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Overview
Push-ups are a good way to finish up a workout and are perfect for those who are working out away from a gym. Unfortunately, pushups do not allow for easy increases in weight. For this reason, they are best used as a repetitive movement to bring the muscles to final exhaustion.
Setup
Most gyms will have an area with mats for performing exercises on the floor. Use these areas so that your exercise does not interfere with those in the other parts of the gym. Begin with your body weight on your toes and your hands. The hands should be spread apart 3-6 inches wider than your shoulders. Keep your head up and look to the area ahead of you.
Movement
Most gyms will have an area with mats for performing exercises on the floor. Use these areas so that your exercise does not interfere with those in the other parts of the gym. Begin with your body weight on your toes and your hands. The hands should be spread apart 3-6 inches wider than your shoulders. Keep your head up and look to the area ahead of you.
Tips From the Trainer
Keeping the head up and looking forward, and keeping the back straight are both keys to good form. Keeping your head up helps to prevent you from doing half pushups where only your nose touches the ground. Touching the chest to the ground and getting the full extension may be more difficult and cause you to do less push-ups, but remember that the goal is to build your chest muscles, not to do more pushups.
For added intensity, consider doing push-ups on two parallel benches. This allows a greater range of motion because the body can go down further than is otherwise possible on the ground. Get a good stretch at the bottom and let the muscles burn. At the end of your workout when another push-up has become impossible, you may consider doing a few last push-ups on the knees. This will allow you to push your muscles past failure to achieve maximum exhaustion.
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