Basic" model has a lower flatter rotating part, and a plastic handle shaped like a letter "C" - so that the handle itself forms the stanchions connecting down into the rotating part - which is flat and not molded. I don't know if the "Basic" model is compromised in any way as to its function - but it is clearly of a lighter build quality. There's also a "Travel" version that looks a lot like the "Basic" version, but has removable handles and the flat rotating part is much thinner (1/2" instead of 1").
Follow up number two: 1 year after purchase: I've continued to use Perfect Pushup 2-3 times a week and it has remained totally reliable and durable in use. The build quality is obviously better than adequate. I continue to prefer Perfect Pushup over doing push ups on the floor - no comparison. Push ups are great exercise, but they need to be viewed in context as part of a larger exercise regimen. You will not lose weight doing push ups alone (weight training is a piece of the puzzle, but aerobic exercise, diet, and mental attitude work are all vital to that effort also). Push ups are not a complete upper body workout. Push ups exercise the front half of your upper body (triceps excepted) making it really important that you do some lifting to build your back half (i.e. do some sets of rows and pulls with dumbbells). If you build one half of any joint and neglect the other half (i.e. make the half that pushes strong but fail to make the half that pulls equally strong) you can set yourself up for injury. What makes push ups great - and Perfect Pushup in particular - is that they are an excellent upper body workout (one that gets the whole front half of the upper body if you do a few variations in hand grip position) that takes up virtually no space in your home. A good minimal home gym could be just a pair of Perfect Pushups, a Swiss ball (also known as a Yoga ball), and pair of dumbbells (preferably variable weight ones). Final conclusion - Perfect Pushup is a great way to get the mirror visible front half of your upper body worked out in limited space and is part of a home fitness solution but shouldn't be seen as constituting a full fitness regimen in and of themselves.
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive Product, April 20, 2007
I recieved this product about 3 weeks ago and am impressed with how it works. I used to be an above average wrestler in the highly competitive state of Iowa, so over the years I learned many pushup and workout techniques to keep the body fit and strong. I used to treat my body as a hobby, using pushups and dumbbells as my main source of lifting and staying in shape. Over the past year, I've put on a little weight and lost some tone just like quite a few people do once the final years of school, careers, and family consume the majority of your time. Recently, I am looking to get back to old form. I saw the Perfect Pushup on television and was intrigued by the equipment. I also did a little research via the internet to see what information I could find on the product. I wondered how doing pushups with the Perfect Pushup compared to doing pushups normally, and wondered whether I could get into shape faster with them and whether they worked. I can tell the difference between the results from the Perfect Pushup and that of doing normal, flat on the floor pushups. So far I am pleased. Getting acclimated to the twisting motion of the Perfect Pushup is probably the hardest part, especially if you are used to doing pushups flat on the floor. But, after a couple sets the twisting motion becomes a natural movement. Doing pushups on the Perfect Pushup tends to be a little difficult for the first week because the twisting movement really targets the whole upper body and some of your abs. I felt a little soreness a few hours after doing a set of twenty. For the first week, fight through the soreness and realize the pushups using the Perfect Pushup are a little tougher . Try going back to normal, flat on the floor pushups and you'll be amazed on how many you can do. You feel like you have to do 100 before getting a burn. I haven't done a vigorous workout with the Perfect Pushup yet because of a busy schedule, but I try to use them for about 5-10 minutes a night. So far, everyone else and I can see I look thinner and more toned. I think I look more toned in my chest and upper abs so I am excited to develop a more routine workout that lasts 30 to 45 minutes much like I used to do as a wrestler to see how fast I see results. I'm so impressed with this product that I recommend it to everyone including friends and family. Some friends have stopped by the house and saw them lying on the floor. Of course like a lot of people they think it is another workout fad until they try it. I have a few friends that live and die in the weight room. They teased me a bit then became pretty impressed once they decided to do a set of pushups. The burn and muscle fatigue comes quicker than most expect meaning the Perfect Pushup works even with those accustomed to working out on a regular basis. One thing that really impresses me is how easy the Perfect Pushup allows you to isolate arms and chest muscles with ease doing one-handed pushups.
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