Triathletes typically don’t look forward to strength or core days. It’s just not nearly as fun as getting on your bike, out on the road, or even in the pool. We all tend to neglect any type of weight or stability training. Yet we all know that proper time in the gym can reap loads of benefits on the course. Of course none of that changes the fact that we dread it. And when it comes to the AG Team, we simply hate doing pushups. Now there are a couple reasons for this. First, a couple of our editors suffer from carpal tunnel and cannot place weight on a flat palm without a good deal of pain. Second, we’re not really fans of the awkward stares we get when we attempt to do a pushup on the weight room floor. And that’s why we were so eager to test out the Perfect Pushup Elite. As some of you likely remember from what you’ve seen on TV, the Perfect Pushup Elite provides you with the ability to complete multiple exercises at home without the pain associated with placing a flat palm on the floor.

The Perfect Pushup Elite

For those who haven’t seen the commercials, the Perfect Pushup Elite consists of a pair of rotating handles designed to allow your arms to rotate naturally. If you don’t understand what we mean by that, get up from your chair and try to do a pushup on the floor. We’ll wait. Now you notice how your hands seem to want to rotate when you push up from the floor? Of course they can’t since they’re stuck tight to the floor by the force of your body weight. That’s where the Perfect Pushup Elite comes in.

Even more than just comfort alone, the goal of this rotation is to engage more muscles in the arms, shoulders, chest, back, and abs. It turns a pushup from a mostly chest driven exercise into one that more effectively engages your total upper body. An additional benefit of the design is that, because you are a few inches above the ground, you can perform a much deeper pushup than one with your hands on the ground.

The Perfect Pushup Elite itself is as simple a product as there ever was. Each handle features a large, comfortable, no-slip grip attached to a rotating base. The bottom of the base also includes a spiral design meant to add additional stability. The end result is a product that, over regular use for the past six months, has show almost no wear and tear—still rotating as freely as the day we unboxed it.

Our Thoughts

If we go back to why we hate pushups, one of the biggest reasons was wrist strain. Even for those who have managed to avoid wrist issues, pushups can still be a very uncomfortable exercise on your hands and wrists. And for those who do suffer from chronic conditions like tendonitis or carpal tunnel, pushups can be torture on your joints. Fortunately the Perfect Pushup Elite has completely removed that pain from the picture. By allowing you to both avoid a flat palm on the floor AND rotate your arms and wrist freely, we have not encountered any of the hand or wrist pain during pushups that we have endured previously.

While at first we stuck with standard pushups (which in our minds was hard enough), eventually we hit the PerfectOnline.com workouts page and started adding a little spice to our workouts. They also have a handy pdf for those not looking to watch a video in the middle of their gym session. Our favorite workout (torture session?) was to combine a 30-second plank straight into a 30-rep pushup set.

Wrapping Up

Of course the unfortunate side effect of the Perfect Pushup Elite allowing us to do pushups pain-free is that we no longer have an excuse to avoid them. And for just $29.95 MSRP (you can find it for less if you hunt around online), the price tag isn’t going to be a reason for skipping them, either. Yes, strength and core isn’t fun. But at least we no longer have to deal with the pain we used to associate with it. Add to that a workout that engages more of our upper body, and you can easily see why the Perfect Pushup Elite has became a standard part of our weekly strength and core sessions.