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Push-ups tone up chest muscles and shoulders and strenghten the mid-section. Here are some details on how to perform some basic push-ups.

There is nothing better than building muscle to boost your metabolic rate and in the process getting a muscular physique. The golden rule is that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate because muscle has a higher rate of calorie consumption. Exercises that use body weight are a great way to build muscle and can simultaneously increase endurance, improve cardio respiratory performance and burn fat! Push-ups, squats, pull-ups, lunges are a few of the body weight exercises which effectively help you train your entire body and can be performed anytime and anywhere. Today we shall discuss push-ups and how they can help you tone up your upper body.

Push-ups not only recruit the muscles of the chest, shoulder, arms and upper back but also recruit muscles of your midsection for balance and stability..

Here is how to perform a basic push-up:

• With your feet together, place your palms on the floor with your elbows fully extended.
• Keep your back, hips, and legs in a straight line.
• Lower your body slowly towards the floor and stop when your elbow joints are in line with your shoulders.
• Pause for a moment. Begin straightening your arms to return to the start position.
• Inhale as you lower yourself toward the floor and exhale as you push yourself up from the floor.
• Always keep your back straight. Stop doing push-ups when your lower back gets tired. Don't sag in the middle as this could lead to injury.

If the basic push-up is difficult for you then you can perform push-ups with your knees touching the floor and build it from there. If the basic push-up is easy then you can try advanced push ups by keeping legs or hands on a stability ball.

Even 10 minutes of body weight exercises everyday can help you enhance your fitness levels significantly and get you closer to your goal of acquiring a good looking body.

Ajanta and Ellora are famous caves in Maharashtra, India which are very ancient and Provide a thrilling site for historians and archeological activities. Ajanta caves are around 100 kms away from Ellora and the most famous city nearest to them is Aurangabad.

Ajanta!

It takes barely two hours to cover the 99 kms from Aurangabad to Ajanta, two hours to transport you to the second century B.C when the first of these caves was hollowed out from the side of the cliff.

Early in the 19th century, a party of British officers scrambling over the thickly wooded slopes of the sahyadri hills, discovered these caves buried under debris and screened by foliage. The caves were secluded retreat for Buddhist monastic orders and yet offered easy access to the trade routes that swung past here to the coast.

The 30 caves of Ajanta, some unfinished, span a period of 800 years and contain numerous images of Buddha. The sculpture in cave 26 is elaborate and beautiful; highlights here are the panel of the temptation of Buddha and the Parinirvana depicting the breaking of earthly ties and Buddha's passing into nirvana. The arched chaitya window set into elegantly simple facade of cave 9 (1st century B.C) is repeated in the elaborate frontage of cave 19 (fifth century), which has several figures of Buddha on the portico. Of the particular note here is a sculpture of a seated Nagaraja with his consort and female attendant. Cacve 16 is an elegant vihara wiat an inscription that mentions the king and his minister who built this cave. In caves 1, 2, 16, 17 you can see some undamaged portions of wall paintings that are vibrant and clear.

Ajanta is a protected monument under the Archaeological survey of India and has been included in the World Heritage list of monuments.

The Boddhisatvas who figure prominently in the ajanta paintings are celestial beings, who visit the world of men. The nymphs, princesses and attendants of Ajanta are women of exquisite elegance and charm, hair dressed in intricate styles and jewels highlighting slender necks and waists.

From this vast collection of classical Indian art sprang the style that travelled out with Buddhism to many parts of the world. Buddhist paintings in Sigiriya in Sri Lanka, Bamiyan in Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, China and in Japan all trace their origins to the classic mode first expressed in the wall paintings of Ajanta.

In their range of time and treatment, the paintings of Ajanta are a panorama of life in ancient India and could well be studied for a description of the culture of those times.

Before you leave, climb up to the flat top of the hill opposite the caves for a wonderful sweeping view of the horseshoe shaped gorge of Ajanta.