My Roommate Got Her First Pushup (and You Can Too).
Pushups take some practice, but I promise: you can do one.
A couple months ago, my roommate Erica called me into the living room. “Look, look!” She dropped to the floor and set up in the top of the plank position, slowly lowered herself down, and then pushed herself back up. “I can do a pushup!”
Ten months ago, when Erica moved into my two-bedroom apartment the week after Christmas, one of the first things she told me was that she had no upper body strength. She’d brought a pullup bar to set up in her bedroom doorway not because she had mastered any kind of pullup, but because as a new nurse, she wanted to get stronger for her job.
Pushups? She’d never done one.
In the months since then, Erica has taken to calling me her personal trainer, though I’ve just shown her a couple things. It wasn’t until midsummer that she started taking my advice on how to work toward her first pushup, and within a week, she was already seeing progress. Her range of controlled motion in the pushup position went from basically nothing to a few inches and then to the whole pushup.
The fact that within a few weeks she was able to complete a movement that eluded her for so long has been exciting to her — enough that soon after her first pushup, she did “my first arm day!” which featured pushups, negatives, banded pullups, and left her sore for a couple days. This is the sort of motivation that comes from achieving realistic goals and mastering trainable skills. Her self-efficacy shot through the roof.
I share all of this to remind those of you who don’t think you’re capable of doing a pushup that — actually, you can.
It’s not something you’ll necessarily be able to do overnight, but if you decide to pursue the pushup (or the pullup or some other intimidating movement) and set out to build the strength and skill to do it, you will get it eventually. Just follow Erica’s lead.
How to Get Your First Pushup
1. Start with your plank.
Core strength is essential for pushup work. Start by setting up in a full plank position, with your legs straight out behind you, your hands directly beneath your shoulders, and your torso in a solid position. Your spine should be neutral, not arching or rounded. See how long you can hold this position. Ten seconds should be long enough to get through a few pushups, but longer will make your pushups even easier.
If you can’t manage a full plank on the floor, put your hands on a chair or table instead. Build up your strength in that position and then move to the floor.
2. Practice negative pushups.
You may not be able to push your body up, but you’re probably able to lower yourself down. Set up in the plank position, aka the top of the pushup. Take a breath, brace your core, and slowly lower yourself to the floor by bending your arms. Control this movement as much as possible. At some point, you may just fall the rest of the way, but the goal is, over time, to control your entire descent. When you get to the floor, put your knees down and do a knee pushup back to the top. Straighten your legs and repeat.
3. Do tiny pushups from the top.
After you’ve done negative pushups over a few days or weeks, you’ll likely be able to do part of the upward motion of the pushup. Explore this growing strength by doing partial negative pushups — just lower yourself slightly — and then pushing yourself back to the top. Over time, you’ll see your range of motion grow, and before long, you’ll be able to do a full pushup.
Tip: Keep your elbows close.
When you do a pushup, you don’t want your arms to form a “T” shape with the rest of your body. Your elbows shouldn’t be flaring out by your shoulders. Instead, place your hands under your shoulders. As you lower yourself down, your elbows should move toward your waist at about a 30-degree angle from your body. This keeps your shoulders and elbows in a healthier position and enables you to recruit muscles in your arms and chest throughout the movement.
How Often Should You Do These Exercises?
Three to five times a week. If you’re not used to this type of exercise, your body may need time to recover between sessions. Do the number of reps that is physically challenging to you. That might mean five or 10 or 20, or 10 reps for five sets. If you find that you’re super sore, take a day or two off — and be encouraged because soreness means your muscles got the message and are rebuilding themselves to be stronger next time.
Sample Pushup Training Progression
Week one: Plank.
Each day, hold your plank for an accumulated 60-120 seconds. If you can only hold for ~5 seconds at a time, do that 12 times.
Weeks two & three: Negatives & plank.
Start each session with 5-15 negative pushups. Finish by planking for a total of 120 seconds.
Weeks four through six: Partial pushups, negatives, plank.
Warm up with 5-10 negative pushups. Do 5-15 partial pushups. Finish each partial pushup with a negative, then reset at the top of the pushup position. After the partial pushups, do 5-10 more negatives. Then plank for 60-120 seconds total.
End of week six: Attempt a full pushup.
Do this after warming up with some negatives and maybe a couple partial pushups. Rest for 30-60 seconds, then attempt. If you can’t quite do it, no worries. Continue with your pushup training. If you can, celebrate! Tell your roommate, friends, family, significant other. And try again.
Now, get after it. I believe in you.
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What’s coming next?
Part 4 of the motivation series ORRR something fun and random =)
Thank you for the lovely shout out <3
I'm going to get this too!