Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa L. King of the 369th AG Battalion discusses issues with privates during their batallion duty in her office at Fort Jackson, S.C. Photo: Nicole Bengiveno, The New York Times / Redux

She's parachuted from a plane 33 times, the vanity plates on her Corvette read "noslack" and she's now responsible for the basic training of every enlisted soldier -- men and women -- in the U.S. Army. Meet Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa L. King, the first woman to oversee drill sergeant training in the Army's 235-year history.

King said she's proud to be breaking an Army barrier, however, "It really doesn't matter if you're male or female. If you ... enforce standards, people will respect you," she told the American Forces News Service.

The 48-year-old has certainly worked hard enough on her own physical fitness to warrant respect. At her recent semiannual physical training test, she scored a perfect 300, according to The New York Times. King completed 34 push-ups and 66 sit-ups, each in under two minutes, then ran two miles in 16 minutes 10 seconds, well within the maximum time of 17:36 for her age group.

Photo: mikebaird, Flickr

The push-up is one of the best exercises around, because it builds strength in the back, shoulders, chest and arms all at one time. That's Fit.ca shares the scoop on how to master the perfect push-up.

In a nutshell: Hands should be placed just outside the shoulders, feet hip-width apart (don't overestimate the size of your hips!), body should be perfectly in line from head to heels (think of your body as a plank of wood), tuck in your chin, eyes forward and then make sure your arms are straight at the top of your push-up (soft elbows) and your elbows are at 90 degrees at the bottom of your push-up -- for a full-range one, go all the way to the floor.

There's more -- like tips for speed and breathing, not to mention some pretty challenging push-up options too.

This "Tuck and Push" combination offers an awesome opportunity to kill many birds with one stone. Within a few short reps, you'll have worked almost every muscle of your upper body and have successfully set your core ablaze. It's simple, fun and highly effective. Try it!

For more quick, innovative and fun training tips, visit Fitzness.com.

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There's no doubt that push-ups can make a dramatic impact on your physique. They're challenging, work a ton of muscle groups and can be done absolutely anywhere. There's also a bunch of ways you can get creative with them. In this video, Fitz and her team demo a few fun ideas for push-up training with a partner.

For more fun training videos, recipes and celebrity fitness interviews visit Fitzness.com

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hi Fitz. I keep hearing both you and other people say I should do push-ups, but I'm a small woman and don't want to bulk up. Push-ups are hard, so should I do them if I want to stay toned yet trim? Alyssa

A. Great question, Alyssa! This common question is on the mind of many women, and I'm happy to give this answer as many times as there are women who need to hear it. What you need to know is that it requires extraordinary effort for most women to put on any sort of bulky muscle. That means: protein shakes, supplements and insane amounts of heavy lifting. Of course, there are a few rare women here and there who pack on muscle quickly, but if you're already telling me you are small ... you are not one of those rare women.

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This may sounds like an April Fool's joke, but I kid you not: In Santa Monica, a man was recently arrested for doing push-ups and sit-ups on a popular running and jogging path. What's the problem here? There's just one issue -- a sign that clearly states that running and jogging only are allowed on the strip of land.

OK, I guess the better question is: Why? Years ago, the running-only rule was established to keep homeless people and vagabonds from camping out on the strip of land so legally speaking, the police do have a right to stop people from exercising. Still, it's awfully silly to arrest someone for doing something good. Couldn't they implement some sort of 'no stopping' rule?

(via Calorie Lab)

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When there's a new baby in the house, your whole schedule can be thrown out of whack. You're probably not getting much sleep and just keeping up with your day-to-day tasks is a challenge. If you're finding that workouts are hard to squeeze in, why not try a few of these baby and me fitness tips?

Fitness instructor and mom, Erin Kurdyla, has a great blog called Fresh Fitness Tips on Self magazine's site. Kurdyla has some creative ideas for incorporating strength moves while getting some quality play time with her baby. My favorite idea is holding the plank position while your baby lies beneath you on the floor -- it's great face-to-face time. You can also do push ups and give your baby raspberry kisses on the belly.

What to Expect has eight more ways you can exercise with your baby in tow.

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Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Hey there Fitzy, I'm in fairly good shape, but I'm sick of my back fat. It sucks! My stomach area is pretty flat, but I have this roll over my hips that I hate. Whatcha got for me? Mitch

A. Hi Mitch. I'm glad you wrote, and yes ... back fat does "suck." I've had it before, the dreaded "muffin top," and I didn't enjoy it one bit. So, how do you get rid of it? That's the million-dollar question today, right? Lucky for you ... you've come to the right place.

Have fitness questions? Fitz has your answers. Our ThatsFit.com fitness expert -- and now your own virtual personal trainer -- will help you get fit, increase your overall health and do it in a fun way. Drop your questions here in the Comments section below and we'll choose one per week to publish on That's Fit! Learn more about Fitz here.

Q. Fitz, My entire upper arms wobble when I wave hello or goodbye. I'm only 26 years old, but I feel like my arms look like they belong to an elderly woman. I run so I'm thin, but my arms are too flabby. Help! Jada

A. Hello running woman! Thanks for throwing me the soft ball. In fact, maybe that's something you should try. Throwing softballs is a great workout for the triceps. And, if you hadn't predicted what I was going to say, you should be working your triceps! And biceps and forearms, etc.

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My friend, former trainer, and blogger pal Fitz always says push-ups are tops. If you commit to only one exercise in your life, in fact, Fitz says make it the push-up. Why? Because It's whole-body great. Other fitness experts agree.

Push-ups work multiple muscle groups, say the health folks at Woman's Day magazine, which makes this exercise a good indication of overall strength. I'm not feeling too strong right now. How about you?

Currently, I can't do the 16 push-ups a 40-year-old woman should be able to crank out. But, I'm on it. I'm not going traditional, though. I'm doing my push-ups like Cindy Whitmarsh of exercisetv.tv says wimpy ones like me should do them.

I'm going to kneel, then walk my hands forward so that they are slightly wider apart than my shoulders. I'm going to contract my abs and keep my neck in a neutral position, in line with my spine. I'm going to bend my elbows, lower my body for a count of three, hold for a count of three, then slowly come up (these counts are good for my metabolism, says Laura). I'm shooting for two sets of eight. You should try them too.

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How many push-ups can you do? I'm guessing you probably can't do as many as you want to be able to do. I feel your pain -- push-ups are hard! It took me months of training before I was any good at them.

What would you say, then, if I told you that in 6 weeks, you could do 100 consecutive push-ups? I'm being serious here -- The Hundred Push-Ups Training Plan is a detailed plan that will have you cruising through the push-ups portion of your workout in no time ... even if you can barely manage a few at a time.

Head over to the website for more details on the plan ... and then get to it!

(Via Fitsugar)

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I talked with my kids' PE teacher the other day about how my boys are doing at their physical education tasks. He told me he used seven-year-old Joey to demonstrate a push-up recently -- he keeps his back straight and perfectly parallel to the ground, which is what "Coach" wanted the other kids to see -- and how five-year-old Danny is getting better and better at jumping rope. Then he prompted Joey, who was standing by my side, with a very important question: "What are The Big Four?" he asked.

Joey was quick with his response: "Push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and jumping rope."

No need for a fancy gym, says Coach, when you've got your own body and a few essentials, like a pull-up bar and a jump rope. He's right, you know. We've got the tools to work our bodies right at our disposal. We just need to get working.

The Big Four. Are they part of your exercise routine?

As just about everything else in the world becomes more and more complex, a return to basic fitness principles can be a refreshing departure.

This is certainly the case with some exercises that fell out of fashion for a while, but are now finding their way back into many modern workouts. One movement that falls into this category is the standard push-up. It's not to say that people stopped doing push-ups; rather, it's just that push-ups had largely been relegated to being a warm-up or finishing move (burning out with a quick set of them after completing sets of bench presses, for example). Now, however, this classic upper-body muscle toner is quickly becoming a staple of exercise routines of people from all levels of fitness.

To perform the push-up, keep your body rigid and in a straight line from your ankles to your head. Then, slowly lower your arms until your nose just about touches the floor. Hold in this position for a second and then explode back upward until your arms are almost fully extended. To make things a bit more challenging, place a weight plate on your back and bang out as many reps as you can in this fashion. Then, roll the weight off you and then immediately bang out a set using only your body weight.

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Home gyms are great to have, but there are a couple of drawbacks. For one thing, they tend to be a bit costly. Plus, it takes up a lot of room, so unless you have a whole extra room dedicated to fitness equipment, it can be an eyesore. But, if you need to have a home gym, what other option do you have?

The HealthCare Chin-Up Exercise Bar seems like a good choice if you don't want to spend a ton of money and don't have a lot of space. It's only about $50 ($54.99, on sale right now for $44.99 here), and it can easily be folded up and put away in a closet when not in use.

And, as far as use goes, it's easy to use it in a variety of ways. First and foremost, it's a chin-up/pull-up bar. As you can see in the picture above, it goes up in your doorway (no drilling or holes or anything like that required), holds up to 300 pounds, and can be taken back down in seconds.

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Although I've yet to actually try it, The Perfect Push-Up seems like one of the better fitness gizmos being hawked on TV these days. Since it's really just a variation on the traditional push-up, I suppose it has to be effective (although, I do wonder if the twisting motion with the hands places undue stress on the rotator cuff). But is it really necessary to dole out money to vary a push-up? Are there ways of doing so without spending a dime? Of course there are.

Every day, I come across a new way to perform a push-up. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but suffice it to say that I come across them quite often. Here are five variations to the traditional push-up that you may want to try, all of which cost zero dollars but make good fitness sense (sorry for the pun. I couldn't resist). Oh, and by the way, click on each of the exercises if you'd like to see a video demonstration.

1.) Plyometric Push-Ups. Very Rocky-esque move where you thrust your body upward, to the point where your hands leave the ground. Throw in a hand clap before hitting the ground and you may be ready to take on Drago.

2.) One-Armed Push-Ups. The Jack Palance at the Oscars move. Very, very difficult. Don't be discouraged if you can only do a few -- if any at all. Although, Jack Palance was about 125 years old when he did his. I'm just saying ...

3.) Spider-Man Push-Ups. That's a lot of hyphens. It's also a great way to work your chest and triceps with this climbing-type move. You can either do it while remaining in one place, or you can 'spider crawl' your way across the floor. My only suggestion is that you don't wear Spider-Man underoos while you do it, as it may get you tossed from your gym.

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