How to Perform Perfect Pushups

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To perform a perfect standard pushup, lie on your stomach, flat on the ground. Place your hands on the ground, with your palms facing the ground, with your thumbs touching the outside edge of your shoulders. Point your feet towards the ground with the weight of your legs resting on the balls of your feet. To execute a perfect pushup, press downward with your hands, lifting your body upwards until your arms are fully extended. Lower your chest/body back to the ground and repeat. Keep your back straight when lifting your body. Maintaining your posture and proper form will ensure that you do not do belly-flop pushups, and it will also prevent you from twisting up your lower back. Standard pushups primarily work out the chest muscles: Pectoralis Major (Sternal head). They provide a great secondary workout for the shoulders, triceps, and abdominal muscles.

There are two popular variations the standard pushup, the incline and decline. The incline-pushup is called 'incline' because of its similarity to an inclined bench press. To perform an incline-pushup, place your feet on a chair or bench- keep your hands at ground level. This will shift some of the emphasis of the workout onto your shoulders and upper-chest (Pectoralis Major- Clavicular head). Incline-pushups are much more difficult than standard pushups.

The second popular variation of the standard pushup is the decline-pushup. It is called 'decline' because of its similarity to a decline bench press. To perform a decline-pushup, place your hands on a bench or raised surface, but leave your feet on the ground. This type of push-up shifts some of the emphasis of the workout onto the Triceps Brachii. Decline push-ups are typically much easier for most people than standard and incline-pushups, and are good exercise for beginners to build strength before attempting standard pushups.

You do not need to do all three types of pushups to get a good workout.. They each place emphasis on slightly different muscles, and each therefore have slightly different benefits. It depends on what your goals are. Incline push-ups will tone up your shoulders more than standard push-ups, and decline push-ups will give your triceps a better workout. As a side note: the terms 'incline' and 'decline' may be reversed, depending on who you are talking to, some folks refer to them the other way around.