Doing "Real" Push-Ups Without Pain? Ask the Trainers!

Lots of people, women in particular, would like to work up to “real” full-body push ups. They’re a great upper body workout, and wouldn’t it be cool to one day have such awesome upper body strength you get compliments like “wow, check out those guns?”

Er… OK. A tad too literal?

Well, as long as we’re trolling around in public domain images (and hoping that Wikipedia is correct in asserting that an image which is “a work of a U.S. military employee, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties” is indeed in the public domain, because who wants to piss off gals with guns?) lets just go with a classic.

There, that’s better.

Anyway, despite the awesomeness of push-ups, many folks seem to have wrist or shoulder or other bio-mechanical issues that make them problematic.

We, (and by “we” I mean the entire imaginary Cranky Fitness Editorial Staff), asked four knowledgeable personal trainers for their advice.

How to do push ups without pain?

They also coughed up instructional pictures and videos, hooray!

And of course the least-expert fitness blogger on the planet had to weigh in at the end too. Let’s start with the smart advice, shall we?

Dave Smith:

[Dave Smith is a personal trainer who specializes in quick and effective body weight exercise routines that can be done anywhere, anytime - Check him out at MakeYourBodyWork.com]

I see this problem all the time – Thanks for raising it as a question! Push-ups are a fantastic exercise that can be great for body-weight strength training. However, the vast majority of people (yes, women in particular) have a difficult time performing push-ups safely. Here are two points to keep in mind when aiming to do “real” full-body push-ups:

1. Set Up For Success. At the bottom of a push-up your elbows should line up directly above your wrists (see the pictures below). This requires quite a wide starting position, often wider than most people would naturally choose. A wide start reduces wrist stress because it aligns the forearm as you deepen into the push-up. The bottom part of the push-up is where the most resistance occurs, so proper alignment at this point in the movement is most critical.

Proper Alignment = Easy on Wrists

Poor Alignment = More Wrist Stress

2. Be Honest With Yourself. I regularly see exercisers who think they can do push-ups from their toes when in actuality they are not quite strong enough. Drooping hips or a bobbing head (as shown in the picture below) indicate that a modification is likely needed.

A bobbing head may make it feel like you’re going deeper in a push-up but it really just adds an unsafe curve in the spine. This form usually indicates lacking strength in the shoulders, chest, triceps, or core.

If someone is not able to do perfect push-ups from their toes then they shouldn’t be doing them! It will only be a matter of time before they experience an injury, often in their shoulders or low back. Push-ups are easy to modify by doing them from the knees or by placing your hands on an elevated surface like a bench. Perfect a modified push-up and then start adding a few reps from your toes as your strength increases!

Taylor Ryan:

Doing "Real" Push-Ups Without Pain? Ask the Trainers!