Push-Up

How to perform

1. 1Brace your core so your body moves as one straight line.
2. 2Lower until your chest nearly touches the floor, elbows at 45 degrees.

Technique in detail

Set your hands slightly wider than your shoulders, fingers spread, with your body in one straight line from heels to head. Squeeze your glutes and brace your midsection so the hips neither sag nor pike up. Lower under control until your chest is a fist's height from the floor, keeping your elbows at roughly forty-five degrees from your torso rather than flared straight out. Press back up through the whole hand, and push the floor away at the top so your upper back spreads slightly. One clean rep beats five that collapse.

Common mistakes

• Hips sagging, which turns a push-up into a lower-back exercise. Squeeze the glutes before you start the first rep, not after they drop.
• Flaring the elbows to ninety degrees from the body. It puts the shoulder in a vulnerable position and gives the chest less leverage. Aim the elbows back at forty-five degrees.
• Only lowering halfway. Partial reps build partial strength — regress to an incline or knee push-up and get full range instead.

Equipment

• No equipment