1. Lift Your Feet to Do Incline Pushups
Place your feet up on a box or a step instead of on the floor. Place your arms as you would for a regular pushup. Slowly lower yourself as far down as you can and push back up to the starting position, being careful not to lock your elbows. Doing pushups with your feet on an incline work the shoulder and upper chest muscles a little bit harder than a standard pushup does. If you really want to challenge yourself, place your feet on a stability ball instead of a stationary object. This forces you to balance your body at the same time that you're working your pushups, offering a tough variation.
2. Grab a Fitness Ball for Stability Pushups
Use a fitness ball to start out with this pushup variation. Place your hands near the sides of the ball and plant you feet on the floor. Maintain your balance as you lower your upper body toward the ball and push back up again. Keeping your balance on the ball while doing pushups is a lot harder than it looks. This exercise really works your core as you contract it to maintain your balance. You can also put your hands on the floor, and prop your ankles up on the stability ball for another variation to the pushup.
3. Plyometric Pushups Are a Tough Work Out
As with most other plyometric exercises, this one is really tough. If you are a beginner athlete or have any sort of upper body injury, avoid this push up exercise altogether. If you want to give it a shot, here's how you do it. Instead of slowly pushing yourself down and up, explode into the movement. Throw your body up into the air so that you can clap your hands together quickly before returning to the ground. Repeat as many times as you can.
4. Stack Your Upper Arms With Tricep Pushups
Build your triceps up by changing the placement of your hands during your pushup work out. Instead of having your hands shoulder width apart, bring them in closer together. When you lower to the ground, keep your elbows in toward your body. Push back up using the strength in the back of your arms (your triceps).
5. Improve Your Balance With the Medicine Ball Pushup
Using a medicine ball while doing pushups helps strengthen your stability. Place your hands on the sides of a medicine ball, forming kind of a diamond shape between your fingers and thumbs on the ball. Lower yourself as you would for a traditional pushup, bringing your chest down to your hands before pushing back up. If you don't have a medicine ball, you can use a soccer ball or a basketball instead.
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