A lot of people seem to be trying to mansplain pushup form to me in the comments, so let’s use this as a learning moment. For the record, I’m a NASM certified personal trainer and CrossFit L1 coach, and I’ve been working in the fitness industry for the last 4 years.
In the first video, my form is more like the left image. This is how a lot of people think you’re “supposed” to do pushups, but it’s incorrect. I’ve even coached army vets who did their pushups this way, and when I corrected their for they were surprised at how much harder it is to do them correctly.
This form is wrong for a few reasons. First of all, having your hand placement that wide and that high is hell on your shoulders and elbows. Secondly, it limits your range of motion, both making the exercise easier and reducing the benefit you get from it.
Other mistakes im making in the first clip are not maintaining a neutral spine (my head is tucked down towards my chest instead of my neck being straight) and not dropping my chest all the way to the floor.
In the second clip, my hands are placed just outside shoulder width, and in line with my chest rather than my shoulders, with my elbows tucked at a 45 degree angle. This allows me to do the exercise safely and with full range of motion. My spine is neutral and my body straight, forming a straight line from the top of my head to my heels. My chest touches the floor on every rep. This is correct form.
Moving your hands closer to your body makes pushups harder, not easier. That’s why variations like diamond pushups (where your hands are touching each other, forming a diamond shape) are even harder.
There is some leeway for changing your hand or arm position slightly in order to target different muscle groups, but *slightly* is the key word there. Anything that looks like the left image in this diagram is wrong.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.
Doing pushups on my living room floor in 2020 vs now. Never give up fam