Five Steps To Perfect Push-ups

Man, people are KILLING me in the gym lately!  Form and technique is apparently not even an afterthought sometimes.  The push-up is probably the most commonly thought of exercise when it comes to working out.  When starting an exercise program, what’s the first thing that most people do?  They start doing some push-ups and sit-ups in the morning.  Everyone thinks they know how to do a push-up and most active exercisers view it as kind of a “beginner’s exercise” and discount it’s value.

The truth is that when I observe many push-ups in the gym and with my new clients, they apparently do not know how to perform a proper push-up.  The push-up is a fantastic exercise for developing the upper body, abdominal area, and shoulder stability.  Push-ups, and variations of them, are a great athletic moves for improving fitness and overall health.

Here are three signs that your push-up technique is lagging:

1.  Your head is hanging down like you’re on your last legs, even when you just started.

2.  Your back is bowed like you’re trying to catch rain.

3.  Your hands are way out in front of you, turning the exercise into some sort of an incline or almost overhead pressing movement.  Sometimes it looks like people are worshiping some sort of island deity or something.  Not that I’m trashing on anyone’s religious beliefs, but I feel there’s a limit to multi-tasking.

These are the three most common issues I see in poor push-up technique.  These technique issues will rob the movement of its effectiveness, and can invite injury.  Here’s a five-step primer to getting the most out of your push-ups.

1.  Keep your head looking forward or at least neutral.  In order to do a successful push-up you need to maintain a stiff upper back.  Keeping your head braced will allow you to do that.  If you drop your head then your upper back will sag.

2.  Brace your abs to keep your back straight.  Whether you’re performing your push-ups from your knees or with your legs straight you need to maintain good back position.  This means that your hips should be down and your back isn’t excessively bowed in the middle.  Keeping your abs tight will enforce this position.

3.  Where do you put your hands?  They should be slightly wider than your shoulders and your palms should be under your shoulders.  This will enable your shoulders to maintain a healthy position and allow your chest to perform a lot of the work as it should.

4.  Little do most people realize, but the push-up does a lot for creating strength and stability in the back muscles as well as the chest and triceps.  At the bottom of the movement focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together.  Then as you come up roll them back out.  It takes a little practice to get the hang of it, but you’ll notice much more strength and stability.

5.  Finishing the push-up focuses on the triceps (the back of the arm) to straighten the arms out.  During the last third of the movement, as you’re pushing up, focus on rolling your elbows out to force your arms straight.

With these five cues in mind push-ups should become easier and more effective.  You’ll find them to be a great addition to your fitness program.  They’re not a complicated exercise, but to be worth doing they need to be done correctly.  Maybe after this article I won’t see any more bad push-ups?  Naw, but I can dream!