All You Ever Wanted to Know About Push-Ups!

My very favorite exercise…PUSH-UPS!

There’s just something about feeling the burning in your chest after killing your pecs with some pushup variations. Military style, diamond, wide, all of them! I just love ‘em!

But I didn’t start out that way at all! When I began my journey with P90X, even with being a regular gym goer for a while up to starting the program, I could only do about 10-12 regular push-ups before my form would start to compromise and I’d be at failure. That’s not too hot for a dude!

So you could forget doing DIAMOND push-ups at that time, come on, you’re killing me smalls! But I tried! And I pushed myself, and I kept at it, kept going, giving my best each day and trusting the process and Tony to lead me as my trainer! Now, racking out 50 reps is a warm up, and they’ve become one of my favorite exercises!

But have you ever thought, ”how much am I really lifting?” Or, “If I can’t do a regular push-up on my toes, am I doing much by going to my knees?”

Well, the short answer is probably more than you think, and YES! Now let’s dive in a little deeper!

Articles published within the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research revealed that men lifted about 66.4% of their body weight with each rep when they did a push-up on their toes. On their knees, they lifted about 52.9% of their body weight. In other words, a 180-pound man will lift 119.5 pounds per rep doing a regular push-up and 95.2 pounds doing a push-up on their knees. Women lift slightly less of their body weight per rep, but the difference is negligible.

Want to determine approximately how much you’re lifting? Put your scale on level ground and place your hands on it and do a push-up on your toes. Have a friend read the number on the scale if you cannot. Then, repeat the exercise, but this time, do the push-up on your knees. The number you see is approximately how much body weight you’re lifting though the number will vary depending on your arm position (i.e. military, diamond, wide, etc.)

For beginners:

The worst thing to see is someone completely give up on their goals because they’re struggling or injured themselves. If you can’t do any kind of push-up, even on your knees, THAT”S OKAY! Go to the wall! Stand facing the wall with your feet slightly out farther than your arms reach and lean into the wall. Plank your body tight and keep feet together. Now, with whatever version you’re trying to perform, just treat the wall like the floor and start your push-ups there. Before you know it you be on your knees and then off to perfecting the full planked push-up!

How to do the perfect push up:

Whether you’re on your toes or on your knees, it’s important to have the proper form. To do a perfect pushup:

1. Get into plank position and make sure your hands are aligned with your shoulders but just wider than them. Tighten your core.

2. Lower your body until your chest almost touches the floor, tucking your elbows in as you do. When you’re at the bottom, your arms should be at 45-degree angle. Keep your back flat and do not let your back or hips sag.

If you can’t do a push-up on your toes yet, don’t give up! You’re still getting a great workout.

For the few of you who want to make your push-up harder and lift more of your body weight, here are some tips from easiest to hardest:

1. Slow it down. By taking more time to do each repetition, you increase the time that each muscle must stay contracted.

2. Bring your hands and feet closer together to move your center of gravity forward and make your shoulders, pecs, back, and triceps do more work. Tighten your core to protect your lower back.

3. Change the angle. Place your feet on a stable surface – such as a plyo box or weight bench – and keep your hands on the ground. This puts more of your weight onto your shoulders.

4. Move away from a stable surface and do your push-ups on a medicine ball or balance ball as demonstrated in P90X2. These exercises will not only challenge those muscles groups but also force you to tighten your core to stay balanced.

5. You can do any of the mentioned variations with one leg up for a few reps then switch to the other leg. Great on the core too!

6. Forget push-ups. Do handstands instead!

Stay strong, start small, and PUSH YOUR LIMITS!

#pushups