The Hanuman Dand is a Traditional Indian Push-Up variation that has its roots in Indian Martial Arts and Yoga but it is specifically practiced in Indian Akhadas (Traditional gym for Wrestlers). This is a bodyweight exercise that does not require any special equipment and can be done by both advanced athletes and beginners to train their body in a strength and flexibility-oriented format which is a general approach in other Indian exercises as well. Like other Dand (Push-Up variations) here, the exercise can be done for stretching and other health-related benefits in a Yoga format (which treats various positions like asanas and insists on inhalation while stretching ) also, on the other hand, these exercises can be used as muscle strengthening movements in a Modern Gym format as well ( which treats the movements as hypertrophy training and sees it from the pov of concentric vs eccentric positions).
The Hanuman dand adds both dand and leg stretching together which also relieves pressure from the push up making it slightly easy than a strict/ standard push-up. here one foot is planted closer to the hip by lifting the leg and the other leg sits down while a dand is performed with your arms and upper body. this kind of leg stretching is used in wrestling as a drill in itself separately ( without the push-up). usually, this exercise is done fast by explosively switching sides and continuously doing the dand. the elevated foot positioning in one leg helps in making the push-up part of the exercise feel more like an assisted one-arm push-up as it takes away some weight or pressure from one side. this kind of training helps in the overall body flexibility and also explosiveness for wrestling. the muscles targeted mainly are the shoulders, chest, triceps, and core while the legs switch alternately to provide stretch in the hamstrings.
PROJECT MUDDYMUSCLES