[VIDEOS] How to Master the push-up
Ready to master your push-ups?
Let’s get honest- you will only be able to master a full push up from your toes if you practice. Your body needs time and multiple reps to learn the correct technique. Your muscles need a consistent challenge to achieve change and your mind needs to believe you can do it!
First, let’s talk biomechanics (a fancy word for how your muscles, tendons, and other structures in your body move and work together)
To set up for your push up we’re going to start at the base- your hands. Often when we think of push ups we think of just our arms doing the work, of course your strong biceps and triceps are helping, but they aren’t the only structures at play. If we are only focusing on the bi’s and tri’s we’re missing a whole group of muscles that are truly the foundation of a strong push up!
Start lying on your belly, then place your hands approx. 1-2 inches away from your armpits.
Spread those fingers and grip the floor!
Corkscrew your hands into the ground (your “elbow pits” should turn out) to tighten that grip
Similar to feet having an arch, when you press through your fingers and drive through the pinky side of your hand- while keeping the thumb planted you create a strong, active “arch” with your hands!
The second part of set up will be your arm, shoulder, and spinal alignment. Like buildings, we are stronger when structures are stacked. In the body this refers to stacking bone on top of bone, and joints on top of joints. In a push up it’s stacking the elbows over top of the wrists and the shoulders over the elbows. Our muscles are able to be in a more biomechanically efficient position when we stack our joints like that. Note this doesn’t mean your hands are as narrow as your shoulders, they should in fact be slightly wider - remember thumbs 1-2 inches from your armpits! Instead when you lower down and your elbows bend, they are at a 45 degree angle from your body. But when they’re straight- they’re stacked and strong!
For your spine, think about your whole body being a long, strong 2 by 4 piece of wood. The top of your head through to your tailbone should be one line, avoid arching through your back or letting your butt flare up. Your shoulder blades will be away from your ears, making your neck long.
Your upper body is in it’s strongest push up position when you:
Stack your shoulders over your wrists
Draw your shoulder blades back away from your ears
Make a long line from the top of your head to your tailbone
Lastly is your core and lower body. Although not usually seen as players in a push up they are critical in success of a full push up from your toes! In order to keep that long line, your butt, quads and core must all be engaged. To do so think:
Squeeze your butt cheeks, slightly tucking in your tail
Pull your kneecaps up to your hips, engaging your quads
Tuck your ribcage down and pull your belly button to your spine to get your core fired up- but don’t forget to breathe!
Check out this video for a full review of all the biomechanical cues from above:
Now that you’ve got the technique down, time to start progressing to your full push up from your toes! Although push ups from your knees are a good starting point, if your goal is to get push ups from your toes you need to practice holding and moving in the full push up position from your toes. Set yourself up for success with:
Strong hands
Stacked shoulders over wrists
Shoulders away from ears
A long spine, from the top of the head to the tailbone
Strong, engaged glutes, quads & core
Variation 1: Incline Push Ups
Incline push ups are great because they allow you to complete a push up from your toes, with varying degrees of difficulty depending on your incline angle. The best place to practice incline push ups is on stairs as you can easily choose different degrees of difficulty depending on the step you are on! Try first at a 45 degree angle (likely 3-4 steps up) pump out X10 push ups - easy? Walk your hands down a stair, keep going until you are still able to complete with perfect position (as outlined above) but only able to do 1-2 reps. Practice! Every day complete X10 reps first at an “easy” angle, walk your hands down, do as many as you can. Walk your hands down again until you hit that angle that only allows you the final 1-2 reps. Take at least 60s between steps!
Variation 2: Eccentric Push Up (start lowering from the toes, end pushing from the knees)
An eccentric push up focuses on the “eccentric” phase of the movement, ie. the lowering down part. To do this variation, start in your strong push up position from your toes. Lower yourself down slowly- slower than you want to go! Really focus on your hands staying strong and anchored, your butt and quads staying squeezed and your core engaged! Once you are fully lying on your belly, keep the same engagement from your hands through to your quads and push up from your knees, go back to your toes and repeat!
You’ve practised the technique, tried out some new variations and are feeling comfortable in your push up position. Time to add in some extra exercises into your routine that will help you build the strength to rock out your full push up! When thinking about strength for push ups you want to focus on working:
Pecs (chest)
Lats (those big wing-like muscles on your back!)
Core- you are in a plank after-all!
Triceps, yep those guys are working hard too
Stability through your spine with your upper and lower body + core all working together throughout the whole movement!
My top 5 movements to work the aforementioned muscle groups are:
Tricep dips with a toe reach
Tricep burner!
Requires stability through your core
Lat pullover with a leg lower
Lat engagement
Core challenge
Frogger plank (can progress to a frogger push up!)
Quad & glute strengtheners
Gets you into the perfect push up / plank position
Wide grip rows
Lat / upper back strengthener
Glute and core engagement
Spider plank (hand to elbow “push ups”)
Tricep burner!
Gets you into the perfect push up / plank position
Now that you’ve got all the information, it’s time to put it into practice! Try this Push Up Strength program below:
Day 1: TEST max push ups in 60s (seconds)
Rest 60s, then complete 2 more times (your max reps will decrease each time- that’s normal as you fatigue!)
Day 2: Complete 3 rounds, X10 reps each of the supplementary exercises above:
Tricep Dips with Toe Reach 3X10
Lat Pullover with a Leg Lower 3X10
Frogger Plank (hold for 5s in your plank!) 3X10
Wide Grip Rows 3X10
Spider Plank 3X60s
Rest 60s between each round
Day 3: REST give your bi’s and tri’s a chance to recoup!
Repeat in 3 day increments and add another rest day in between if needed. As you get stronger your rest days should decrease!