Hey Guys!!! Happy Monday again! Hope you all had a lovely Easter. Did the Easter bunny bring you any goodies??? I was pleasantly surprised to find some dark chocolate Lindt bunnies at 50% off yesterday and took it as a sign that I needed chocolate. But now it’s time to put chocolate consumption aside and get on with some motivation!
When I was studying to be a personal trainer, we used to refer to Mondays at the gym as ‘International Chest Press Day’. Feeling guilty from a weekend of overindulgence and inactivity, scores of stocky men would waltz upstairs to the weights area to perform bench presses, cable flyes, and dips to their chest hearts content. After successfully training their chest into submission, they would fluff themselves up like a bird, pose in the mirror and call it a day.
The Jersey Shore Boys hit the gym to keep themselves looking FTD
At peak hours in the evening it seemed as if testosterone outweighed the oxygen content in the room. Being about a tenth of the size of these men, I sometimes felt out of place in the weights section. But I figured I had just as much right to be there as they did! I started to watch their routines and take note of the exercises they performed, which made me notice something. None of these men included the push-up in their training routine!!! They could all bench press like a gazillion pounds, but could they lift their own bodyweight with perfect form?
The push-up is a great addition to a fitness program for many reasons. It is a great upper body strength move working the chest and arms, but also engages other large muscle groups including the abdominals, hips, and legs. Push-ups are also considered a benchmark physical strength and stamina. According to fitness pioneer Jack Lalanne, “It takes strength to do them, and it takes endurance to do a lot of them,” (source). And he would know, at age 42, he completed 1,033 push-ups in 23 minutes!
Jack Lalanne demonstrates fingertip pushups
Being able to properly execute a push-up is essential to working the right muscles while avoiding injury. That’s why today I’m getting back to basics and will be explaining the perfect technique along with some modifications and progressions to suit each fitness level. So let’s get started.
The Perfect Push-up
- Hand Placement: Lie face down on the floor with legs extended out behind you. Place your hands just outside your shoulders with finger tips pointing straight forward, and elbows tucked in close to your sides. This is the correct hand placement for a standard push-up. (For variations see below)
- Foot Placement: Feet can be positioned in a few different ways. Ideally feet should remain together at the midline of the body, however, to increase stability you can separate your feet slightly. Separating your feet may also help to prevent arching of the back by forcing your abdominals to engage more.
- Body Position: Body should remain in one long line from the head to the heels. This position should be maintained throughout the entire movement.
- Head Position: Head should remain in a neutral position and be in line with the body throughout the movement. To keep your head still focus on one point as you execute the movement.
- Top Position: At the top position, the arms should be straight, with body in a tightened plank position. Avoid locking the elbows to maintain tension in the working muscles.
- Bottom Position: Your arms should be bent and creating a 90 degree angle (upper arms parallel with the floor). Elbows should be slightly tucked to reduce strain on the joint. Body should still remain in one long line.
- Timing: Perform the push-up in a slow controlled manner, taking 2 seconds on the downward portion (inhale here) and 2 seconds on the upward portion (exhale here).
Common faults
- Sydney Harbour Bridge – Hips are too high and abs are not engaged.
- Sagging Hips – Hips too low putting strain on the lower back.
- Squishy bum syndrome – glutes are not engaged putting more strain on lower back.
- Chicken feeder – poking head forward and down during the movement causing poor body alignment.
- Fast & furious – Doing reps too quickly and not achieving a full range of motion.
Variations
- Modified knee push-up: Place knees on the floor, keeping body in a long line and perform pushups as described above.
- Modified push-ups against a wall: Place feet hip width apart, and hands on a wall in front of you at shoulder height. Hands should be slightly wider than shoulders. Perform push-ups by bending your arms and bringing your chest towards the wall, creating a 90 degree angle in your arms. Pause and return to the start position.
- Triceps push-up: Create a diamond shape with your hands by connecting the thumbs and pointer fingers of your left and right hand. Line up the diamond shape so that your thumbs are in alignment with the middle of your chest. Keeping elbows tucked closely by your sides, perform the push-up as described above.
Mastering the perfect push-up comes with time and practice, but keep at it! Set yourself a target of how many push-ups you would like to be able to complete without stopping and with perfect form. Not sure where to start? Here’s a calculator to tell you how many push-ups you should be doing if you are in good shape.
Now drop and give me 20!!!
I’d like some advice, and a little help if you could. can I email you?
Yes of course! Look forward to hearing from you
This is a great post! Form is so key so it’s nice to see all the examples and modifications.
Thanks! I did these photos after i came home from the gym and holding these poses (especially the down position) for a long time is hard!
Wow, excellent post!! For the last few months, I’ve been doing 50 push-ups (in sets of 10) after my runs. They’re the BEST! But they’re so hard, haha! Your stories about the guys at the gym are hilarious. Love that Jack Lalanne photo! I don’t think I’m strong enough yet to do push-ups on my fingertips
Wow 50 push-ups is great! They really work so many areas of the body don’t they. And Jack is totally a machine…yesterday when searching for the photos I also stumbled across some Youtube videos from the Jack Lalanne show…that man was way ahead of his time! The advice he gives is still very applicable to our lives today
Aaaaaaw – Jack! Love that guy! Great post Sarah – now it’s time to get to work! (For me – hehe)! Happy Monday!!! xo
Happy Monday to you as well! Hope you had a great easter weekend
I luuurve push ups! They make me feel so strong
I can do 4 sets of 10, but only about three months ago I could do just 1 set of 10. So it doesn’t take long to build up that strength.
Go megan! so great to hear you improved so quickly…slowly work towards Jack’s record right?
Jack LaLanne was a motivation and so are you!!! My sister Linda Eichberg and I also teach fitness and led his signature “Jumping Jack’s” on Jack LaLanne Day! I think you and your readers will enjoy reading about it! http://yourpowerfullife.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/a-powerful-life-with-jack-lalanne/
Yours in fitness,
Maria Lauren
That’s awesome!!! I’ll be sure to check it out