Your Ultimate Push Up Guide: How To Get To Your First Push Up Step By Step

Your Ultimate Push Up Guide: How To Get To Your First Push Up Step By Step.

The Push-Up is a full body exercise. It has huge adaptability to be used in a number of situations and promotes good upper body and core strength while teaching body awareness.

When performed with precision, it can be a very challenging exercise, promoting strength in the shoulders, chest, triceps, and the core. It also promotes good body awareness and body alignment.

However it is performed with a number of common faults so the effectiveness of the exercise is diminished so let’s take a look at the set up and execution of the exercise.

Therefore, the aim of this Ultimate Push-UP Guide is to take you right from the very beginning and build up your strength tp master the push-up.

You'll no longer stare in awe at the lady in the gym who can rock out 10 Push-Ups on her toes or the fit dude who can bust out 20 for a warm up without breaking a sweat.

It's time to GET TO YOUR FIRST PUSH-UP.

This Ultimate Push-Up guide takes you through 6 levels. There is a video demonstration for every level. Watch the video for each level before performing the Push-Up variation.
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• Level 1 Push-Up ISO Hold.
• Level 2 Incline Band Assisted Push-Up.
• Level 3 Incline Push-Up.
• Level 4 Eccentric Band Assisted Push-Up.
• Level 5 Eccentric Push-Up
• Level 6 Full Push-Up.

Let's go.

Level 1 - PUSH-UP ISO HOLD

This is a Push-Up regression that builds straight arm strength, conditioning the wrists, elbows and shoulders while teaching good body alignment.

• Set up with your feet together and the hands just outside the shoulders.
• The back of your head, upper back, bum should all be in a straight line.
• Grip the floor, protracting your shoulder blades, pushing them apart. It should feel like you are pushing away from the floor.
• Pin your ribs to your hips and squeeze the Glutes and Thighs.
• This full body tension should be retained through the whole set.

GOAL: You need to hold this PUSH UP ISO HOLD for 1 Minute before progressing to level 2 of the Push-Up guide.

​Level 2 - Band Assisted Incline Push Up.

This is a Push-Up regression.

A number of tools are used here to help you build up your strength and improve your technique for the Push-Up.

The band helps to de-load the bodyweight at the most difficult portion of the exercise.

The bar helps to reduce the moment arm to the shoulder, therefore making it easier to press back up.

• You are aiming for perfect technique before progressing down the levels of the bar.
• You can progress this Push-Up variation in a number of ways.
• Use a lighter band.
• Lower the bar to make it more difficult
• Slow your tempo.
• Add reps.

GOAL: You must perform 15 perfect Push-Ups before reducing the height of the bar or using a thinner resistance band. 

Do not compromise form on this version of the Push-Up as you will cheat later on. 

Level 3 - Incline Push Up

This is a progression from the Incline Band Assisted Push-Up as you now have to control your full bodyweight at the bottom of the motion.

• Set up with the hands underneath the shoulders.
• Screw the hands into the bar to create external rotation of the shoulder.
• Gut, butt and thighs are engaged and feel tight.
• Create full body tension as if you are doing a moving plank.

To progress this exercise you can:

• Increase the reps.
• Slow the tempo.
• Lower the bar.
• Pause at the bottom.

GOAL: Perform 15 perfect reps before moving to level 4. Aim to get the bar as low as possible until you can't perform the exercise with perfect form. It's then time to move to level 4.

LEVEL 4 - Band Assisted Eccentric Push-Up.

When you remove the bar, you are in the full push up position.

The eccentric loading (lowering part of the push-up) allows you to control the bodyweight when you are at your strongest and the band allows you to reload the bodyweight in the most difficult portion of the exercise.

You can manipulate variables such as the band tension, the time taken to lower into the exercise and the number of reps to suit your level of ability.

• Hands just wider than shoulder width.
• Hands screwed into the floor. Externally rotates the shoulder.
• Squeeze your Glutes, Gut, Thighs, and Heels together.
• Once you have lowered to the defined depth that you can control, you put your knees on the ground before taking yourself back to the beginning position.

Progress by doing more eccentric reps, reducing the tension on the band, or doing slower reps and doing a greater range of motion.

GOAL: Perform 15 perfect reps of this push-up variation before moving to level 5. 

LEVEL 5 - Eccentric Push Up.

This is a progression from the Banded Eccentric Push-Up.

Now you can load the bodyweight the whole way down.

Control and technical execution are paramount during this movement.

Ensure full body alignment is maintained and the shoulders do not move forward.

You can micro progress this by increasing the reps or the time of the eccentric portion (lowering portion).

• Hands just wider than shoulder width.
• Hands screwed into the floor. Externally rotates the shoulder.
• Squeeze your glutes, abs, thighs and heels together.
• Lower under control towards the floor to the point where you can maintain control.
• Once at the bottom, put the knees on the floor, extend up and repeat.
• Increase full body tension by trying to pull yourself down into the eccentric.

GOAL: Perform 15 perfect reps before going to the last level of the Push-Up Guide.

LEVEL 6 - Your First Full Push-Up

Okay. If you have followed the Ultimate Push Up Guide, you have arrived at the last exercise.

Congratulations to you.

By now you will understand how to hold full body tension the entire way through the movement and you will have built up strength in your wrists, elbows, core and shoulders.

You are now ready to try your first full Push-Up.

A quick refresher on Push-Up Technique.

​1. Hand Placement: People will vary but the hands should generally be placed under the shoulders. You can move 1 inch outside the shoulder if you want. Going too wide allows less range of motion but it can put the shoulder in a disadvantaged position, increasing the risk of injury.


2. Elbow Position: Elbow position will largely dictate the shoulder position. If no tension is created within the hands the elbows will flare out to 90 degs which internally rotates the shoulder, potentially increasing the risk of niggling shoulder injuries.

Think of the hands in a Push-Up like the feet in squat. We need to be able to corkscrew the hands into the floor in order to create tension in the shoulder. Corkscrewing the hands allows the shoulders to externally rotate placing the elbows at a roughly 45 deg angle placing the shoulder in a safer position and providing a platform from which to press from.


3. Body Alignment: The Push-Up can be considered as a moving plank. This is due to the body alignment and tension created.

• Starting from the head we are tucking the chin (double chin) in to keep the neck neutral and in a nice lengthened position.
• We screw our hands into the floor to help load the shoulders.
• We protract our shoulder blades by pushing the ground away and creating tension throughout the rest of the system by squeezing our butt and pinching a penny between our glutes, squeezing our thighs and squeezing the heels together. 
• This body position should be maintained throughout the entirety of the reps.

4. The Eccentric Portion: (Lowering Portion)

• Maintaining full body tension throughout, the eccentric portion of the lift is initiated by a co-contraction of the pecs and lats, pulling ourselves towards the ground.
• We do not allow gravity simply to pull us down and try to catch ourselves at the bottom.
• When lowering to the ground ensure the shoulders are set, not pinned, but not allowed to come forward.

5. Finishing the movement:

After maintaining full body tension and performing an explosive lift - finish the movement by pushing the ground away.

GOAL: 1 FULL PUSH UP. BOOM.

I would be so happy if you follow this Ultimate Push-Up Guide and finally learn how to do your first Push-Up.

If you do improve your technique or achieve this goal, please comment below and let me know. I would love to see your progress.

If you enjoyed this Ultimate Push-Up Guide and you got value from it, please copy the link in the browser and share it around to help others.

It can be very frustrating when you really want to do this movement and hopefully these videos help.
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