How to do a push up with perfect form every time – avoid these common mistakes! Bonus push ups progression for beginners – the proper way to progress your training to do your first full push up.
BODYWEIGHT DECK OF CARDS WORKOUT: https://youtu.be/nuSH56vENc8
30 MINUTE DUMBBELL HIIT WORKOUT: https://youtu.be/xbJb_UuQoXM
Push ups are one of the all-time best bodyweight exercises. They’re a great way to train your upper body, core, and even lower body when done correctly and the right muscles are engaged.
Unfortunately, they’re also one of the most abused home exercises simply because people rarely care about proper form. It seems that the focus is always increasing the number of push ups you can do and oftentimes will sacrifice form and mechanics for those higher numbers. There are many things that can, and often do, go wrong when performing push ups.
How do you do a push up with proper form every time? How do you do a push up correctly and, if you’re a beginner, what’s an appropriate progression to perform your first push up with good form?
In this push up tutorial, I’ll cover three of the most-common mistakes I encounter when people do push ups the wrong way. I’ll give you three tips to ensure that you’re doing your push ups correctly and maximizing your outcomes. I’lll even include a bonus tip – how to do a push up for beginners – where you can take the push up tips and principles taught and apply them to your situation no matter how many push ups you can do (or possibly you’re seeking your first one!).
HOW TO DO A PUSH UP CORRECTLY
The three most-common mistakes people make when performing a push up (as outlined in this video) include:
1. Elbow Angle: if your elbows get too high you put more stress on your shoulder. Too close to your sides and the emphasis of the exercise shifts to your triceps.
Solution – keep your elbows approximately 45 degrees (halfway) out to your sides when performing the push up and focus on pushing with your chest.
2. Hips Too High/Low: When performing push ups correctly, your shoulders, hips, and knees should be in a straight line both at the top of the rep and the bottom of the rep. When fatigue sets in to your chest/arms or core, your pelvis can migrate too high or too low – resulting in poor posture and poor form.
Solution – Engage your lower abs, glutes, hip flexors, and quads throughout the push up to keep your body in the proper alignment. To do a push up correctly your shoulders, hips, and knees should be in a straight line when viewed from the side. If you cannot hold this position, you may be too weak in your core or upper body.
3. Range of Motion – When performing push ups, many people choose quantity over quality and end up only performing “half reps”. Either they don’t lower their chest all the way to the ground (top half reps) or they don’t fully extend their elbows all the way (bottom half reps).
Solution – To perform a proper push up, you should focus on going through its full range of motion. You should start with your elbows all the way locked out, drop until your chest (not pelvis) just touches the floor, and then return to the starting position. Remember – whenever we talk of fitness and exercise quality of reps matters much more than quantity.
HOW TO DO PUSH UPS FOR BEGINNERS
Many people suggest that if you cannot do a full push up, you should simple drop to your knees and perform a “modified” push up. Two things about this I don’t love – it disengages the core and hips and is still performed straight up against gravity. For some people it’s not enough of a decrease in intensity.
For beginners looking to do their first full push up, I suggest a different progression. Performing your push ups on different heights of surfaces (from wall, to tabletop/counter, to bench, to aerobic step, to floor) will allow you to do push ups with proper form through a resistance you can handle.
Following these three tips on how to do your push ups correctly will ensure proper form when you perform the exercise every time. Remember – focus on quality to gain strength and then start to add quantity as able and you’ll be amazed at your outcomes!
