Push-ups are a great upper body exercise. However, if you
cannot perform many of them from the ground, they can be a self-defeating
exercise. Here is a great push-up progression from easiest to hardest that will
have you increasing the number of push-ups you can perform in no time.
Starting with the easiest, the incline barbell push up,
performed on a squat rack. This one is easily adjustable by moving the bar
lower on the rack, in order to slowly progress to the floor.
Progressing from the incline barbell push-up you have one of
two options. If you have a band, you can perform a slingshot push-up, which is
demonstrated bellow. If not, you can perform a push-up from your knees; this is
also demonstrated bellow. The slingshot push-up is great because as you go
towards the floor, the band will stretch. When pressing back up, the band will
assist you from the hardest position of the push-up (the bottom). Using the
push-up from the knees will make the movement easier by changing the leverages
so they are more in your favor.
Next in the progression comes the conventional push-up, the
gold standard in the push-up progression. Adding the extra length of your body
will make the movement harder, as compared with doing the push-up from your
knees.
If you want to take your push-up game to the next level,
these next two are for you. Now that you’ve mastered regular push-ups, how do
you make them harder? If this sounds like something you are interested in,
banded and chain weighted push-ups are for you. Using a harder push-up
variation will make regular push-ups feel easier and allow you to do more of
them. You can make either of these harder by using a stronger band or adding
more chains.
Where do you fall on the spectrum of this push-up
progression? The aforementioned push-up variations are great ways to increase
the number you can do, to work your way to actually doing regular push-ups, and
to make regular push-ups even harder. Leave a comment below and let me know
what you think or other push-up variations that have worked for you. I hope
this helps you on your journey to performing more push-ups.
Ryan Goodell, CSCS
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