How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male
The Push-Up. The almighty exercise.
One of the most common questions I seem to be getting asked at the moment on Social Media is “How Do I Do My First Push Up?”
I think Lockdown has very much made people aware of just how effective this exercise can be for you but has also left many frustrated with not being able to achieve them…when they really are a staple of any Home Strength Training Programme.
In this article, my aim is to leave you with a plan of action to get you taking the necessary steps forward to be able to do one full push up on the floor.
But as you are here, I would love to expand our relationship and become friends with you by seeing you join my email list.
I’ll email you things. Sometimes they will be educational, sometimes they will be inappropriate, sometimes I might just want to know how you are; either way…it would be great to get to know you better.
So just fill in the form below and send me a friend request…
Oh, and I will also send you some free fitness goodies to help start our new friendship off on the best foot possible.
Now we are friends, I want to show you, my other friend who I worked with Online One to One:
This is Jess. A friend who I am incredibly proud of and who worked her socks off! We worked together for a number of years and as you can see she must have worked very hard for a very long period of time.
And she did. She is now a mother to a beautiful Daughter and has a gorgeous family to be proud of. When I was training Jess she used to get very impatient.
She wanted it now.
Like right now.
And she used to get so stressed at me on her coaching calls. We both used to laugh so much. We would talk things through and I would have to refocus her onto the process.
That’s the lesson here. Years of work went into her transformation. Years of her hard work and working on the process.
The Push Up is the same.
It requires practice. It requires patience and it requires moments of failure in order for you to be able to grow.
This isn’t a quick fix. This isn’t a solution to being able to do a Push Up in 30 days. It’s not possible for most people.
It is however a progressive plan to show your exactly how to achieve that push up…in however ling the process takes.
Your result will be amazing…but just like my friend Jess…you won’t get there if you don’t go through the process.
If you want to find out how to work wit me one to one, just like Jess, then just click here:
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR: “How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male”
Just a moment before we begin…
Before we get into it, I have already written an article on Push-Ups; but that article relates a lot to the Psychology of a Push-Up and the physiology behind them. It took me 15 years to be able to do one Full Push Up and that was the focus of the article which you can read here: https://www.thegymstarter.com/blog/how-to-do-a-push-up
How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male
Why The Push Up Is A Very Hard Exercise
I know you are raring and chomping at the bit to get to push yourself off of the floor.
But we need to cover some basics first.
And no…it’s not Health and Safety stuff…
But it’s about what the Push Up is as an exercise.
Personally I have learned to fall in love with them, but it’s taken me 15 years to.
Many, many, many of those years are littered with failed attempts.
This was me in High School. The kid who just couldn’t “do it”. That stigma stayed with me for years.
You see, a Push Up gets harder as you do the exercise. In the Up Position, you are lifting 69% of your own Bodyweight.
As you descend the exercise gets harder…
And at the bottom of the Push-Up, you are lifting 75% of your Bodyweight.
Take a minute, and just calculate 75% of your body weight in Kgs.
It’s heavy right? Its more than you can Bench Press, Overhead Press, and might be the heaviest weight you have ever tried to lift.
This is important to know because it means two things:
It’s a very very heavy lift.
You’re going to have to work hard to get your first one!
But now that’s clear…let me show you how to do your first push up, whether you are a man or a woman…the rules are the same.
How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male
How Do You Get Your First Push Up?
Here is your Push Up Plan.
Firstly, you are going to need to commit to practicing Push-Ups at least three times a week.
If you aren’t willing to do that…then stop reading.
Secondly, you are going to have to realize it will take as long as it takes. I would love to say to you this will take you 30 days…but I can’t make a promise I cannot 100% keep. The process will take as long as it takes, but it will work.
You can now release yourself from the prison of time and just enjoy the process.
Muscles Required In The Push-Up
The Push Up works a whole host of your muscles:
On the above image, you can see that you are requiring a lot of whole-body strength for the movement…these are the muscles that take the most load:
Pectoralis Major = Big Chest Muscle
Triceps Brachii = Tricep
Anterior Deltoid = Back of the Shoulder
Upper Trapezius = Upper Back/Low Shoulder
Serratus Anterior = Under Your Armpit on your Rib Cage
Rectus Abdominis = Your Abs
This shows you how much strength all around your body you need, with the most strength coming from your chest, arms, and shoulders.
How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male
Step by Step Guide To Get Your First Push Up For Beginners
This is why in order to do a Push Up you want to make sure you are following a strength training program, that is based around your Compound Movements (Squat/Deadlift/Bench Press/Pull Up/Overhead Press) as that will help you build the strength in your whole body, something you will need.
This Program would look like this:
2 Day Split: Full Body/Full Body
3 Day Split: Legs/Push/Pull or Full Body/Full Body/Full Body
4 Day Split: Legs/Push/Pull/Full Body
5 Day Split: Full Body/Push/Pull/Legs/Full Body
Then once you have that in place, you are going to practice Push-Ups every single workout, at the start of your workout.
You will do Three Sets of the Variation progression below and then carry on with your workout as normal.
Every, single workout.
Once you hit 3 Sets of 6 or more reps on the variation, you are ready to progress to the next step.
You will keep repeating that until you do one full floor Push Up.
Step 1: The Incline Push Up
The Incline Push-Up Variation will be your best friend in helping you achieve your first Push-Up.
The reason you want to start with an Incline Push Up and not a 3/4 or Knees on the floor Push Up is because we know you need to engage your Core Muscles: Rectus Abdonimus, Internal and External Obliques, Transverse Abdominus, Erector Spinae and Psoas (the last two are back muscles but help a ton with your Core Stability)
The Incline Push Up will engage these muscles an awful lot more, and allow you to get used to keeping your body braced and working to make the Push Up easier for you.
How To Do An Incline Push Up
I often find the Smith Machine is best for this. As you can set it to a reasonably achievable height and lower it each time you are making progress. It’s easy to track and easy to use.
If you don’t have a Gym, however. Use your stairs, as again you can lower the incline steadily.
Here is my YouTube Video on how to do an Incline Push Up
Then once you have completed 3 sets of 6 reps without failing, you can lower the level and start again.
Once you are at the point of the next progression being the flat floor you can then progress onto:
Step 2: The Negative Push-Up
The Negative Push Up is a Floor Push Up without the “Push Up”.
You start in the High Plank Position and begin to lower yourself slowly. You want to take between 5–8secs before you hit the floor. Once you hit the floor, don’t worry about Pushing yourself back up. Just repeat the lowering section of the Push Up again.
Here is my video on How To Do A Negative Push Up for Beginners:
You want to aim for 3 sets of 6 reps of at least a 5sec Negative.
Once you have achieved that you are ready for the full push up off the floor.
How To Do Your First Push Up For Beginners Both Female and Male
Things To Remember When Doing The Push-Up
Mindset
The biggest limiting factor in someone's form that I see when doing a Push Up is their ability to believe they can do it. When you are confronted with an exercise that you have attempted and failed at previously so many times, you will understandably find that hard to achieve.
But knowing you have done all the work will really help you with this…and seeing your progress develop over time will really help you believe you can.
The Glutes
When we look at muscles used in this exercise I am really surprised the Gluteals aren’t in there, as for me they play a massive part in being able to do the Push-Up.
Have you ever tried to lift a dead weight? or roll a body over that has no tension in it at all?
I promise I haven’t been moving dead bodies in my spare time.
But it’s really hard.
Then have you tried to move a body with tension in it?
It’s a lot easier.
Well, that’s why you need to get used to squeezing your Glutes when you do a Push-Up. When you squeeze your butt, your Abs naturally contract as well.
Stop clenching now…
As we know your Abs are a big part of making a Push Up successful, so by squeezing the Glutes we will be engaging the Abs as well.
This will also help with any hip sagging or bending in the middle part of your body when you do this exercise.
Arm Position
The next part of your form I want to address is your Arm position. You need to start creating an arrow shape, not a T-Shape with your upper body when doing the Push-Up.
This will help you engage your Chest a lot more, as well as give you more pushing power with your shoulders and upper back.
All important muscles in completing the Push-Up.
That’s All Folks!
I hope you found this useful, and I really hope that you take what you have learned into the Gym and start nailing your Push-Ups.
Getting to the point of no longer dreading them in my oversized body really is a miracle, and if I can get there, you can too.
It’s taken me a lot of hard work, and I wish I had this article many years ago when I was being bullied in PE for not being able to do a Push-Up.
Good Luck, and I can’t wait to see how much progress you make!
Did You Find This Useful?
I have plenty more articles about training throughout this website.
Here is a selection I think would make great further reading for you:
You are also invited to get a bundle of Fitness Goodies from me including:
✅ Get yourself a free month of workouts (Home and Gym-based options)
✅ Get yourself a free copy of my e-book ”27 Ways To Faster Fast Loss”
✅ Get yourself a free customized Calorie Calculator and Macro Calculator
✅ Get yourself 56 Home Bodyweight Workouts
Straight to your Inbox
All you have to do is put your email address in below
References:
Contreras, Bret & Schoenfeld, Brad & Mike, Jonathan & Tiryaki-Sonmez, Raziye & Cronin, John & Vaino, Elsbeth. (2012). The Biomechanics of the Push-up. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 34. 41–46. 10.1519/SSC.0b013e31826d877b.