Push Ups for Beginners
Revised by Stephanie Zaban (Registered Kinesiologist & Masters of Kinesiology)Table of Contents
What Is a Push Up
The Push Up is a bodyweight exercise that involves using your upper body to press yourself off the ground against gravity. It is an upper-body exercise that primarily targets the muscles of the chest and arms. The Push Up is one of the most commonly performed movements inside and outside the gym. Best of all, you don’t need any equipment to do it!
How to Do a Push Up
Follow these simple steps to perform the basic Push Up:
Start in a high plank position, up on your hands and toes with your legs extended straight out behind you. Your elbows should be straight, with your palms open on the ground placed slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. From a side view, your wrists, elbows and shoulders should be in line vertically. Keep your eyes pointed towards the floor to help keep your neck in line with your spine. Brace your core and squeeze your glutes to keep your back straight, creating a straight line from your head down to your heels.
Pinch your shoulder blades together and pull them down away from your ears to keep the shoulders in a strong and healthy position throughout the movement. Lower yourself towards the floor by bending your elbows, shifting forward slightly as you do so. This slight shift forward will help keep your elbows over your wrists for better support and encourage good shoulder positioning. Stop when your chest is hovering just above the ground.
Press with your chest and arms away from the ground back up to the starting position straightening your elbows. Shift back slightly towards the top as your press upwards.
Push Up Form
Exhibiting the proper form throughout the Push Up is imperative to avoiding injury and training a bad movement pattern. Be sure to keep your elbows slightly tucked into your side, or at about 45-degrees rather than flaring out. This will help keep your shoulders from rolling forward into an anteriorly rotated position which may produce pain or injury over time. Keeping your shoulder blades pinched together and pulled down “into your back pockets” will also help with this.
Additionally, keep your feet together or slightly apart. Using a wider stance with your feet can make the Push Up easier.
As you perform the Push Up, remember to keep the core muscles and glutes engaged to keep the lower back in a neutral position. If you cannot keep your hips from dropping, (which results in your lower back over-extending) consider building your strength up by regressing to an easier variation of the Push Up such as the Incline or Knee Push Up. The Knee Push Up reduces the amount of bodyweight you have to press off the ground. Be sure to keep a straight line from your head, through your hips to your knees.
What Muscles Do Push Ups Work
Including the Push Up in your exercise regime will strengthen the following muscles,
Push Up Benefits
The Push Up is an excellent, well rounded upper body exercise that can be performed by most people for a wide range of benefits including:
Increased upper body strength
Increased upper body muscle mass
Increased arm size
Improved endurance
Improved stability
Improved athletic performance
Requires no equipment
Why Is the Push Up Useful
The Push Up is a great starting point for exercise and can be incorporated into different programs or workouts in many ways.
It can easily be incorporated in HIIT or high-intensity workouts, as a primary or secondary movement for strength or power workouts, or can be modified in many ways to further develop specific movements and muscle groups.
Not only can the Push Up be great for building upper body strength, size and power, but it also involves stabilization through the hips, lower back and core. When performed properly, the Push Up can help improve bracing techniques, posture, and full-body strength & stability.
Push Up Variations
Incline Push Up
In this version of the Push Up you are working less against gravity. This is a good way to regress the Push Up if you can’t do the full version, as the greater the incline, the easier it is.
Weighted Push Up
You can add additional resistance to the Push Up by placing weight on your back, wearing a weighted vest, or holding a band in both hands that is wrapped behind your back. There are also weighted push up machines in some gyms that allow you to hang a weight from your chest with a strap.
Overhead Push Up
This variation of the Push Up places more of the load on the upper chest and shoulders, specifically the lateral and posterior deltoid. This is done by bending at the hips, bringing your hands and feet closer together and increasing your torso’s angle from the ground. This brings your arms up overhead and creates a more overhead pressing movement.
Lateral Push Up
This is a single-arm variation of the Push Up performed by setting up with a slightly wider grip and performing a single-arm Push Up. Shift to one side while keeping the opposite hand on the floor and elbow straight.
Push Up Alternatives
How to Build up to a Push Up
Building up to push-ups involves a series of steps that gradually increase the load on your chest, shoulders, and arms until you can perform a push up. If you're a beginner, or recovering from an injury, this is a safe and effective way to gain strength.
Wall Push Ups
Stand arm's length from a wall. Lean forward and place your hands flat on the wall, at shoulder height and shoulder-width apart. Bend your elbows and begin to lean your body towards the wall. Push back to the starting position.
Incline Push Ups
After wall push-ups become comfortable, move to incline push-ups. Use a sturdy bench or table. The mechanics are the same as wall push-ups, but your body is at a steeper angle. This puts more weight on your arms.
Bent Knee Push Ups
Once incline push-ups are manageable, move to the floor for bent knee push-ups. Begin on all fours, with your knees on the ground. Walk your hands out until your body forms a straight line from your knees to your head. Lower yourself until your chest nearly touches the floor, then push back up. Keep your core tight and your hips level.
TRX Push Ups
TRX (Total Resistance exercises) push-ups are performed with your feet on the ground and your hands holding onto the TRX handles, facing the ground. Keep your body straight and push up using your chest and arms. This can be quite challenging, as it requires stability and engages your core.
Full Push Ups
Finally, you're ready for full push-ups. Start in a high plank position, with your palms flat on the ground, hands shoulder-width apart (and directly in line with the shoulders), and your feet close together. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your heels. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor. Keep your elbows close to your body as you do so. Push your body up back to the starting position. Try for as many reps as you can.
What Is the Mike Tyson Push Up
The Mike Tyson Push Up is a combination of a push up and a downward dog. All this requires is placing the feet flat on the wall, performing the push-up, and as you rise, transitioning into a downward dog position with the knees bent instead of fully extended.
The goal of the Mike Tyson push up is to perform it quickly and explosively. That being said, it's also an amazing exercise when done slowly. Make sure you know how to do a push-up and a downward dog before trying this variation.
This variation targets all the upper body muscles, the core, and even some lower body muscles such as the quadriceps.