How to do the Push-Up
- Place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders on the floor.
- Your body should form a straight line from head to heels.
- Bend your elbows to lower your chest toward the floor.
- Push back up until your arms are straight, elbows angled back.
- Keep your back straight throughout the exercise to protect your lower back.
Full technique — 7 steps
- Set up in a high plank with hands slightly wider than shoulder width and feet together or apart.
- Set your shoulders directly over your hands, straighten your legs, and form a straight line from head to heels.
- Tighten your stomach, squeeze your glutes, and keep your neck neutral with eyes slightly ahead.
- Bend your elbows and lower your body as one unit until your chest nears the floor.
- Keep elbows angled back rather than flared straight out as you reach the bottom position.
- Press through your palms until your elbows are fully extended.
- Finish in a solid plank without letting your hips sag or your upper back collapse.
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging below the shoulders
- Piking hips on the way up
- Elbows flaring straight out
- Stopping short of full depth
- Head dropping between the arms
Form cues
- Body moves as one
- Press through the palms
- Keep elbows angled back
- Tighten stomach each rep
- Reach full arm extension
