Push-ups can be effective in strengthening your chest, shoulders, and triceps, but if done incorrectly, they can increase the risk of injury. Luckily, you’ve found the right article.
What follows exposes nine common mistakes people make when doing push-ups and offers strategic solutions to each problem.
Keep reading to learn more!
Content Overview
- Insufficient range of motion
- Not fully extending in pushups is a common problem. Contrary to what some people think, taking shortcuts does not represent maximum effort.
- Corrective Strategies: Try simpler pushup variations for full range of motion or use resistance to bring about better muscle engagement.
- Improperly controlled movements
- It is important to control your movements when performing push-ups to prevent unnecessary stress on your joints and muscles.
- Corrective Strategies: Focus on the movement at hand by using a metronome or breathing techniques and practicing planks to improve your push-up control.
- Straighten your elbows.
- It’s critical to keep your elbows slightly bent during pushups to prevent joint stress and ensure muscle engagement.
- Corrective Strategies: Add resistance bands to your workout or use pre- and post-workout massage techniques to keep your elbows in place.
- Elevate the hips
- Raising the hips distorts the efficiency of push-ups and can cause back injuries.
- Corrective Strategies: Actively tighten your core muscles and you can use a mirror to monitor your posture and maintain a flat back.
- Sinking hips
- It’s important to keep your body straight in push-ups; sinking hips can affect posture and put pressure on your lower back.
- Corrective Strategies: Strengthen core muscles and consider push-ups from the knees to maintain proper body alignment.
- Neck asymmetry
- Keep your spine and neck in alignment to avoid neck muscle injuries.
- Corrective Strategies: Imagine your body connected by a straight line and keep your eyes down to keep your neck in line with your spine.
- Turning your elbows out
- Turning your elbows out is a common mistake that can overload your shoulders and prevent effective muscle use.
- Corrective Strategies: Keep your elbows close to your body at a 45-degree angle to your torso to prevent injury and maximize muscle use.
- Ignore pain signals
- It is critical to distinguish between muscle fatigue and harmful pain to avoid injury.
