Push Up Progressions For Beginners
Few people could argue, that the push up is the most commonly performed exercise in the world, we’re taught this basic movement from an early age in gym class at school, pretty much everyone on the face of the earth has at least attempted push ups at some time in their life, whether successful or not.
When it comes to building upper body pushing strength, the dip and push up go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. The push up when done correctly requires stabilization from the core, strengthening the abdominals and glutes, and produces steel like tendons, strong shoulders, triceps and pectoral muscles.
Despite being a big fan of bench pressing (for some reason I’m far better at benching than any other single exercise believe it or not), I’ve spoken a lot about how people covet that exercise and neglect other areas of their body, so I want to be clear that I’m not bashing the bench press by any means, but rather trying to highlight just how valuable and often overlooked many bodyweight exercises are in comparison. The push up and dip included, no matter what your sport or style, they are essential for building a strong body that is balanced, well rounded and ready for action at any time.
Push ups are perhaps the most common of all exercises to be labelled as ‘worthless endurance stuff that doesn’t build strength,’ by those with a limited imagination, minimal knowledge and zero creativity. There are many variations of the push up just like any other bodyweight exercise, which will challenge anyone from the beginner athlete all the way up to the seasoned Olympian.
Just like dips, pull ups, squats and leg raises, a progressive approach to push ups will keep any athlete gaining strength throughout their entire career, but most people simply lack the knowledge necessary and don’t know how to do this. You’ll also strengthen your core and joints, something that most bench pressing movements fails to do, as you typically push when lying down on your back while your core muscles remain dormant.
Push ups are as minimalist as it gets when it comes to equipment and locales required, all you need is somewhere with a floor and you’re good to go, and if you don’t have that then you’ve got much bigger problems.
Many gym goers will utilize a variety of chest exercises at different inclines and declines in order to work and focus on the upper, middle or lower chest, bodyweight training allows us the vary the incline and available body leverages in order to work the pectorals, deltoids, triceps and core with our push ups and dips through a huge variety of choices, which are incredibly effective for all around upper body development.
When I sat down and wrote this book, I brainstormed and listed all of the push up variations that I know of and ended up coming up with close to a hundred different types of push ups. There are more variations of the push ups than you can shake a stick at, many more than I can list in a single book, use your brain and I bet you could come up with a few yourself.
Sadly, it would be impossible for me to fit every single push up variation that I know into one book, it is an incredibly versatile exercise that is easy to modify and put your own spin on, so I’ve included the variations that I believe are the most valuable and build the most strength. The bang for your buck moves, the variations that are most worthwhile and will help you get to where you want to be. Strong.
So you may be wondering, which variation is the best? The simple answer is, whatever variation keeps you working hard in the 3 to 8 rep range, that is of course assuming that building strength is your primary goal. With that being said, beginners can benefit greatly from some higher rep sets of 8 to 15 reps of the more basic push up variations in order to build a solid foundation of strength and help condition the wrists, elbows and shoulders for more advanced work later on.
Just like with leg, core and pull up training, most people know very few variations of the push up and so as a result most bodyweight training routines will consist of nothing but high repetitions of the basic push up, where the athlete progresses by simply adding more reps. This is all well and good, but it’s not going to build strength.
This pushing strength transfers over to several activities in real life, think of pushing open a heavy door, a shopping cart at the grocery store and even pushing a broken down car. The push up is also an excellent tool for teaching beginners how to create a stable shoulder position and effectively brace the midsection, which transfers over to almost all sports.
Now onto the moves, if you are a beginner and cannot yet do a full push up, make sure that you have mastered the push up plank already, and even if you’ve put in a lot of work with it make sure you keep it up, in the end it will pay off in your quest for a full push up.
Wall Push Ups
If you are struggling with standard push ups and lack the strength required for them, then it’s a good idea to start off with some easier variations to help lay a good foundation and build you up to them. This exercise might be challenging to an extremely out of shape beginner, but every single person on the planet should at least be able to do some wall push ups fairly easily.
Simply stand up straight while maintaining core tension with your palms against a wall out in front of you, and practice the motion of performing a push up against the wall, this one isn’t rocket science.
If standard push ups are too hard but wall push ups are too easy, then you might consider simply using them as a warm up to wake up the muscles and joints before your push up workout, if nothing else they will let you get in some practice going through the plane of movement of a push up without the strength requirements. However if wall push ups are too easy, knee push ups and incline push ups would be more suitable in your pursuit of a full push up.
Kneeling Push Ups
Next on the path toward the full push up are kneeling push ups, which is a fair bit more difficult than the basic wall push up, and is most commonly performed in gyms by women who lack the strength for standard push ups but are actually a useful tool for anyone man or woman looking to increase their upper body pushing strength.
You’ll perform a push up while kneeling on the floor with your knees and feet close together, but don’t use this as an excuse to get lazy with your technique, keep your abdominals and glutes tight as well as maintain proper posture as you would with the push up plank.
This time though, you’ll look to maintain a straight line from your knees up to your head, avoid shrugging your shoulders and make sure you keep your head and neck back, don’t relax the muscles on the back of your neck allowing your head tilt forward.
This is an important movement for beginners and should not be neglected, this is the most basic push up movement you’ll be able to perform down on the ground so it’s important to put your reps in and do work to lay the foundation for more challenging variations.
All too often in gyms, health clubs and exercise classes I see beginners stuck on this progression for what seems like forever, some will just never build the strength to move onto the next stage, or learn the body positioning and pushing mechanics required for a full push up.
For this reason I remind you again to contract your abdominals and glutes forcefully during the kneeling push up at all times and initiate the movement from the shoulder, moving your shoulder in front of your hands as you descend.
If you simply go through the motions during this progression then the exercise is useless, if you don’t bother to engage your core then you will literally get nowhere. For the best results aim to descend under control, generate as much force as you push yourself up and keep your midsection tight throughout.
Incline Push Ups
Next up we have the incline push up, which in a way is a progression of the wall push up, it is essentially the same movement except we are taking the feet further back in order to lift more of our own bodyweight and make the exercise more challenging. By simply changing the angle of the body and placing your hands on a box or bench we’ve decreased the load being lifted. For those who now find knee push ups too easy but the standard push up still too tough, incline push ups are the perfect stepping stone.
This is an extremely useful stepping stone to full push ups in that it helps you learn to perform push ups with your core tight and your body long and straight in proper torso alignment. For many, this is an excellent way to begin training for the full push up as it begins to teach you the core stability, full body tension and pushing mechanics of the shoulder necessary for the full push up.
You’ll need a sturdy object to place your hands on during incline push ups, a park bench, a bar, a sofa, a chair, you get the idea. Although it is worth noting that the lower the object that you place your hands on, the lower the incline, the more of your bodyweight you will be required to lift, the more difficult the exercise becomes. As you gradually become stronger, you can make use of lower objects, until eventually you are able to perform full push ups on the ground. Again be sure to keep your feet together, your abdominals and glutes tight and maintain a straight line from your heels all the way up to your head while keeping the movement slow, smooth and under control. Take your time, pay your dues and you’ll be on your way to full push ups in no time.
Try to keep your forearms perpendicular with the floor, in other words your forearms should remain vertical, even at the bottom of the push up your elbows should be directly over your wrist and your elbows pointing straight back. Initiate the push up descent at the shoulder by moving forwards will help maintain this proper positioning, if you don’t do so then it becomes difficult to keep the forearm in proper position and the elbow will start creeping back behind the wrist. All of these key points will make your pushing mechanics as efficient as possible and help you generate more power and keep your body more stable.
Wide Stance Push Up
When moving through these stepping stones we call progressions, often the smaller the gap from one stepping stone to the next, the smoother things will go. Usually during all push up variations I recommend keeping the legs together, but sometimes when the increase in difficulty from one progression to the next is quite large, it can be extremely challenging, the wide stance push up is a useful tool for closing that gap between the incline and full push up. More challenging than an incline push up, but not quite as difficult as the full push up, this makes it an excellent training tool for beginners.
The wider foot stance decreases the difficulty of the full push up by shortening the distance between your shoulders and your feet, so that your lower body takes more of your bodyweight and lightens the load taken by the shoulders.
One reason why I always suggest keeping the feet together is that it makes it much easier to contract the glutes and abdominals, resulting in a more solid body position and more core tension, widening the foot stance can make generating core tension more difficult for beginners who are not yet accustomed to doing so. For this reason be sure to take extra conscious effort to contract the abdominals and glutes to create core tension, and keep your body as straight as possible with a neutral spine.
Keep your knees completely straight throughout the push up, keeping in mind that other than the wide foot stance, all key points of positioning that apply to the full push up also apply here. As you become stronger over time you can gradually bring the feet closer and closer together, this can be as gradual as needed until you are able to perform the full push up with your feet touching together.
The Push Up
The classic push up is like I’ve mentioned the most commonly performed exercise in the world and it might very well be done incorrectly more often than any other as well. I’ve seen some absolute atrocities that people have tried to pass off as push ups, humping the floor with their hips down, back and abdominals lose and shoulders shrugged to all hell while they bend their arms using the smallest range of motion physically possible, as fast as they can.
I’m not sure whether to feel sorry for them, be angry at them for trying to pass this monstrosity as a push up, slap them for being so stupid, or take the more diplomatic approach and help them out and teach them the correct way. Usually it’s a combination of all of the above.
Start in a push up plank position with your palms flat on the floor with your legs straight and feet together, your hands should be a little more than shoulder width apart placed just underneath your armpits.
As with the push up plank position your body should create a straight line from your feet up to your head, keep your abdominals and glutes tight making sure that your stomach and hips are not sagging down to the floor. Keep your feet together and legs straight, having the legs and feet together helps to keep the glute and abdominal tension.
Spread your fingers out apart in order to create a wider more stable base for yourself, the wider the base the stronger and more stable the structure.
To create as stable a platform as possible we want to create a little torque. At all times throughout the push up be sure to actively screw your hands into the floor and outwards ever so slightly creating a little external shoulder rotation in order to maximize tension and stability. This corkscrew rotation technique will no doubt help take your push ups to another level and it should be applied to almost all push up variations in which your hands stay in contact with the ground at all times.
Externally rotating the shoulders in this way while pointing the elbows back but still keeping the fingers pointing forwards will provide the most stable base from which the generate as much power as possible. This torque generating technique is akin to the ‘break the bar apart’ cue that many powerlifters use during the bench press, they do this to create torque through external rotation to maintain a stable shoulder in order to generate a great deal of power.
Think keeping your elbows pointing backwards and the pits of your elbow pointing forwards. As you perform the push up I recommend always keeping your elbows pointing backwards, rather than flaring out sideways and putting the shoulder into bad positions.
Throughout the whole push up you should aim to keep your elbows over your hands and your forearms vertical, while keeping your shoulders slightly in front of your hands. Also maintaining proper shoulder alignment is crucial when performing any pushing movements, be sure to keep your shoulder blades pinned back and down throughout the exercise to avoid poor posture.
Much like with the squat you should aim to keep your shins vertical, during a push up you should aim to keep your forearms as vertical as possible and distribute your bodyweight over the middle of your hands.
Lead the movement with the shoulders and slowly lower yourself down by bending your arms at the elbows, until your chest is an inch away from the floor, make sure that you do not lose your full body tension especially in the midsection as you descend into the push up. While still screwing your hands into the floor and ever so slightly outwards pause in this bottom position for a second with your glutes and abdominals tight and then then press back up until your arms are straight to complete your first repetition. Lather, rinse and repeat.
Keep the feet together, spreading the feet apart shortens the range of motion and makes it difficult to engage the glutes. Neglecting to contract the glutes is a very common push up mistake, fail to engage the glutes and you won’t be able to generate as much core tension, less core tension will make it difficult to maintain proper shoulder posture which leads to a whole mess of problems that we want to avoid.
You might be surprised how tough a perfect push up can be, I’ve had clients who claimed they can do 100 push ups, only to have me correct their form, all of a sudden they are unable to get past the 20 repetition mark. Strange, that.
Just as I emphasize going all the way down when doing your push ups, it is equally as important to go all the way up, you must lock out your arms and use a full range of motion.
I can’t even tell you how few people lock out their arms at the top of a push up so that they can squeeze out more reps, stop kidding yourself, use a full range of motion, anything else is just wishful thinking.
Just like with squats, pull ups, core movements and even the bench press, if you only use a half arse range of motion then you’ll only get half arse results.
Don’t sell yourself short chaps, you’re not strong unless you can be strong in a full range of movement.
You can never practice the standard push up enough, I don’t care how strong you are, performing slow, controlled and forceful reps with serious core tension for 10 reps is tough for anyone, maybe it won’t take you to failure but it sure as hell will reinforce good technique and serve for the best damn warm up you’ll ever find.
The old saying goes, speed kills, but in the case of the push up it can also kill your gains. Many people will perform push ups at a very fast pace in order to perform more repetitions, but when training for strength this kind of pacing for high reps is pretty much useless. Unless you are performing a plyometric variation which must be performed explosively at great velocity, I recommend performing your push ups slowly, under control, exuding maximum tension in a smooth but powerful movement.
You’ll get much more time under tension, you’ll more effectively strengthen your joints and you’ll be able to get a much more accurate measurement of your strength and pushing ability with all variations of the push up.
Elbows flaring out is one of the most common push ups mistakes I see, many people begin the push up in a solid starting position but then as soon as they start lowering down their elbows flare outwards putting the shoulder into a pretty bad position just asking for trouble. Weak triceps is probably the most common cause for this or just plain laziness or lack of proper technique may also be to blame, or perhaps mobility.
This is also the most common mistake I see on the bench press in gyms, and is a remedy for a blown out rotator cuff and months of rehab, keep those elbows tucked and pinned back.
Avoid flaring those elbows out and shrugging the shoulders unless you want to develop chronic shoulder, elbow and wrist issues, focusing on screwing the hands into the ground and slightly outwards while pointing the elbows pinned back should help combat this to a large degree. Once again aim to keep your elbows above your hands and forearms vertical, with your shoulders slightly in front of your hands.
Lazy shoulders are also unacceptable, like mentioned earlier I cannot emphasize enough the importance of pulling your shoulder blades back and down during pressing movements if you want to keep your shoulders mobile, strong and healthy.
Your goal with push ups is not to perform as many repetitions as possible, it is to aim for optimal form and position from which you exert a great deal of tension, aiming for quality over quantity on every set.
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