Press ups are a very versatile exercise - no matter what you goal is you should always be able to do a proper press up.
How do you do a press up?
There are a few debates across the Internet on what is the correct way to perform a press up. The arguments don’t have much weight to them however as there are multiple press up exercises. The standard press up means your upper arms will be at a 90 degree angle to your body and your lower arms at a 90 degree angle to your upper arms.
There are plenty of other valid forms however. The army press ups you often see will mean your hands go down closer to your hips. Then there are one handed press ups, swiss ball press ups, starfish press ups… the list goes on.
When it comes down to it there are only 2 key rules to remember
1. Always keep your body straight. You shoulders, bottom, and legs should be all in line with each other.
2. Keep your shoulders flat. If they start to slump then you’re no longer doing press ups
Key advantages to press ups
- You can do them anywhere.
- They don’t involve any equipment
Although there are press up handles available they are by no means necessary. Master press ups without any equipment and then decide whether adding some handles will be an advantage to you.
Slow press ups vs. Fast press ups
There’s no doubt about it, slow press ups are much harder to do than fast pressups. I used to think that slow press ups were the only way to go. I no longer believe that however. As long as your form is good fast pressups can be just as effective as slow pressups. You’ll find that if you start with fast pressups, you’ll finish up with slow pressups by the end of the workout anyway.
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