You’ve probably been doing them since second-grade gym class. Your coach yelled at you to get lower. Your chest hit the floor, your lower back arched like a bridge, and you thought you were a hero. Honestly? You were probably just trashing your shoulders. Most people think they know proper push up technique because it’s the most basic move in the book, but after years of watching people in commercial gyms, I can tell you that about 90% of lifters are leaking power and risking a rotator cuff tear every single time they drop for a set.
It’s just a push up, right? Wrong.
It’s a moving plank. If you can’t hold a rock-solid plank for sixty seconds, your push up is going to look like a wet noodle. We see it all the time—the "worm" effect where the hips hit the ground before the chest, or the "piked" butt where the person looks like they’re trying to do a downward dog. Neither is doing you any favors for your pec development or your core strength.
The Setup: Your Hands Are Lying to You
Stop putting your hands way out wide. I know, I know—some old-school bodybuilder told you that a wider grip hits the outer pecs. That’s mostly nonsense. When you flare your hands out and turn your elbows into a "T" shape, you’re jamming the head of your humerus into the acromion process. That’s a fancy way of saying you’re pinching your shoulder tendons.
For proper push up technique, your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width, but here’s the kicker: your fingers should be spread wide and slightly turned out. This helps create "external rotation" in the shoulder. Think about trying to "screw" your hands into the floor. Your right hand tries to turn clockwise, and your left hand tries to turn counter-clockwise, even though they don't actually move. This simple cue locks your lats in and protects your joints.
The Elbow Path and the "Arrow" Shape
If I were looking down at you from the ceiling, your body shouldn't look like a "T." It should look like an arrow. Your elbows should stay at about a 45-degree angle relative to your torso. Some people prefer them even tucked closer to the ribs, which hits the triceps harder, but 45 degrees is the sweet spot for chest recruitment without the impingement.
Dr. Kelly Starrett, author of Becoming a Supple Leopard, talks a lot about this torque. If your elbows flare out, you lose that torque. You lose stability. You're basically trying to fire a cannon from a canoe. By tucking the elbows, you create a stable "shelf" for your shoulders to move on. It feels harder at first because you can't "cheat" using your joint capsules, but it’s how you actually build muscle.
Don't Forget Your Neck
Stop looking at your toes. And stop looking at the wall in front of you. Both are bad. If you look at your toes, your upper back rounds. If you look at the wall, you're cranking your cervical spine into hyperextension.
Keep a "neutral spine." Basically, pick a spot on the floor about six inches in front of your fingertips and stare at it. Your head, shoulders, hips, and heels should form one straight line. Imagine there’s a PVC pipe resting on your back—it should touch your head, your mid-back, and your butt the entire time.
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The Core is the Secret Sauce
People think push ups are a chest exercise. They are, sure. But they are also an abdominal exercise. If your belly is sagging toward the floor, you've already lost. You need to squeeze your glutes. I mean really squeeze them, like you’re trying to hold a quarter between your cheeks. This tilts your pelvis into a "posterior pelvic tilt," which flattens out your lower back and engages your deep core.
- Tighten your quads.
- Squeeze your butt.
- Brace your abs like someone is about to kick you in the stomach.
When you do this, the proper push up technique becomes a full-body movement. You’ll find you can do fewer reps this way, which is a good thing. Ten perfect reps are worth more than fifty sloppy ones where your lower back is doing all the work.
Range of Motion: How Low Should You Go?
"Chest to floor" is the gold standard, but there’s a caveat. You only go as low as you can while maintaining a flat back and stable shoulders. If you get halfway down and your shoulders start to roll forward (we call this anterior humeral glide), stop there. That’s your current limit.
As you get stronger, your range of motion will increase. But don't fake depth by dropping your head. A lot of people "chicken neck"—they reach their chin toward the floor to make it feel like they’re going deeper. Your nose should stay tucked. Your chest should be the first thing that would hit the ground, not your face.
On the way up, don't just stop when your arms are straight. Push the floor away at the very top. This engages the serratus anterior—the "boxer's muscle" that sits on your ribs. It helps stabilize your shoulder blades and keeps them from "winging" out.
Why Your Wrists Hurt
It’s a common complaint. "I want to do push ups, but my wrists can't take the pressure." This usually happens because you’re dumping all your weight into the heel of your hand.
Try this: Claw the floor. Use your fingertips to distribute the load. If that still hurts, you can use hex dumbbells as handles to keep your wrists in a neutral, straight position. Or, do them on your knuckles (on a padded mat). There is no rule saying your palms have to be flat on the floor to get a good workout.
Variations That Actually Matter
Once you've mastered the basic proper push up technique, don't just add more reps. Add difficulty.
- Deficit Push Ups: Put your hands on two stacks of books or weight plates. This allows your chest to go deeper than your hands, giving the pecs a massive stretch.
- Incline Push Ups: If you’re a beginner, don't go to your knees. Knee push ups don't teach you how to core-brace. Instead, put your hands on a bench or a sturdy table. This keeps the full-body plank intact but reduces the weight your arms have to lift.
- Weighted Push Ups: Throw a sandbag or a weight plate on your back. Just make sure it’s on your mid-back/scapula area, not your lower back.
Common Mistakes to Audit Right Now
Take a video of yourself from the side. Seriously. What you think you’re doing and what you’re actually doing are usually two different things.
- The Elbow Flare: Are your elbows pointing 90 degrees away from your body? If yes, tuck them.
- The Saggy Hip: Is your belt buckle the first thing to hit the floor? If yes, squeeze your glutes.
- The Half-Rep: Are you only moving three inches? If yes, elevate your hands on a chair and get a full range of motion.
- The Breath: Are you holding your breath? Stop. Inhale on the way down, exhale as you push away from the floor.
Putting It Into Practice
If you want to fix your form, stop doing "burnout" sets. You can't learn technique when you're exhausted. Spend the next two weeks doing "Grease the Groove" training. Do 5 perfect reps every hour or two throughout the day. Never go to failure. Just focus on the feel of your lats engaging, your glutes squeezing, and your chest stretching.
Eventually, this becomes muscle memory. You won't have to think about your pelvic tilt or your elbow angle. Your body will just "know" how to move.
Actionable Next Steps
- Audit your alignment: Film one set of 5 reps from a side profile today. Check if your ears, shoulders, and hips stay in a straight line.
- Fix your hand position: Next time you drop down, consciously rotate your hands outward slightly and "screw" them into the floor to lock your shoulders.
- Focus on the descent: Spend 3 full seconds lowering yourself to the floor. This "eccentric" phase is where most of the strength and muscle building happens.
- Regress to progress: If you can't do 10 reps without your lower back arching, move your hands to a raised surface (like a bench) until your core strength catches up.
Mastering the proper push up technique is a lifelong skill. It's the foundation for the bench press, the overhead press, and even advanced gymnastics moves like the handstand push up. Stop treating it like a throwaway exercise and start treating it like the high-level skill it actually is.