Weymouth Personal Trainer gives you 10+ types of push up to try!

This post stems from a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine who had been doing push ups for  few weeks and now is not making further progress with them, and subsequently got bored of them and eliminated them from his routine. Now, there is no need for anyone to ever get bored with push ups, as there is pretty much an endless variety that you can perform, of varying difficulties.

The push up is one of the single most effective exercises for developing total body strength. Not only do your chest, shoulders and arms get a great workout, but so does your core, your hips, and just about everything else! So why is it that some people hate push ups? In my experience it seems that those people who dislike the push up fall into one of 3 categories. 1 - they can’t do a push up. 2 - they have got bored with them. 3 - their goal is bodybuilding and they feel the push up can not sufficiently fatigue them to make the necessary gains.

All of these categories can be easily addressed through exploring and introducing a variety of push ups. 

Category 1

Now, I am fully aware that loads of people (maybe even you) can’t do the full ones, but I’m yet to train a single person who hasn’t been able to perform some form of a push up, be it on their knees or up against a wall, so there is hope for everyone! If you fall into this category, try the kneeling push up illustrated below. If you find this too hard, adopt the same position, but with your hands on a bench or a step, which will put more of a load through your lower body and less through your upper, meaning it’s much easier to lower down and push back up. If you find that too hard, try standing up against a wall, with your hands flat against it, elbows to approx 90 degrees at the bottom phase, and push yourself away from the wall. The better you become, the further away you can take your feet, making the move progressively harder.

Category 2

With so many variations of this simple move, there is no reason to ever get bored of doing push ups! You can use balls, benches, buddys and plenty more objects and pieces of equipment to make the push up more challenging, fun, and specific to what you want to achieve. Some of my favourite push ups are the partner ones which I’ve outlined below. Now these are pretty advanced, so I wouldn’t recommend attempting them until you and your buddy can each do at least 20 push ups comfortably, and hold a solid plank position for at least a minute.

Hands on shoulders - You’ll find these ones are great for switching on your core and also hitting the triceps as your hands are put in a closer grip. The guy on the floor will also get a great core workout. If, and ONLY if you get real good at these, try both going down and up at the same time, or alaternately!

One hand on hip bone, one hand on shoulder - Another advanced move thats really great for hitting the core for both buddys. If you try these ones, make sure the hand is on the hip and not the lower back. You’ll also want to make sure that you work from both sides, so that everything is worked evenly. Again, to make it harder, try both going down and up at the same time, or alternately (one up one down).

Hands on stability ball - This is a great exercise for hitting the triceps as well as giving your core a decent workout to. In adition to this, you’ll also be providing your shoulder joint with some (often) much needed stability work too. Have your hands more on the sides of the ball as opposed to on the top, as this will be easier on the wrists.

Decline stability ball - This is a great way to add some lower body stability work in while also loading up the shoulders a little more. The higher your feet and legs are, the more weight you’ll have acting down on your upper body, making this a really tough move. Try also performing it with only a single leg on the ball, which really adds a huge eccentric load through the hip of ther planted leg (great for helping train decelleration such as when running).

Decline stability ball with roll up - This is a progression further than the one previously, and gives your hips and abs a great workout while loading up your upper body. On the way up, roll the ball in so your knees come toward your chest, and on the way down, extend the knees and hips so you are in a full push up position  at the bottom phase.

 Medicine ball ‘one up one down’ - This variation is pretty fun and can be adapted further by adding in a fast passover, a jump, a swapover, increasing/decreasing speed, elevating your legs and a few more ways alike. But try this first simple progression initially. You’ll find that the arm planted on the floor has to work extra hard to compensate for the elevation from the other arm. Don’t have a medicine ball? Use a football or a step instead.

Category 3

If you’re in this category, then I’ll urge you to have a try at the progressions I’ve outlined for you below, because they require some serious strength and explosive power also, and will help you both carve up and grow your chest at the same time.

Close grip medicine ball - These are one of my favourite push ups for hitting the triceps. If you want to make the move harder, turn it into a power move, but exploding off the ball and landing with hands either side, before exploding back up onto the ball as illustrated below.

Pausing med ball push up - These are the ultimate in developing phenomenal core strength, and are my favourite variety of push up to use with many of the athletes I train in various sports due to the immense core and hip strength as well as shoulder and hip stability required for perfect form. Complete the move in a controlled, steady manner, with a 1-2 seconds pause at the top range.

Band resisted push up and air time push up - Resistance bands are a great tool for increasing resistance in push ups. Make sure you have the band placed around your upper back for ultimate loading through the chest, but to hit the core even harder, you can lace the band around your lower back (do not do this one if you have a weak lower back, or are new to resisted push ups).

To make the move even harder, try adding some explosion into it but finishing with your hands (or hands and feet, off the floor! If you still feel your chest needs more of a workout, after each set, hit the bench press with a load that you’d normally hit 12 reps out on, and go to near failure.

Hopefully this post has given you some new ideas of ways in which to make the push up more exciting, specific and effective, ensuring that you remain on track to achieving your goals without your training going stale and unproductive.

Soon I’ll be writing a post of similar style regarding adapting the squat, so keep your eyes pealed.

Until next time, stay motivated, stay strong, and stay healthy.

To your success

Andy

Tags: andy sloan, fitness weymouth, personal trainer dorset, Personal trainer weymouth, training weymouth

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Training, Uncategorized.