Have you ever wondered why at FIRE Fitness Camp we do not allow you to do push-ups from your knees? Are we just big ole meanies who want to make you suffer? Some of you may think so, but that is just not the case. There is a reason why we push you out of your comfort zone to stay up on those toes and work to knock out even the smallest little push. We want you to get stronger and maximize your results.
If you settle for doing push-ups from your knees you will only ever get better at push-ups from your knees. These push-ups will have little to no effect on you accomplishing a “real push-up”. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at what muscles are used in a full pushup and if they are even being used during a push-up from your knees.
A traditional push-up is an amazing total body exercise that when done correctly will work you from head to toe. In order to complete a push-up, you must have the core strength to stabilize your whole body. When preforming a push-up from your toes your entire body should be engaged…particularly your backside. Your glutes, hamstrings and lower back should be squeezed in order to support your lumbar spine and thus supporting your push up. There should be no sway in your lower back and your body should move to the ground in a straight line.
People often make the mistake in thinking that they cannot do a push-up because they are too weak in their upper body. While this may be part of the problem it is by no means the whole problem. When done correctly your upper body should not be the only thing working.
When you drop down to your knees you never actually give your core or lower body a chance to work at all. You cut out your core and legs almost entirely. By doing this you are never giving your whole body a chance to work together how it needs to in order to complete a real push-up. Try squeezing your glutes from this position. It is almost impossible to maintain. When pushing from your knees you are also cutting out your hip stabilizers which play a huge role in stabilizing your spine. Lastly, doing push-ups from your knees inevitably throws your elbows out of whack which can lead to all sorts of injuries in the wrists and shoulders.
The first step to improving your overall physical fitness is to improve your core strength and stability. Without this you will NEVER reach the goals you are hoping for because your core stability affects everything you do. This is reason enough to force yourself to stick with push-ups from your toes.
You may be saying…. but I can’t do a push-up from my toes!!! Have no fear, we can get you there. The first step during camps is to just stay up on those toes, focus on good push up position, engage the whole back side of your body and give us any kind of push you can. Even a tiny push from your toes will get you stronger than a push-up from your knees any day of the week. To take it one step further try the modifications suggested in the video attached to this blog. If you dedicate yourself to work on these even 3-4 days a week for a month you WILL be knocking out full push-ups before you know it!! Trust the process and get the results you have been searching for.