Push-ups are a very familiar exercise, but not everyone knows how to do them correctly and with the right technique. In this article, we will guide you on how to do push-ups correctly, ensuring excellent results.
What are push-ups, and what are the benefits of doing them correctly?
Push-ups are an exercise that engages many muscle groups, including the chest, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. Doing push-ups correctly offers numerous benefits for both physical and mental health:
• Strengthens muscles
• Supports cardiovascular health, reducing the risk of heart disease
• Improves balance
• Shapes upper body muscles
• Improves bust size
• Enhances shoulder and arm strength, making muscles more flexible
• Supports weight loss and effectively burns fat without requiring excessive exercise or equipment; can be done anywhere, anytime
• Relaxes the mind, reduces neck and back pain
• Stimulates growth hormone production
• For men, push-ups also have the great benefit of stimulating testosterone production.
Instructions on how to do push-ups correctly
To do push-ups correctly, follow the steps below, paying particular attention to common mistakes:
Steps Currently
Steps to perform push-ups correctly:
• Step 1: Lie face down on the floor/mat, legs straight and together. The weight is on your chest. Place your palms down, arms shoulder-width apart, hands close to your shoulders. Or, if using a mat, you can clench your fists and use your knuckles to lift your body. Note that your toes should be flat on the floor, with your toes curled towards your upper body and head.
• Step 2: Lift your body into a plank position, using your hands and feet to support your body, creating a straight line from head to heel. Simultaneously, tighten your abdominal muscles to engage your core muscles. This is the starting and ending position of one push-up.
• Step 3: Slowly extend your elbows and lower your body until your chest is almost touching the floor/mat (about 1 to 2 cm).
• Step 4: Push back to the starting plank position. Remember to keep your abdominal muscles tight, exhale, and press your hands down on the floor/mat to push your body back up.
Some common mistakes when doing push-ups for beginners
When doing push-ups, most of us will make some basic mistakes, such as:
• Raising your hips too high or too low: This will make the push-up easier and simpler, but it will also make you tired faster, significantly reducing the effectiveness of the exercise. Remember to keep your hips level with your legs and back by tightening your glutes and abdominal muscles, and keeping your body straight while doing push-ups.
• Incorrect breathing or holding your breath during exercise: Incorrect breathing or holding your breath during push-ups can make you more tired and exhausted due to a lack of air. Therefore, apply the rule of regular breathing during exercise to avoid unwanted problems. The principle is: inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up.
• Spreading fingers and extending elbows excessively: Spreading your fingers or extending your elbows too wide might seem like it helps with balance, but in reality, it doesn’t. This only makes you more tired and exhausted during the workout. Therefore, remember to keep your fingers slightly closer together and extend your elbows moderately to achieve the best workout results.
• Incorrect neck position: Tilting your neck too high to monitor the exercise steps can cause you to do push-ups incorrectly, leading to neck pain after the workout.
• Skipping steps: Many people make this mistake by pushing their bodies back up only halfway down. This means the workout results are not as good as desired. To achieve the full range of motion (ROM) of the exercise as instructed.
Suggested Variations of the Push-Up Exercise
Besides the basic push-up exercise, variations of the push-up exercise are now more widely used to maximize training effectiveness. Below are some variations of this exercise:
Wall Push-up
The Wall Push-up is a fairly simple push-up exercise that beginners can easily perform. Unlike the correct push-up techniques mentioned above, the Wall Push-up reverses the body position to a standing position, thereby reducing pressure on the arm muscles and allowing you to gradually get used to the push-up exercise.
How to perform it:
• Step 1: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, standing arm-width from the wall.
• Step 2: Lean forward, similar to a proper plank position, and place your hands on the wall. Note that your arms should be shoulder-high and your hands shoulder-width apart.
• Step 3: Inhale while bending your elbows. Then move your upper body towards the wall, keeping your feet flat on the ground. Hold this position for at least 1 to 2 seconds.
• Step 4: Exhale and use your arm strength to slowly push your body back to the starting position. To increase the difficulty of the exercise, you can try one-arm wall push-ups. The remaining steps are the same before switching to the other arm.
Diamond Push-up Exercise
The Diamond Push-up, also known as the diamond-shaped push-up, is an advanced push-up exercise ideal for both men and women. This exercise helps improve physique effectively, especially providing comprehensive support for the arm muscles.
How to perform:
• Step 1: Start in a plank position: hands and feet on the floor; body forming a straight line. Place your hands close together so that your index fingers and thumbs form a diamond shape.
• Step 2: Inhale and slowly lower your body. Keep your back straight. Pause for 1-2 seconds when your chest is almost touching the floor.
• Step 3: Push yourself back to the starting position and exhale. Repeat the movement continuously before finishing the exercise.
T-Push-Up Exercise
The T-Push-up is a more difficult variation of the push-up. In return, this exercise is much more effective. Not only does it impact overall strength, but the T-Push-up also helps increase endurance and burn excess fat very effectively:
How to perform:
• Step 1: Start in a basic push-up position.
• Step 2: Inhale while lowering your chest close to the floor/mat. Note: Keep your back straight.
• Step 3: Push up with straight arms, locking your joints and not bending. At the highest point, slowly shift your weight from both hands to one hand while twisting your body (leaving your feet in place) and bringing your arm along with your body. When your chest forms a 90-degree angle with the ground, your arm should also be raised straight up towards the sky.
• Step 4: Return to the starting position and switch hands, then perform the same movements as above.
One Arm Push-up Exercise
The One Arm Push-up is an advanced version of the push-up, requiring rigorous and serious training. Although difficult, with practice, you will clearly feel the effectiveness of the exercise day by day, helping to improve your physique and arm strength faster and stronger than any other exercise.
How to perform:
• Step 1: Start with a regular push-up position, but with a slight adjustment: your feet are wider than shoulder width, one hand is behind your back, and your elbow is close to your body. The other hand is placed on the ground, with both feet forming an isosceles triangle.
• Step 2: Inhale while lowering your chest close to the floor/mat.
• Step 3: Push yourself back to the starting position and exhale. Repeat the movement continuously before finishing the exercise.
Seated Push-Ups
Seated push-ups are another variation of the basic push-up exercise. This exercise is very effective in strengthening the arms and shoulders, giving you the desired training results:
How to perform:
• Step 1: Start in a seated position on a chair, palms facing down, arms at your sides. Place your feet comfortably on the ground while bending your knees.
• Step 2: Use the strength of your arms to press down on your palms to lift your body up. Note: Maintain the seated position, with your hips and buttocks only 4-6cm away from the bench.
• Step 3: Lower yourself back to the starting position and repeat the same movement as instructed above.
The above is a detailed guide on how to do push-ups correctly for beginners, along with notes on common mistakes to help you maximize your workout effectiveness. It’s important to note that push-ups only target a specific body part and don’t work the entire body. Therefore, if you want to improve your physique comprehensively, you should seek a professional training center to receive guidance and a detailed training plan tailored to your desired goals.
