The push up is a great exercise for building total body strength. Not only does the push up build the muscles of the chest and arms, it also strengthens the core muscles that stabilize your torso. Doing a different variation of a push up is a great way to adjust the exercise to your goals and ability. Variables like the position of your hands and body significantly change the intensity and the parts of your chest that are used in the exercise.
Ways to Modify for Beginners
The most common way to modify the push up is to perform it on the knees instead of on the balls of the feet. That makes the exercises easier by shortening the distance between the axis of rotation and the place where the force is being exerted. This modification also decreases the amount of weight being supported as less of your body is being raised from the ground.
How to Make Push Ups Harder
One way to make push ups harder is to change the position of your hands. Place your hands closer together to shift the focus of the exercise to the arms and center of the chest. Place your hands wider to shift the focus to the outer chest and the shoulders. Increase the intensity even more by performing the push up with the feet resting on a raised surface. That will cause the weight to shift more to the upper body and will also emphasize more of the upper chest and shoulders.
Adding a Balance Component
Adding a balance component to the push up is another great way to make the exercise harder. Do this by placing either your hands or your feet on an unstable surface such as a stability ball or a bosu ball. That will make your body, especially your core, work much harder to keep the body stabilized during the exercise. For a real challenge, try placing only one foot on a stability ball with the other foot suspended in the air.
Advanced Power Techniques
These next few variations are very hard and should only be performed by those who are highly trained to begin with. To make the push up more of a power movement, try raising your body as fast as you can so that your hands actually leave the ground. For an added challenge, try clapping in between each push up while your upper body is in the air or catching yourself on a raised surface like a step or a medicine ball.
References
- "NSCA's Performance Training Journal"; The Push-Up: The Ultimate Foundational Movement; Kyle Brown CSCS; February 2010
- "Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription"; Vivian H. Heyward, PhD; 2006
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