I’ve always loved the fundamental nature of the pushup.
For such a simple exercise it’s incredibly effective at building upper-body strength. All that’s needed is a positive attitude, a little hutzpah and some floor space.
Pushups have been part of our lives since grammar school. One of the earliest ways our fitness was measured. I can still hear my gym teacher screaming, “C’mon Mayer, all the way down”. Yeah, yeah, Mr. Mack. Take a chill pill.
They’re the benchmark for exhibiting strength and power. Tulsi Gabbard won a pushup contest versus an attendee at a New Hampshire town hall last year. President Biden famously challenged Donald Trump to a pushup contest in 2019. Pushups even made a cameo on NBC’s The Office.
But for all their majesty and might, pushups come with one major misconception: that certain folks aren’t capable of performing proper pushups.
Bollocks.
It’s true, pushups come easier to some than others. Pushups engage your core, triceps, shoulders, chest and (to a slight degree) your lats, so muscular strength is paramount. Some folks have innate power in those areas, some do not. It also pays to be light — every pound you carry is an additional pound you must lift.
But just because you lack the native ability to perform pushups doesn’t mean you lack the ability to perform pushups.
Believing you are incapable is what’s holding you back.
Fitness coach and my friend Adam Berry struggled with pushups for fifteen years. Like many, he wasn’t gifted with inherent upper body strength.
“I am a very tall, very skinny, floppy eared human, and so the ability to do a pushup was not something that would ever come naturally to me…Because of how long my levers (arms and legs) are, it naturally makes a movement like the pushup a lot harder,” Adam says.
He continues, describing the mental anguish from his inability to perform a pushup, especially during his teenage years as an Air Cadet under Lance Corporal Craig, resident asshole:
“I was at a significant disadvantage from the outset. But this didn’t stop the ridicule, failure and outright sense of uselessness I had from not being able to do a pushup.”
“It was a mental scar that was well and truly ingrained deep within me. It all linked to the bullying I would receive on a daily basis combined with the usual worries that a teenager would have about the world. I was scarred from ever having to do a pushup.”
Adam would eventually get over the hump. He now teaches others to do the same. But his success didn’t come without pain, sacrifice and a willingness to put aside the reasons he couldn’t and choosing to believe he could.
Sandra Hunter, exercise scientist at Marquette University, recalls a scenario with one of her male colleagues. For his 50th birthday, he was going to do 50 pushups. Hunter told him that if he can do 50, he could probably do 100. “He told me I’d blown his mind. He was a sports psychologist, and he never had the gall to consider that he might do that,” she recalls.
He ended up doing 200 pushups, and half the effort was deciding he could, she says.
Nailing your technique
Pushups may be a classic fitness benchmark, but they’re more difficult to perform than you might think. “You rarely see folks do even one rep with perfect form,” says Rob Shaul, C.S.C.S. “Proper form will build strength and performance capability while reducing the likelihood of injury.”
To get started, assume a pushup position with your feet together, body straight, hands below but slightly wider than your shoulders. Breaking this out a bit more:
1. Straighten
Keeping your arms straight reduces stress on your shoulders. Make sure your hands and shoulders align at the top of the motion.
2. Lock
Connecting your palms completely to the floor increases stability through your shoulders and upper back. And stability equals power.
3. Brace
Increase tension throughout your core. This also boosts stability.
4. Squeeze
Clench your glutes to keep your hips in place, thereby reducing stress on your lower back. Your body should be straight from head to toe.
Putting it all together
When ready, slowly lower your body to the floor, pause for a moment, then push back up. Perform the movement from your knees at first if need be. Once you’re able to perform 15–20 “kneeups”, switch to the traditional method.
For you rockstars, Shaul suggests incorporating the “dead-stop” variation. Lower yourself to the ground, lift your hands, then push back up. That pause eliminates help from the stretch reflex — the tendency of a muscle to spring back to a shortened state when stretched — and forces you to move through a full range of motion.
The result? No cheating. “It’s a true test of strength,” he says.
The training plan
Shaul suggests adding pushups to your workouts three times per week. This provides adequate muscular stimulus to facilitate growth while leaving enough time for recovery. Perform five sets per workout, doing as many reps as you can each set. “The goal is to do as many as you can in a particular workout without wearing yourself out completely,” he says.
When you’re ready, test yourself. Do as many reps as possible in one minute. 10 is a good start, 30+ is exceptional.
You may want to invest in a pushup bar or some handles to take strain off your wrists. It’s worked wonders for me. Amazon is your friend on this one.
Bringing it back around
Simply believing you can do a pushup isn’t enough to get you there. But the notion you can’t may be part (or most) of what’s stopping you. What the mind thinks the body believes.
Minoru Yoshida of Japan holds the world record for consecutive pushups at 10,507. He achieved such a ridiculous feat in part because of training methods like the dead-stop variation, but also because he believed he could do it. Like Adam Berry also discovered, whether you can do one pushup — or 10,507 — may all be in your head.
Scott Mayer is a runner, thinker, curious observer and certified personal trainer. Visit the In Fitness And In Health website for training plans, consulting options and additional content.