6 easy ways to improve your push-ups || Dunnebells

Are you someone who struggles with push-ups? Do you always drop to your knees and wonder why they are still so hard? There is no need to let push-ups intimidate you. They are tough when you first try them but by following these push-up tips below you will succeed at doing multiple push-ups from your toes during your next workout!

This push-up demo video below goes over the correct form (elbows nice and close, no batwings) and provides you with modifications to make so you don’t have to do push-ups from your knees forever.

Here are 6 ways to improve your push-ups:

1. HAND PLACEMENT

After you have completed some easy warm-up moves to enhance your workouts it is time to focus on hand placement for your push-ups.

One of the most important parts before you even being your push-up is to get your hand placement right. Your wrist should be directly stacked below your shoulders. Spread your fingers so you are using your entire hand to stabilize yourself. Ensure your index fingers are pointing forward, however, if push-ups hurt your wrists you can try rotating your hands slightly away from your body. Try to mentally put your attention to screwing your palms into the floor, creating an external rotation - this will help stabilize your arms and shoulders while doing push-ups.

2. INCLINE PUSH-UPS

If you do push-ups from your knees, you will be doing push-ups from your knees for a long time. Sure, knee push-ups can help to develop upper body strength, but the position your body is in during knee push-ups is very different from the actual position of a full push-up from your toes. If push-ups from your toes are what you want to achieve (which I think we all do) then focus on incline push-ups instead of dropping to your knees. An Incline Push-up is a great variation of the full toe push-up because your upper body is supported on a higher surface than your toes. This style of push-up works the upper body muscles and you’ll be able to get to the floor in no time.

PRACTICING INCLINE PUSH-UPS

To complete incline push-ups find some stairs, a desk, a coffee table or any wall and do as many reps as you can.

• Work on your push-ups at this incline height 3 times a week (doing as many reps as you can for approximately 4 minutes).

• Stick with this same incline height until you can complete 4 x 10 sets of push-ups with good form before progressing to a lower height.

Before you know it, you’ll be strong enough to complete these push-ups on the floor.

3. TOP-DOWN PUSH-UPS

You can improve your strength relatively quickly by completing some top-down push-ups. Start by getting into a high plank position and slowly lower your body. You are trying to find the lowest point at which you are still able to push yourself back up fairly easily. This is your top-down turning point.

Hold at that point for 5 seconds. Completing 5 top-down push-ups at the end of any workout routine can really help you improve your push-ups.

4. BOTTOM-UP PUSH-UPS

For some people, bottom-up push-ups will be easier to complete than top-down and are a great move to practice before progressing to full push-ups.

Laying flat on the floor with your wrists under your shoulders push yourself off the ground (as If you were about to do a full push-up).

Find the highest point that you can easily push raise to and hold this position for 5 seconds.

Completing 5 bottom-up push-ups at the end of any workout routine can really help you improve your push-ups. You can choose to complete either top-down or bottom-up push-ups instead of doing both.

5. HOLD A PLANK

So often we try to dive straight into toe push-ups without the stability strength required and get discouraged easily. Start by perfecting your high plank and you’ll find working on your push-ups becomes even easier.

You can practice high planks every day.

Work up to holding for 60 seconds straight with good form. It is okay to be a little shakey, but your lower back shouldn’t be collapsing, nor should you be in a downward dog.

If you are really interested in getting technical with the planks, place a broomstick on your back before you go into your plank. The top of the stick should make contact with your head, and the bottom of the stick should rest between your buttocks. If you film yourself with your phone camera this can be helpful to check out your form too.

6. PRACTICE AND THEN PRACTICE AGAIN

Okay so you have found these tips helpful and you are ready to start improving your push-ups? Here are some other helpful tips as you practice:

• Set a goal: Shoot to work on push-ups 3 times a week but if you can’t manage that, set a different goal so you don’t get discourages. Setting a goal and sticking to it is important here.

• Don’t give up: It can be hard to stick with your push-up routine but once you feel stronger you’ll see how close you are to succeeding at your floor push-ups and this can be helpful to help you from giving up.

• Start with one: Instead of going from zero to hero, work on getting one full push-up and mastering that before working up to 5-10 reps at a time.
  

Now you have everything you need to work on improving your push-ups.

Track your progress and don’t forget to celebrate your wins along the way!

Once those get too easy, you’ll want to check out some push-up variations so you can continue to level up.