Hello readers! Recently while I was working out in IM West, I noticed something a little off- putting. I saw a student in the gym doing push ups. Now I know that this doesn't seem like it's out of the ordinary, however, his form was atrocious. That is why I have decided to write a post on the proper push up form. Below is a video that gives an example of the top 5 ways that people can mess up their push up.
Push ups are an amazing exercise that works a variety of muscles. The main muscles being worked in this exercise are the chest, tricep, shoulder, and abdominal muscles.
My trainer always used to give me a hard time in the start of our training. He would always tell me to keep my head straight, have stable shoulders and back, have hips and torso straight, and to have controlled movement. These are all things that you should keep in mind when doing a push up. Below is a visual that shows the above points and more.
Like all exercises, If your form is not right, then you can have an increased risk of injury. Doing push ups improperly can result in rotator cuff injuries, muscle imbalances, sprained/ strained wrists, and more. Another thing to keep in mind is to be able to have controlled full movement. This means going slow and doing a full repetition like the ones shown in the video above. By doing this, your strength/gains from doing this exercise can increase greatly.
I often see people in the gym that have very poor form, and it drives me nuts. Those people doing poor form are those who probably have little exercise experience, so I take it upon myself to go and help those people. The last thing I want to witness while exercising is someone hurting themselves because they never took the time to learn the proper form for their exercise. If everyone just took the time to learn proper form, not only for push ups, but for all exercises, They could maximize the amount of gains they could achieve.
References
"5 Ways People Do Push Ups Wrong". Youtube,
2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFLo0Gf2S5w.
Perry, Marc. "How To Do A Push-Up With Proper Form
(& Technique)". Builtlean, 2011,
http://www.builtlean.com/2011/02/23/how-to-proper-push-up-form/.
"The Perfect Push Up - Do It Right!". Youtube,
2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IODxDxX7oi4.
Very informative post. I never knew so much went into doing a push up. After reading your post and watching the videos, I too learned a thing or two about my form and making my push ups better. Thanks for the help and detailed information!
ReplyDeleteWith every exercise there comes precise movements that a person needs to make in order to get the most out of that exercise. Glad I could help!
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