How to do a push up properly

Every workout should included a push up. It's a a muscle builder, a back saver, and an athletic supporter!

Doing a push up properly can be very challenging and rewarding when done properly! The thing is many people, particularly women, do them incorrectly. Let's banish mediocritcy and strive to perform perfectly formed push ups. May be you will only be able to do one 'perfectly' but you will get better - don't sacrifice form!

Find your form: Before you can move on, make sure you're actually doing a push-up the right way. Be aware of these four things as you execute a push-up: your body alignment, hands, abs, and breath. Make sure your shoulders are aligned over your wrists and your fingers and palms are spread wide, with pressure focused in your fingertips. Pull your belly button in, keeping your spine straight so your body is in a straight line; make sure to connect your breath with your movements. As you lower, bend your elbows outward to the sides.

Pushups are excellent for toning your core, quads, arms and shoulders. Oh and ladies? Pushups have an awesome (and natural…) wonderbra effect on your rack.

What’s even better: there are tons of varieties on the good ol’ pushup. Ever heard of elevated pushups? One-legged pushups? T-pushups? Superman pushups?  Star pushups? Burpees? One-arm pushups (wth right?)? No? Well sign up for a PT session or join our morning boot camp and we will happily teach these to you?



Dont believe me... Listen to what MensHealth has to say on the topic:

How Pushups Build More Muscle
Logic says the pushup won't build strength unless you're kind of weak to begin with. Its benefits lie elsewhere.

"If you do pushups correctly, you develop your scapular muscles and your rotator-cuff muscles to stabilize your shoulders. If you do bench presses instead of pushups, you don't have to use those muscles as much," says Michael Clark, C.S.C.S., a physical therapist and president of the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

In other words, pushups not only build up the facade in front of your physique, but also develop the support system behind those muscles, too.

Here's why that's important: In every physical action, some muscles act as the engine and some act as the brakes. If the brakes aren't strong and durable enough to counterbalance the engine, you've got an injury waiting to happen.

When a guy comes up with a chronically sore shoulder from bench pressing, for example, the problem is usually that the chest and shoulder muscles are too strong relative to the muscles behind them.

So it makes sense that pushups help improve muscular balance, which is important for developing serious strength. And with strength comes muscle size.