9 variations of a push up!
We can always make body weight movements harder! You can add depth, add an apparatus (static or dynamic) add tempo or simply just move with as much perfection as possible.
1. Knee Push ups- make sure you are lowering your hips along with your chest and you leave your hips open—never leave those hips hanging in the air creating a pike position.
2. Incline Push ups- I prefer these over push ups on the knees because it requires you to move your entire body versus taking load off, BUT if you can successfully complete a knee push up, this is your next challenge!
3. Hollow Push up- nothing but a good ol fashioned hollow push up to make you realize you should be doing more of them 😋
4. TEMPO Hollow Push up- Once you have mastered the push up, you can add a tempo to increase difficulty. In this video I was moving 2 seconds in each position!
5. Push ups on Dumbbells- I use these for 2 reasons—to add depth/deficit for difficulty or if an athlete has a wrist issue. This allows for the wrist to stay stacked avoiding any type of movement in the wrist.
6. Plate Push ups- I use these to increase depth as well as range of motion. I ONLY program this if I know an athlete can handle the extra ROM and if they are moving well through push ups. The depth obviously adds difficulty and the extended ROM challenges the athlete into new positions.
7. Decline push ups- I tend to use these when trying to get an athlete inverted on the wall with HSPU as the goal. Elevating the feet adds a challenge to the push up without having to get completely upside down—once again, having a solid push up foundation would be required to do these.
8. Parallette Push ups- similar to the DB push up in the sense of we are adding depth, ROM and a deficit to increase difficulty. Parallettes are going to challenge the athlete more, so if they have the DB/Plate deficit down..tackle these!
9. Ring Push up- The most challenging version of a push up. This requires stability, strength, control and body awareness because we have now moved to a dynamic apparatus versus a static. Leave these for when you have mastered the rest 💪🏽