How to do push-ups?

Hey there!

Want to know how to do perfect push-ups to build your chest, strengthen your triceps, and avoid injuries? You've come to the right place! With our best tips and techniques, you'll learn to nail them like a pro 🔥

Push-ups, a classic strength exercise, are often done incorrectly. Here, we're going to break down every detail to optimize your technique, explore variations, and adapt the exercise to your level.

Ready to progress? Let's go! 💪

The importance of warming up your muscles!

The only real critical point is probably your wrists. Don't hesitate to warm them up enough before your workout, for example with some ground mobility movements and wrist circles. 

You can do the same for your shoulders to best prepare your muscles for push-ups.

Perfect Push-up Positioning.

Let's start with the most important thing: the initial positioning:

Your starting position is key for doing push-ups correctly!

How to Do Push-ups? The Perfect Execution

Control every rep. Lower slowly until your chest almost touches the floor, then push back up, extending your arms almost completely.

Don't just drop. Stay in control throughout the entire movement. At the top, push your shoulder blades outwards to create a slight arc, and at the bottom, bring them back towards the center before opening them again. This technique helps avoid the common mistake of constantly arching your back.

Keep your body straight. Like a rigid bar, it shouldn't bend or collapse. Pay attention to your hips for balance, and keep your head neutral.

Master your breathing. Inhale as you lower, exhale as you push up to optimize muscle engagement.

If push-ups are still too challenging, here are some variations adapted to your level:

 Incline Push-ups

Incline push-ups are perfect for beginners. The higher the support, the easier the exercise, which helps you progress.

Negative push-ups are also super effective. Lower slowly, controlling the movement, then push back up however you can.

It's a great way to learn any strength exercise in general, by mastering the technique and muscle engagement!

Negative Push-ups

Knee push-ups are a great alternative, but pay attention to your form! Keep your body aligned without bending your hips, following the same execution principles and muscle balance as a classic push-up.

Knee Push-ups

Now, when the classic push-up gets too easy for you, and you want to keep building strength and muscle, plus boost your endurance, you'll need to make the exercise more challenging.

There are a few ways to do this! You can play with the incline by elevating your feet for a more demanding variation. Just make sure your shoulders and other muscles aren't doing all the work!

You can also do deeper push-ups using parallel bars or try much more unstable variations like on  gymnastic rings, which really intensifies the exercise and works your muscles even more.

Finally, you can aim for the  one-arm version, an advanced variation of the exercise, by making the push-up more and more unilateral, which really challenges each muscle individually.

One-Arm Push-up

 

Avoid injuries: get the right gear!

Push-ups can often be tough on your wrists, which can affect how you perform the exercise. 

A great way to protect them is to do your push-ups on push-up handles. These improve your technique and engage your arm and shoulder muscles better:

The Principle of Progressive Overload

To keep building strength and muscle, it's super important to use the principle of progressive overload in your training. This means that over time, you need to make your push-ups harder by adding more reps, increasing the weight with a weighted vest, or trying more challenging variations.

This consistent progression helps your muscles adapt and get stronger effectively through well-planned sets.

If you liked this article and now know how to do push-ups, feel free to share or comment!

In the meantime, keep up the good work and take care of yourself!

See you soon,

Eric Flag