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https://www.t-nation.com/training/best-damn-push-ups-article-period
stabilizer for preventing hip sagging, while the obliques do most of the work to prevent lateral shifting and twisting.
The transversus abdominis, multifidus, and erector spinae are only minimal contributors to spinal stability during
the push-up exercise.
Push-ups are also about arms and chest, with 73-109% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) of the triceps, and
95-105% MVC of the pec major. The back is also involved, with serratus anterior as the top back muscle with 75%
MVC compared to 27% for the mid traps and 36% for the lower traps.
Hand position plays an important role. A narrow base push-up position significantly increases stress on the elbow
joint, but also involves higher muscle activation in the triceps and pecs. Internally rotated hand positions were also
shown to produce greater and potentially injurious forces on the elbow joints.
Depending on your goal, you'll want to do different push-up progressions.
Push-ups with alternating hands on a ball provided the greatest rectus abdominis and oblique challenge. One arm
push-ups hit the lats, anterior deltoid, and erector spinae the hardest. And clapping push-ups were the toughest for
the pec major, triceps, and biceps.
Think a push-up should feel natural? Think again. There are three common push-up performance errors.
T-Set Up
First, when performing push-ups, people often set up with their hand position high and wide. If you took a
snapshot from above as in an aerial view, their set up would look like the letter T. People do this to make the
exercise easier.
Why is this position easier?
The alignment of the pec fibers is better suited to produce force from this position.
This position requires less muscle activation (as measured by EMG) in the pecs and the triceps.
Shoulder horizontal abduction flexibility is limited, so the structures limiting flexibility will contribute much
needed passive force in the bottom position.
Caterpillaring
Second is caterpillaring, or allowing the hips to sag resulting in anterior pelvic tilting and lumbar hyperextension.
Here's why this occurs.
They lack the core strength to stabilize their lumbopelvic region and simply allow their core to gain stability
by "hanging" on the structures that limit this motion namely the hip flexors and lumbar vertebrae.
Basically, the hip flexors lengthen and contribute passive tension, and the neural arches of the vertebrae
get closer together (approximation). This places the posterior elements of the spine at risk.
People are stuck in anterior pelvic tilt due to tight hip flexors and erector spinae and don't have the
muscular strength in the rectus abdominis and gluteus maximus to override this tightness during the pushup.
Stopping Short
Third, people cut the movement short and perform half-reps. Here's typically why this occurs.
Pelvic positioning is linked to lumbar and thoracic spine positioning. Specifically, a PPT is associated with
increased thoracic kyphosis.
Performing push-ups with a hyperkyphotic curve will affect scapulohumeral rhythm and could increase the risk of
impingement and rotator cuff issues. While this might not cause any problems initially, it might present problems
down the road.
Now, it is important to take a step back and note that you don't need a posterior pelvic tilt in your push-ups; what
you need is to avoid anterior pelvic tilt push-ups.
If you tend to produce an anterior pelvic tilt when you do push-ups, then encouraging PPT as you work on
improving your push-ups is a great approach, but once you're able to maintain a neutral pelvic alignment, you may
wish to eliminate the posterior tilt focus. For this reason, our corrections and progressions will be shown using a
PPT.
Three different factors could explain why women struggle more with push-ups than men.
First, strength levels are different between men and women. When measured as a percentage of lean body mass,
the differences are dramatically reduced, especially in the lower body. But upper body strength in men is greater
than in women, and because upper body strength is a big part of a push-up (requiring moving around 66% of body
weight), it's not a simple task for beginners, especially beginner women.
Second, most women possess a higher proportion of lower body muscle mass relative to upper body muscle mass
compared to men. If you want to see how this feels, put yourself in a plank position and have someone place some
weight above your chest and see how much of an added challenge that is. Then try this again but have the weight
placed above your pelvis.
Your core will need to work much more to support the weight at your pelvis than at the chest. For this reason
women could find the push-ups more challenging for the core.
Push-ups Progressions
Despite the complex tone of this article, performing a push-up so perfect that it will make even the most anal
retentive exercise physiologist's heart skip a beat is a breeze.
From the list of push-up progressions below, find the one that you can do with proper form and do a set two-three
times per day. Once you can complete a set of 10 with good form, move to the next progression.
Once you can do singles, progress to multiple repetitions of full push-ups. Success!
Once you get the hang of proper push-up form you might find yourself quite smitten with the exercise. You'll want it
more, multiple times a day, different ways, different positions, in airplane lavatories after the captain turns off the
seatbelt sign. You get the picture.
Fortunately there are many advanced progression options once quality regular push-ups have been achieved,
starting with feet elevated push-ups, and moving to:
One-foot push-ups
One-arm push-ups
Clapping push-ups
Diamond push-ups
Dive-bomber push-ups
Side-to-side push-ups
Triangle push-ups
Spiderman push-ups
Side-tap push-ups
Push-up iso-holds
Corkscrew push-ups
Alligator push-ups
Pike push-ups
Push-backs
Planche push-ups
Back to Basics
When it comes to building a stronger body sometimes the basics are the best. Don't dump your current strength