There are a few different exercises which always get a bit of a groan whenever we mention them at bootcamp and the push up is one of them. Pushups are hard because they use your whole body weight and many of us are just not as strong as we should be in our upper body. Today I have a post on 8 push up progressions which you NEED to know!
Many people believe they need to start off on their toes or knees and have a little bit of a panic when they are asked to perform a push up in this manner. This is NOT true! You can start with an easier version of the push up – against a wall, bar or chair! Everybody is capable of doing at least one version of these push ups!
8 Push up Progressions you need to know!
// Wall
Start standing just out from the wall and bring both hands up to the wall around chest height, you will be in the same position you would be in if you were going to do a full push up on the ground. To make this a bit harder slowly start coming down to the ground, for example find a bar which is about hip height and repeat and then complete it with your hands against a chair and then finally move on to the ground and on to your knees.
// Knees
You may know these as the ‘girl’ push ups, often these are the pushups given to females because as a huge generalisation (which is largely true for the general population) we are weaker in our upper bodies than men. As in the picture you want your knees bent, hands just to the outside of your chest and then push yourself down to the floor and then back up to straight out your arms again. Your head should be nice and loose and going with the flow, it shouldn’t be looking out in front of you, towards the ceiling or back towards your chest.
// Toes
Both the toe pushups or ‘full pushups’ and the knee pushups are the most common types of push ups. Push ups on your toes are hard to perform when you are not used to doing them because it actually takes your whole body weight to be pushed up! Your hands start beside your chest, you push up on to your toes and hands and keep a nice straight line from your head town to your toes at all times. Push down and when you chest touches the ground (or a little bit before depending on how low you can get) push back up so you have a nice straight torso and your arms are straight.
// Diamond – Toes
The Diamond push up is performed exactly the same way as the full push up on your toes, except for the placement of your hands. In the image above you will see that the hands are placed together and directly underneath the body to form a diamond shape (okay the image is more triangle than diamond but you get what I mean). Also note in the bottom image the head should be neutral, on the photograph he is forcing it upwards a little which isn’t ideal.
// One Leg
From here on out we are looking at variations of the full push up! Things get a lot more challenging and a little bit exciting with these variations. A one legged push up is the same as a regular full push up on your toes however your bring one leg off the ground so you are performing the push up on both arms and just one leg.
// Decline
Adding a bit of a decline makes the push up harder as you have to fight gravity even more than your standard push up on your toes. Simply raise your feet onto a bench or a chair and then complete the push up as though you would if you were to perform one on your toes.
// Clapping
The clapping push up is exactly what it sounds like. You perform a full pushup on your toes but use an explosive movement on the up portion to lift the top half of your body off the ground enough to clap your hands together before getting back to the ground. If you are going to try these, please make sure you are comfortable performing a number of repetitions of all the other push ups mentioned first as I don’t want you blaming me if you end up face planting 😉
// One Arm
Last but not least, the one arm push up. Similar to the one leg push up except for a lot harder! Bring yourself into the full push up position and then take one of your hands off the ground and complete the push up movement with only one hand on the ground.
There are still even more variations of push ups out there but I think this should be enough to keep most people busy and getting in a good workout for a long time!
Have you ever tried a different push-up variation? If not which one would you like to be able to do? – Comment below and let me know!