Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, TruFit is paying homage with a pushup pledge challenge! You can find out more about that here but in the meantime, to make sure everyone stays healthy during this month of pushups, we wanted to focus on the good, the bad, and the ugly. We've got a video for you and more pushup explanations below.

​Ready? Let's get pumped!

It’s really easy to think of body weight exercises as “easy” or “things beginners do”. The truth is, using your body as your own personal exercise equipment can be SUPER challenging if done the right way! One bodyweight exercise that can easily go from a gentle warmup to a total-body burn is the mighty pushup.

Pushups are typically done with one goal in mind: To get the chest, shoulders, and triceps more cut/more defined. Sadly, some people bust out set after set of pushups with form that makes us go:

Today we're talking about the three biggest mistakes we see with pushup execution and how to fix them. It would be really easy to end this blog post right here by saying, “Well, if you engage your core everything will fall into place.” But that doesn’t help if you don’t know how to engage your core, or what you might be doing wrong in the first place! So let’s start discussing.

First, let’s talk about what a GOOD pushup has*:

At the top (or "up" position):

• A fairly straight line from head to heels.
• Hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, elbows straight but not locked out.
• A rib cage that is short in the front and long in the back; in other words, you want to think that fish hooks are pulling the front of your rib cage up toward the ceiling.​

*There are many ways to do a pushup but we're focusing on the "standard" pushup for this example.

At the bottom (or "down" position): 

• A rib cage that is short in the front and long in the back; in other words, you want to think that fish hooks are pulling the front of your rib cage up toward the ceiling.​ Sound familiar? Your torso should look the same from start to finish.
• Elbows that point back at a 45-degree angle in relation to your hips.
• Quads and glute engagement.

​Now that you know what we're shooting for with proper pushup form, let's dive into the common pushup mistakes and how to fix them!

COMMON MISTAKE #1: BRINGING THE WRONG BODY PARTS TO THE FLOOR**
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We know ultimately your straight line from your head to your heels stays intact throughout the pushup movement. Unfortunately, it’s common to see people’s faces reach for the floor, or their belly buttons or butts. If this is happening to you, acknowledge it and then change which body part you want pulled down toward the floor (hint: the chest)!

THE FIX:
Think about actively PULLING your chest toward the floor (try grabbing the turf/floor lightly with your fingers) rather than FALLING downward. Be intentional in your movements.
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This might be all that’s needed to fix the alignment issue, but if not here's an additional tip: Placing your tongue firmly on the roof of your mouth will help keep your head and cervical spine in alignment. Try it now! See how far forward your head goes when your tongue is NOT on the roof of your mouth. And, now, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and try again. What did you experience?

**The "floor" here means whichever level or surface you’re going to. If you’re doing wall pushups the “floor” is the wall; if you’re doing a kitchen counter pushup, the “floor” is the kitchen counter, etc. These cues and tips transfer to whatever pushup modification you’re doing.

COMMON MISTAKE #2: FLARED OUT ELBOWS
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At some point many of us learned to do pushups by bringing our elbows right out to the sides, creating a 90-degree angle at the armpit. Well, turns out that isn’t so friendly to our shoulders.

THE FIX: Bring the elbows in closer to your waist (so they're pointing back behind you) to create more of a 45-degree angle. This will likely feel more challenging but in the big picture will make you stronger and your shoulders much happier!

COMMON MISTAKE #3: DOING THE WORM
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If you want to build a strong chest and core by doing pushups, then you won’t want to do your best frat party impression of the worm. The "up" part of the pushup should be initiated by your pecs, not by articulating each vertebra as your body hangs on the efforts of your shoulder joints.

THE FIX: Actively pushing the floor away. Just as we talked about being intentional on the downward portion -- pulling your chest toward the floor --  you’ll want to do the reverse here. With fingers still clutching the ground after pulling yourself down, squeeze your pecs and push the floor away.

If pushups on the floor are a challenge right now, there are many other variations to work with. Here are just a few:

PUSHUP VARIATION #1: TO A YOGA BLOCK

If you’re close to a full pushup on the ground, you can train your way down by using a yoga block. The sensory feedback you get with something to reach for underneath you keeps you accountable: You know you’re training to a specific depth consistently.

As you get stronger, you can change the position of the yoga block (e.g. placing it further downward, towards your belly and hips) to deepen your depth!

PUSHUP VARIATION #2: ASSISTED

Don't let these fool you! When done right, assisted or modified pushups will still be challenging.

And just like with the yoga block, you can train with this variation to get stronger and ultimately work your way to a floor pushup. 

PUSHUP VARIATION #3: ELEVATED
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Elevated pushups are another great way to groove the pushup pattern and train your central nervous system to have kickass form!

If elevated pushups on a low surface feel too challenging right now, you can start with hands on a wall, then work your way down to the kitchen counter, then to the bathroom counter or a hefty side table, then to a (really sturdy) coffee table, and eventually to the floor!

Let architecture be your gym. :)


Thanks for reading! If you're feeling fired up about pushups, please consider participating in our pushup challenge benefiting breast cancer research, awareness, and treatment (happening all October)!

And as always, feel free to contact us with any questions you might have! 

Ah, summer: A time to frolic in the forest, to soak up the sun, to be happily on holiday… And also a time to get rocked off your regular regimen.

With Labor Day behind you, you may be thinking to yourself: “OK! I’m ready to get back into a regular schedule and get my self-care back on track! I’ll be able to go to the gym more consistently now and eat three square meals and be my best healthy self!” You, like many people, may also find yourself parked outside the gym saying, “Wait. I don’t actually know what I should do…” so you either go home or hop on the elliptical for 45 minutes.

Well, we’ve got you! We are here to help demystify what a well-rounded, effective workout looks like AND give you a ready-to-go program you can do at the gym!

1) BREATHING. Why start with breathing? Whether you're exercising first thing in the morning or later in the day, jumping right into a session can mean that your mind was ready but your body was not. Doing some deep, diaphragmatic breathing helps your body take in oxygen; it helps you use the proper muscles during movements.

2) WARM UP. Don’t worry about holding stretches for long periods of time here. That kind of stretching is better left at the end if you do it at all. You will want to move your joints around and get your heart rate up a little bit for 5-10 minutes, though, by doing some dynamic stretching (see the warmup sample below).

3) CORE EXERCISES (which includes the booty) to start. Just two or three exercises here can work wonders. You want your central nervous system to recognize what position your pelvis and rib cage should be in before starting to get into total-body/multi-joint movements. Think planks, glute bridges, dead bugs, bird dogs. Find some of our favorite core exercises below.

4) WHOLE BODY MOVEMENTS. For the body of your workout, I would rather you think of “movements” rather than “exercises”. Why? Because if you’re thinking of exercises, you may be more likely to do exercises you are the most comfortable with. In our experience it usually goes: Squats, pushups, bicep curls and hanging out on the elliptical. Don't get us wrong, those can be GREAT exercises in a well-rounded routine, but those particular examples only work the front of your body...which means your back side gets the cold shoulder.

This is where thinking of movements comes in handy. When programming, we like to think of six main movement patterns (keep reading for examples of each type!):

A. Knee dominant (such as a squat) 
B. Hip dominant (such as a deadlift)
C. Vertical push (such as an overhead press)
D. Vertical pull (such as a pullup)
E. Horizontal push (such as a pushup) 
F. Horizontal pull (such as a row)

5) CARDIO FINISHER. Have some gas left in the tank? Get a little cardio blast in before you leave! You can do pretty much anything at the end, regardless of how much time you have.

​Now let's put it all together!

Here is what your total-body workout might look like*:
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BUILDING BLOCK #1: BREATHING. Do this for about two minutes.

​BUILDING BLOCK #2: WARM UP. Get your body moving gently for 5-10 minutes. See the entire warmup routine here. 

BUILDING BLOCK #3: CORE WORK. Perform these two exercises back-to-back with 30 seconds of rest in between. Repeat for a total of two sets.
- Anti-Rotation Planks: Do 5-10 on each side.
​- Pullovers: Do 6-8.

BUILDING BLOCK #4: WHOLE BODY CIRCUIT (A-F). Do the following exercises back-to-back with little to no rest in between. Take a minute after completing the circuit to get water and let your heart rate come down. Repeat for a total of three rounds.

C. Half Kneeling Chop and Lift (Vertical push): Do 6-8 on each side.

BUILDING BLOCK #5: CARDIO FINISHER. 
Let's say you have 5 minutes left in your workout time. Pick one of these exercises and do it 5-10 times at the top of every minute, OR aim to do 3-5 rounds of 1-2 of these with a little bit of rest (if you need it) in between.

Alright! Now you've got some tools in your tool box to go out and get back into the swing of things! Of course, if you need more information or want more professional guidance on the 5 Building Blocks or what makes a great total-body workout, please don't hesitate to reach out by emailing us here or calling 312-497-8999.

Did you do this workout? Leave us a comment below!

*Thanks to Izzy for the use of all of the videos!