How to Do Pushups with CrossFit Duluth's Dale Collison
By Created: April, 2018 - Modified: July, 2021
Related Product: Sterling Athletic Sound Rubber Tile Black 2.75 Inch x 2x2 Ft.
When I do pushups, I like to keep my hands in a narrow should width position - and underneath my shoulder. I also like to keep my elbows back and not winged out.
So we're going to maintain a nice planked position with our body, and we're going to go full extension of the arms and go all of the way chest to the floor. By keeping my hands in more of a narrow position, I'm taking stress off of the shoulders, whereas if I did a really wide pushup there is a lot more stress on the shoulder.
When you first start doing these, you're going to find it's a little more difficult because you're using so much tricep.
If doing pushups on your toes is too much of a challenge, we can modify it by going to your knees. When we do knee pushups we like to start on the floor. This way our body is already in a plank position and we just need to push straight up. You're doing the same motion. You're just taking a lot of body resistance off.
You can do pushups on your counter at home. You can do pushups on your wall, they're all the same thing. Just different resistances.
Pushup Mats
Another thing to consider when doing pushups is having mats or flooring underneath you that will help, not hinder your progress. Since much of your body weight will be on your hands, you'll want to make sure that the surface is smooth enough keep from causing pressure sores on your skin. You'll also want to make sure that the mats offer enough ''give'' to reduce fatigue along with being firm enough to allow you maximum output from the energy expended.
In this video, Dale is demonstrating on Sterling Athletic Rubber Tiles, which meet all of those needs. Greatmats also offers numerous other exercise mats and flooring systems that work well for pushups.
Dale Collison
CrossFit Duluth
Hermantown MN 55811