Pressing Matters: The Simple Push-Up Progression

The Humble Push-Up: It’s a staple in strength training routines but much more challenging than it appears. There’s a reason nearly every branch of the U.S. military uses push-ups as a grade of physical fitness and readiness.

The Benefits: A symphony of core strength, coordination, and upper-body endurance, push-ups help you build athleticism and strength, all from the comfort of home with no equipment needed. By mastering the push-up, you will gain strength in the pectoral muscles (chest), triceps, abs, obliques, and even your quadriceps and glutes. 

How to Do It: Skip the knee push-ups. While they have their place, a smarter way to kickstart push-up progression is with an elevated push-up, such as with your hands on a weight bench, plyo box, or chair. This way, you’re already practicing the straight-leg position and training your core to support a plank. 

Here’s how to progress: 
– Choose an elevated surface on which you can perform one set of 10 reps. 
– Work your way up to an unbroken set of 20 reps. 
– When you can do 20, choose a lower surface and restart at 10 reps. 
– Work your way up to 20 reps on the new, lower surface. 
– Rinse and repeat until you’re doing push-ups with your hands on the floor. 
Want more guidance? We think this video is pretty helpful.