Correct way to do a push up
Push ups are a fantastic form of body exercises and when done correctly can really enhance your caloric burn. They are also a VERY basic maneuver of boot camp! So I’d like to give you a very basic understanding of how to properly do a push-up. Also, many women and sure, some men, lack the upper body strength to even do a push up so if you begin to train now in a few short months you can be doing some major push ups without difficulty.
So my friends, put on your fatigues and hit the deck!
The most common thing you see people do wrong with push-ups is they go through a very limited range of motion. You also will typically see people moving a little too fast through the range of motion, which makes the exercise easier.
So to begin, we’re going to slow everything down. We’re going to go about three seconds on the way up, three seconds on the way down. Think of a slow, controlled movement that eliminates momentum from the picture.
Start from a prone position – belly to the floor – with hands just outside shoulders with the fingers facing forward and arms fully extended. The feet can be together or as much as a foot apart. The hips should not sag towards the ground at any point during the exercise, and should be held in a position every so slightly lower than the shoulders. Weight is forward on the hands so that the arms form a straight line from the wrists to the shoulders; the shoulders should not be behind the wrists.
We’re going to flatten out the back and we’re going to also make sure that we go through a full range of motion, so we are going to come all the way up to the top, stopping just short of locking out our elbows at the top and then, we’re going to come all the way down ’til our chest touches the floor.
Inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up.
Focus on doing each repetition perfectly as opposed to focusing on how many you can do and trying to make a contest out of it.
For those of you who cannot do a push-up, here are some techniques to help get you there. And don’t bother with “modified” or “girl’s” push-ups that are done with knees on the floor. This exercise is a waste of time and, despite conventional wisdom, does NOT prepare the body to perform “real” push-ups.
The first step to prepare the body to do push-ups is to work on maintaining the proper start position. What seems like an easy enough thing to do is actually difficult for many people. So the first drill for those who can’t do a push-up is to get into the starting position and hold it for 30 seconds, breathing steadily the entire time.
Maintaining this push-up posture for 30 seconds at a time is the best way for a beginner to strengthen the body and prepare for doing real push-ups. The “modified” push does nothing to develop the core strength and balance that’s required to do proper push-ups. If you haven’t tried this “static hold” exercise, you’ll be amazed at how difficult it can be, especially when doing 3 or 4 sets of 30 second holds, and how much more difficult it is to hold this position than it is to do modified, bastardized push-ups.
Progress from this “top position” static hold to a “bottom position” static hold, and the body is in a position where the chest is a few inches off of the floor. This is a more difficult drill, so shoot for sets of 10-15 seconds in duration.
Once the two variations of “static hold” push-ups have been mastered, progress to “negative” push-ups. Negative push-ups will help to build the strength needed to do real, full push-ups. To do a negative push-up get into the starting position and slowly lower your body until your chest touches the floor, maintaining strict control during the movement. When doing “negatives” there’s no concern for the push phase of the exercise, so once your chest touches the floor just get back to the staring position by going to your knees and resetting.
Now it’s your turn! Don’t put off exercising any longer. You’ll build lean and long muscles which are fabulously sexy!
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