Dont Do Knee Push-Ups Try These Modifications Instead

We should all be doing push-ups. They’re effective, functional, and may plane be an indicator of heart health. But if you struggle with the full expression of the exercise, you might squint to modified push-ups, like the knee push-up.

Modified push-ups are a suitable substitution for any workout that includes standard push-ups. BODi Trainer Kelsey Heenan recommends trying to start with a few regular push-ups surpassing waffly it up.

“Let’s say you’re doing one push-up where you’re getting lanugo all the way, and you’re getting when up,” she says. “That’s amazing. Do that one, and then go into a modified version like putting your hands at an incline.”

But when it comes to modified push-ups, some are largest than others.

The Problem With Knee Push-Ups

Though it can be used as a modification, expressly if you’re limited by space and equipment, “the knee push-up unquestionably isn’t a unconfined way to build up to a traditional push-up,” explains Trevor Thieme, CSCS, executive director of fitness and nutrition content at BODi.

Let’s squint at how to perform a knee push-up and see where it falls short as a modified push-up:

• Start in a upper plank position but with your knees on the floor instead of your feet.
• Keeping your elbows tucked and cadre and glutes engaged, lower your torso until your chest is within a few inches of the floor.
• Pause, and then push yourself when up to the starting position.

By keeping your knees on the floor, you’re eliminating the work required of your cadre and legs and deemphasizing the shoulder-elbow-wrist alignment. Therefore, “it doesn’t teach or reinforce the right mechanics,” Thieme says.

So until you can perform traditional push-ups with ease, try these three modified push-ups instead.

3 Optimal Push-Up Modifications

• Place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width untied on a seat or other stable, elevated surface, and seem a upper plank position with your stovepipe extended and your soul straight from throne to heels.
• Keeping your when unappetizing and cadre engaged, lower your chest to within a few inches of the elevated surface.
• Pause, and then push yourself when up to the starting position.

2. Reduced-range-of-motion push-up

• Start in a upper plank position with your hands on the floor.
• Keeping your elbows tucked in toward your soul and your neck in a neutral position, lower your torso as far as possible. Aim for at least 75% of your full range of motion so that your chest remains a bit higher at the marrow of the move than it would be during a archetype push-up.
• Pause, and then push yourself when up to the starting position.

“If you can go three-quarters of the way down, try to pause at the marrow of your movement,” Heenan says. “That gives your muscles a little increasingly time under tension, so you’re developing increasingly strength.”

3. Negative push-up

• Start in a upper plank position with your hands on the floor.
• Keeping your elbows tucked and cadre and glutes engaged, slowly lower yourself to the floor for five to 10 seconds.
• Return to the starting position and repeat for reps.

Benefits of Modified Push-Ups

Reducing your range of motion or doing push-ups on an incline has an unfair reputation of “cheating” or “copping out.” But here’s why modified push-ups are useful.

1. They’re approachable

One of the most important benefits of modified push-ups is their accessibility. The standard push-up is challenging — expressly for people who are new to strength training.

Making these adjustments allows beginners to learn proper form and practice the full range of motion while gradually towers up unbearable strength to perform the standard push-up.

2. They offer similar benefits as normal push-ups

Push-up modifications moreover offer many of the same benefits as the standard push-up, including the worthiness to strengthen the chest and stovepipe while challenging the muscles of the core, making them an at-home workout staple that can be performed anywhere — no equipment required.