Have you overly walked into a group fitness matriculation or personal training session and thought, “Please please please don’t let there be push-ups today”?
If the idea of a set of push-ups fills you with dread, you’re not alone. Push-ups are tough! They’re a skill exercise, meaning they require upper soul strength, trunk stability, range of motion, and plane mobility… all at once. Just stuff strong or fit isn’t unbearable — it takes time and practice to master the technique.
As such, many women stave push-ups. Maybe they’ve unchangingly struggled to do them, or they just don’t think they’re strong unbearable (or they’ve internalized the incredibly frustrating misconception that women can’t do standard push-ups, and should stick with push-ups off their knees instead!).
But the truth is, with proper form and some practice, scrutinizingly anyone can master the push-up.
In this article, I’m going to show you how to build the strength and skill you need to do push-ups, step by step. In wing to discovering all of the benefits of push-ups, you’ll learn:
- How to uncurl your soul properly during your push-up practice.
- Four exercises that will help you progress to full push-ups.
- Exactly how to perform a full push-up.
Plus, I’ve included a 12-week training program that shows you exactly how to program these four exercises so you can unzip your push-up goal!
What Are the Benefits of Push-Ups?
The push-up is an constructive bodyweight exercise whether your goal is getting stronger, building muscle, or improving overall fitness. A horizontal pressing exercise, push-ups primarily work the chest (pectorals), triceps, deltoids, and core, but require some assistance from the glutes and leg muscles, too.
Learning to perform push-ups creates a unique opportunity for you to:
- Build your upper soul strength. This will siphon over to other exercises, such as seat presses and burpees. Plus, daily tasks — like moving furniture, pushing heavy doors, and getting up from the ground — will wilt easier and safer.
- Improve your cardiovascular health. Push-ups engage several large muscle groups at once, forcing your heart to work harder to pump thoroughbred to those tissues.
- Increase shoulder strength and stability, which can help reduce shoulder pain and risk of injury. (Note: If you have shoulder pain or an existing shoulder injury, push-ups could be painful and plane make things worse. Speak with your doctor or physiotherapist surpassing you practice these push-up progressions.)
- Exercise anywhere. Whether you’re short on time or don’t have wangle to a gym, add push-ups to a bodyweight circuit and you’ve got a full-body workout.
- Boost confidence. Mastering push-ups can help you finger empowered and strong, expressly if it’s been on your list of fitness goals for a while.
Now you’ve seen why push-ups are a unconfined exercise to incorporate in your training, let’s squint at an important structuring tip to help you perform the standard push-up — as well as all the push-up progressions I’m going to imbricate shortly — safely, effectively, and with proper technique.
Alignment and the Proper Push-Up Position
Whether you’re performing a regular push-up or a modified variation, stuff mindful of your form and structuring is important.
Here’s the trick: Think of placing a broomstick lanugo your back.
As you get into your starting position and then perform your push-up, that imaginary broomstick should maintain contact with your soul in three places:
- The when of your head
- Your upper back
- Your tailbone
Maintaining a straight line with your soul — and engaging your unshortened cadre throughout the rep — will indulge you to move smoothly as one solid unit, which can help your push-up (or push-up variation) finger less challenging and protect your lower back.
Quick tip: Some folks find it helpful to video themselves from the side so they can trammels their structuring and make any necessary adjustments.
Keep your imaginary broomstick in mind as you work on each of the pursuit push-up progressions.
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4 Progressions to Help You Unzip Your First Full Push-Up
The key to learning push-ups is to unravel the movement lanugo into small, doable exercises. As you practice these progressions, you’re developing the strength and skill required to be worldly-wise to perform the full push-up.
Depending on your fitness level, you can work these progressions into your training one of two ways:
- Work on one progression at a time. Once you’ve mastered one, move to the next, and so on.
- Work on two progressions at a time and increase the difficulty as you get stronger. (Don’t worry, we’ll requite you a increasingly detailed week-by-week training guide at the end of the article.)
If you’re tacking these progressions onto a workout (rather than practicing them as standalone movements outside of your training sessions), you may find it helpful to do push-up work right without your warm-up so you’re not fatigued. Either way, unchangingly be sure to thoroughly warm up first.
A final quick note surpassing we get started: You’ll notice that push-ups from the knees, otherwise known as short-lever push-ups, are not one of the progression exercises. Short-lever push-ups are an wondrous exercise to target your pecs, deltoids, and triceps. However, they’re often not the most constructive way to progress to a full “long-lever” push-up (on the toes with legs extended). This is considering bringing your knees to the ground significantly shortens the lever, requiring far less upper soul and cadre strength, which are two things that need to be ripened in order to perform long-lever push-ups. Additionally, an important part of push-up practice is patterning the movement properly, which is precisely what you’ll be doing by working on variations that are moreover performed on your toes.
Progression #1: Upper Plank Hold
The upper plank hold is incredibly important to practice when working toward a push-up, yet it’s scrutinizingly unchangingly overlooked. It might help to think of the upper plank hold as the foundation of the movement, as it’s the starting point (and ending point!) of each push-up. Plus you’ll get the widow goody of strengthening your core while you’re at it.
How to Perform a Upper Plank Hold
- Get into a upper plank position on the ground by pressing evenly into the floor through your palms and each of your fingers until your stovepipe are fully extended. Extend your legs out overdue you with your knees off the floor and toes tucked under.
- Put a slight wrench in your elbows. They should point well-nigh 30–45º out from your body.
- Slightly tuck your chin so your neck is in a neutral position.
- Create a straight line with your soul by using the broomstick tip.
- Lightly engage through your cadre and glutes.
- Hold this position for 5–15 seconds (that’s one rep). Release by dropping your knees to the floor.
- Reset your starting position, and repeat.
- Perform 3–4 sets of 3–5 reps. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets.
If a upper plank hold on the ground is too challenging, finger self-ruling to place your hands on something elevated, such as a seat or a countertop. Place your hands as upper as needed until you’re worldly-wise to perform several reps while maintaining proper alignment.
Progression #2: Incline Eccentric Push-Up with Full Reset
This exercise is a unconfined way to take the foundational strength you ripened in your upper plank hold and start subtracting some movement! Eccentric training focuses on the “negative” portion of an exercise, or in this case, the descent of your push-up. Working on an incline gives you the strengthening benefits of a full push-up, but reduces the value of weight you’re moving. Learning to descend with tenancy while maintaining spanking-new structuring helps build strength and get you closer to your push-up goal.
How to Perform an Incline Eccentric Push-Up with Full Reset
- Use a box, bench, couch, or other stable item that won’t slide under your weight.
- Get into an incline upper plank position with your hands on the object and stovepipe fully extended. Extend your legs out overdue you with your knees off the floor and toes tucked under.
- Put a slight wrench in your elbows. They should point well-nigh 30–45º out from your body.
- Slightly tuck your chin so your neck is in a neutral position.
- Make sure your soul is in a straight line by using the broomstick tip.
- Lightly engage through your cadre and glutes.
- Bend your elbows to lower yourself as far lanugo as you comfortably can.
- Once you’ve lowered lanugo as far as you can, waif your knees to the floor. That’s one rep.
- Reset by getting when into your incline upper plank position.
- Perform 2–3 sets of 5–8 reps. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets.
You should be at an incline that allows each rep to be challenging, but smooth and relatively fast.
Working on your mobility and wastefulness too? Learn how to perform the single-leg Romanian deadlift and incorporate it into your training program.
Progression #3: Eccentric Push-Up with Full Reset
Here, you’ll be working the eccentric (negative) portion of the push-up as you did in the previous exercise, only this time it will finger increasingly challenging considering you’re subtracting increasingly soul weight (i.e., resistance).
How to Perform an Eccentric Push-Up with Full Reset
- Get into a upper plank position on the ground by pressing evenly into the floor through your palms and each of your fingers until your stovepipe are fully extended. Extend your legs out overdue you with your knees off the floor and toes tucked under.
- Put a slight wrench in your elbows. They should point well-nigh 30–45º out from your body.
- Slightly tuck your chin so your neck is in a neutral position.
- Create a straight line with your soul by using the broomstick tip.
- Lightly engage through your cadre and glutes.
- Bend your elbows to lower yourself toward the floor as far as you comfortably can.
- Once you’ve lowered lanugo as far as you can, waif your knees to the floor. That’s one rep.
- Reset by getting when into your upper plank position.
- Perform 2–3 sets of 5–6 reps. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets.
Note: You may find you’re not worldly-wise to lower yourself all the way to the floor yet, and that’s OK! There are still a lot of benefits of practicing this with a slightly shorter range of motion. Do your best, and alimony practicing.
Progression #4: Incline Push-Up
Practicing incline push-ups is an constructive way to progress to a full push-up. Like the eccentric incline push-up, you’re moving less bodyweight than a regular push-up. Only now, you’re subtracting the concentric portion of the movement — pushing when up — so you’re still progressing. As you get stronger, you can remoter progress this movement by lowering the height of the incline until you’re ready to do them on the floor.
How to Perform an Incline Push-Up
- Use a box, bench, couch, or other stable item that won’t slide under your weight.
- Get into an incline upper plank position with your hands on the object and stovepipe fully extended. Extend your legs out overdue you with your knees off the floor and toes tucked under.
- Put a slight wrench in your elbows. They should point well-nigh 30–45º out from your body.
- Slightly tuck your chin so your neck is in a neutral position.
- Make sure your soul is in a straight line by using the broomstick tip.
- Lightly engage through your cadre and glutes.
- Bend your elbows to lower yourself toward the box with tenancy as far lanugo as is well-appointed for you.
- Once you lower yourself lanugo as far as you can, engage your cadre to maintain your structuring as you exhale and printing yourself when up to the starting position.
- Perform 2–3 sets of 5–6 reps. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets.
Perform this movement at an incline that allows each rep to be challenging, but smooth and relatively fast. If you find yourself struggling to well-constructed the recommended reps and your form is suffering (e.g., your hips sag), find something slightly higher to place your hands on (wall push-ups are totally fine!). When each rep feels smooth and strong, it’s a unconfined conviction booster, and it helps pattern the movement correctly.
How to Perform a Push-Up
Now that you’re ready to hit the floor, let’s review how to do a perfect push-up.
- Get into a upper plank position on the ground by pressing evenly into the floor through your palms and each of your fingers until your stovepipe are fully extended. Extend your legs out overdue you with your knees off the floor and toes tucked under.
- Put a slight wrench in your elbows. They should point well-nigh 30–45º out from your body.
- Slightly tuck your chin so that your neck is in a neutral position.
- Create a straight line with your soul by using the broomstick tip.
- Lightly engage through your cadre and glutes.
- Bend your elbows to lower yourself toward the floor as far lanugo as you comfortably can.
- Maintain your structuring as you exhale and printing yourself when up to the starting position as one solid unit.
- Perform 2–4 sets of 5–6 reps. Rest 1–2 minutes between sets
Your 12-Week Push-Up Training Program
Whether you’re practicing your push-up progressions on their own, or incorporating them into your existing strength training program, you can use this 12-week program to help you work your way up to full push-ups.
I recommend doing push-up work at the whence of your workout following your warm-up, when your muscles are still fresh. When you’re washed-up with your session, indulge 48 hours for recovery surpassing repeating your push-up practice. Depending on where you’re at in the program, you can expect to train your push-ups between 1 and 3 times per week.
