Have you ever felt, during push-ups, that your thighs were touching the floor, but your arms were almost not bending? We felt it because we didn’t know how to do push-ups correctly. This is the most common strength exercise in the world. But are you sure that you are doing it correctly and getting benefits from it?
In this article, Ebenezer Samuel, Ph.D., a fitness trainer, will explain to you the intricacies of this exercise, which will protect you from wasting time, teach you how to properly do push-ups, help you eliminate mistakes, and allow you to experience your full potential.
Before you go to do push-ups, remember that you must perform all movements carefully, following the technique. You don't just fall to the ground and push yourself back until exhaustion—there are important aspects to keep in mind as well to learn how to quickly and repeatedly do push-ups from scratch.
Push-ups are a simple exercise that effectively pumps up the chest muscles. This is a unique functional load system that can significantly increase physical strength and strengthen the abdominal, leg, arm and pectoral muscles. You can do this movement almost anywhere. No equipment is needed, and even after short-term exercises, life becomes easier and the world becomes brighter.
As you get stronger, the exercise can be made more difficult. They can be done anywhere - just have a flat floor and enough space.
We recommend: the best exercises for the pectoral muscles to increase their mass.
Correct technique
First, we’ll look step by step at what the correct push-up technique looks like, then we’ll learn how to do this exercise even from scratch, when you can’t do a single push-up. Auxiliary movements and cunning advice from experts will help us with this.
Take a face down position on the floor
Keep your feet together. The center of gravity should be concentrated in the chest area. Place your hands shoulder-width firmly on the floor. Your toes will help you maintain balance in your lower back. Tighten your guts (your abs should be tense as if you were about to punch someone), engage your glutes and hamstrings, and straighten your back so that your entire body is as straight as possible.
Place your hands on the floor with your palms approximately shoulder-width apart. They should be located close to the shoulders, and the elbows should be directed back along the body.
If you're on a relatively soft surface, such as a mat or rug, you can also use your fists instead of your palms. This will make the exercise a little more difficult. If you are doing the exercise on a less soft surface, then try buying push-up brackets that are shaped like doorknobs. They are placed on the floor to get a better grip.
We bend our toes upward, that is, towards the head. The toe of the foot should touch the floor.
Lowering
Start going down. Keep your back straight, don’t strain your neck too much, and at this time focus your eyes at a distance of about thirty centimeters in front of you - until your chest touches the floor. Strictly ensure that your lower back does not sag or protrude. The body should be a continuous straight line from head to toe. Pull your shoulder blades back and down, pressing your elbows to your sides.
Lift yourself off the floor with your arms
By this time, your weight should be supported on your hands and toes. From head to toe, your body should be in a straight line. To do this, tighten your abdominal muscles to prevent your hips from sinking toward the floor. Keeping your abdominal muscles tense, exhale and return to the starting position. Imagine that your hands seem to be passing through the ground. That's all! Repeat the exercise as many times as possible, but at least ten.
Choose the option that suits you best
There are actually three variations of the simple push-up that target different muscles. Difference in hand position when performing the exercise. The closer your hands are to each other when performing the exercise, the more work the triceps will do. And the wider your arms are, the more your chest will work.
- Classic: hands are almost shoulder-width apart, but slightly wider. Here both arms and chest are evenly loaded.
- Diamond: The hands are placed so that the fingers form a diamond shape. Keep your arms directly under your chest. This will force you to work your arms much harder than doing regular push-ups.
- Wide-arm push-ups: Place your hands much wider than shoulder-width apart. With this exercise, the chest is mainly loaded, and little effort is required from the arms.
Advantages and disadvantages
Reverse push-ups are considered one of the best triceps exercises. Among the benefits of push-ups:
- involving all triceps bundles in the work, this is a very powerful exercise for the triceps muscle; in addition to the main muscles, small ones are well loaded - stabilizers, which are difficult to reach with other movements,
- the ability to perform “failures” both in the gym and at home, any place that requires support is suitable for training, even training with additional weight at home or in nature will not require significant preparation for classes - no more effort is needed than in the gym , a barbell plate, a dumbbell, or a bottle of water can act as a weight,
- the ability to use weights allows you to progress constantly – subject to other conditions,
- absence of impulse phases - this allows you to maintain constant tension in the muscles, which leads to greater training efficiency,
- great variability of execution - you can change the position of the arms and legs, the amount of additional equipment and intensity,
- relative ease of implementation - the ability to train triceps even for the most untrained beginners, having achieved a certain progress, a novice athlete is able to take on more complex exercises - close-grip press, French press, dips, etc., at the same time, reverse push-ups allow you to load high-quality triceps even for advanced athletes - just change the execution option and training program,
- well suited for women, the triceps area in women is a problem area in which a fat layer is formed; after menopause, fat in this area often disappears, leaving behind flabby, stretched skin, reverse push-ups from the bench are a simple and reliable way to get muscles and skin in order, make your triceps attractive and functional,
- the exercise contributes to the growth of strength indicators in the bench press, the connection of stabilizer muscles is both an opportunity to increase the volume of the arms and the key to increasing the strength base,
- push-ups are a good alternative to the close-grip bench press, if the athlete has problems with the hands, the “narrow” press overloads the wrist joints, which can lead to injuries, in this case an equally effective exercise will be a replacement,
- dips on bench stretch the chest - this is especially true for young athletes whose chest is susceptible to expansion through push-ups, pullovers, etc.
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Any exercise must be performed thoughtfully. Including reverse push-ups - benefits can be harmful. Lack of flexibility of the shoulder joints and problems in this area in general is a reason to refuse this movement or perform it with extreme caution.
By descending too deeply, you can injure the weakest part of the delta – the rotator cuff. If you have shoulder problems, it is recommended to choose dips. This is a more difficult, but less traumatic exercise in the mentioned context.
How to do push-ups correctly
Learn to do the plank
Ebenezer Samuel says push-ups are not just an exercise for the chest muscles. This exercise works the entire body evenly (or at least it should). Therefore, start doing push-ups from the correct plank position: the shoulder muscles are tense, the buttocks too, the abdominal muscles are tense. Check out a more detailed guide on how to do planks correctly.
Lie on the floor with your toes touching the floor
Support your body slightly above the floor using your arms. Lower your torso towards the floor. Lower yourself until your elbows form a 90-degree angle. Keep your elbows closer to your body - then the effect of the exercise will be greater. It's important to keep your head up. A good way to do this is to hold your head with the tip of your nose pointing straight ahead. Keep your body in a plank position - don't drop your hips down or lift them up. Keeping your body straight is the most important aspect of the push-up. Continue to breathe normally during the exercise.
When you do push-ups, go as low as possible. Your chest should be just a few centimeters off the floor at its lowest point. Remember that your entire body should lie in a straight line.
Rise up from the floor using your hands
Exhale as you push away. The force for lifting in this case is produced by the muscles of the shoulders and chest, which work in tandem. The triceps (the muscle on the back of the arm) also tenses, but in this case it does not play a primary role. Resist the temptation to use your buttocks or abdominal muscles to lift. Continue pushing off the floor with your hands only. Push up until your arms are almost completely straight, but don't straighten them all the way.
Perform the same movement again and again, counting the repetitions
Work at a constant speed, without jerking. Continue until you complete the set number of repetitions or are completely exhausted.
Basic mistakes and how to fix them
Sagging or arching in the lower back
How to fix: First of all, push-ups strengthen the pectoral muscles, shoulders, and triceps. But other parts of the body are also involved in this process.
Pay special attention to strengthening your buttocks and legs. And instead of letting your hips hit the floor first, always make sure your chest hits the floor first and your hips are in line with your shoulders.
Holding your breath
How to fix: Concentrating on working the muscles of the body and numerous repetitions, it is very easy to forget about one of the most important parts of the work process - breathing.
Here's how to breathe correctly when doing push-ups: inhale as you lower your torso and exhale as you rise.
Strong extension of the elbows to the sides
How to fix: Undoubtedly, holding your arms exclusively at a ninety-degree angle is very difficult, because it puts a colossal load on the shoulders. Instead of forming a "T" with your body and arms, try keeping your elbows at a 20-40 degree angle from your torso.
Cheating or coasting
How to fix: Make sure that with every push-up, without exception, your chest touches the floor and your elbows are as high as possible. Incorrect, ridiculous attempts to make the exercise easier will delay the prospect of getting beautiful, sculpted muscles.
Strong neck tension and forehead resting on the floor
How to Fix: If you've ever felt pain in your neck while doing push-ups, you probably weren't keeping your neck in a neutral position. This can be corrected by choosing a certain point half a meter in front of you. If this doesn't help and the neck twisting sensation persists, the full push-up exercise may be too difficult at this point. Try to exercise on your knees until your physical fitness allows you to switch to the standard version.
Placing hands beyond shoulder level
How to fix: At first glance, it may seem easier to shift your body weight back a little. But if you don't place your hands directly under your shoulders, it can compromise your technique and take pressure off your chest. To correct, move your body forward slightly so that your shoulders are directly above your wrists to perform a proper push-up.
Fourth block
In this block we will look at various variations of burpees.
Classic burpee. Burpee with jumping over a curbstone.
- After the push-ups, you need to stand up and jump onto a raised platform. We jump over the pedestal in two stages. First we jump on it and only then we jump on the other side.
Backflip burpee.
- The exercise perfectly develops endurance and functional readiness of the body.
Simplified types of push-ups for beginners
From my knees
If you are not yet trained enough to do them the standard way, try this simplified version. Place your weight on your knees, not your toes. Perform the push-up as you would normally, and when you can easily do a push-up on your knees, move on to the standard version.
At an angle
Perform push-ups on an incline. Push-ups become easier if you do them with your hands higher than your feet. Find any incline or place your hands on an exercise bench. Then you can do a simplified version of push-ups until you are trained enough to do regular push-ups.
What is the essence of reverse push-ups?
Reverse triceps push-ups, or dips on bench, or “dips” are an exercise that is performed using a bench. Depending on the execution options, it can be aimed at developing strength and mass, endurance or muscle tone.
By doing push-ups, men can get beautiful, voluminous and strong arms, and women can get toned triceps. The exercise can be performed in any conditions. The idea is to use your own weight or additional weights to push up from a bench or bar located behind your body.
Advanced push-up variations
With clap
Push off the ground with such force that you can rise into the air and perform a clap with your hands. This exercise fits into the program as a plyometric exercise.
Diamond
In a plank position, place your hands next to each other under your chest in a diamond shape. Now perform a push-up as you would normally do, but do not change the position of your hands. This requires you to apply a lot more force through your arms. But you can also help with the pectoral muscles, moving them together. It is important not to change the position of your hands.
"Scorpion"
Start in a standard push-up position. When you're all the way down, lift one leg off the floor, bend your knee, and lift it toward your back. You can also move it a little to the side. Perform several repetitions for each leg. It is better to perform repetitions alternately for each leg.
"Spider-Man"
To do this, get into a standard push-up position. Once you've finished lowering like a regular push-up, lift one leg off the floor and bring your knee to your side. It should reach almost to the shoulder. Perform several repetitions on each leg, alternating legs. If you do them correctly, these exercises should engage your core and, to a lesser extent, the pectoral and upper body muscles.
On one hand
Spread your legs wider than usual (for better balance), place one hand on your back, and do a push-up with the other hand.
On fists
Instead of resting on the palms of your hands, rest on your fists, using the knuckles of your first two fingers to support your weight. This is a good way to strengthen your fists for other sports such as martial arts or boxing.
On fingers
You can also try push-ups on the tips of your fingers, but keep in mind that very few people can do this, because it requires a lot of physical strength.
With feet on support
You can also perform a variation of push-ups with your feet raised on a stand. The intensity of the exercise can be increased by raising your feet on the bench. The higher your legs are raised above the floor, the more difficult the exercise becomes. Instead of a bench, you can use a fitness ball - this variation forces the torso muscles to work.
Fifth block
We perform the following push-ups on the TRX simulator. These exercises will develop coordination, balance and stabilizer muscles. All push-ups are done with the legs locked in loops.
Classic push-ups.
- The lower back should not bend when performing.
Push-ups with knee to elbow.
- After doing push-ups, you need to alternately bend your left and then your right knee, pulling it towards your hand.
Push-ups with legs pulled to chest.
- This exercise also pumps up the abdominal muscles.
Jumping handstand push-ups.
- The important thing here is to maintain balance and land gently on your palm.
Handstand push-ups with clap.
- A more complicated version of jumping push-ups will require skill.
Photo: istockphoto.com
Expert advice
- Keep your body straight.
The most common mistake I see in gyms is allowing your hips to rise too high or drop too low. When you do a push-up, you must maintain a plank position so that your body creates one straight line that you lift and lower. - Move your shoulder blades: Ebenezer also noted that one of the most common mistakes when performing push-ups is trying to arch your back. This is absolutely not worth doing. If you do this, you will not be able to move your shoulders properly, which will make the push-up difficult. Rotator cuff problems can also develop because every time you do a push-up incorrectly, you force the shoulder joint to move in an unnatural way. Imagine having a nut between your shoulder blades that you need to squeeze as you lower yourself to the floor. Keep this picture in mind as you perform push-ups. As you lower yourself to the floor, tighten your back muscles, and then come back, unclenching your shoulder blades.
- Make sure you go low enough.
As you lower your body toward the floor, you must move through the entire range of motion and touch the floor, whether it be your nose, chest, or forehead. - If you cannot do the full amplitude, use a stand.
If you can't do full push-ups, find some kind of support, such as a chair, sofa or bench. Ab also believes that putting your knees on the floor when performing push-ups is not the best way to simplify the exercise, which is something people often try to do when mastering the movement, which is why they have difficulty transitioning from a knee push-up to a normal push-up. Much of the difficulty comes from not training the glutes and core enough and therefore lacking stability. Instead of starting your push-up journey from your knees, start on a bench - place your hands on the bench and perform push-ups. Slowly move from a high bench to a lower bench until you can perform push-ups. This will allow you to work with less load, but will not prevent you from training your core. At the gym, you can use a barbell to simulate push-ups.
About the benefits of exercise
By performing push-ups with a narrow hand position, you have a positive effect on the entire body. He becomes stronger and more resilient. The muscles form a dense frame, strengthening the bones. Metabolism also improves, which means you can forget about extra pounds for a long time.
It also has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system. Blood circulation improves, the body is saturated with oxygen. The risk of developing strokes and heart attacks is reduced.
At the same time, the back muscles are trained, which means problems with the spine are eliminated. Posture becomes more stately, and the risk of developing or progressing scoliosis is reduced.
The exercise is especially useful for people over 30 years old. It is after this age that the body begins to lose up to 2% of muscle mass annually. The consequence of this is not only excess weight, but also the development of certain diseases, such as atherosclerosis.
How to do push-ups with narrow hands on the triceps
One small fix can remove a problem you didn't even know existed.
The close-arm push-up is a good addition to your workout routine. This exercise will help you strengthen your triceps and generally pump up your arm muscles, but are you doing this exercise correctly?
When performing this exercise, you must ensure that the technique is completely correct - especially since this movement is so beneficial for the triceps. That's why Ebenezer Samuel explains to you how to properly perform triceps diamond push-ups, walks you through all the details, and helps you avoid the mistakes that are holding you back from toning your backside.
Remember the bar
Push-ups with close hands, like any other, should begin from a correctly performed plank pose. The better you hold the plank, the more tense your torso is, and the better you get a straight line from your shoulders to your legs, the greater the load on the muscles, and the greater the effect of the exercise.
Sagging in the pelvic area is a sign that you are not giving the triceps the necessary load. So start in a strong plank and tighten your abs and glutes to keep this pose constant throughout all the reps.
Diamond push-ups should not be performed
Ab also noted that at the gym you will see some people doing diamond push-ups. They bring their hands together as close as possible so that the fingers create the shape of a diamond. They think this is the only way to stimulate the triceps. But you shouldn't do that.
Remember that your triceps are responsible for straightening your elbows, so all you have to do during push-ups is to make sure that your elbows do not stick out to the sides. Then the pectoral muscles and elbows will be loaded evenly. To do this, simply place your hands slightly narrower than shoulder width.
Move your elbows
Ab believes elbow position is key. It is the position of the elbows that makes the main difference between this exercise and regular push-ups. Make sure your triceps do most of the work. To do this, simply do not use the chest muscles - the work will automatically be done by the triceps.
The elbows should be kept close to the torso both as you lower to the floor and, more importantly, as you rise back to the starting position. Make sure that your arms move only in the sagittal direction. The better you follow these simple rules, the better your push-ups will be, and the more your triceps will work.
Is there any way to speed up muscle growth?
Concluding the publication on the topic “how to pump up your shoulders with push-ups,” we will give some practical tips to speed up the results:
- Don't neglect strength training. Push-ups mean doing exercises with your own weight. Without weights, it is impossible to build muscle relief;
- Visit the gym at least 2 times a week - work out with barbells, dumbbells, and exercise machines;
- Consult with experienced trainers to help you create an effective training program for target muscles;
- Follow a sports diet rich in proteins, minerals and vitamins;
- Choose high-quality sports nutrition for yourself.
So, we have found out that shoulder push-ups alone cannot replace a full-fledged workout in the gym. However, they are very effective as an additional load, which will increase the athlete's endurance, strength and muscle elasticity. And without these factors, not a single lesson will be carried out efficiently and effectively.
