Pushups are one of the best exercises for strengthening your chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, and core. If that wasn’t enough, there’s a bonus: if you get good at them, they’re actually pretty meditative.

Most people only do a handful of pushups in their entire life but get bored of them quickly, because they can only do three- or four-count pushups, which is not nearly challenging enough.

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Regular Pushup

Regular pushup or Standard push up is a calisthenics exercise that helps you build incredible upper body strength. The standard push up helps you to build core strength and balance, which is required in a number of different sports and exercises.

Keeping this synergy in mind, traditional push up can be considered more effective than simply working a certain muscle group in isolation.

In addition to this, regular push up can virtually be performed anywhere and anytime. There is hardly any piece of equipment required to do a push up. And if some equipment is required, it can be easily arranged at home.

Thus, you do not need any gym membership or spend time traveling to the gym. And on top of all of this, regular pushup helps you to build muscles as well.

What If you can’t do a Push-up

There is no shame to be not able to do a clean and perfect pushup. Everyone needs to start somewhere. The reason for being not able to do a clean push up is quite simple. You have not been doing them ever.

And to be honest, you are not the only one, who is not able to do a good looking push up. Though the solution to this problem is simple. Start doing them now and keep practicing to get better each day. You’re not going to get past the 100-meter dash in a sprint, so work up to it one step at a time.

For people who cannot perform a full range of motion involved in a regular pushup, try doing the simpler version by getting on the knees. This way you will be able to build the strength which will be useful in getting you ready for the full range of regular push up.

You can also go to the wall assisted pushup. These are the simple version of push up and requires less amount of strength to perform.

How to Perform a Proper Regular Pushup?

To perform a proper pushup, one must learn to position the body correctly and the way to control the body movement throughout. Following are the steps that explain in detail to maintain the correct position of a body, for performing a pushup.

1. Start by taking the classic pushup position. The face should be down towards the floor, and the body weight balanced evenly on your hands and toes.

2. The position of your hands must be slightly wider than your shoulder width and should be in-line with the shoulders.

3. Maintain a straight line with your body. If you are having difficulty getting this form, use a rod to from your head to toes, to check out the body form.

4. Now tighten your glutes and ab muscles to attain the core strength, which will be used to push the body back in the up position.

5. Do not move the back right, left and center. Make sure the bottom of your body isn’t going high than the rest of the body line.

These are the few things that you must take care of, before and during the range of movement. If not corrected, this things will not let you attain the full benefits that pushup has to offer to your body.

Steps Involved In Regular Pushup

Following are the steps involved to perform the entire range of motion involved in standard pushups.

1. From the plank position, slowly bend the elbows and lower the body down towards the floor in a controlled motion.

2. The moment your elbows make a 90-degree angle, start pushing your body back to the starting position.

3. Make sure your body or chest does not come in contact with the floor. Lock your elbows out, when you reach the start position and hold your body in the same position for a few seconds.

4. This position will be your resting position, which will help to attain full benefits that pushups have to offer.

5. Do not let your body lose control during the range of motion. The up and down movements of the body must be performed with momentum.

6. Perform as many control pushup as possible. Push your body for that one extra pushup each time. Test your limits and keep improving always.

Some Common Push-up Mistakes to Avoid

A push-up is one of the best exercises for your six pack abs, chest, shoulders, triceps, and more. There are several mistakes that tend to lead to form failures, which can be very frustrating. Here are some of the most common push-up mistakes that you should avoid:

1. Not holding your body in a straight line.

2. Elbows not aligned with your shoulders.

3. Sagging lower back.

4. Not going down deep enough.

5. Not keeping a steady pace.

6. Bouncing instead of pressing.

Breathing Pattern for Regular Pushup

Control breathing is extremely important while performing a traditional pushup, or any other pushup for that matter of fact. As you descend towards the floor, breathe in. Breathing in during the down motion will relax your ribcage.

It will also expand your abdomen, meaning that the muscles around them will have to relax.

As you go back to the starting position, breathe out. Breathing out during the upwards motion will release air that helps to contract all of the abs muscles, which will help to push-up the body upwards in the starting position.

Muscle Group Regular Pushup Works On

The pushup is a great compounded chest workout that works mostly on the upper body muscles. The major muscle group that pushup works on, are pectoral muscles, triceps, front and rear deltoids, biceps and latissimus dorsi.

The pushup is a great workout to build some strength in your chest and increase strength and stability inside the core muscle.

Benefits of Regular Pushup

Among the several benefits that pushup has to offer, here are a few of them, which we thought you must know about.

1. The movement involved in pushup activates the entire body which increases the overall functional strength.

2. It enhances your cardiovascular system by making your heart to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to various muscle tissues.

3. It prevents rotator cuff injury. The regular pushup is known to be the most effective way to prevent shoulder joints from getting injured. Especially in adults.

4. Enhances the quality of your posture. Having bad body posture is due to weak core muscles. And as already discussed, regular pushup helps to attain strength in core muscles.

5. Regular pushup or other pushups for that matter of fact involves no operational cost. This bodyweight exercise can be performed anywhere and anytime, without the need for any expensive equipment. There is no need for you to get those over expensive gym membership.

Sets and Reps

A regular pushup is certainly for beginners. Beginners can immediately start with regular push if you are able to maintain proper position and posture of the body. Start with 2 – 3 sets of 8 repetitions and gradually increase the number of reps.

If you no longer feel the difference and difficulty in performing a pushup, increase the number of reps to 15 – 18 and sets to 4-5.

You can also change the routine by trying a different variation of pushups like a close hand or wide push up. This is more challenging as compared to regular or standard pushup and requires much more strength in comparison.

For someone, who finds difficult to perform a regular pushups, can start with knee position pushup , which has been discussed earlier in the post. Each day try to get better and better, by increasing the number of repetitions and by changing the position of your hands.

This will increase the difficulty level involved in the movements and will train your body in different ways than normal. And sooner rather than later, you will feel the difference in your body and muscles.

How to Make a Pushup More Challenging?

The Push Up is a staple in any physical training program. No matter how fit you are or how good you are at lifting weights, if you can’t do them, you will never be a competitive athlete. Unfortunately, standard pushups are a bit too easy.

So, how can we make them more of a challenge? Here are some ways:

1. Try to add some weight using either a weight belt or use resistance band.

2. Try a modified push up mentioned below:

knuckle pushups (done on knuckles instead of palms of your hands)
Incline pushup (placing hands on an elevated surface) or decline push up (placing feet on an elevated surface).
One arm or one leg pushup

The list of different types of push-up exercises is enormous and you can incorporate any intermediate to advance level variation to make traditional pushups more challenging.

Wrapping Up

The push-up is the quintessential workout. It is simple, doesn’t require any equipment, and anyone can do it. It doesn’t matter if you have been training in the gym for a while or if you’re just starting out.

Unless you have a lot of upper body strength or are very heavy, you should be able to do them every day, every week. But even if you are able to do them, that doesn’t mean they will be easy for you to do.

And with so many benefits that pushup has to offer, there is simply no reason for you not to get started with it. Regular pushups not only works on your muscle groups and strengthens your chest muscles, triceps, and biceps among others, but it also enhances the body posture and improves the range of motion of your body.

Moreover, you don’t have to pay to attain the muscular strength and stamina. It can all be done at the luxury of your home and office. And with so many different push up variation to be tried, there is no reason why you cannot have the super muscular strength and extraordinary abs to flaunt.

All you need to do is follow the steps involved in each variation correctly and spend some valuable time perfecting it, before progressing ahead to the next variation in line.