The Push Up exercise has been around for hundreds of years.
It’s a great conditioning exercise for most muscles of the body and requires no equipment.
In this post I’m going to break down this excellent exercise and show you not only how to perform it effectively but how to design your own push up workouts to get to that magical 100 push ups in one go!
Muscles Involved During the Push Up
The Push Up is a full body exercise that works lots of major muscle groups including:
- Pectorals – these are your fan shaped chest muscles and are heavily used in all pushing exercises.
- Triceps – another pushing muscle attached to the back of the arm. The triceps work hard at straightening the arm. So if you don’t fully straighten the arm you won’t get the most out of these muscles.
- Deltoids – the shoulder muscles play a large role in all pushing exercises but also in the stabilisation of the upper body to maintain alignment during the exercise
- Serratus Anterior – these muscles on either side of the rib cage attach to the shoulder blade and prevent it from winging during movement. Well developed serratus anterior muscles look like a bunch of bananas just underneath the arm pit. Nice!
- Abdominals – there is loads of core involvement in the push up. From the Push up position gravity forces the hips to the floor and it’s your core muscles that prevent this from happening. You can think of the Push up as a moving plank exercise from the hands.
- Glutes – the large buttock muscles are responsible for extending the hip and stabilising the core. When you hold your body in the straight position of a Push up it is your Glutes that are keeping your hips extended and in line.
- Latisimus Dorsi – these large wing like muscles on the back of the body run from your arm down to your buttocks. Not only do they create internal rotation of the arm but they help with stabilisation all the way down to the buttocks too!
- Secondary Muscles – there are so many more muscles involved in the push up that also help with correct alignment and stabilisation. The back of the body is actually more involved that you might first imagine.
How to Do the Perfect Push Up
The Push up is so much more than going down and up a few times.
Lets break it down and see how to perform the exercise correctly:
1. Hands
Hand position can vary and as a general rule the closer your hands are together the more Triceps engagement.
The wider the hands the more you use your shoulders.
More on the different types of Push Ups later.
For now lets stick with hands shoulder width apart and directly underneath the shoulders too. Fingertips should be facing forwards.
If you struggle with painful wrists then you can try forming a fist and doing your push ups off your fists.
Use a mat or towels underneath the fists to make this more comfortable.
Another option for sore wrists is to try using Push Up bars that put the hands in a different position that some people find more tolerable.
2. Feet
Keeping the feet together will better engage your core muscles but if you find this a bit too wobbly then separate the feet to a comfortable distance.
You may have seen people performing push ups with one foot on top of the other or raised in the air, these variations produce less stability for the feet and challenge the core muscles and shoulder muscles to stabilise more during the movement.
3. Shoulder Blades
During the push up movement your shoulder blades will want to wing out or stick out backwards. Winging scapular are very common and often down to weak serratus anterior muscles so it is very important that you work hard to keep your back flat during the movement.
As you think about the middle of your back between your shoulder blades you want to actively push this area up and do not allow this section to sag down as you get tired. Ensure you finish the top part of the movement by pushing up through the middle back.
4. Body Alignment
When in the starting position of the Push Up there should be a straight line from head to heel. You can test this position by having a friend lay a broom stick along your back and by following their feedback you can adjust your position accordingly.
Strong activation or bracing through the abdominal muscles and a contraction through the buttocks should bring everything into alignment.
If during the exercise your posture changes and your lower back begins to arch then it’s time to stop. An arching lower back is usually a sign of core weakness and you may be better working on core strengthening exercises first before progressing with the push up.
5. Head
The head and neck alignment should continue the straight line from the heels. A good rule of thumb is to look down just in front of your hands.
Keep the head still throughout the whole movement, you should not be bobbing around during the exercise even as you get tired.
Those ‘piece of junk’ Ab Rollers are often to blame for weak neck muscles during these type of exercises. Remember you are only as strong as your weakest link!
6. Arms
The elbows should not be pushed out during the down and up phase of the exercise. You never push something with your elbows splayed apart so now is not the time to start. Keep your elbows in close to your body for a more favourable shoulder joint angle.
On the downward phase of the Push Up screw your hands into the floor towards the body this will activate your Latisimus Dorsi muscles down the back and side of your body. You should feel the muscles just underneath your armpits activate as you pull yourself down towards the floor.
At the top of the movement you should aim to straighten the arms. Don’t snap the elbow back but ensure that they straighten in order to activate the Triceps muscles at the back of the arms.
7. Speed
You can perform the push up at lots of different speeds but I would recommend a controlled pace of 2 seconds down and 2 seconds up. Do not let your body fall to the floor.
Pull the body down under control. It is during the downward phase that you actually gain more strength so don’t miss out on half the exercise by dropping to the floor.
As you become more advanced at the push up your can lower yourself slowly and push back up more explosively, but to begin with you are better focusing on technique and controlling the movement.
8. Depth
Your goal should be to reach a 90 degree angle at the elbow. If you go much deeper than this you increase the risk of damaging soft tissue and ligaments. Be particularly careful if using push up bars which produce the tendency to go too deep.
If you need a depth guide you can put a rolled up towel underneath the chest and aim to touch it with your sternum every repetition.
9. Breathing
As you descend down into the push up take a deep breath in and as you push up from the floor breath out.
When performing more strength based push up variations like claps and plyo push ups then you may need to hold the breath for a split second just to get maximum core tension.
The reason why you need to hold the breath is because the diaphragm acts as a secondary core stabiliser so it’s not possible to both breathe consistently and perform the exercise at maximum effort.
Here’s a video on how to perform the perfect push up:
Description from the Audio
Next, we’ve got the popular push up or the press up. Now, it’s a very strong exercise for developing the chest, the triceps, or the back of the arms, but, in particular, the core.
Most people don’t realize it’s a powerful core exercise as well. And, you can develop the lats down the side of the body if you do the exercise correctly.
So, this is how it’s done:
- You’re going to start by putting your body into a nice straight line.
- Weight on the outside of the hands.
- Hips down.
- There should be a line from your shoulders down to your heels.
- Core is nice and tight.
- From here, you take a deep breath in.
- Then, rotate the hands inwards as if you’re trying to protect your armpits to active your lats as you pull yourself down.
- Don’t fall down.
- So, breathe in.
- Pull yourself down as you rotate.
- And then breathe out as you push up.
- So, breathe in. Protect the armpits and rotate the arms inwards and breathe out on the way up.
Now, that’s the basic push up.
A lot of people don’t pull themselves down. They fall down. You should try to go down slowly and push up explosively if you can.
Now, if you can’t manage a full push up, don’t worry. You can do a half push up or a seal push up as it’s called.
Exactly the same position with the hands except this time you’re going to be on the knees. You can cross the legs over if you want. Importantly, make sure you’ve got that straight line from shoulder down to the back of your knees. And then the same things apply.
- Breathe in.
- Rotate the arms in as you pull yourself down.
- Chest to the floor, if possible, and breathe out.
Very important that you try to get the chest nice and low. No good doing half push ups.
So, that is the two variations of push ups. You’re going to do 50 of those in total. Good luck with that. You’re going to enjoy it.
What if you Cannot Do 1 Push Up
Many people struggle to perform just 1 perfect push up.
In particular ladies find the push up more difficult due to the lack of strength. No I’m not being sexist here, men naturally have more upper body strength.
If you struggle with the Push Up then you need to regress the movement in order to perform it correctly and avoid getting injured and forming bad habits.
Here’s how to do it:
- Wall Push Ups: start by performing push ups with your hands against a wall and feet 3 feet from the wall. When you can perform 20 repetition move onto the next level
- Table Push Ups: next perform the push up with your hands on the side of a table. Ensure the table is against a wall so it does not slip. After 20 repetitions move to the next stage
- Stool or Chair Push Ups: the final stage is taking the hands even lower onto a chair or stool. Once you can complete 20 repetitions move down onto the floor
- Half or Seal Push Ups: you may not need this stage but if so perform the push ups off your knees. Its very important that you maintain a straight line from head to knees even during this version of the push up
Here’s a quick video on how to use stairs to progress your push ups:
