I’m not talking about those ‘girly’ ones on your knees either.

Proper push-ups when all that touches the floor are your feet and hands (and maybe your chest if you’re show boating).

When did the push-up get so ruddy hard?

It’s a simple bodyweight exercise, yet tons of people struggle with it.

What’s happening to the World?

Soon the government will have to install automatic doors everywhere because nobody will have the strength to open a ‘push’ door.

That or you’ll have to wait until someone on the other side pulls the door open for you.

It’ll be a shambles, let me tell you!

Good thing your boy, Walsh, has got your back and you won’t have to take a running charge to open your front door.

You see, most people just need to sort out their technique.

I trained a female client for the first time the other week and she’d never done a full push-up in her life.

Within 2 minutes she was able to do 10 full push-ups just by sorting out her technique.

1. Get Your Hands Wider

press up hands

Most people (mainly women) place their hands too close together (especially when using a mat)  when it comes to doing a push-up, which makes it twice as hard to push back up and it causes stress on your elbow joints.

Aim for roughly double your shoulder width between your hands, so that when you’re in the bottom position of the push-up your elbows and wrists are in line with each other.

This way your range of motion won’t be limited and you’ll be able to push your body back up with less difficulty.

2. Don’t Let Your Hips Sag

press up straight line

Keep your butt and the front of your thighs contracted whilst keeping your hips level with your shoulders – this will help activate your core muscles and don’t the “sag”.

Lower your body down with control, while ensuring your hips don’t sag and you’ve got a straight line from your ankles all the way up to your shoulders.

Now, as you push your body back up to the top, make sure your hips come up at the same time, otherwise it just looks like you’re trying to hump the ground – not pretty.

3. Be Powerful

As soon as you hit the bottom of the movement push up for all your worth with power and speed.

When learning this movement, yes, you need to be controlled. But…

Until you can bang out push-ups willy-nilly, you need to be explosive from the bottom part of the movement, which will help keep the momentum going until you reach the top of the movement.

4. Start Higher Up

press ups start higher up

If you still can’t do a full push-up after the tips above, then put your hands on a table or chair (rather than doing them on your knees).

Kneeling push-ups are pants because your core never learns what to do, so by mimicking the full push-up position, albeit from a higher level, you can teach your core muscles how to act properly, while building up your upper body strength.

As you get better you can then attempt one or two of these ‘proper’ push-ups on the floor and work from there.

The first time you might only get one, but then next time you’ll get two and before you know it you’ll be doing 1-arm push-ups…well, maybe not, but you’ll be much better :)

So…

There you have it, try these tips tonight and let me know how you get on and just in case you were wondering…

In terms of what you should be aiming for , here’s some rough guidelines…

Women: Great 30+, Very Good 20+, Could Be Better 10+, Need Some Practice 0-9.

Men: Great 40+, Very Good 30+, Could Be Better 20+, Need Some Practice 0-19.

In my opinion, every woman should be able to do at least 10 full push-ups and the guys at least 20. So…

If you’re not quite there, time to get practising :)

Use these tips and with a little bit effort over the next couple of weeks you’ll be blasting out press-ups for fun.

I hope this helps and if you’ve liked this post, please feel free to share and comment below.


Gavin Walsh
Gavin Walsh

A British fitness and fat loss magician that helps men and women lose the jelly from their belly pronto. Gavin is the head coach here at Body Fixers and has been featured in the likes of Men's Health, Women's Health and Men's Fitness, as well appearing on British TV several times with delightful nuggets of fitness and fat loss wisdom.

    1 Response to "How to do 10, 20, 30, 40+ push-ups"

    • Yolanda De La Pena

      Thank you!! You motivated me to do the push ups when you said higher, cause I sometimes do them leaning on the sink and I think I’m doing wrong but it feels right..

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