In my experience as a Strength and Conditioning Coach having worked with male and female athletes anywhere from the Collegiate NCAA D1 level all the way down to Elementary School, the ability to perform a pushup correctly is seldom found. There are a few reasons for this lack of ability in not only the athletic population but also the average society member:
1. Lack of education in correct pushup technique, and
2. Mere difficulty of the exercise
The key to learning how to do a correct pushup isn’t by doing 1000 terrible ones.
Those pushups may be perfect in whatever sport/competition he is a part of; but, I’d prefer not to give my athletes brain trauma.
The key is to follow a proper progression with correct technique. In the past, pushups have been made easier by playing with physics in a certain way. The old pushup progression gradually works the person from an upright position pushing against a wall, to an angled barbell in a squat rack, to a lower angle, until the person is able to perform a pushup from their toes and hands on the floor. Standing vertical is meant to lighten the force of gravity on the upper body and core and gradually work down to the floor where gravity is pushing directly down on the persons’ posterior. With this new pushup progression, we start the athlete down on the floor and play with physics in a different and more specific way.
Playing with Physics:
Mario isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but good for him. In the old pushup progression, exercise difficulty varies because of how gravity is acting on the body – whether it be pushing down directly on the whole part of your back or a portion of it. In the new pushup progression, gravity is always pushing down on the whole part of your back. What changes is the fulcrum or axis of rotation. The videos below will demonstrate how:
The above video is used as an instructional tool to a group or individual to understand the proper arm path in a correct pushup. Again, this is not part of the exercise progression; rather, an instructional tool to demonstrate the arm path. The correct arm path can be described as a 45 degree angle, noted in the posterior view of the picture below:
The first exercise to start with is the BOSU Waist Pushup. Position your waist on the BOSU ball, curl your legs, and place your hands directly under your shoulders. Go down on a 2 count (by 2 you should be at the bottom of the range of motion) and then up in 1 second. Focus on proper arm motion/path, keeping the glutes and abs tight, and not letting the low back sink. You may be able to skip this progression depending upon the upper body and core strength of the athlete/client.
The second exercise is the BOSU Thigh Pushup. Position your thighs on the BOSU ball, curl your legs, and place your hands directly under your shoulders. Go down on a 2 count and come up in 1 second. Again, focus on proper arm motion/path, keeping the glutes and abs tight, and not letting the low back sink.
The third exercise is the BOSU Knee Pushup. Position your knees on the BOSU ball, curls your legs, and place your hands directly under your shoulders. All of the same exercise cues from above apply. Again, your athlete/client may be able to start at this exercise as the first progression as long as the full range of motion can be completed.
The fourth exercise is the BOSU Shin Pushup. Position your shins on the BOSU ball and place your hands directly under your shoulders. All of the same exercise cues from above apply.
Finally, the last exercise is what everyone knows as a Pushup. Position your toes together on the floor and place your hands directly under your shoulders. Keeping your core and glutes tight, lower yourself to the floor on a 2 count focusing on proper arm motion/path, and come up in 1.
Take home message:
This new pushup progression is a more practical and specific way to teach or reteach an athlete or regular person how to perform a pushup correctly because, basically, it keeps the person on the ground and allows physics to act virtually the same way on the person each time. You might be saying to yourself, “But, Eric! I don’t own a BOSU ball! What do I do?!” Don’t fret. You can use many other things, like: Foam Rollers, Medicine Balls, or even a heavy pillow. You can use anything that allows a high enough pivot point so that your thighs or waist do not touch the ground.
For those of you that are into the “Lift big weights, get big” concept, you can load the athlete by placing an Olympic plate (or 5) on the athletes back. In order to stack plates effectively on an athletes back, use plates that don’t slide (rubber) and elevate the athletes’ feet slightly so the weights load evenly.
Although this isn’t a loading mechanism, you could also add unstable surfaces to the exercise using med balls, stability balls, or bosu balls.Whether these exercise variations actually activate the prime movers or core more is controversial; it just depends on whether you buy into the “The More Unstable Surfaces, The Better!” approach, or the “The More the Load, The Better!” approach. Myself, I like to think of myself of a hybrid of all sorts of training. I see a place for both of these approaches in a training progression depending upon my client.
You might be saying to yourself “Ah, this is no big deal. If my athletes can’t do a pushup, I’ll just start them on DB Bench Press using a light load with the proper arm path until they are strong enough to perform a pushup correctly.” Ah, not a bad plan. My only argument would be that even the pushup progressions work your core and glutes more than this bench press variation; so, I would in this case suggest the exercise that works your core more. If you have a person/athlete with bad wrists, I may suggest the DB Bench Press instead of your conventional pushup (unless you use neutral handles). As always, it depends on your client.
Along with this, you may be thinking to yourself “I really don’t care if my athlete can do a push-up or not, it isn’t important to my athlete’s sport.” Again, I can’t argue that depending upon if your athlete’s sport is more dependent on absolute strength as opposed to relative strength. Absolute strength is the amount of force you can exert on an object (ie: a person, an object). Relative strength is the amount of force you can exert in relation to your own body weight (ie: jumping, sprinting, push-ups, pull-ups). For example, if I had a 300 lb football lineman that couldn’t perform a push-up (or pull-up for that matter) but could bench press 450 lbs and squat 500 lbs, I wouldn’t be focusing on teaching him to perform a push up or pull up because football is a sport where absolute strength is more important than relative (well, at least for a lineman). On the other side of that, if I had a rock climber that couldn’t perform a push-up or pull-up, I would focus on his or her ability to perform that because rock climbing is a sport where relative strength is more important than absolute.
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Warm regards,
Eric Keene
