How to get your First Pushup?
- Miska
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Do you want to get your First Pushup?
Let me show you how to build strength. Specifically how to achieve your very first pushup to the ground.
But the same principles apply to all strength training. So even if you’re already doing regular pushups, look at Part II and Part III.
Here’s the exact progression for getting your first PUSHUP to the ground.
PART 1: Do exactly this to get your first Pushup
PART 2: Technique for Any Upper Body Pushing Movement
PART 3: Strength Training Principles
Part I: the Pushup Program
Wall Pushups
Pushups to Box
30”, 24”, 20” and 16” (" means inches because most gym boxes have standardized heights).
Why to a box and not on your knees? 2 Reasons!
Reason 1: Posture.
You keep a better posture and full plank position if you do pushups to a box (or any elevation, a sturdy couch at home works as well). The plank position will serve you later, with normal pushups also.
Reason 2: Progressive
You can change the elevation of a box. Your knees stay the same length. So when you’re stronger you can take lower elevation and the movement becomes harder. And when you’re starting out, you can pick a high box in order to do the whole range of motion. While this might have been challenging with pushups on your knees at the start.
4 Rounds x 10 repetitions.
A ROUND: is one set of a strength drill. If we’re doing strict strength you want to rest 60-120 seconds between each round, so that you get rid of the fatigue from the previous set.
A REPETITION: a movement like the pushup, where you start from straight arms and turn around when your chest hits the box or at least when your elbow hits 90 degrees.
PROGRESS: When you can make 10 repetitions at any progression, without pausing, try the next step. Ie go deeper, or lower box.
Keep track of your results. Write a log in a notebook (electronic or analogue, whatever works best for you). Have a score card. Or use an app. That way you don’t have to remember what weight or progression you had last week.
4 Rounds: is a good number for starting strength. Later on you might work up to 100 repetitions of the movement you want to strengthen each week: by doing different movements which use the same muscle groups, or by increasing sets and rounds. But if you’re just starting out 4 x 10 repeitions each week will give you exactly what you need.
Part II: PUSHING MOVEMENT
Upper Body Pushing movements use the chest, shoulders and triceps, and hinge around the shoulder joint. The shoulder can push in three directions or 180 degrees if you will. So we have dips that push downwards, bench presses that push horizontally and shoulder pressses that push veritcally.
Dips and Bench Presses use the Pectoral muscle a lot + triceps.
Shoulder Presses and Narrow Grip Bench Presses use more shoulders and triceps.
Points of Performance
A new athlete I had in class last night was telling me his shoulders hurt when he raised his elbow and showed me with the shoulder blade rolled forward.
I asked him if it still hurt when he pulled back the shoulder joint behind his ear. Much less, he said.
ACTIVE SHOULDERS: keeping tension in the shoulder joint gives you stability and usually minimizes injury/hurt. You do this by squeezing the back of your shoulders, which moves your elbows closer to each other. Flaring out with the elbows sideways usually means loose shoulders, ie lack of tension.
Also avoid shrugging. Think that the tip of your shoulder blade is pulled down towards the hips.
Bending at the hip makes it easier to make a pushup, but it also makes the movement way less efficient.
MIDLINE STABILITY: keep your plank position tight, do not slouch with the lower back Do not bend at the hip in order to make the pushup easier for the shoulders. If you make it easier by compensating with the hips, your pushing strength won’t grow as fast.
EFFECTIVE GRIP: for a pushup, spread your fingers and keep the forearm at 90 degrees from the movement.
Keep your forearms vertical to your movement: in a pushup your arms are immediately up from the ground, or at 90 degrees from your spine. It changes a little when you’re on a box.
If you’re bench pressing, same principle: keep the forearm bone immediately underneath the barbell and vertical to gravity.
Wider arm position or grip in Pushups and Bench Presses work the pectoral muscle more, and narrower grip works the shoulders more.
Part III: STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRESSIONS
To really own a movement, you need to focus on three things before the weight you can lift.
Control points (feel and stimulus):
1 MOVEMENT QUALITY “how good was that rep”
Also called technique. This one is tricky in the beginning. It helps to have a coach to watch your form (another word for technique) or video yourself from an angle where you can see your shoulders, elbows, and perhaps lower back. Can you keep them in a good position?
2 TEMPO (usually 2-3 sec negatives; for extra focus 5 sec)
You are stronger, if you can perform a strength movement slower. Especially on the way down, the negative phase of the movement, where we resist gravity.
Strength is built most effectively in the eccentric or negative phase.
This is true for the slow lifts, or absolute strength. With explosive movement it is the opposite. But those build on having absolute strength first, and later trimming that strength.
3 RPE (aim usually for 8-9 for strength)
Intensity can be felt. If it feels fairly easy, try to push the envelope with slower speed or heavier weight.
4 LOAD
Weight is what we usually measure; but think of weight as the tip of the iceberg when talking about strength training. It’s the result at the end of this chain.
Book a free class if you want to try the progressions in the gym, with a coach. The technique classes contain the progressions for Pushups, Pullups, and 12 other categories of strength and endurance training.
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