The diagram below demonstrates the correct technique for doing pushups.
- Keep your feet close together, squeeze your glute muscles (your buttocks), keep your stomach tight, and try and maintain a straight line from your head to your feet.
- DON'T HAVE YOUR HANDS TOO FAR APART. Positioning them too wide will not lead to a better chest workout. It will only put stress on your joints and tendons. Just slightly wider than shoulder width is ideal.
- As we discussed in the previous article, "pushing exercises" are also known as "compound movements" as they are a multi-joint movement. This means that a pushup will work not only your chest, but also your triceps and shoulders. However, since we want to target our chest, we have to pay strict attention to our technique and really focus mentally during the exercise.
- Take a deep breath, and slowly lower yourself till your chest almost touches the floor. You should count "one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand" before you reach the floor. That is how slow you should be going.
- At the bottom, pause very briefly, and then come up slightly faster, at a count of "one thousand, two thousand".
- Make sure you squeeze your chest muscles at the top of the movement. A good way to learn how to do this is, at the top of the pushup imagine you are trying to forcefully bring your palms of your hands to touch each other, even though this is impossible since they are "glued" to the floor.
- Squeeze for a count of two seconds ("one thousand, two thousand"), and go back down.
Have a look at the video below, to recap what has been described. This is the correct way to do a pushup:
How many repetitions should you perform? Try and aim for 100 repetitions with as many rests as you need. As you get stronger, you will be able to reach that number in less "sets" (i.e. less "groups" of repetitions). The key is that you do not exert yourself to your maximal ability in the first set and subsequently become too tired during the next sets. Try and conserve your energy so that you can do the same repetitions in each set (with the final set being the most difficult, to the point where you almost can not complete the set). Below is are some sample workouts, going from the easiest to the hardest:
- 5 reps, 20 sets (i.e. 5 repetitions, then rest for a minute or two, then 5 more, and so on...until 20 groups are done). Total repetitions = 100.
- 10 reps, 10 sets
- 20 reps, 5 sets
- 25 reps, 4 sets
You should feel a great "pump", which means your chest muscles are engorged with blood. Remember to drink a protein shake after your workout, or eat a meal which is high in protein (like chicken, fish, beef or eggs) so that the nutrients can repair the broken down muscle and make it grow. Do this workout every two days, while maintaining a diet high in protein, low in fat, and medium in carbohydrates.
As you get stronger, increase your "target number" from 100 to 200. When you can comfortably do 8 sets of 25 reps (200 in total) with little rest in between (maximum 1 minute), then you can move on to more serious exercises. By this point your chest should have some visible improvements, although do not expect miracles. Building a huge chest will take years of work, but you have taken a crucial step and are moving in the right direction.
