Sculpt Your Arms: Push Ups For Every Level

Easily one of the best exercises for women, the push up sculpts strengthens the shoulders, arms, chest, back, bums as well as (and incredibly importantly) sets fire to your abs. What more could we ask for from just one exercise? In fact, when I do enough of these, I even start to recruit my hips and quads. Full body!

Use this as your definitive guide to push ups and very soon you may go from doing modified push ups to our ultimate level 6 pylo push ups.

Push Up Training Tip! Draw your shoulders down. Keep them away from your ears.

Box Push Up

Box Push Up – For beginners.

• Come to all fours with knees under hips.
• Hands wider than shoulder distance apart and pressed into the floor
• Keeping your shoulders forward, tighten your abdominals and bend your elbow until you shoulder and elbows line up.
• Press your palms down to ‘push up’ to starting position

Push Up On Knees

Push Up on Knees – Intermediate

• Come to all fours with knees farther back than hips and flat diagonal body from knees to head.
• Hands wider than shoulder distance apart and pressed into the floor
• Keeping your shoulders forward, tighten your abdominals and bend your elbow until you shoulder and elbows line up.
• Press your palms down to ‘push up’ to starting position

Push Up With Elevated Hands

Push Up with Elevated Hands – Advancing Intermediate

• In preparation for a full basic push up, you can reduce the load by elevating hands.
• Have hands wider than shoulder distance apart pressing into an elevated surface (bench, stairs), toe on the ground
• Keeping your shoulders forward, tighten your abdominals and bend your elbow until you shoulder and elbows line up.
• Press your palms into elevated surface to ‘push up’ to starting position

Basic Push Up (Advanced)

Basic Push Up – Advanced

• Have hands wider than shoulder distance apart and pressing into the floor, toe on the ground
• Keeping your shoulders forward, tighten your abdominals and bend your elbow until you shoulder and elbows line up.
• Press your palms down to ‘push up’ to starting position

Pylometric Push Up

Plyometric Push Up – Beast Mode

• Have hands wider than shoulder distance apart and pressing into the floor, toe on the ground
• Keeping your shoulders forward, tighten your abdominals and bend your elbow until your shoulder and elbows line up.
• Propel your full body weight up , pushing through your hands, contracting the core muscles and clap.

*Illustrations by Odunze Oguguo (WhytManga)