The pushup: A fundamental movement pattern that is unfortunately butchered like no other.
Just because you made it from point A to point B and back again, doesn’t actually mean you performed a pushup with correct technique.
Push-ups can be a very challenging exercise that demand considerable upper body strength, stability of the spine/core and shoulders, and an awareness of ones joint positioning. If an individual lacks these qualities, more often than not their push-up will result in a series of movement compensations or technical flaws, for example:
- Allowing the hips/lower back to sag (lumbar extension)
- Protruding the head forward to the ground (instead of chest)
- Allowing next to zero eccentric loading
- Flaring out the elbows
In the video below I am coaching my junior athlete Will, who has previously struggled with hip sag and head protrusion in particular. Here I am using two of my favourite methods to help improve his push-up efficiency.
1) Provide external feedback with a broomstick
The broomstick provides external feedback to the athlete about their performance and puts emphasis on maintaining neutral spine during the exercise – in turn helping rid both lumbar extension and forward head #win
2) Regress the exercise to an incline
By regressing the exercise to an incline variation, this reduces the strength demands of the exercise to a more appropriate level where the individual is technically proficient. Why is this? Well the incline variation reduces the pressing load (body weight) so the athlete can effectively focus more on neutral spine, core stability, scapular movement, elbow position etc. - thanks gravity.
When you push-up next: aim to master your movement and avoid these common energy leaks/movement compensations. If you do compensate – try using a broomstick with your training partner or attempt the incline push-up variation.
Join the movement!