The Lowly Push-Up Revisited

Watch any P.E. class, sports practice, or military training and you’ll likely see push-ups doled out like candy, usually in sets of 25 or more and often as punishment. Most of us have experienced this at one time or another. And maybe it’s precisely because we are so familiar with this exercise, that we relegate the push-up to a throw-away movement that is dropped into warm-ups and workouts without concern for mastering the movement itself.

Top strength coaches, however, realize the value of this exercise. As Coach Glassman described in the March 2003 CrossFit Journal article “The Push-up,” when done correctly, the push-up is an incredibly demanding, full-body movement that engages as many stabilizers as possible. For this reason alone, push-ups should be a mainstay of any strength and conditioning program. The key, however, is that the exercise must be performed correctly to realize the benefits.

Unfortunately, very few athletes have achieved push-up mastery. In fact, what commonly passes for acceptable push-up technique is such a degradation from the ideal form that many of the benefits are lost. Skills like superior midline stability, shoulder strength, mobility and resiliency, athleticism and relative strength simply aren’t developed maximally with sub-par push-ups, no matter how many reps we might do.

The Perfect Push-up

Glassman’s article defined CrossFit’s standard for the “perfect” or “honest” push-up as one that “moves slowly from full extension to a point of maximum depth without ‘reaching’ for the ground or perturbing the body’s taut, rigid, straight-line posture, and then returns rigidly to full extension.” For maximum benefit, we must strive for every rep to follow these guidelines. Also pointed out in the article, mastery of the perfect push-up is absolutely critical prior to striving for a handstand push-up. James Hobart demonstrates a perfect push-up here.

Technique Do’s:

The perfect push-up as defined above describes exactly how every rep of this movement should be done: starting at full arm extension, moving to maximal depth, and then back to full extension in a smooth, controlled movement, without breaking rigid, straight-line posture. Simple, but not easy. There are a few technical details that can help athletes perform an Rx’d push-up correctly.

1. Hand Placement: In general, the hands should be placed at shoulder level, just outside the shoulders. This is a good place to start for most athletes. Fingers should be pointed straight forward or slightly in toward the center of the body. With the hands firmly planted on the ground, the athlete should attempt to rotate them out, counter-clockwise with the left hand, and clockwise with the right hand. This helps  set the elbows at the proper angle and develop tension through the shoulder girdle as the athlete descends. This tension is important for strength development and for maintaining the rigid posture from head to toe.
2. Elbows: Elbow position should naturally be set by the action of attempting to rotate the hands. Ideally, the upper arms should be at a 45-degree angle from the body, not flared out at shoulder level. When looking down at the athlete in the bottom position from above, their head and elbows should form the shape of an arrow, not a T.  It is common to see the elbows flare in weaker athletes or as the athlete fatigues.
3. Full-Body Tension: We’ve already mentioned how turning the hands creates tension in the shoulders and upper back. Creating tension through the whole body is critical for a perfect push-up. Keep the outward pressure on the hands. Brace the abs like you’re about to take a punch.  Squeeze the glutes together. Flex the quads. Maintain this tension throughout the set.  Breathing has to be in the form of short breaths that don’t disturb this tension. This is called breathing behind the brace.
4. Proper Scapular Movement: One of the main athletic benefits proper push-ups provide is movement through the full range of motion of the shoulder blades or scapulae.  As the athlete descends, the shoulder blades should naturally come together until they are fully retracted in the bottom position. As the athlete comes back up, the shoulder blades smoothly separate or protract. At the top, if the athlete fully extends the arms and pushes the ground away, the shoulder blades will fully protract. Going through this full range of motion is a great technique to improve anyone’s shoulder mobility and health, and should also be a staple for any throwing athlete.

Technique Don’ts:

1. Reaching the Head: A good push-up has the chin, chest, stomach, and thighs touch the ground at the same time. At the very bottom of a push-up, the athlete should be able to lift their hands and not “plop” to the ground. As the athlete’s rigid body descends, the goal is to avoid touching the ground as long as possible. Craning the neck to reach the head toward the ground is a common fault that reduces the range of motion of the push-up.
2. Losing Midline: One of the most important skills honed with push-ups is the ability to stabilize the midline while moving up and down. This basically makes the push-up a moving plank with considerable stress on the midline because the distance between contact points with the ground (the feet and hands) is relatively long. As the number of reps mounts, the challenge to the midline only increases as does the temptation for the athlete to hyperextend and let the hips sag toward the ground. This demonstrates a loss of midline stability.
3. Too Fast/Bouncing/Stopping: The proper tempo for a set of push-ups (not done for time) is a smooth, consistent two seconds down and two seconds up with no pause at the top or bottom. There should only be a light “kiss” on the ground before reversing direction, not a bounce. The athletes should not hit the chest off the ground hard to help propel them back up. Of course, the pace can be increased when push-ups are being done for time, but the no-bouncing rule still applies! Also, once an athlete pauses to “rest” (this usually happens at the top of the rep), the set is over.
4. Shorting at the Top and/or Bottom: At the bottom of the push-up, the chin, chest, stomach, hips, and thighs are all in contact with the ground. At the top, the arms are fully extended. A major cheat in the push-up is to not go all the way down, leaving the chest a few inches off the ground. This is often associated with reaching with the head or letting the hips sag. It is also very common to see athletes start going back down for the next rep before they have fully extended the arms at the top. Achieving full range of motion in this movement is critical for optimal muscular development in the chest, arms, and upper back, and for proper mobility around the shoulders and elbows. We also want to make sure that midline stability can be maintained throughout the entire range of motion, especially at the bottom of the rep where the midline challenge is typically greatest.

Getting Better at Push-ups

Push-ups are challenging for many athletes because the exercise requires moving a significant amount of one’s body weight through the range of motion. For athletes working to develop a push-up or hone their technique, doing push-ups on a bar in a rack is a useful tool as are eccentric push-ups, push-ups that start from the bottom position, and slow-motion push-ups.

1. Push-ups in the Rack: For these push-ups, the athlete sets a bar up in a rack between waist and chest high. The higher the bar is set, the easier the push-up. This progression works well for developing the strength necessary to do a push-up and for teaching the athlete how to develop full body tension as they move from fully extended arms to chest touching the bar. Once an athlete can do 10-15 strict reps at a certain bar height, they can lower the bar a few inches to increase difficulty.
2. Slow Eccentrics: From the top position of a push-up, the athlete lowers slowly to the ground maintaining a rigid body position until they make contact with the ground. This is a great version for developing strength and eliminating reaching, loss of midline stability, or shorting. Each rep should take 10 seconds or so. The athlete should demonstrate full control through the entire range of motion. A total of 6-12 eccentric reps is sufficient in a workout.
3. Starting in the Bottom Position: For an athlete who can do a few push-ups, this is a useful technique for refining body position. Each rep starts with the athlete lying on the ground in the bottom of a push-up position, hands just outside the shoulders. The athlete tightens up their entire body and keeps their body rigid as they press up from the ground to fully extended arms. The athlete then resets in the bottom position to prepare for the next rep. Fifteen-20 single reps is a good goal for a workout.
4. Slow-Motion Push-ups: As push-up performance improves, an athlete can truly ingrain the technique and master the movement pattern through slow-motion push-ups. There are many options to test here. A set of 5-10 push-ups with a 5-second lowering phase and a 5-second raising phase is a good start. Ten seconds down and 10 seconds up with full control is a good test. An athlete who can do a 1-minute push-up — 30 seconds down and 30 seconds up — while keeping the body rigid and in the right position, has gained solid mastery of the push-up.

Once the push-up technique has been sufficiently developed and the athlete wants to increase their capacity in terms of the number of push-ups they can perform, they can use ladders, EMOMs, max-rep sets, max push-ups in a specified time, or a specific number of push-ups as fast as possible to great effect. The key for any of these methods is that technique cannot degrade as the athlete fatigues! Once the proper technique is lost, the athlete must rest until they are able to perform proper push-ups again.

1. Ladders allow for a significant amount of volume to be done without ever burning the athlete out with high-rep sets. A ladder of 1-2-3-4-5 reps is 15 total reps. Three ladders, done 1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5-1-2-3-4-5, adds up to 45 reps. The athlete can rest as needed as the reps increase. The fact that the ladder restarts at the low-rep end after the highest-rep set helps  manage fatigue. As the athlete builds capacity, longer ladders, such as 1-10, can be used.
2. EMOMs are another great way to rack up a good volume of push-ups without burning out on any single set. Because they’re done on a set time, EMOMs end up having a relatively set work-to-rest ratio. For a novice athlete, the work period should be relatively short compared to the rest period. For example, a novice athlete may do 5 push-ups on the minute for 20 minutes to get 100 total push-ups. Each minute consists of 8-12 seconds of work and 48-52 seconds of rest.  A more advanced athlete might instead do 20 push-ups on the minute for 10 minutes for a total of 200 push-ups. Each minute would consist of 30-40 seconds of work and only 20-30 seconds of rest.
3. Max-Rep Sets: Once a week or so, it is beneficial to test a max-rep set of push-ups to measure progress and set future goals. To be of value, these max-rep sets must follow the guidelines of Glassman’s “honest” push-up in terms of form and tempo. Once the athlete pauses or breaks form, the set is terminated.
4. Max Push-ups in a Specified Time: Slightly different than a max-rep set, while these push-ups must adhere to the form guidelines listed above, the tempo will be faster. Bouncing is still not allowed. Resting is allowed in the top position only. This is a good technique to use occasionally to build muscular endurance in the push-up.
5. Specific Number of Push-ups AFAP: Similar to the max push-ups in a specified time, these push-ups are perfect in form but faster in tempo. In this scenario, however, the athlete can partition work and rest any way they want to achieve the best result. This is another good technique for building muscular endurance.

Sample Beginner Push-up Program

Goal: 20 push-ups

Current Ability: 10 push-ups on knees

Part 1:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 3×8 push-ups in rack where all 8 reps can be completed relatively easily (add 1 rep each subsequent day to each set if possible until 3×15 reps is possible at this bar height. Lower the bar 4 inches and start over at 3×8). The body must be rigid throughout the entire set, with no loss of midline and the chest must touch the bar each rep.

Tuesday/Thursday: Slow eccentrics. Ten-second lowering phase on each rep for 6 total reps. Add 2 reps each subsequent week up to 12 total reps. Keep the body rigid throughout the entire range of motion. No reaching or loss of midline.

Saturday: Bottom-position push-ups, 6 total reps. The athlete might not have the strength to do these perfectly but it is important to practice and hone the skill of developing tension in the bottom position and driving up to the top of a push-up. These reps will also help the athlete identify areas of weakness.

Sunday: Once the athlete is almost horizontal in the push-ups in the rack, they can begin testing regular push-ups on Sunday. Three attempts only, separated by 2 minutes of rest to see how close they can come to performing regular push-ups. Use this practice to identify errors and areas of weakness.

Continue this schedule until the athlete can do 5 solid regular push-ups. This push-up does not need to be perfect but should be close. Gross loss of midline or inability to move through the full range of motion indicates the athlete must continue in the progression.

Part 2:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Push-up ladders, 1-2-3 x 3 for a total of 18 reps. Every 2 weeks add a rep to the ladder until performing 3 ladders of 1-2-3-4-5 reps. Stay there.

Tuesday: Slow-motion push-ups, 5 total reps, 5 seconds down, 5 seconds up. Add 1 rep per week.

Thursday: Max-rep sets. Two sets, striving for perfect form and tempo. Rest 3 minutes between sets.

Saturday: EMOM.  Start with 3 reps on the minute for 14 minutes or until technique falters. When that’s easy, then try 4 reps on the minute for 10 minutes, then 5 reps on the minute for 8 minutes etc.

Keep following this program until a 20-rep set is achieved.

About the Author

Stephane Rochet is a Senior Content Writer for CrossFit’s Education Department. He has worked as a Flowmaster on the CrossFit Seminar Staff and has more than 15 years of experience as a collegiate/tactical strength and conditioning coach. He is a Certified CrossFit Trainer (CF-L3) and enjoys training athletes in his garage gym. You can learn more about Stephane here.