How to do a correct push-up

Bodyweight exercise is magical! When you are homebound and can’t make it to the gym or travel a lot for work, there is not a single excuse to turn into a shlub if you know some drills to do. And far too often, people just say F it, and let their bodies go to pot in situations like this.

But you are different. At least, you should be. You might be doing an HGH cycle where your primary goal is to get your physique tightened up to impress the wifey or girlfriend. Or, even show up the young bucks at the gym. If you want to keep learning, be sure to read more on the topic.

Well, if you are looking to specifically target the upper body, you need not look any further than good old-fashioned push-ups. No bodyweight routine should go without them and they can easily be facilitated from any locale you might be in.

There is bad news though. More often than not, people come nowhere close to executing these with proper form. The atrocities you see should be coined as criminal!

But, if you pay attention to these directions you will never be one of those people and you can do them with confidence, grace and tact. Here is a step-by-step procedure that even a second grader should be able to understand.

Let’s kick this off with the correct starting position.

1. Assume a front-leaning rest position with your hands directly under your shoulders, feet together and fingers facing forward. You may also hear this referred to as a “plank.” Neither one is wrong.
2. Tighten your abs to form a straight line from the back of your head to your heels. This is very important because you don’t want to be the idiot whose butt sags down or pops way up in the air when you are doing push-ups. It’s a guarantee that you will be pointed out if you do this in a gym.
3. Fix your gaze slightly ahead of your body or down toward the floor. But do not bend your neck so your chin is tucked in by your chest. That will crank your cervical spine and give you neck pain over the course of time.
4. Keep your abs tight as you bend your elbows and slowly lower yourself toward the floor. Move your elbows in tightly to your sides. Do NOT let them flare out sideways as this can cause strain on your shoulders.
5. Stop when your chin touches the floor. Yes, you heard me correctly. A good, military-grade push-up from yesteryear requires this to happen. Don’t be a doggone sissy! Lower your chin like a man!
6. Push yourself all the way back up until your arms are fully extended and repeat.

Tips and Hints

Bang! You now know how to do a correct push-up and you can add them to your workout regimen. But there are some tips to pay attention to. First of all, don’t forget to breathe. In fact, let’s change that to don’t forget to breathe properly.

As you lower yourself down, take a big inhale. As you push yourself up, exhale forcefully. You would be shocked at how this little trick will afford you the ability to do your push-ups with better form.

Also, make sure you squeeze your abs tightly the entire time you do a set of push-ups. This will enable you to generate power and also keep your back perfectly straight.

Lastly, here is a bit of a trick of the trade. As you are coming up, corkscrew your hands into the floor. This is another tension technique, much like keeping your abs engaged. You don’t really have to move your hands on the floor, but grip it tightly and focus on the spiraling maneuver. It will take you a long way.

Variations

Once you know the basic form, you can then get fancy and add more challenging variations to your workouts. For example, perform push-ups with one foot off the floor. You can alternate each leg with each rep or do a series of reps on one foot and then switch sides.

This really fires up the core to a higher degree, and it also generates more tension on your glutes and lower back muscles.

You can also place your feet on a chair or bench to do decline push-ups. These will shift more of the emphasis to your upper chest.

By doing the opposite with your hands on the chair or bench, you will be placing more work on your lower chest.

If you are a hoss, place your feet on a wall and handwalk yourself into a vertical position. Then do some handstand push-ups. The emphasis now shifts to your shoulders. But you will really feel it in your abs as well because they need to be tight to prevent you from collapsing into a big heap.

The Final Thought of the Day

If you are dedicated to making progress with HGH before and after you come to the clinic, then you should also take interest in your lifestyle. Adding push-ups to your game plan can set you up in the right direction in little to no time flat.

But just remember how to do them properly and also don’t take advice from others. What you see people do is not always the right thing to do. In fact, it is probably a rare occasion that is.

What you just learned is perfect form, and that’s all you ever want to concern yourself with. If someone is trying to tell you to space your arms out wider to “get a better pump,” tell them you appreciate their concern, but you like your shoulders in good working order.

As long as you stick to the basics and do them correctly, you will never have a thing to worry about.