Push Up Progression

The complete guide to push up progression. Continue reading to learn about the benefits of doing push-ups, the proper form for a push-up and push up progression.

What Are Push-ups?

Push-ups would always top the most-attempted exercise chart! It is that move which is taught as a basic exercise in gyms and schools. 

As per definition, push-ups are a conditioning exercise in which the body is kept in the prone position, moved up and down with hands and feet touching the ground while keeping the rest of the body in a straight line. It is known to be a great exercise for your upper body. The primary muscles that are impacted during a push-up are the pectorals, triceps, and shoulders. Also, it impacts your core muscles to some extent. 

Benefits of Doing Push-Ups

Push-ups are a great upper body movement. Following are the benefits of doing push-ups regularly.

• Builds upper body strength: Doing a push-up requires good strength in your chest, triceps, and shoulders. So, performing push-ups regularly helps in further strengthening these muscles. The strength gain then gets carried over into other activities as well like bench press and burpees. Also, you will be able to easily perform several chores that require strength.
• Improves cardiovascular strength: Push-ups require a number of big muscles to work together which further makes it essential for the heart to pump blood to those muscles in a more efficient way. This, in turn, improves your cardiovascular strength. 
• Needs no equipment: The added advantage of push-ups is that you do not require any equipment or a proper place to perform push-ups. The source of resistance is your own body weight and hence, push-ups can be performed anywhere anytime.  
• Builds confidence: Lifting your own body weight is no easy task. So, with development in strength, when someone is gradually able to lift up their own body weight and progress in a push-up, it helps in boosting their confidence. 
• Easy to progress and modify: Not able to perform a perfect push-up? Not a problem. There are numerous types of easy push-ups, such as knee push-ups. With time, you can modify them to make them hard and more impactful.
• Helps in building core stability: Although major muscles that get impacted during a push-up are the chest, shoulder, and triceps, it also helps in improving your core stability. Eventually, it can work as a foundation in other movements which require higher core stabilization.

Proper Form for a Push-up

Just like any other exercise, doing push-ups with great form is very important. While performing a push-up, your hands and feet should be on the ground and you need to lift up and bring down your body keeping it in a straight line. 

A very interesting technique to improve your push-ups is that you can place a stick on your back from inside your shirt. Now, while performing the push-up, you need to make sure that this stick should always touch at 3 points, namely the back of your head, upper back, and your hips/tailbone. 

Maintaining the whole body in a straight line helps in better core engagement, increases impact on targeted muscles, and allows smooth movement of the whole body as a single unit. 

As the form improves, the stick can be removed, and you can then move to more advanced forms of push-ups.

Related:

Leg workout with dumbbells (The complete guide)

Benefits of lifting heavy weights

Benefits of doing planks

Role of strength training in fat loss

Push-up Progression

Mastering a complete push-up can be a little tricky. Hence, it will take time to acquire the progression technique. Below are some exercises and forms of push-ups that can be attempted before proceeding to an actual push-up. A person can simply follow all the steps or miss some as per their level of fitness.

• High plank hold

High plank hold plays a very important role while practicing push-up. One of the most crucial parts of a push-up is to maintain the body in a straight line, keeping your core rigid which is just like doing a plank.

 So, a high plank hold is simply keeping toes and palms on the ground and lifting up your body in the prone position with a slight but constant bend in elbows. Chin should be slightly tucked in so as to keep the spine neutral. Try to engage your core and glutes as well, and hold the movement for as long as possible. If keeping palms on the floor feels too challenging, then they can be placed on an elevated surface as well like a chair.

This hold will eventually help you in building strength in your arms to carry the body weight. 

• Wall push-ups

 Now, once a person has developed some strength by doing a high plank hold, it’s time to test it. Simply stand few feet away from a wall facing it and try to lean your upper body towards the wall maintaining your whole body in a straight line. Hands should be placed at the side of the shoulders and should touch the wall.  Now, with your hands, try to push the wall in a way that will make you stand straight. Make sure to maintain the core tension during this time. This to and fro movement is nothing but push-ups, only in a vertical plane. 

• Knee push-ups

Now, once a person has mastered wall push-ups, it’s time to level up the game.  Get on to the ground on all your fours in a pronated position. Knees should be touching the ground. Keeping your hands on the side of your shoulders, start the push-up movement. Other things remain the same as a normal push-up. This includes maintaining the core tension but keeping the body in a straight line from knees to head rather than feet to head.

Shoulders should not be shrugged and the head should not be tilted forward as this will disturb the straight-line posture of the body.

This push-up is usually performed by overweight people or women who lack strength for a normal push-up. 

• Inclined push-ups

 Next up the ladder are inclined push-ups. These are similar to wall push-ups but the only difference is that your feet are further back, increasing the level of complexity and required strength. They can be performed on stairs, a park bench, or a simple chair. 

This one is basically for those who find knee push-ups quite easy and normal push-ups a little difficult. This type of push-up can play a very crucial role as it helps in learning how to develop core stability and guides the shoulders about the pushing mechanism.

Even in inclined push-ups, levels of hardness can be changed by using equipment of different heights. Higher the height, lesser the elevation, lesser the efforts required, and vice versa. You can simply start from a taller chair, table, or stool. And, as you are easily able to do 15-20 repetitions, you can then decrease the height of the platform on which you will place your hands. 

Do not miss on the basic rules such as keeping the core tight, placing the feet together, keeping the spine neutral, and performing the movement in a controlled manner. 

Also, make sure that the forearm is always perpendicular to the ground. During the descend, the body should move slightly forward and elbows should not flare out. 

• Push-up

 

Now, once you have practiced the above-mentioned types of push-ups and are able to easily do 10-15 repetitions, it’s time to take the final step and attempt the actual push-up. Also, as your strength and posture improve, you can decrease the angle of the inclined push-up and get more parallel to the ground.

Start in a push-up plank position with your body in a straight line from head to feet, palms flat on the ground placed just outside your shoulders. Make sure that your fingers are spread as it will help in creating a more stable and wider base. Keep your legs and feet together which will help in keeping the core and glutes tight, and make sure that your stomach is not hanging. 

You must have heard about the “break the bar apart” technique used by many powerlifters during bench press that helps in improving their power generation during the movement. We will use a similar technique here in which you will keep your fingers pointing forward but will try to rotate your hands in the outward direction like a screw. This will externally rotate your shoulders. Also, this minimizes flaring of your arms keeping them close to your ribs and hence, improves the efficiency of push-ups. 

Now, maintaining this posture, start descending in a push-up. At all times, one should make sure that their arms are close to the ribs, the elbows are above the palms, the forearm is almost vertical, and the shoulder blades are pulled back. 

Keep on descending until your chest is an inch away from the floor, pause there for a second, make sure the body tension is maintained, and from this position, push the floor until your arms are fully straightened. Now, keep repeating the same movement for repetitions. 

Some additional tips for beginners

• Breathing during push-ups: Do not hold your breath during push-ups. Keep breathing normally. You can also try to do the Valsalva maneuver, which is breath in as much as you can filling up your belly, hold the breath, and try to exhale it with your mouth closed (not actually exhaling). This will help in tightening your core. Do some repetitions and then exhale at the top. 
• Maintaining the arrow: Another very interesting piece of advice to maintain a correct posture is to maintain the arrow. During a push-up, your arms, head, and body should make an arrow structure rather than a T structure. This will minimize the chance of elbow flaring.
• Going easy: Although quite famous, the push-up is a complex movement. You are lifting almost 60-70 percent of your body weight. So, it’s okay to take time in learning it. Progression will be even slower if a person is overweight.

Make push-ups a regular part of your workout routine and you will definitely benefit from this amazing form of exercise.

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Author:

Mayank Chabbra ( INFS Faculty)