Pushup technique

[Llamageddon]

After doing some, I got thinking about all the different ways to do a standard push up. So how do you do a standard push up, and how many of them can you do?

I do them on my knuckles with elbows tucked in to isolate the triceps, head facing forward. Full rom is a fairly speedy dip so the chin/nose is just off floor, and then slower up.

I can do about 20 :o

What I consider to be the standard standard is elbows facing out, of which I've done round 70 max.

[elektro]

I also do them on the knuckles, I do them very very slowly so it becomes almost like an isometric excercise, or similar.

[nready]

Well I do them in different ways each time I do them in the set that I do with body weighted training. I try to hit the different muscles in a workout.

I never take my elbows beyond my shoulder blade when doing chest/arms not that that is bad but at that point I am focusing on a different area than the shoulder/arm at that point. Like in hand stand I am working on the shoulder/lat/arm areas.

Try to find what area each on of the different pushups work than you can make a more informed decision. Like slightly out elbow work the mid-back muscle around the spin.

Get cheap but descriptive anatomies for the muscles book.

Good sight to check out is the http://www.bodyweight.com forum.

[PlasmaShock]

If your looking for strength training, pushups aren't your best answer. They can develope muscle endurance but that's about it. If you really want to do push ups and build strength, you need more weight and less reps. So push ups are mostly good for doing more push ups. But a lot of them can impress people easily.

[jwt]

I do push ups as a form of mild aerobic activity. I tend to do steady sets of sixty at an angle (the easier upwards facing) when I'm working at the computer - just to give me a break from looking at the screen. Sometimes I'll do 4 sets in a day, sometimes I'll do eight sets in a day.

[nready]

If your looking for strength training, pushups aren't your best answer. They can develope muscle endurance but that's about it. If you really want to do push ups and build strength, you need more weight and less reps. So push ups are mostly good for doing more push ups. But a lot of them can impress people easily.I don't think the thread is about building strength. It is about what is good form for a pushup.

[superviper]

i do finger push ups
about 70 each set

[RoninCelt]

Don't do old 'military' style push ups anymore (vanilla straight up and down), due to tendinitis in my elbows. Also, doesn't really add any martial benefit I can see. Have gone to judo, or what Furrey calls 'Hindu', push ups. First learned these in hapkido 15 years ago but didn't continue 'em. Recently restarted and am up to about 25, on the way to 50+ I hope. One advantage is they seem to work shoulders and back very well, as well as (supposedly) stretching at the same time.

[hl1978]

I used to do a lot of triangle pushups, the ones where your thumbs and forefingers for each hand touch together. Way harder than your standard up/down pushup.

I've always had trouble with push ups since I have long arms, so I have to cover more distance per push up than the average person. Not exactly a good thing for military physical fitness tests in the past.

[piratebrido]

This kind of thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuEyqnI2OpI

[Fillythebish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X72LtRcXR6g

This is a good video for improving pushups.

[davefly76]

hmmm, different types of push ups that i've done...

standard ones with elbows in or out.
push up then clap your hands together, once or twice.
push up then clap your hands together behind your back (i can only do these from extended box position at the mo...)
push ups on the back of the wrists with fingers pointing in, out, forward or back
standard push up and when you come up turn your hands over and land on the wrists and vice versa.
finger push ups taking a finger away each time.
"spiderman" push ups, go down and bring one knee to the elbow keeping the foot off the floor, changing sides each time
"cross over" push ups, go down and bring one leg across, underneath the other leg keeping it straight and off the floor.
push ups with someone holding your feet off the floor, waist height & shoulder height.
handstand push ups (i find these the hardest at the mo).

i tend to think of push ups as an aerobic excercise. as far as i'm concerned doing loads of push ups will only make me better at doing push ups so i don't think about how many i can do in one go, but i can manage anything between 5 & 50 depending on which ones i'm doing.

[StreetKO]

I take weight plates and put them on my back then do standard pushups with elbows in and go down till my chest touches the ground... i put 10lbs on my lower back, and 25 on my upper back.. and do sets of 15

[slipthejab]

If your looking for strength training, pushups aren't your best answer. They can develope muscle endurance but that's about it. If you really want to do push ups and build strength, you need more weight and less reps. So push ups are mostly good for doing more push ups. But a lot of them can impress people easily.

You sound pretty dismissive of pushups. That's sad. They've been part of many types of training routines just about forever. For good reason. All the strength in the world isn't going to be of any use if you haven't got endurance. Any boxer knows that. Pushups are a great workout for the core as well chest and shoulders and to a lesser extent the back. They're not a monster strength building exercise. They're not meant to be.

But you're sadly mistaken if you think pushups in all their variations only contribute to doing more pushups. I'd say you must not follow combat sports and their training regimen at all if that's your take. ;)

[nready]

I agree slip, it sounds like that he does not use added body weights to the idea.

Gymnastic that is what they do, they add a vest to the body that is around 150 lbs. they add weight to there feet via a band, one person I knew that did the rings could work the ring with some where near 200lbs added to his own weight.

You can develop size and cut to the muscles via the push-up. While free weights should still be a part of your body health and workout it should not be all you do.

[Freyr]

IMO the only requirements for a standard pushup are body rigidity and straightness, as well as use of FULL range of motion.

This means that you always touch your chest to the ground (hips should touch at the same time), or head to ground when you are doing handstand pushups and so forth.

Most people dramatically shorten the range of motion, and consequently have a dramatically different idea of what a 'standard' pushup is.

Though, I've no problem with people modifying this to suit their needs - ie shortening the range of motion or allowing "kipping" with the hips to make the movement suit a conditioning-oriented circuit better or something of that nature.

A pushup can be an excellent strength developer. How many people do you know who can perform a real full range of motion, non-cheating one-armed pushup? Or handstand pushups while increasing the range of motion via chairs or parallel bars? Though PlasmaShock was probably aware of this, and was referring only to normal shoulder width grip pushups (of which most people can do at least 15 or so), as he did mention the possibility of weighting them etc.

[nready]

Alright now what do you mean as Full Range Of Motion(FROM)? Please explain, Freyr!

If you are going from a loaded muscle that is ROM (Range of Motion). Is that what you are suggesting to be the way of doing the push-up.

[righty]

According to your definition of a 'standard pushup' more than half the population will be unable to achieve this even with a high level of physical conditioning.

[Freyr]

Alright now what do you mean as Full Range Of Motion(FROM)? Please explain, Freyr!

I explained in the first post, sorry if it wasn't too clear. "This means that you always touch your chest to the ground (hips should touch at the same time)"

Basically just go all the way down to the ground (not necessarily loading yourself on the ground) and come back up.

righty - not sure if you were talking to me or not, but if you were that's really not true at all. The load will vary between 2/3 and 3/4 of your bodyweight depending on both individual anatomical differences and where you are in the ROM (the angle of your body relative to the ground will alter the distribution of the load). With a 'high' degree of physical conditioning pressing this weight should be no challenge at all, and I would venture to say most people can perform at least one.

[righty]

righty - not sure if you were talking to me or not, but if you were that's really not true at all. The load will vary between 2/3 and 3/4 of your bodyweight depending on both individual anatomical differences and where you are in the ROM (the angle of your body relative to the ground will alter the distribution of the load). With a 'high' degree of physical conditioning pressing this weight should be no challenge at all, and I would venture to say most people can perform at least one.

Yes, I was talking to you.
And what I said is indeed true. My gripe it with your definition which you have used more than once now.
I'll even make it easy for you and point out the part I do not agree with...
"This means that you always touch your chest to the ground (hips should touch at the same time)"

Now combine this with my initial response of...
"more than half the population will be unable to achieve this even with a high level of physical conditioning"

Now think on it for a little longer and then get back to me. The clues are all there for you to see.

[Ranzan]

legs crossed at ankles(one foot on ground dont know what this does just something i started doing and i liked it) arms at shoulder width head faceing forward back straight of course down till chest hits ground, i do sets of 40-50

[Freyr]

Yes, I was talking to you.
And what I said is indeed true. My gripe it with your definition which you have used more than once now.
I'll even make it easy for you and point out the part I do not agree with...
"This means that you always touch your chest to the ground (hips should touch at the same time)"

Now combine this with my initial response of...
"more than half the population will be unable to achieve this even with a high level of physical conditioning"

Now think on it for a little longer and then get back to me. The clues are all there for you to see.

I am not sure if you are trying to make a joke by playing semantic games or if you actually find something wrong with my definition.

Clearly I meant that one should descend to the point where one's body touches the ground to finish the negative of every repetition, NOT that one should remain at the bottom of the movement for the duration of the set.

Or perhaps you are trying to suggest that it is anatomically impossible to touch one's hips (pelvis if you wish to be more specific) to the ground at the same time as one's chest. Certainly for a particular gender there are indeed some objects in the way in the pelvic region, however I'm sure that with a little imagination you can come to appreciate my meaning.

If you have legitimate discussion to offer it's usually best to just come right out with it, righty.

[righty]

OK OK, it was getting a bit of fun though. You are close, but not cigar. You said this...



Certainly for a particular gender there are indeed some objects in the way in the pelvic region, however I'm sure that with a little imagination you can come to appreciate my meaning.



I appreciate your meaning well enough. However, you should find a way to express it better.

More than half the population of the world are women. Yes, it's true. Hence, I was more thinking of 'some objects in the way in the' chest region that would make it physically impossible to touch chest and hips to the ground at the same time.

Call me pedantic, but I have a problem with people who presume to talk about something without specifying or considering gender differences.

Do you not think it may be better to define your proper pushup technique as something along the lines of keeping the back straight or correct posture drawing an almost straights line between shoulders and feet? That way we can keep chest and hips out of it.

[nready]

OK OK, it was getting a bit of fun though. You are close, but not cigar. You said this...



I appreciate your meaning well enough. However, you should find a way to express it better.

More than half the population of the world are women. Yes, it's true. Hence, I was more thinking of 'some objects in the way in the' chest region that would make it physically impossible to touch chest and hips to the ground at the same time.

Call me pedantic, but I have a problem with people who presume to talk about something without specifying or considering gender differences.

Do you not think it may be better to define your proper pushup technique as something along the lines of keeping the back straight or correct posture drawing an almost straights line between shoulders and feet? That way we can keep chest and hips out of it.I will take a guess, chesticles!

[Freyr]

OK OK, it was getting a bit of fun though. You are close, but not cigar. You said this...



I appreciate your meaning well enough. However, you should find a way to express it better.

More than half the population of the world are women. Yes, it's true. Hence, I was more thinking of 'some objects in the way in the' chest region that would make it physically impossible to touch chest and hips to the ground at the same time.

Call me pedantic, but I have a problem with people who presume to talk about something without specifying or considering gender differences.

Do you not think it may be better to define your proper pushup technique as something along the lines of keeping the back straight or correct posture drawing an almost straights line between shoulders and feet? That way we can keep chest and hips out of it.

The problem with your proposed definition (which was actually a part of mine) is that it does not address range of motion at all. I find that range of motion is usually one of the biggest issues with pushups for many (most people seem to get the idea of rigidity and so forth, even if they don't observe it diligently).

You're right - if I were trying to provide pushup guidelines to a group of total beginners (without the aid of demonstration) I would have needed to address this particular issue (obviously the general idea is 'as far down as possible given joint ROM and other physiological issues') but this was not the goal of my definition, and as you say, you understood me well enough, as I'm sure most others did.

[Azeari]

OK OK, it was getting a bit of fun though. You are close, but not cigar. You said this...



I appreciate your meaning well enough. However, you should find a way to express it better.

More than half the population of the world are women. Yes, it's true. Hence, I was more thinking of 'some objects in the way in the' chest region that would make it physically impossible to touch chest and hips to the ground at the same time.

Call me pedantic, but I have a problem with people who presume to talk about something without specifying or considering gender differences.

Do you not think it may be better to define your proper pushup technique as something along the lines of keeping the back straight or correct posture drawing an almost straights line between shoulders and feet? That way we can keep chest and hips out of it.

Unless you have unusually hard breast, or say E's and larger, then you should have no problem doing a push with hips/chest on the ground. I've seen enough females do them to know it's true.

[Yohan]

I hit 36 on my last pushup rep test.

[righty]

Unless you have unusually hard breast, or say E's and larger, then you should have no problem doing a push with hips/chest on the ground. I've seen enough females do them to know it's true.

Sigh, that's not the point. Even though females can do pushups fine, the cheast (breast) will not touch the ground at the same time as the hips as stated by Freyr's original definition.
I agree with his requirements of proper body support and posture but not the example of chest and hips touching at the same time.

[slipthejab]

Sigh, that's not the point. Even though females can do pushups fine, the cheast (breast) will not touch the ground at the same time as the hips as stated by Freyer original definition.

What a bunch of useless crap you've interjected in this thread. Seriously.
More time doing press ups and less time trying to be cute might suit you better.
:bang:

IMO the only requirements for a standard pushup are body rigidity and straightness, as well as use of FULL range of motion.

This means that you always touch your chest to the ground (hips should touch at the same time), or head to ground when you are doing handstand pushups and so forth.

Most people dramatically shorten the range of motion, and consequently have a dramatically different idea of what a 'standard' pushup is.

Though, I've no problem with people modifying this to suit their needs - ie shortening the range of motion or allowing "kipping" with the hips to make the movement suit a conditioning-oriented circuit better or something of that nature.

A pushup can be an excellent strength developer. How many people do you know who can perform a real full range of motion, non-cheating one-armed pushup? Or handstand pushups while increasing the range of motion via chairs or parallel bars? Though PlasmaShock was probably aware of this, and was referring only to normal shoulder width grip pushups (of which most people can do at least 15 or so), as he did mention the possibility of weighting them etc.

I couldn't agree with you more. Press ups are the ass kicker in just about every class I teach... not because people can't do them... but because they're not used to doing them properly. As you stated... with a full range of motion. I see it all day long... people dropping the hips to touch the mats but head and shoulders stay up... more like a sprawl than a press up. Or dropping the head but keeping the ass in the air... lol.

[righty]

What a bunch of useless crap you've interjected in this thread. Seriously.
More time doing press ups and less time trying to be cute might suit you better.
:bang:

Oh yeah, next time I decide to get people to think of both men and women when trying to define something I will think myself cute and not say anything.

Pah.

You may not think it important in such a small thing, but this is where it starts. And smacking someone on the head and saying they are wrong isn't going to change anything. You have to try and get people to think for themselves. Call me pedantic but people are talking about pushup technique are we not. For something so simple, it shouldn't be hard to create something that is equally applicable for both genders. The descriptions on the first page where excellent.

[Azeari]

Sigh, that's not the point. Even though females can do pushups fine, the cheast (breast) will not touch the ground at the same time as the hips as stated by Freyr's original definition.
I agree with his requirements of proper body support and posture but not the example of chest and hips touching at the same time.

Your chest would be the upper muscular area.. not the fat that makes up your breast.

[sg516]

my usual routine is to do:

25 standard pushups
45-60 sec rest
25 incline pushups
45-60 sec rest
25 decline
45-60 sec rest

3 sets

but the # of reps grows as time progresses.

but in class we do the knuckle pushups with the elbows in to isolate the tricep. i am personally not a fan of these. i am against working muscles in isolation. you train them to work in isolation they aren't as efficient when you use them in coordination.

[Llamageddon]

my usual routine is to do:

25 standard pushups
45-60 sec rest
25 incline pushups
45-60 sec rest
25 decline
45-60 sec rest

3 sets

but the # of reps grows as time progresses.

but in class we do the knuckle pushups with the elbows in to isolate the tricep. i am personally not a fan of these. i am against working muscles in isolation. you train them to work in isolation they aren't as efficient when you use them in coordination.


That's interesting - never caused me any issues

[sg516]

That's interesting - never caused me any issues

you should read the new rules of lifting by lou schuler and alwyn cosgrove. its a pretty good read and they talk about muscle isolation. the basic premise (and there is research to back it up, he didn't just create this) is that muscles worked in isolation perform best in isolation. for best athleticism you need to train muscle groups so that everything works together. he explains about the neural connections and whatnot. anyway, the other relevant point made about isolating muscles is that you can't (naturally) make your biceps disproportionately bigger/stronger than your back muscles and you can't make your triceps bigger/ stronger than your chest. there will always be a balance to maintain a ratio of strength/size between the larger muscles (back and chest) with the arm muscles (bis and tris). so by working your chest you are working your tris and by working your back you are working your bis. and by working them as a muscle group rather than as individual muscles they function more efficiently. the best way to think of exercises rather than what muscles it works is what activity it does. push, pull, lunge twist, lift, squat. at least thats what the book says.

it is not to imply you won't get benefit out of doing pushups this way its just not the most effective way.

sorry for being long winded.

[flaming]

Ive been using a dowel rod to help me keep neutral spine when doing push ups. I have just been doing scap pushups because my right side was winging but thanks to the dowel it isnt any more.

Does a correct pushup involve retracting the scapulars then bending the arms then protracting the scapulars or should they be one movment?

What about pullups should i depress my scapulars then bend my arms?

It feels right to get the scapular in place then move but twisting my lumbar spine also felt good:eek:

[Sgt_Major]

Im currently at Stage one Recovery program, which means I can do around 5 full proper pressups, chest to the floor before my surgery shoulder burns so bad I cant continue. givenb 5mins rest i can do it again.

In my prime condition I could do 100 of them.

[flaming]

What caused your injury?

One arm one leg pushups are a goal for me. It looks a bit silly when people have there legs spread out and the body twisted.

[Sgt_Major]

bad dislocation taking chunks out of the bone and tearing the muscle off the bone. thats the condensed version :D

[bcullen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X72LtRcXR6g

This is a good video for improving pushups.

It's also a daily routine for some of us. ;)

Diamond, close hand, regular and wide arm push-ups are the commonly used variations but there are many variations used in the Army. The absolute worst but the one that gave me the greatest gain are the partner assisted push-up. Get a gym towel and a buddy, have your buddy straddle you while you are in push up position with the towel around your chest, set a timer for one minute and start pushing as fast as you can with your partner giving assitance as needed. Switch and do the same with your partner. By the second set you will most likely just be laying there as your partner lifts you with the towel. Try and do three full sets :D

[Ranzan]

AHA fort cambel kentucky i just moved here maybe ile see you around the base. Back on topic the assited pushup is a pain in the arse never have liked it right now im currently doing alot of marine pushups (hands cupped over each other ) work triceps alot more but find the hurt my shoulders any one find this ?

[Llamageddon]

AHA fort cambel kentucky i just moved here maybe ile see you around the base. Back on topic the assited pushup is a pain in the arse never have liked it right now im currently doing alot of marine pushups (hands cupped over each other ) work triceps alot more but find the hurt my shoulders any one find this ?

What's your posture like? are the shoulders square or do they dip a bit?

Speaking of marine press-ups, anyone tried 'commando' press ups? Take yourself all the way down so nose touching floor, bring left knee up to elbow (leg off ground, obviously), put it back, go up, then repeat with right leg and so on