Take the plank position to perform your push-ups the right way
Don’t stop when you’re tired, stop only when you’re done. Never give up on push-ups just because you couldn’t push yourself harder or couldn’t lift your own body weight. If you find that a workout is beneficial to your fitness goals, before you excel, it’s crucial to know what you might be doing wrong. The following are 3 common mistakes people make when trying to do push-ups, correct them right now and experience the results.
Too fast:
You may have seen several YouTube videos with 100 push-ups in less than 5 minutes or something similar. Although one can perform pushups fast enough for a competition or challenge, it is never recommended to perform them too fast in your regular workouts. It increases the force exerted on the joints of the elbows, which makes it more painful and makes it unlikely that you will perform it the next day. Therefore, the ideal time to perform a push-up is subjective depending on your style, and ranges between 3 and 5 seconds.
T-Shape is the sin of push-ups:
Now that you’ve found the ideal speed of a pushup, here’s another common mistake related to hand placement during a pushup. Most beginners place their palms wide apart and facing forward like dog pose in yoga, thinking it can engage their chest muscles more, allowing them to build a broader chest. Your goal is missed by putting too much pressure on your shoulders, causing you to slouch and ultimately not be able to perform a perfect push-up. Also, when he places his palms open, his body appears to form a T-shape as he performs the push-up causing his elbows to flare out or out from the body, which is not the correct shape. Make sure each palm is directly below your shoulders, slightly wider than your chest. This position will give you solid support, putting equal pressure on your core, your chest, and ultimately engaging the correct muscles.
Lower back:
Don’t lift your hips toward the ceiling or round your lower body. Both of these positions can be dangerous to perform a push-up as it is not only a poor position, but can sometimes lead to hip injuries. If you lifted your hips, it would probably look like an inverted V that doesn’t contract your core muscles. Even when you perform a push-up in that position, you’re not using your glutes and rather fooling yourself in the process. The perfect position is to keep your entire body flat against the ground while performing the pushup. Keep your palm shoulder-width apart, don’t slouch your shoulders, make sure your spinal cord is straight and your lower body is straight with the ground. Squeeze your gluteal muscles to lower your butt for the desired effect.
In simple words, get into plank position to perform your push-ups the right way. If you think it’s too difficult to find the right position, get expert help online or find a fitness trainer to help you. When you start to master the art of push-ups, you are on the right track!
(Vijay Thakkar, fitness entrepreneur and functional medicine trainer)
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