By Sam Cortes, Communications Coordinator
Push-ups are a great thing to work on when you have limited equipment and space. They are beneficial for building upper body strength, and when done with proper form, they can also strengthen the lower back and core.
Here are some tips on proper technique and how to progress and build on your strength.
Technique
Place your hands just wider than your shoulders with thumbs around armpit height and your fingers spread wide.
Stack your shoulders right over the hands/wrists. Dig your toes into the floor and engage your quads, core and lats to tighten up the body.
As you descend, the body should be rigid and move as one solid unit with hips in line with shoulders and feet.
You want to keep your shoulders back and down as well as your elbows tracking at approx 45 degrees to optimize pushing strength and protect the shoulders.
Lastly, ensure you are reaching full range of motion coming all the way down with nipple line touching before pushing back up to your starting position.
Progressions
Rather than using a knee push-up, we suggest that you elevate the position of your hands against an object so that you can maintain all the technique points listed above. This will translate better to gaining strength and progressing faster.
As you get stronger, find lower and lower places to put your hands, eventually coming down to the floor.
Here are elevations you can progress with at home. Once you can do 10 unbroken push-ups at one height, move down to the next option.
- kitchen countertop
- Dining room table
- Dining room chair
- Bottom rung or two of stairs
- Floor
If you are already able to do 10 push-ups from the floor, try starting to elevate your feet and even work towards a handstand push-up! Progressions and technique for that is a topic for another blog. 🙂
A Push-Up Workout You Can Start Today
Here is a simple workout that you can do 1-2 times per week and progress your push-up strength.
Every minute, for 10 mins, complete 3-6 pushups. Progress the difficulty with elevation or reps each time until you can complete full reps for the 10 minutes.
Example:
1st workout
Elevation: kitchen counter
Minute 1-10: do 3 push-ups each minute
Note: If this is very easy, increase by a couple reps as shown in workout 2.
2nd workout
Elevation: kitchen counter
Minute 1-10: do 5 push-ups each minute
Note: If this is more difficult, but you’re able to maintain, try a lower elevation next time and remember you can go back down in reps.
Questions about this post? Feel free to reach out! Contact us at fitness@sportmanitoba.ca.
