I recently found out that I have been doing push-ups incorrectly. Once I stopped doing push ups on my knees, I thought I had it down. I mean really, there isn't much to a regular push up. Wrong. Apparently, my arms were out way too far which makes it much easier. Maybe a habit I picked up long before CrossFit when I was told to do "girl" push-ups any time I had to do push-ups while growing up.
Proper form is to keep the arms under the shoulders and the elbows closer to the body as you do the push-up. This will work the triceps much more than keeping the arms out further. This form is actually much harder for me and I can only do about 10 consecutive versus the 20 or so that I could do with my arms out wider.
Good luck with your surgery Rae! You better make it to the box to hangout.
Camey, there's lots of little changes that most people need to make to their pushup form. We spend a lot of time at the box going over squats and lower body movements and assume that people will be able to correctly do pullups and pushups, but they are just as technical as a squat. Just like you wouldn't break at the knees and drop straight down into a squat, people shouldn't break at the elbows and drop straight down. You should always break at the joint nearest to your core first and then lower your body towards the ground, forming a triangle with your hands (or feet) and chin (or booty meat). "Girl" pushups are usually done with the elbows out at a 90 degree angle, which makes it impossible for people to break at the shoulder first. That's why people should work on getting their elbows in with their knees still on the ground instead of progressing to the plank with elbows out. When you start doing dips and HSPU, the same form applies, and you'll find that most people break at the elbows on those movements, indicating that they aren't proficient in the pushup.
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ReplyDeleteI forgot to add that you always want the contact point to be parallel with the angle of force. So for squats and deadlifts, you want your shins to be as perpendicular to the ground as possible. For pushups, dips, and HSPU, you want your forearms to be as perpendicular to the ground as possible. That way you are relying less on the weaker, isolated muscles of your arm or leg and more on the stronger, overlapping muscles of your shoulder or hip.
ReplyDelete@Doc....you will just have to show me what you are talking about on Thursday. lol. I am lost.
ReplyDelete@Camey...great post. I know for a fact that I do pushups wrong, so I needed to see this monkey doing them correctly:) lol.
I am going to start posting my food again to hold myself accountable:
Breakfast: nada...too busy.
Lunch: Salad with bacon, chicken, red onion, egg, some light feta, and fat free vinagrette. Plus a cup full of black berries, strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
I spent 5 minutes scratching my head before finally deciding to weigh in on this. Let the push up arguments commence!
ReplyDelete-There really isn't a right or wrong hand position. Wide position works your chest more. Narrow position works you triceps more. The 'optimal' position is somewhere in between. You can pretty much do these any way you want. In fact, there's a benefit to training by doing them in different ways.
-The rule of thumb is that your hands should be under your shoulders, but it totally depends on the width of your body's frame and the length of your arms. I have long arms and a narrow frame; the 'optimal' position for me is going to be wider than someone who has short arms and a wide frame. Optimal push up hand position is not one-size-fits-all and anyone who tells you it is is full of crap.
-Everyone has different standards, e.g. CrossFit Games standard, default standards at the box, military standards, etc. There's not one universal accepted right way. I was talking with Tony and Blake last night about the difference between what we do vs what the military does for push ups, sit ups, pull ups, etc. It is vastly different, but it really doesn't matter. Train however you please, but just adhere to whatever standards are set out for each particular workout. If something isn't defined (hand positions, hands off ground, clapping, etc.) then it is all fair game. If you want to get the best possible time in a workout, do it in whatever 'legal' way is easiest for you. If you'd rather make it harder and build strength instead of worry about time, try a harder hand position or add in clapping.
-If your chest hits the ground, your arms get fully extended, and your body is rigid (not snaking up) and someone tells you that you're doing it wrong, there's an easy way to win the argument: do more push ups than that person. When that happens, they're wrong.
@Camey - If you're doing more push ups with a wide position than a 'standard' position, it just means that you are chest dominant and you need to develop your tricep strength to even things out. Once you do that, you should get far more push ups with a standard hand position.