I was working with my client Sarah the other morning and she was telling me about her co-worker who can do 38 push-ups in a minute. It's hard to not get caught up in the comparison trap which will quickly lead to feelings of inadequacy and I could tell Sarah was heading down that rabbit hole (lol bunny pun). Sarah does elevated push-ups from the smith bar and hasn't done a push-up from the floor....... yet. On one level, it's great that this woman can do 38 push-ups, I'm all for supporting my fellow women in our strength endeavors. However I also want to call bullshit. I looked over at Sarah and said "I can't do 38 push-ups either". I'm not ashamed that as a personal trainer I can be so easily out-push-upped because I'm proud of the push-ups I can do. Here's a video of my current max push-ups: I wonder what Sarah's co-worker's push-ups look like. I see it at the gym every day: hips sagging, neck craning toward the floor, elbows flared and partial range of motion. You could ask, does it matter? I'd say that yes, it does. Doing correct push-ups demonstrates good core stability, shoulder mobility and upper body strength. I am sure there are women out there that can perform 50 beautiful push-ups in a row, but there are many men and women claiming credit for bad reps. If you want to know how your push-ups measure up, the easiest thing to do is to video them. Take a long honest look at the video and if you see some of the form mistakes from below, it may be time to pull back and do an easier version, progressing from there.
In the video on the left, my head is pushing forward, elbows are flared and the core is unstable. On the right, my head is up and my back is arched.
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February 2020
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