How to Do Push-ups

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This article was co-written by Laila Ajani. Laila Ajani is a fitness trainer and founder of Push Personal Fitness, a personal training organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Laila has expertise in competitive sports (gymnastics, weightlifting, tennis), personal training, running, and Olympic weightlifting. Laila is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), USA Powerlifting (USAPL) and is a Rehabilitation Exercise Specialist (CES).

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You don’t have to join the Army to get many of the benefits of doing push-ups. Basic push-ups are very effective for strengthening the muscles in the chest and arms, and can easily be increased in intensity as you get stronger. A normal push-up doesn’t require much more than your body weight and arms, and can be done anywhere as long as a place with a firm surface and wide enough for you to stretch out. show action.

Table of Contents

Prepare Push-ups

Bring your body into a prone position, face down on the floor. Keep your feet close together. Your body weight will be on your chest.

Palms down on the ground, hands shoulder-width apart. The position of your hands right next to your shoulders is standard, pointing your elbows towards your toes.
If you’re doing the move on a relatively soft surface, like a floor mat, you can also increase the challenge yourself by making a fist and using your knuckles for push-ups. If you must exercise on a hard surface, consider purchasing a push-up handle (the shape resembles a floor-mounted handle).
Bend your toes upwards (towards your head). The cushion of your foot should touch the floor.

Lift yourself up with your hands. At this point, your body weight is supported by your hands and footrests. Keep your body straight from head to toe, and contract your stomach to keep your hips from buckling. This pose is known as the “plank pose” and is used in various exercises. This is the beginning and end of a push-up.

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Choose the best push-up position for you. There are actually three different ways push-ups are used to build muscle. The difference between those moves is the placement of your hands in the “plank” position. The closer your hand is to your body, the more your triceps will be involved in the movement. The farther the hands are placed, the greater the impact on the chest muscles.

Regular style: Your hands should be slightly wider than shoulders. The movement will work both your arms and chest.
Diamond Style: Place your hands together to form a diamond shape, keeping it straight and at chest level. This move makes your hands more active than doing a standard push-up.
Wide-sleeve style: place your hands wide beyond your shoulders. This move is big on the chest and requires less hand strength.

Do Basic Push-ups

Lower your torso to the ground until your elbows form a 90-degree angle. Keep your elbows close to your body to increase resistance. Always keep your head looking forward. Try to keep the tip of your nose always facing forward. Stay in a “plank” position—don’t let your hips sag. Inhale as you lower yourself.

The stopping distance between you and the floor depends on your strength and body shape, a good distance you should try to achieve is to have your chest a fist off the ground.

Lift yourself up by applying thrust to the ground. Exhale forcefully as you push. That push comes from your shoulders and chest. The triceps (the muscles of the back of the arm) are also involved but not the main muscle group used. Don’t use force from your butt and abdomen. Continue pushing until your arms are almost straight (but not locked).

Repeat the downward push up at a steady pace. Each down and up counts as one push-up. Continue doing it until the number of repetitions or as much as your body can do.

Do Advanced Push-ups

Clapping push-ups. Push yourself up with enough force that you can clap your hands in the air. This exercise can be used for strength training.

Diamond push-ups. When you’re in the plank position, bring your hands together to form a diamond shape and start doing push-ups. This move requires great strength and force.

Scorpion push-up. Start with a standard push-up or some other similar basic movement. As you’re in the lower position, raise one leg and bend forward so your knee points back and to the side. Repeat for each leg or alternate between legs.

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Spider-Man push-ups. Start with a standard push-up or some other similar basic movement. Start with a basic push-up or something else. When you’re in a low position, lift one of your legs off the floor and pull your knee to the side next to your shoulder. Repeat for each leg or alternate between legs. If done correctly, this move will develop core muscle groups plus your upper body.

One-handed push-ups. Spread your legs wider than normal (for balance), place one arm behind your back, and begin using the force of one hand to push up.

Knuckle push-ups. Instead of using the hands to do the movement, we put our weight on the fist and use the first two knuckles of each hand to push up. This move requires a lot of hand and wrist strength, and is a way to train your knuckles used in boxing or martial arts.

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Finger push-ups. If you are a very healthy person, try push-ups with your fingers instead of using your hands or knuckles.

High leg push-ups. You can increase the difficulty of pushups by placing your feet in a higher position.

Make Push-ups Easier

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Knee push-ups. If you can’t do a full-body push-up yet, try placing your body weight on your knees instead of the pads of your feet. Do the push-ups as you normally would until you’ve mastered them and done them easily, then you can do your usual push-ups.

Push-up type on inclined plane. You can do push-ups more easily when you place your hands on something slightly higher than your feet. Find an incline like an incline or something else in the house to practice before you’re ready for a regular push-up.

Advice

If you have a wall mirror, use it to check your posture.
Focus on using your pectoral muscles, squeezing them while pushing, your pectoral muscles will grow faster. If you don’t know how to press your chest muscles, do simple push-ups first. You should do push-ups in front of a mirror so you can focus on using your chest muscles. You should also eat something before your workout.
Warm up before exercise. Warm up your arms with stretches and twists to stretch. Warming up will help your body minimize injury and your muscles will warm up ready for exercise. ^{[1] X Research Source} You can do more lift/push/pull/etc if you do your warm-up properly instead of jumping straight into the workout in the first place. Warm up your hands and wrists – these are the main joints used for push-ups. After finishing the exercise, remember to do more relaxing and relaxing movements.
When you’re new to push-ups, it’s best to choose a soft surface (such as a thin mat or yoga mat) to practice, as it will be more comfortable for your wrists.
One of the strengths of push-ups is that we can do them anywhere. You just need to find a spot where you can lie down, free of obstructions. The floor surface should be firm and non-slip. It’s best to choose a surface that you’re comfortable with when you put your hand on—for example, a surface that’s free of gravel.
Usually, push-ups are difficult to practice with correct posture, especially for beginners. If you find yourself shaking while performing the movement properly and slowly, you’re probably training too hard (or you haven’t warmed up well enough!).
Start by dropping your lower body slowly, and over time you will find it easier to do push-ups.
Use a chair to put your feet higher.
Start the workout by placing your upper body higher and gradually lower your body as you work out.

Warning

Stop if your lower back gets tired. Do not over exert yourself as this may cause injury.
Place your hands closer together to increase the difficulty and descend. If you put your hands too close together, it will make it difficult for you to balance your upper body and make it difficult to lift, the force will be directly applied to the bones of the arms and shoulders. This can cause bone pain after a workout or shoulder problems over a long period of time. The danger varies from person to person and to varying degrees. A general guide for you is: When you put your hands on the floor, extend your thumbs over the direction of the other hand, if your two thumbs touch, your hand has reached the limit. If you want to put your hands closer to increase the difficulty, check out the ways to increase the difficulty of push-ups. Clap push-ups are a good method for this option. As you do push-ups, focus your will, keeping your hands and body in place.
When you do any exercise, if you feel tense/or suddenly you feel chest pain/or shoulder pain, stop the exercise immediately! If you feel pain in your chest/shoulder, you’ve probably done your push-ups too hard or you’re just not ready to do the exercise you’re doing. You need to do a different, lighter exercise to support the pectoral muscles in the push-up. If the pain is somewhere else, you may have done something wrong. If the pain persists, consult your doctor.

Steps