Often, the simplest exercises seem the hardest. Calisthenic movements like the pushup and pullup are notoriously difficult, even for many people who can throw around a barbell like no one’s business. There’s just something about moving one’s own bodyweight that gets real tricky.
That said, if you can’t do a proper push-up, you’re definitely not alone. Luckily, there’s no shortage of ways to fix pushup form — here are the six most common pushup mistakes and how to fix them.
If your spine hyperextends then your core isn’t strong enough for standard pushups.
The goal in a push up is to maintain a rigid body with an imaginary line from your head to your toes, says Miriam Alicea, NASM CPT, NASM CES and MYXfitness coach.
“When the spine collapses or hyperextends, it’s usually not a result of upper body strength,” she says. “Instead, it’s usually due to insufficient core strength and the ability to stabilize the lumbopelvic region and keep it neutral throughout the motion.”
Tight hip flexors can also pull your hips into anterior pelvic tilt, which therefore makes proper glute training and engagement a key player in good push-up form, she says.
Fix it: When doing push-ups, cue yourself with “tuck the tailbone” and “close the rib cage.” These cues should remind you of proper alignment, Alicea says. If these cues don’t work, lengthening the hip flexors, along with strengthening the core and glute muscles, will help you establish proper core control and avoid hyperextension during push-ups.
Try core-strengthening exercises such as planks, bird dogs, dead bugs and hollow body holds; glute-strengthening exercises such as single-leg deadlifts, hip thrusts and good mornings.
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Your Hips Sink
If your hips sink then you should probably work on hip extension and core control.
Think: “Tight gut, tight butt.” During every pushup, you should maintain complete control of your core and lumbar spine, and this means bracing the core and keeping your hips extended by engaging your glutes.
Saggy-butt pushups make you look like you’re doing the worm. Let’s not do that — fix this not for your ego, but for your poor, beaten-up lower back.
Fix it: Core exercises should help correct this pushup mistake, especially isometric ones. Yep, that means planks and hollow body holds. For your glutes, try any and all variations of hip thrusts and hip bridges, as well as squeezing a yoga block or towel in between your thighs when practicing push-ups.
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Per Bernal
Your Shoulders Collapse
If your shoulders collapses then your scapulae need some work.
When your shoulders collapse or cave in during a pushup, it’s likely the result of a weak glenohumeral (GH) joint, says Jason Shaw, metabolic specialist and certified personal trainer at Life Time. Your GH joint is a ball-and-socket joint between the scapula (shoulder blade) and the humerus (upper arm bone).
This mistake most often occurs when the lower trapezius is too weak to allow your scapula to tilt in the manner necessary to accommodate a push-up, he explains. Inability to control your scapulae also occurs when your serratus anterior muscles, the small muscles along the side wall of your chest, are weak, Shaw says.
Fix it: Some exercises to help correct shoulder instability include farmer carries (one or two-handed), lat pull-downs, straight-arm pull-downs and serratus punches, Shaw says.
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You Can’t Lower Fully
If: You Can’t Lower Fully
Then: You need to build up the requisite strength for a full push-up.
Typically, this isn’t a mobility issue, but more of a strength and stability issue, Shaw says. “In a push-up position, the rotator cuff muscles work with the scapula and humerus,” he explains. “When tension falls apart, our scapula moves inappropriately (scapular winging) which may lead to inability to control the movement, or restrict the movement all together.”
To combat this, Shaw says, it’s necessary to strengthen the rotator cuff muscles and the serratus anterior, and place an emphasis on the eccentric (lowering/lengthening) phases of the push-up.
Fix it: Bird dogs, reverse fly (slowly lowering the resistance on the way down), bottoms-up kettlebell carry, overhead triceps extension (slowly lowering the resistance on the way down), or triceps dips supported on a bench (slowly lowering your body on the way down). You can also practice modified pushups to build strength in that specific movement pattern, including knee pushups, wall pushups or elevated pushups.
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Per Bernal
Your Shoulders Are Out of Sync
If your shoulders are out of sync then one side might be stronger than the other.
If, every time you do a pushup, your right elbow extends before your left elbow, you might have a serious muscle imbalance. It’s important to correct this, not only to achieve perfect push-ups, but to avoid injuries.
“The problem with uneven shoulders on the ascent of a push up usually occurs as a result imbalances of the triceps or shoulders as opposed to the chest,” Alicea says. “Targeting muscular imbalances will require the use of unilateral strength exercises to close the gap. Exercises that mimic the required scapular rotation will be key, as will triceps-focused exercises.”
Fix it: landmine presses, single-arm cable chest press, single arm bottoms-up kettlebell press, single-arm triceps kickbacks, single-arm dumbbell overhead press.
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Corey Jenkins / Getty
Your Elbows Flare
If your elbows flare then you are putting too much stress on your shoulders. You should not look like a chicken when you do pushups. Point blank.
One of the best cues is this: Pretend like you’re pushing a car that’s out of gas. What’s the most efficient way to do that? Tuck your arms into your sides and push using your entire bodyweight. You’d never attempt to push a dead car with your elbows flared out wide. At least, we hope not.
During pushups, your arms should point away from your body at about 45 degrees. Proper push-ups are going to feel really tough if you’re used to chicken-winging them. Your triceps will scream, but on the bright side, at least you won’t be putting your anterior shoulder through hell anymore.
Fix it: Shoulder internal and external rotation exercises will help you get the feel for proper arm positioning during push-ups. If you find that you can’t perform a push-up with your arms tucked in, there’s no shame in practicing with knee pushups or elevated pushups until you build up the strength needed to perform them correctly.
