Fun Fact: TV personalities, fitness celebrities, and hell, the Army, do miserable “make your eyes bleed” pushups.

Here’s how this goes:

Starts at about 35 seconds...

Then everyone in the audience claps and the people on stage go…

“Ohhhh, you guys are so great!”…

Starts at about 8 seconds…..

But….Ummmmm, theses “Pushups”….well, they suck.

Even “Army” or “Military” style pushups suck these days:

Pic Stolen from Army.com

Point is:

There are LOTS of  REALLY Sh@TTY pushups being passed off as good ones….

Sometimes the movement is just too difficult and someone lacks upper body and or core strength but, but, but has good motor patterning and can maintain tension through the body and stay organized.

If that’s the case, here’s what you should do: read me. 

However, increasingly, I’m seeing even strong people with this problem:

Sh@t’s all disorganized.

• Sagging lower back
• Chest rounded over
• Elbows “flared” out at 90 degreess
• Poor depth
• Hands out too wide

They’re just not staying “in line” and tight.

A push up is nothing should be nothing more than a MOVING PLANK.

And Planks are about creating tension throughout the body….not hanging out and using the low back as a brace. ..ie. “hanging off the lower back”.

What’s this mean?

• Shoulder blades tight to the ribcage at the start.
• Elbows locked.
• Hands just outside shoulder width.
• Spine in neutral (Cervical, throacic and lumbar).
• Glutes tight.
• Knees locked.
• On the toes.

The body should be tight and rigid to start and should remain that way throughout the movement.

Movement should occur at the shoulders and elbows….that’s it.

No low back, no hips, no thoracic spine…none.

It should all be: “Toight like a Toiger”

I don’t even know what that means….

This is what your Pushups should look like:

But unfortunately, they’re probably more like this:

How do we get from a sloppy mess that reminds people of a rag doll being tossed about in a tornado to something that at least resembles a decent, organized, pushup?

Learn to create and KEEP tension.

If you can’t hold a pushup plank properly, you’re gonna be strugglin’.

From savyspice.com

Key Plank Points:

• Butt tight
• Abs tight
• Low back in neutral
• Chest up

Learn to get tight and control your angles (hips, shoulders, chest) in a static position first.

If you’re having trouble with the low back, this usually means focusing on slightly “rolling the belt buckle to the chin”  to flatten out the low back some and squeezing the glutes HARD.

Rolling the hips will put the hips into neutral, increases anterior core tension, and squeezing the glutes locks everything in place.

Once you can maintain this tightness  in the start position you can add movement in a controlled fashion through a limited range of motion at first, progressing to the floor.

Using eccentric (lowering) exercises allows us to learn to maintain “the line” while absorbing force.

Eccentric Pushups to a Bench:

Eccentric Pushup to the Floor:

Remember the key to these exercises is maintaining “Pillar Strength” and “organization” throughout the body.

These should look exactly like what you want your pushups to look.

If you’re losing the line at any point or touching too high/ low regress the movement to a higher point of contact and get it right.

Once you can control the line from the start (top) position to the floor, it’s time to learn how to create and maintain “the line” while creating movement.

This means driving up off of the floor.

Obviously, you can always start from an elevated position like a bench or a rack, but remember:

KEEP TENSION!

• Head in line with the rest of the body.
• Hands at the level of ribs
• Abs tight
• Low back in neutral
• Glutes tight
• Knees locked

Once you have tension…..

DRIVE!!!

Push through the floor, through lockout.

Dead Stop Pushup:

What you should look for:

A hitch at the bottom of the ribcage or an “unlocking” of the hips once you break the ground.

If  either of these occurs this means that you’re doing one of two things:

A: Not creating enough tension in the abs and glutes.

B: Not strong enough in the upper body. 

If A is the issue it’s time to do some more glute and core activation drills, focusing on maintaining a neutral low back and squeezing the glutes.

If it’s B you can supplement Dead Stop Pushups with Elevated Pushups, still focusing on creating tension and maintaining “the line”.

Elevated Pushups:

If you don’t have a problem staying “organized” through the movement but just don’t have the strength to do regular pushups from the floor you should start with elevated pushups, (read this article and use these progressions) and work your way to the floor.