It’s one of the most simple and effective exercises… as long as you do it right.
Push-ups may well be as old as the hills, but they’re still commonly practised today for a variety of good reasons.
A push-up is simple, it works a variety of different muscle groups and you can do them absolutely anywhere; at home, at work or as part of your workout in the gym.
If you’re going to do them, however, you might as well do them right because, as is the case with a lot of exercises, you can cheat and make it easier, even if the only person you’ll be cheating is yourself.
Here’s how it’s done:
- Put yourself into a plank position, with your hands fully extended and placed a little wider than shoulder width apart.
- Keep your back and legs straight all the way from head to toe; in other words, make sure your backside and hips aren’t too high or low and don’t let your knees drop.
- Maintain a slight gap between your feet with your toes planted firmly on the ground, engage your abdominal muscles.
- Control your movement towards the surface, dropping as close to the ground as possible (imagine having to touch your chest against a fist planted on the ground).
- Pushing yourself upwards to the proper starting position and repeat. Gradually build up the number of repetitions over time but ensure that you’ve mastered the proper technique first.
Once you’ve done so, there are all sorts of variations on the push-up that are also beneficial but let’s just stick to the basics for now, shall we?
There are any amount of videos on YouTube that help demonstrate the perfect push-up technique, but we like the one from Scott Malin below.
Video via YouTube/Scott Malin
For more easy exercises, click here.
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