Push Up Variations: Beginner
Push Ups are hard. If you struggle with full push ups, give these variations a go to build up your strength.
Modified Push Up on Knees
The most common beginner push up! It’s a great way to start to get your upper body positioning right.
Place your hands on the floor, shoulder width apart. Make sure your shoulders are over your wrists. Knees on the floor, feet off the floor. Tuck your pelvis in to create a nice neutral back position. Create tension through your glutes and core.
Lower your chest to the ground, keeping your elbows tucked in to your body.
Push the ground away to come back up to start position.
Reps and Sets: Aim for 3 sets of 10-15 reps. If you’re struggling to get to the floor with your chest, go as far as you can and persevere.
Note: If you are able to do the next exercise, you can skip this one as the next one builds up more core strength as well as upper body.
Elevated Lowering Down to Knees
Place your hands on a step, bench or ledge, ensuring your shoulders are directly over your wrists. Tighten your core, drawing your belly button up to your spine, squeeze your glutes, squeeze your quads and calves. Keep your elbows tucked in to the body.
Lower your chest to the bench, nice and controlled. Then lower your knees to the floor. Then push your chest away from the bench and extending the arms. Then lift your knees and hips up to a straight body position.
Don’t forget to keep everything engaged throughout.
Reps and Sets: We’re building up so start with 3 sets of 6-10 reps. If you are losing your form suddenly as you go, don’t worry. Keep working at it.
Elevated Push Up on Toes
Building from the previous - master them then move on to this one - Put your hands on the step, bench or ledge, ensuring your shoulders are directly over your wrists. Tighten your core, drawing your belly button up to your spine, squeeze your glutes, squeeze your quads and calves. Keep your elbows tucked in to the body.
Lower your chest to the bench, nice and controlled.
Making sure your core, legs and glutes are strong, push the bench away to get back to your starting position.
If you find the height difficult to push yourself back up, increase the elevation to where you are able to complete the full push up. Gradually lower the elevation down as you get stronger.
Reps and Sets: 3 sets of 6-8 reps.
Check out previous push ups articles here!
