Push Up Regressions To Get You Stronger
It’s time to master the pushup! It can be difficult to do properly, especially if you have spent your entire life doing it with improper form. Take your time, learn the form, and build up the strength.
Let’s start with your palms flat on the ground, corkscrew the elbows in so that the crook of your elbow is facing forward. Next, lock in your perfect plank further by engaging your core and tucking your hips. As you descend, keep the elbows from flying out to the side. The goal is to keep the elbows off of the ribcage anywhere from 30-45 degrees, wherever they fall naturally. The reason we do this is to minimize the pressure placed on the shoulders like you would get when your elbows are directly next to your shoulders. It’s also to lock the shoulders into the correct position, as well as keep the lats locked. Focus on the muscles you should be using. The prime mover of the pushup is the chest, so think about those muscles firing as you move. The pushup utilizes other muscle groups like your triceps and shoulders as accessory muscles, but the majority of your energy comes from the Pectoralis Major. And remember, you MUST use the full range of motion! You will only get strong in the range of motion that you use, so if you are forever descending an inch or two, you aren’t going to get better. Drop, tap your nose on the ground and come back up without your hips dropping.
The ideal pushup happens with nothing but your palms and toes on the group, but this does NOT have to be your starting point. If you cannot do a pushup properly in this position, then you are not doing a pushup and you aren’t gaining anything from the exercise. It is OK to take it down to a less intense version to learn the form and build the strength. The easiest option is to perform your pushups on the wall so you can control how much of a decline you are working on and therefore how much resistance/weight you are working against. The next progression is to work on the eccentric portion of the movement. On the ground, whether on your knees or toes (knees of course being easier) control the downward motion; take 3 seconds or longer to descend to the bottom, drop to the ground, then reset. If you start on your knees, your next progression is to take it to your toes. Once you have mastered both of these steps, it’s time to work more closely with the full pushup. Start on your toes, control down to the ground, drop to the knees to push yourself back up, then pop back up on the toes and start the next rep.
For more information, check out my video!
