Five Tips to Better Push Ups

Two of my favorite exercises are simple push-ups and squats.  They're extremely effective, biomechanically challenging, and very helpful for individuals with low back and/or midback/shoulder pain.  They're also the kind of exercise that you should aim to be able to do relatively easily...no matter how old you are.  Today, let's talk about push-ups.

About two or three times a year I decide it's a good idea to see if I can do 100 straight push-ups.  I heard about this particular challenge and found a training plan on www.hundredpushups.com and went to work.  I even won $100 off a poor fella who didn't think I could do it this past August.  Little did he know that I had finished the training and accomplished the goal of 100 consecutive push-ups just the previous week.  I guess I could have shared that little bit of information with him.

Now, I'm not saying you need to set your goal at 100 pushups.  But why not aim for 50, or 25, 10, or just 1? Basically, I think it's a great idea to push your limits a bit every now and then.  Set a goal and accomplish something you didn't think you were capable of accomplishing.

Push-ups are great exercise for the whole body, and research has shown that being able to perform push-ups is a good indicator of your ability to maintain fitness into older age.  Scientists have also noted that push-ups can provide seniors with the strength and muscle memory necessary to break a fall.  But did you know that push-ups are particularly good for building your core strength?  And that building your core strength is one of the keys to preventing low back pain?

However, it's also very easy to do push-ups incorrectly, which can actually lead to pain in your shoulders and back.

So here are 5 great tips to doing better push-ups.

1) Be sure your hips don't sag.  Your head, shoulders and hips should all be in a straight line as you perform your push-ups.  If your hips droop, it could cause lower back pain, and you will not gain as much core strength as you would if you kept head, shoulders and hips aligned.  To help keep this from happening, tighten your gluteal muscles (the buttocks) and your abdominals as you perform your push-ups.  (It should also be noted that your hips should not be sticking up, creating an inverted "v" shape).

2) Keep your elbows close to your sides.  If you look like a "T" from above, with your elbows splayed out like wings, you could be causing damage to the rotator cuff of your shoulder.  Although this is how many of us were taught to do push-ups in school, it's not correct.  If you have trouble keeping your elbows close to your torso, try doing push-ups on your fists, with the back of your hands facing out. This helps to keep your elbows from splaying.

3) Go as low as possible.  Your elbows should ideally be at somewhat less than a 90-degree angle when you are at your lowest point.  If you have trouble doing this initially, put a block or similar object beneath your chest for a reference.  Then gradually reduce the size of the object as you develop the strength to go lower.  Personally, I aim to touch my nose to the ground.

4) Start off easy. Many people do not yet have the strength to do even a single push-up on the floor and resort to so-called "knee push-ups".  Unfortunately, this will not help you gain the strength you need for regular push-ups, and your body will not benefit as much from the effort.  Instead, you can begin by doing push-ups against a wall, countertop or staircase and then gradually work your way to progressively lower (more horizontal) positions until you're able to do a push-up on the floor.  This is a great milestone!  As I mentioned earlier...you don't need to do 100 pushups.  A single pushup with great form is an excellent accomplishment!  Then, work forward from there.

5) Stretch your wrists.  Putting all your upper body weight on your wrists can hurt after a while, since most of us are not accustomed to it.  Give your wrists some relief by stretching them.  While on your knees, place your hands palm-downwards, with your fingers pointed back toward your knees, lightly putting pressure on them to help stretch in the opposite direction to the way they are positioned during a push-up.  This will allow them to support more weight for your next set.

As I mentioned earlier, the ability to do a push-up has been shown to be a good indicator of core stability and prevention of low back pain.  The first part of the hundredpushups.com training plan is a "test" to see how many good-form push-ups you can do right now.  So, put the paper down for just a second and try it out yourself. Set a goal, and get pushing!