How Much Weight Are You Pushing With Decline Push Ups?

Push ups are a simple bodyweight exercise that requires minimal skill, space and equipment to perform. You can increase the difficulty of push ups by elevating your feet and performing decline push ups. The increased foot elevation shifts your body so that you are supporting more of your weight on your hands. The actual amount of weight you push varies due to several factors.

Leverage

To perform a push up, support yourself on your hands and feet. Maintain a rigid core so your body forms a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders. Lower yourself until your chest touches your hands, then press back up until your elbows are straight. Your feet form the fulcrum of the movement; changing the height of your feet relative to your hands controls which end of your body supports the most weight. Raising your hands to be higher than your feet shifts most of your weight to your feet; elevating your feet shifts more weight to be supported on your hands.

Decline vs. Incline

Incline push ups are performed with your hands inclined to be higher than your feet. The higher your hands are, the more of your weight is supported by your feet. This makes push ups easier to perform for inexperienced athletes. Decline push ups are performed with your hands declined lower than your feet. This is generally achieved by placing your feet on a higher surface. This declined position increases the challenge of stabilizing your core as well as the amount of weight your hands support.

Core Strength

Push ups train more than just the pushing muscles of your chest, shoulders and triceps. Holding the plank position with your spine and legs in line from you ankles to the shoulders can be a challenge to your core strength. Elevating your feet increases the load to your hands, but that load must also be transmitted through your core. You may find yourself sagging at the hips the first time you perform decline push ups due to the new demands in keeping your spine straight.

Percentage of Bodyweight Lifted

The amount of bodyweight you support on your hands in a decline push up depends on the elevation of your feet. In a push up with your feet on the ground at the same height as your hands, you are supporting 70 to 80 percent of your full bodyweight. In a handstand push up, with your body held rigid and your feet directly over your hands, you are supporting 100 percent of your bodyweight. Therefore, decline push ups typically involve pushing anything between over 80 and under 100 percent of your bodyweight.