How to do more push ups

The push up is a fantastic compound exercise that works out the entire body. Not only does it build your upper body strength, but if done properly it will increase your core strength as well. It utilizes multiple muscles such as your chest, triceps, shoulders, abdominal muscles, back and even your legs.

All too often I see people neglecting to do pushups in favor of the bench press, but I’m here to tell you there aren’t that many upper body exercises that can recruit as many muscle groups the way the push up does which is why it’s so important to incorporate them into your workout program.

Proper Push Up Position

To do a push up properly, you’ll want to get on the floor and position your hands just slightly wider than shoulder width, with your hands at your side and your elbows tucked at a 45 degree angle. Brace your core as if you are preparing to get punched in the abdomen, keeping your back straight, and getting your hips in line. Make sure your back isn’t arching or that your hips aren’t sagging. Your feet can be close together or slightly apart – just don’t allow them to be more than a foot apart. Now that you are in proper position, you’re able to start. As you bend your elbows, you should inhale and allow your chest and hips to touch the floor. As you come up, exhale and make sure that you don’t lock out your elbows; you should maintain a slight bend.

Now that you know how to do a proper push up, we can take a look at how to increase the amount of push ups you’re able to do. To start, we need to take a look at your baseline. Get a timer and see how many perfect form push ups you can do in 2 minutes. Divide your total by 3 and this is how many reps you should be doing per set. You should aim to do your push up routine 3 times a week, giving yourself a 1 day rest in between. Every week you should plan to add another 2 – 3 push ups per set. Every month you should do a new baseline assessment.

Once you’ve gotten to the point where you can do at least 20 proper push ups, you should start to incorporate push up variations to your routine to ensure that you keep stimulating your muscle groups. Below are a few examples of push up variations that are sure to keep you in high gear.

Spiderman Push Up

Start out by assuming the normal pushup position. Now, as you begin to lower your body toward the floor, lift your left foot off the floor, bring that same leg out to the side and try to touch your knees to your elbow. Reverse the movement and then push your body back to the start position. On your next repetition, you’ll want to touch your right knee to your right elbow. Alternate back and forth.

Stability Ball Push Up

This is a great variation of the push up that adds some core stability work due to the balance requirement. You’ll want to put your hands on the ball, directly under your shoulders making sure that your elbows are pointed toward your ankles. To create more stability and strength, try squeezing the ball in between your hands.

If you want to make this movement easier, you can do this in a kneeling position.

If you want to make this more challenging, then bring your feet together and lift one leg up as you do a push up, making sure to switch sides.

Rotational Push Up

Start in the standard push up position and go down as you would in a regular push up. On the way up, rotate your body so that you end up in plank position, with one arm on the ground and the other one pointing toward the ceiling. Rotate your body back toward the standard position. Repeat the movement switching toward the other side.

If you want to make this movement more challenging, try incorporating a dumbbell.