How to Do a Proper Push Up: Beginners Guide
⏱️ Estimated Read Time: 6 minutes
🧠 TL;DR
- How to Do a Proper Push Up: Beginners Guide offers effective, accessible movements for targeted results.
- This guide is designed to help you move smarter, build strength, and stay consistent.
✍️ Summary
This post explores how to do a proper push up: beginners guide in a way that’s actionable and easy to follow. Whether you're new to this style of training or leveling up, it includes practical takeaways for your routine.
📚 Table of Contents
Pushups are a staple exercise that works various muscle groups, including the chest, triceps, shoulders, and core. Understanding how to do a proper push up involves starting in a plank position with your hands shoulder-width apart, your arms straight, and your feet together. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the ground, then push back up to the starting position.
Pushups work several muscle groups, including:
- Chest muscles (pectoralis major and minor)
- Shoulder muscles (anterior and medial deltoids)
- Triceps muscles (triceps brachii)
- Abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis and obliques)
- Back muscles (erector spinae and rhomboids)
- Glutes (gluteus maximus and medius)
They are a compound exercise that engage multiple muscles at once, making them a great exercise for building upper body strength and improving overall fitness. Understanding how to do pushups properly can enhance these benefits. Learning how to do a pushup with correct pushup form ensures maximum effectiveness.
To focus on the chest muscles during a pushup, you can try adjusting your hand placement. For example, placing your hands wider apart than shoulder-width will emphasize the chest muscles more. Additionally, performing pushups on an incline or decline surface can change the focus of the exercise on different muscle groups.
If you are looking for an alternative to pushups, there are many exercises that target similar muscle groups, such as chest presses, bench dips, and triceps extensions. For those wondering how to get better at pushups, incorporating these exercises can help improve overall strength and form. Additionally, understanding how to do push ups for beginners can be beneficial as you build your strength and technique.
To make pushups harder, you can try increasing the number of reps or sets you do, or you can add resistance by wearing a weighted vest or using resistance bands. Additionally, you can try performing variations of the pushup, such as diamond pushups or single-leg pushups, which require more strength and balance. Learning how to increase push ups effectively can significantly boost your workout intensity, helping you achieve that perfect push up.
More Helpful Resourses
- Be alerted when we publish more like this to our blog here
- Daily workout plans here
- Free bodyweight workouts here
- Follow along with $1 video workouts here
Want more guidance? Check out our Weekly Dumbbell Workout #1.
📝 FAQs
How often should I do these exercises? +
2–3 times per week is a good starting point for most people.
Do I need equipment? +
Many of these can be done with just your bodyweight or a single kettlebell or dumbbell.
Can beginners do these routines? +
Yes! These movements are designed to scale with your fitness level.
