Exercise progression - Pushup

Everyone knows how to do a pushup and once you can crank out 20+ pushups in perfect form there really isn't anything else you could do right? I mean you can keep doing more and more reps but that is going to build very little muscle, bore you, and waste your precious time trying to wring a tiny benefit out of a lot of effort. This is not smart training!

So lets look at some ways of progressing thru a pushup from the easiest to the hardest. You might be amazed at just how many progressions one can go thru to constantly challenge themselves and never have to go past 20 pushups all the while gaining muscle mass and a greater satisfaction.

I will start from the easiest form to some very challenging forms of a standard pushup.

1) Do pushups against a wall. If you do not have the necessary strength to do one on the ground just step away from the wall and place your hands at shoulder length and do pushups in a standing position.
2) Progress to doing that same pushup off of the couch or a bench. It becomes more challenging but still is easy in form.
3) Lets get to the ground and start doing some modified pushups. Get into the pushup position (I will outline a perfect pushup below so you can follow) except that you will be on your knees instead of your toes and do your pushups - when you get to 20 it is time to change.
4) Now do the same form but cross one leg over the other at the ankle as your knees continue to be on the ground.
5) Now you are ready for the standard pushup. On your hands and on your toes. When you can do this you are ready for some intense variations.
6) We are all taught to look down and touch our nose to the ground when we do pushups - well that is too easy - do the pushup and turn your head to the left or right when you come down and the pushup becomes just a little harder. Now touch your ear to the ground and you are going through a much greater range of motion.
7) Ready for some challenge - well while doing the pushup raise one leg off of the ground and then do them. Now you are stressing your core muscles(trunk) and making a standard pushup a little harder. Plus you are now working more muscles for a single exercise.
8) Put your feet on a stability ball and then do the same pushups. Much harder right? And you are working those core muscles again.
9) Now lift one leg off of that stability ball and it becomes harder again. You are still working the same muscles but you are now working them at a higher intensity.
10) Alright you are a master at the pushup - right? No! Now lets make it harder to do the standard pushup. Instead of having your hands under you when you do the pushup force your hands a few inches in front of you - this little change will make your pushups increasingly harder because your fulcrum of your arms has changed your stability.
11) What to do now? Go back to the steps above and start my raising one leg up with your hands further away from your head etc. Progress to the stability ball with one leg up. Etc.
12) So you have mastered it all in the pushup - have you? Of course not (what kind of personal trainer would I be if I could not challenge you some more). Now we start changing your hands from shoulder width to closer or farther apart. Maybe we bring your hands closer together to work your triceps more or we move them farther apart to increase your pecs and shoulder resistance.

As you can see this methodology can be applied to ANY exercise. I have shown you how a simple pushup can give you at least a year to work it. And to be honest there is another 20+ I could give you to make it even harder. You need to start thinking outside the box with our tradional exercises. Bordom should never exist in your workouts - you just have to challenge yourself and think about how an exercise could be modified. Of course you should never do any change to an exercise that is not a functional movement. An example would be doing a pushup and twisting - this is not a natural movement and should never be done! If you do not do the motion in daily living you should not do it in an exercise mode. You risk injury for no reason and it will not give you an edge in the real world.

Everyone, doing an exercise for over 20 reps buys you very little and wastes your precious time (there are a few reasons to do more but that is probably reserved to the hard core athlete). I am amazed when I hear someone tell me that they can do 200 ab lifts! That to me is a weakness because they get very little out of that and if they just put a 5 pound plate on the chest while they did 20 of them they would actually get REAL results in 2 minutes versus the 10 minutes it takes them to do 200 of those lifts with no real results!

So what is a real pushup:

I suggest you view yourself in a mirror till you get it right.
1) Unless otherwise noted you should have your hands at shoulder length and point your middle finger straight ahead.
2) Your heel should be pointing straight up and you feet should be a little shorter then shoulder length.
3) You feet should be pushed away from your torso so that you heals are closer to your body then your toes. Any they should not be bent to the left or right.
4) You should never look down at the ground - instead look ahead to engage a more neurological response.
5) Your body should appear in a straight line when you view yourself in the mirror (draw in your belly button to get that core solid).

Ask me any questions you may have and I will help you maximize this simple exercise to make you realize incredible gains. if you want to know how to make it even harder reach out to me and I will show you how.

No one has to workout 1 hour+ at the gym to get little benefits. I am here for you tap my knowledge. As well I can bring your workout time down and allow you a little more "me" time. Exercise should never be a chore just a fun thing to do that rewards you immensely.

Lets talk about this. Send me your comments.

As always - I am available for personal training either in person (if in NJ) or over the web. My rates are $75.00 per hour for in-person training and $25.00 per hour for email personal training. If you feel you have stalled in your pursuit of fitness and need some expert knowledge to get you on track reach out to me.

Regards,

Eddie Camaroto CPT