by Lucky Butorac, Guest Blogger
If you’re looking for a simple and effective exercise to add to your workout routine, then push-ups might be exactly what you need.
Push-ups are one of the classic calisthenics moves. This exercise will help you build your chest and triceps. It requires no equipment. This makes it perfect for working out at home, at your office, or on vacation.
Let’s go over tips and tricks to help you unlock the power of push-ups and take your fitness routine to the next level.
Correct Form And Technique
First, it’s important to master the correct form and technique. This will help you prevent injury. It will also maximize the benefits of the exercise.
To start, get into a plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Your feet should be firmly on the ground and close together.
Keep your back straight, engage your core, and lower your body until your chest touches the ground. Then, push yourself back up to the starting position.
Common mistakes to avoid include flaring your elbows out, letting your hips sag, or not lowering yourself enough.
Push-Ups Tips & Tricks
Let’s explore the 10 tips and tricks. Those tips and tricks will help you get the most out of this exercise.
1. Start with an easier version of push-ups when you start
If regular push-ups are still too hard for you, try to do modified push-ups. You do them on your knees. This will shorten the lever you are using. So, it will be easier to do.
As you get stronger, you can gradually transition to full push-ups. This variation is called knee push-up.
2. Slowly increase the number of reps
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-and-woman-doing-push-ups-8692134/
When you are just starting out, don’t expect to do 100 push-ups in a row. Start with a small number of reps (3-5 reps in a set) and slowly increase the number over time.
This will help prevent injury and ensure that you’re performing the exercise with the proper form.
3. Use varied hand placement
Changing the placement of your hands during push-ups can target different muscles. For example, placing your hands close together will work your triceps more, while placing them wider apart will work your chest more.
Experiment with different hand placements to target different muscle groups.
4. For increased difficulty pause at the bottom
When you are at the lowest point of the movement, try to add a short pause before pushing back up.
This small tweak will make your muscles work more. So, this exercise becomes more challenging.
5. Use push-up variations
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/side-view-of-a-man-doing-superman-push-ups-4976936/
People are doing push-ups since the beginning of time. To keep things interesting they came up with so many variations. You can target different muscles and add variety to your workout using different exercises.
Those variations can make push-ups easier or harder.
6. Vary the tempo
You can vary the difficulty of the exercise by varying the tempo. This is especially important in the eccentric part of the movement. This is the part when you are lowering down.
For example, you could perform the lowering portion of the push-up slowly (e.g. 3-4 seconds) and then push back up quickly. Faster is easier and slower is harder.
7. Don’t forget to breathe
It’s important to breathe throughout the movement. Inhale as you lower your body towards the ground, and exhale as you push back up.
8. Make push-ups a habit
The more you do them, the stronger you’ll get. Add push-ups into your daily routine.
Whether it’s as part of your morning workout or as a quick exercise break during the day. To build strength, you need to be consistent.
9. Add push-ups to your full workouts
Push-ups are a great exercise to include in a full-blown workout. You can combine them with other bodyweight exercises.
It can be something like squats, pull-ups, leg raises, pike push-ups, and reverse planks. This way you create a full-body workout.
10. Don’t forget to rest
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photography-of-woman-sleeping-914910/
It’s important to give your muscles time to recover. Doing push-ups every day may be overkill. Make sure to take a day off or do a different set of exercises that targets different muscles. Generally, you would want to have a day’s rest before working on the same muscle group again.
Research done in 2018 proved that having poor sleeping habits will lead to skeletal muscle loss.
Push-Up Variations
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-a-white-tank-top-8033013/
Push-up variations can be useful for targeting different muscle groups. They are also a great tool for increasing or decreasing the level of difficulty:
- Wide grip push-ups: Place your hands further apart than usual to target your chest muscles.
- Diamond push-ups: Place your hands together under your chest, forming a diamond shape, to target your triceps.
- Plyometric push-ups: Push off the ground explosively to increase the intensity of the exercise.
- Incline push-ups: Place your hands on a raised surface like a bench to make push-ups easier.
- Decline push-ups: Place your feet on a raised surface like a bench to make push-ups harder.
That was just a small sample of push-up variations for you to try. If you want a comprehensive list of exercises sorted by the level of difficulty, you can check out the complete push-up progression.
Push-up progression will help you easily assess your current fitness level when it comes to push-ups. From there, you can easily go step by step all the way up to one arm push-up. This is an impressive skill well worth your time pursuing.
Building Strength With Push-Ups
To build strength with push-ups, here’s the strategy you can use.
Start by doing as many push-ups as you can in a row. Do them until failure. Meaning, do as much as you can without breaking the form. When your form becomes compromised, take a break. Repeat this process a few times (do 3-5 sets).
Try to increase the number of push-ups you can do in each consecutive workout session.
Don’t forget to also rest and recover properly. Resting will allow your muscles to recover and grow stronger. Your muscles grow only when you rest.
Push-Up Workout
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-bearded-man-in-push-up-position-12720234/
A push-up is just one exercise. How do you turn this exercise into a complete workout? Here’s an example workout:
- 3 sets of plyometric push-ups to failure
- 3 sets of diamond push-ups to failure
- 3 sets of wide grip push-ups to failure
- 3 sets of regular push-ups to failure
It’s important to adjust the number of sets and reps to your fitness level. So, if this is too hard for you, lower the numbers. If this is low or no challenge, increase the numbers, or pick harder exercises.
Now, this workout is not something you will do on a regular basis. If your triceps and chest are lagging in development this workout will be useful. You can do it once a week tops.
You will want to work all muscle groups in your body. So, overdoing just one or two muscle groups is not the greatest idea. Please remember this when you think about using any kind of workouts you find online – this one included.
Don’t forget to warm up before and cool down after the workout. This will help you perform better and avoid injury at the same time.
Push-Up Challenge
When you want to push yourself even harder, you can try one of the challenges. One popular challenge is doing 100 push-ups a day for 30 days.
At first, this challenge might seem daunting. But you can start with just a few push-ups. Then slowly work your way up to 100.
Always remember to listen to your body and take rest days when needed.
Conclusion
So there you have it! These were 10 tips and tricks to help you unlock the power of push-ups. They will help you take your push workouts to the next level.
Remember to start with proper form. Switch things up using different variations. Build your strength over time, and challenge yourself with push-up challenges. But most importantly, have fun with it!
So, what are you waiting for? Drop down and give me 20!
FAQ
Can you lose belly fat by doing push-ups?
If you want to lose belly fat, the majority of the battle will be won in the kitchen. When you eat in a caloric deficit, you will lose fat. Period. Doing any kind of workout will help you reach your weight loss goals faster. But, don’t expect miracles from any kind of workout, push-ups included.
How many push-ups a day?
There is no set rule of how many push-ups you need to do in a day. If you do push-ups in a strength/hypertrophy range (up to 15 reps per set), you would want to give your body at least one day of rest before the next workout. It’s because your body will need about 24 – 72 hours of rest between two strength workouts (depending on the intensity of your workout).
What muscles do push-ups work?
Push-ups will primarily work your chest and triceps muscles. But, push-ups are a compound movement. They will work more muscle groups at once. They will also recruit your abs and lower back muscles which will keep your body in a straight line.
About the Author Lucky Butorac
Lucky Butorac writes about regular resistance training and balanced nutrition for building strength and muscle. He was able to lose 20 lbs of fat and build 9 lbs of lean muscle mass in 2 years using bodyweight training and a healthy nutrition plan.
He is also a certified skiing instructor and is actively participating in FIS Masters Cup races. In his blog, he writes about calisthenics and nutrition for strength and muscle building for men over 40.
When he’s not writing, training, or skiing he is passionate about finding great investments and turning his hard-earned money into passive income.
Be the first to comment