by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 25, 2018 | Blog, Bodyweight, Core, Exercises
The Side Plank…we love to hate it, but it is a must-do move if you want to build core stability and strength.
It’s a unilateral move that can correct imbalances and really works the abs, obliques, glutes, lats, and shoulders.
However, it is a tough move that many of us don’t do correctly, leaving us feeling like it is impossible to do or not as effective as it should be!
Because, like with all planks, it isn’t just about holding LONGER, but engaging the right muscles HARDER.
Let’s first take a look at the basic Side Plank and proper form. Then I’ll go over some great ways to modify the move to build up as well as some fun variations you can include in your workouts!
The Basic Side Plank Form:
To do the Side Plank, start lying on your side with your top leg in front of your bottom leg, propped up on your elbow with your elbow under your shoulder. Rest on the inside of your front foot and outside of your back foot and then flex your feet as you lift up.
Lift your body up into a straight line, driving through your feet and elbow. Do not shrug your shoulder as you hold. Make sure that shoulder is aligned right over your elbow. Feel the side of your back under your armpit engage to support your shoulder as you lift up. You may even feel the muscles down the side of your rib cage.
Make sure too that you aren’t rotating toward the ground. Squeeze your butt and keep your body in a nice straight line as you lift up and hold.
Feel your glute and oblique working to lift that bottom hip up. You want to engage everything down the side of your body from your shoulder to your feet. Brace your abs, feeling everything engage.
Too often we just “rest” on the sides of our feet. But especially as we progress the plank, we need to create tension even through our lower leg. This not only helps us stay up and engage our glute, but it also prevents unneeded stress on our knees. So flex your feet to create tension all the way down.
Hold here and focus on what muscles are working. If you feel yourself compensating or your form breaking down, rest or regress. Do not try to focus on how long you hold, but instead on how well you are engaging everything!
From here you can progress or advance the Side Plank by stacking your feet or even lifting your top leg. This can put more force on the spine so make sure your abs are working before progressing to this movement. You do not want your lower back getting overworked or bearing too much load. You can even do the Side Plank from your hand just make sure to keep your hand stacked under your shoulder to protect your shoulder and neck.
Beginners can also regress this move by doing it off an incline or by even dropping their bottom knee to the ground. The incline is a great way to learn to engage everything from your shoulders down to your feet.
However, doing the side plank from your knee is also a great modification especially if you don’t have an appropriate incline near by.
Best to do the version that allows you to do this move with proper form over compensating and letting your bottom hip drop or your chest rotate toward the ground.
Remember form is how you get the most out of the move and the right muscles working to get stronger!
So a quick summary of some important things to remember when working on your Side Planks…
Side Plank Quick Form Tips:
- Create tension all the way down your body, even flexing your feet to engage the outside of your lower leg.
- Stack your shoulder over your elbow and feel the side of your back engage. Do not let your elbow get above your shoulder toward your head so that your upper trap takes over.
- Do not let your bottom hip sag. Feel your oblique and glute on your bottom side lifting you up.
- Brace your abs and engage your glutes to extend your hips. Do not let your chest rotate toward the ground!
- THINK about the muscles working and engage harder instead of focusing on just holding longer!
After learning to do the Side Plank, and hold harder not just longer, you can mix things up and even target your core in different planes and from different angles with some of these fun variations!
5 Side Plank Variations:
These Side Plank variations are a great way to build core stability and strength and even work your core in multiple planes of motion!
Side Plank Hip Dips with Rotational Reach:
To do Side Plank Hip Dips with Rotational Reach, set up in a side plank from your forearm with your feet unstacked and your top leg in front of your bottom leg. Make sure your elbow is under your shoulder so you can engage your back to support your shoulder instead of just using your shoulder and even irritating your neck.
Then perform two hip dips, dropping your hip down to the ground before lifting back up into the side plank. Do not let your chest rotate toward the ground and really use that bottom side to lift back up as high as you can. Do not relax on the ground when you lower though.
After performing the two dips, reach your top hand down toward the ground and under your body as if reaching for the wall on the other side. As you reach under, pivot your feet as if moving into a front plank. Reach under then rotate back open into the side plank and repeat the hip dips.
Side Plank with Front and Back Toe Touches:
To do the Side Plank Front to Back Toe Touch, set up on your side and prop yourself up on your forearm with your elbow right below your shoulder. Your legs should be out straight and feet stacked. Then, driving through your forearm and the sides of your feet, lift your bottom hip up off the ground as high as possible while keeping your body in a nice straight line.
Squeeze your belly button in toward your spine and keep your glutes tight. Do not let your chest rotate forward toward the ground or your top hand touch the ground. Keep your top hand on your hip or reach it up toward the ceiling.
Then, holding the Side Plank, lift your top leg up toward the ceiling, then bring it forward to lower down and tap the ground in front of you. Raise it back up center then lower down to tap the ground behind you. Move slowly, lifting and lower with taps front and back.
Side Plank Adductor Lift:
To do the Side Plank Adductor Raise, set up in a side plank from your forearm and feet. You will want you elbow to be under your shoulder and your feet unstacked with your bottom foot in front and even slightly angled forward. Lift up into the side plank position with your top hand on your hip and your chest not rotated toward the ground. Drive through the sides of your feet and flex your feet to engage even your lower leg.
Holding this position, lift and lower that bottom leg, raising it up a few inches then putting it back down at a controlled pace. Stay up in the side plank the entire time and don’t let your hips sag. Do not place your top hand down to assisted.
Side Plank Tree Pose:
To do Side Plank Tree Pose, set up in a forearm side plank with your elbow under your shoulders and legs out straight and stacked. Flex your feet to create tension all the way down your leg.
Lift up into the side plank position and bend your top leg and place your foot flat on the inside of your upper thigh. Open your top knee up toward the ceiling and squeeze your butt as you drive your foot into your leg and keep your bottom hip up. Try not to rock open or rotate toward the ground.
Side Plank to Tabletop Toe Touch:
To do the Tabletop to Side Plank Kick, it may be easiest to set up first in the side plank from your hand. Stack your feet and engage your back to support your shoulder. You can reach your top hand overhead.
From the side plank position, lift your top leg up and kick it forward as you reach your raise hand to touch it. After touching your hand to your foot, straighten them back out.
And as you bring your arm back out and straighten your leg back out toward the side plank position, bend your knee, rotating your body open toward the ceiling as you put that foot on the ground behind. You will move into an almost turkish bridge position.
From here, raise your straight leg up (the one that was your bottom leg in the side plank) and reach the opposite hand to touch your toe. You are doing a kick from a tabletop position and reaching your hand to touch your toe.
Place the straight leg back down and move back into the side plank position and kick the top leg forward as you reach to touch your toe to repeat the move.
Love these Side Plank Variations and want even more fun ones? Ready for a strong, lean core that not only looks amazing but keeps you injury free? Learn more HERE!
by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 23, 2018 | Blog, Functional Fitness
What if I told you longer workouts AREN’T better?
Because…guess what?
They’re NOT!
Length seems to be the main reason why people either feel they DESERVE results OR the reason why they think they’ll never get them
All too often people come to me telling me about all the hours they spend in the gym, wondering why they aren’t getting the results they want.
Or they’ll tell me they just will never be able to get results because they can’t spend hours at the gym.
But guess what?!
Spending hours at the gym IS NOT the secret to success!
Actually SHORTER may often help us achieve BETTER results in less time and it has to do with a term that has become very sexy in fitness – the AFTER BURN.
You know the only reason someone may need to workout longer in my opinion?
They are training for something SPECIFIC…like a marathon where they will have to run for hours.
Other than that…You’ll get way more benefit from focusing on your INTENSITY over the length of your workout.
Because upping your intensity is what gets you better results in less time.
You can get killer results from shorter workouts AND they are way easier to fit into even the busiest of schedules!
But intensity doesn’t just mean rushing through your workout and pushing hard carelessly.
NOPE!
You’ve still got to be SMART with your training.
Turning up your intensity means not only using HIIT or high intensity interval training, but also hybrid exercises WHILE focusing on the right muscles working.
Intensity comes from CHALLENGE yourself during the time you do have to workout.
If you challenge your body to “max out” by doing harder variations, taking less rest, adding more weight…you don’t need to go longer! (I put “max out” in quotes as you want to make sure the right muscles are working to fatigue instead of compensating just to make it through.)
Heck, longer workouts can actually sometimes even work against you.
Long steady state cardio can be catabolic to muscle tissue and intensity and length are inversely proportional.
If you are working out longer your intensity has to go down OR has to start lower in the first place. The only way to workout for hours and keep your intensity high is with longer rests between.
So not only can longer, steady state cardio be catabolic to muscle tissue but a focus on length means you CAN’T focus on intensity.
Plus, often when we get focused on the length of our workout, we stop focusing on the muscles that should be working and instead focus on “just getting through the workout.”
And let me tell you, you need to make sure the RIGHT muscles are powering the movements or you’ll just end up injured!
When the right muscles are working, you’ll get more out of the exercises you include AND be able to go harder.
As I mentioned before it isn’t just HIIT and hybrid exercises that affect intensity but also focusing on the right muscles working.
You need to get the right muscles working, and THINK about the right muscles working during your workout. It is a key part of upping your intensity so you can spend less time in the gym BUT get better results.
But why is INTENSITY so key? And how can it help you get better results in less time?
Well…intensity helps us get more bang for our buck not only WHILE we are at the gym, building muscle and burning more calories, but also even AFTER we leave the gym.
By focusing on INTENSITY at the gym, we can create more muscle damage to create more muscle growth (which in turn means burning more calories even at rest). AND we can work more muscles at once, using hybrid exercises, to burn more calories in less time!
Upping our intensity can also help us burn more calories for even 24 hours after our workouts are over.
How can upping your intensity do this?
Through what is sexily called the AFTER BURN!
The After Burn is technically called EPOC or excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.
EPOC is not as sexy sounding as the AFTER BURN hehe…so we will call it the After Burn.
How does it work?
Basically…The harder you workout the more your body has to work to recover or return to homeostasis after. AKA the higher the intensity of our workout, the more energy we have to expend during the recovery process to return to our resting state.
This means we continue to burn calories even AFTER the workout is over. Hence the name AFTER BURN.
And INTENSITY is the secret to the After Burn.
Remember there are a number of ways to increase your intensity…
You can use HIIT to increase your intensity. Go all out for an interval of work (such as 20, 30 even 40 seconds) and follow that intense bout of work with a short, or even ACTIVE rest periods.
You can’t go all out for long, which is why the rest is needed to keep your intensity up. However, by keeping the rest short or “active,” you can get more bang for your buck in less time. Through HIIT, you force your body to use not only anaerobic but aerobic pathways to create energy, increasing your oxygen debt.
You can use Hybrid Exercises. Working more muscle groups, and larger muscles groups at once, you can not only burn more calories during your workout, but create more muscle tissue breakdown. This can not only help you grow stronger, but will also force your body to expend more energy to recover and repair that “damaged” muscle tissue.
You can CHALLENGE yourself with weights, harder exercise variations and even different tempos. You can place a greater demand on your body by challenging yourself with harder weights, more advanced variations or even more time under tension. All can create more muscle tissue breakdown and increase your energy demands!
You can focus on the right muscles working! This seems like a random one, BUT all too often when we start working out harder and trying to go more intense, we start allowing muscles to compensate as we fatigue, which means we start to perform poor movement patterns.
Not only does this put us at risk for injury, but compensations are also our body’s way of not really engaging and working as hard as they should be. AKA we won’t get as much out of the workout as we want!
For example…a common compensation is our low back working INSTEAD of our glutes and abs. When this occurs not only do we risk low back injury, BUT two important muscle groups aren’t getting the workout they should be getting. AND our glutes are a HUGE muscle group that would only help increase our calorie burn IF they were actually working!
By using these techniques and tips, you can up your intensity so you don’t have to spend as long in the gym to get killer results.
And by increasing your intensity you can get the same After Burn as someone spending hours upon hours working out! Heck, with just a 20 minute intense workout you can get better results than your friend chugging along for hours in the gym!
So by upping our intensity we can increase the AFTER BURN while spending LESS TIME at the gym.
Win win…RIGHT!?
Less time. Better results?!
That means you DO have time to get killer results and can even potentially get BETTER results spending less time in the gym if you are EFFICIENT with your workouts.
Remember it is all about developing a routine and getting consistent as you maximize the time you DO HAVE.
Learn more about how 10-minutes may be all you need to kickstart your results!
Can you really get results from 10-minutes?!
by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 18, 2018 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Workouts
Bridges are a MUST-DO….I mean MUST-DO glute activation move.
They help you improve your hip extension to unlock tight hips as they activate. And all you need is your own bodyweight to start feeling those glute works.
Plus glute bridges are even a great move to start working your abs. By engaging your abs with a posterior pelvic tilt, not only can you activate those core intrinsic stabilizers, but you can actually help get a better glute contraction!
So if you’re ready to loosen up tight hips and activate your glutes, try this Bridge Booty Burner from my 28-Day Booty Burner Series! (BONUS: Some of these bridges will also open up your chest and shoulders to reverse that hunched posture we spend way too much time in during the day!)
Bridge Booty Burner
Complete 2-4 rounds of the burner below. If you are using it as a warm up, even just 1-2 rounds is all you need! Rest up to 45 seconds between rounds if needed. Make sure your glutes are working. If your low back or hamstrings start to take over, pause or rest to make sure your glutes keep doing the work!
CIRCUIT:
5 reps per side Sit Thru to Thoracic Bridge
10 reps Camel Bridge
15 reps Tabletop Bridge
20 reps Glute Bridge
5 Signs That Your Hips Are Locked Up And Glutes Are Inactive…
by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 17, 2018 | Diet, Recipes
Want to lose weight? Or maybe you’re tired of that little bit of body fat that seem to cling to your belly or thighs no matter what you do!?
Well let me tell you….depriving yourself of all of the foods you love is not the way to get the results you want…especially if you want those results to LAST!
Part of staying consistent so you can get the body you’ve always dreamed about, and FEEL great, is getting to still indulge in the types of foods you love.
Like for me…I LOVE sweets.
The second I force myself to cut out sweet treats, like ice cream or cookies, I instantly start craving them and end up binging on them!
So instead of cutting out those delicious treats, I make macro-friendly “tweaks” to those recipes so I can still enjoy them AND get the results I want without risking becoming deprived and binging!
One of my favorite macro-friendly MUFFIN recipes is below…You’ll love it too especially if you’re a PEANUT BUTTER LOVER!
Quick Peanut Butter Protein Muffins
SERVINGS: 4 (1 muffin is a serving)
MACROS (per muffin):
Calories: 69
Protein: 10 grams
Carbs: 4 grams
Fat: 1 grams
INGREDIENTS:
1 scoop PEScience Select Protein Peanut Butter Cookie*
¼ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 tbsp Coconut Flour
2 Egg Whites (6 tbsp liquid egg whites)
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Cinnamon
Cooking Spray
Peanut butter drizzle:
12 g (2 tbsp) PB Fit Peanut Butter Powder
1.5 tbsp Water
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a regular sized muffin tin with cooking spray. If you use the regular-sized muffin tin, it will make four muffins. You can use a smaller tin to make more.
Combine all of the ingredient in a bowl and whisk quickly for about a minute to combine and help the batter fluff up.
Then divide evenly between the 4 muffin tins. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.
While baking, combine PB Fit and water to create your simple peanut butter drizzle.
Once muffins are done, remove from the oven and top with the drizzle. You can even save some on the side to dip the muffin in!
* You can use any peanut butter flavored protein of choice.
This is why I LOVE Macro Cycling. No foods are off limits. You can still indulge in the treats you love. AND you can get killer results to look and feel great.
Learn more about Macro Cycling –>
by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 15, 2018 | Blog, Butt, Exercises
Glute bridges are a basic bodyweight move.
People will even say, “These are easy!” And think they are beyond that basic bodyweight exercise.
But guess what!?
All too often people aren’t doing them correctly! AND even the most advanced exerciser needs to return to that FUNDAMENTAL move.
Let me ask you a few quick questions too…
- Have ever felt your low back during glute bridges?
- Or maybe your hamstrings are doing all the work?
- Or maybe your quads are working?
- Heck…maybe you even feel your traps and shoulders!
Answer yes to one of these?…Or maybe all of these, huh?
Well it’s called the GLUTE BRIDGE for a reason…Not because these other muscles should be working, but because your GLUTES should be powering the move.
So if you’re feeling these other muscles engaging and taking over for your glutes, you not only aren’t reaping the benefits of the glute bridge, so may need to change your form, but you’ve also got some compensations you may need to address that could lead to injury!
And if you’re now thinking…”Well I just really don’t feel anything. And I don’t feel my glutes at all so I probably just need to do something HARDER…”
You’re also wrong.
Yes, as we advance, we want to add weights and harder variations to keep challenging our muscles so we get results.
BUT…No matter how advanced you are, heck actually even the MORE advanced an exerciser you are, the MORE you should be able to contract your glutes during a basic bodyweight bridge.
Now note I didn’t say it should necessarily be “hard” to do as an advanced exerciser, but you should be able to contract your glutes to create a burn even with just your own bodyweight no matter how much you lift.
Because it all comes down to the mind-body connection.
If you can’t recruit the muscles correctly with your own bodyweight, there is a good chance you won’t recruit the right muscles as you add more and more load or try harder and harder variations.
And if you aren’t using the right muscles?
Well that is when you risk overloading muscles that can’t handle the load, which can lead to INJURY.
That is why I wanted to share a few quick tips and coaching cues hat I use with my clients so they can get those glutes activated and firing.
Because the basic glute bridge is a must-do activation move. It can help activate the glutes and improve your hip extension so you can run faster and lift more.
BUT it must be done correctly so your glutes actually engage!
So if you’re not feeling those glutes working, try these 4 tips to improve your bridging.
Bridging Tip #1: Mind Your Set Up!
Many people when they go to bridge up just lie on their back and lift their butt off the ground. They pay no attention to foot positioning or what muscles they are using to drive up.
But by paying attention to how you are driving up and the positioning of your feet, you can make sure your glutes are working and other muscles, like your hamstrings, aren’t compensating.
A great way to start to set up is to lie on your back and place your feet flat on the ground just beyond your fingertips when your arms are straight down by your sides. If your feet get too far away from your butt, you are more likely to use your hamstrings.
You also want to make sure your feet are flat on the ground. You’ll sometimes see images of people up on their toes during bridges, but talk about a way to make it more challenging to engage your glutes. Actually, if you struggle to engage your glutes, think about driving more through your HEELS as you bridge up.
Then, once you have this positioning, bend your elbows and drive them into the ground. You want to think about driving your elbows down into the ground and then even drive through your upper back as you bridge up. This will help prevent you from feeling bridges in your upper traps and neck. It can also help you make sure your glutes are working and you aren’t again making your hamstrings the prime movers.
And then when you bridge up, driving your heels and upper back into the ground, think about driving your knees forward over your toes.
Don’t lift your heels to try and do this. Or adjust your feet in closer (adjusting your feet in closer may actually make you start to feel the bridge in your quads if your hips are tight). Your knees will not actually go over your toes!
The point is by thinking about driving your knees toward your toes, you won’t drive yourself backward onto your shoulders. You will also make sure to evenly drive through your upper back. This will help focus on the glutes and make sure your hamstrings and traps don’t get overloaded.
Then make sure your feet are even and about hip-width apart. You don’t want your knees falling open or caving in. You CAN do a close-stance glute bridge or a wide-stance glute bridge but you need to still make sure your ankles, knees and hips are in the proper alignment. If they aren’t in alignment, you are going to perpetuate poor movement patterns.
This proper set up can also help you unlock tight hips by forcing your glutes to create hip extension as you bridge up. It will also prevent your quads from taking over, which if they do start trying to work, won’t help you open up tight hip flexors.
Part of this set up also needs to be learning to engage your abs, which can be done using a posterior pelvic tilt!
Bridging Tip #2: Tilt It Up Aka Stop Trying To Use Your Back To Get Up Higher!
One of the things that happens most often is that, in an attempt to bridge up HIGHER, people arch and use their lower back. And then they just push and ignore the fact that all they feel is their lower back.
Why does this happen? Why aren’t your glutes firing like they should be and you are instead loading your low back?
Because when we are focused on simply bridging up higher to replicate a movement, instead of focusing more on the muscles that should be working, our bodies recruit whatever muscles are easily available to meet our demands.
We will demand mobility out of an area that really shouldn’t be providing that mobility. And we will overuse muscles that aren’t meant to handle the load. Because our body takes the path of least resistance to do the movements that we ask of it.
And this process of compensation often happens because our hips are tight and our glutes, and even our abs, are underactive.
That is why it is key to do bridges correctly so you can improve your hip extension AND activate your glutes and abs. And the key to doing this is the posterior pelvic tilt!
By using the posterior pelvic tilt, you can engage your abs, prevent hyperextension of your lumbar spine AND get your glutes to power the bridge and hip extension.
To do the posterior pelvic tilt, set up at the bottom of the bridge with your feet flat on the ground and elbows driving down into the ground too.
Feel the space between your low back and the ground? Push that space away so you are tilting your hips and pressing your low back into the ground.
You may feel too like you are drawing your abs in toward your spine.
Keeping the core engaged like this, bridge up. Squeeze your butt and pause. Do not worry about how high you go. Just squeeze the butt as you keep your abs engaged in this way. Then lower down.
You may notice at the top you start to lose the tilt as you just try to drive up higher. This means you are trying to again arch your lower back instead of just extending your hips.
It is key with all of these tips, and with all exercises for that matter, that not only do you pay attention to form, BUT you THINK about the muscles that are working so you can realize if you lose the posterior pelvic tilt and stop using your glutes.
Lower back down and repeat. If you need, reset that posterior pelvic tilt each time. But focus on maintaining that so you CAN’T arch your low back and can only bridge as high as you glutes, and hips for that matter, allow!
Bridging Tip #3: THINK About The Muscles That Should Be Working
As I mentioned above, you have to THINK about the muscles working. Part of contracting your muscles and feeling them work is about establishing the mind-body connection so your mind can more efficiently and effectively recruit the right muscles for the job.
And basic bodyweight activation moves like the bridge are the easiest way to improve your mind-body connection so things work correctly during more compound lifts.
Think about how many times you’ve just gone through the motions of a workout? Or pushed through even when you sort of know the wrong muscle, aka your low back, is working.
You just figure, “Hey gotta get through the workout!”
The problem is…That attitude can lead to injury. AND it can also mean that all these workouts you’re spending “working your glutes” are actually going to waste.
Cause guess what!?!
Your glutes aren’t working!
So during these moves THINK about your glutes driving the movement. That way you can adjust if they aren’t. And by focusing on your glutes working, you can contract them even harder as you pause at the top of the bridge.
Heck…it can even be fun to see how much shakeage you can create by mentally trying to contract harder!
Bridging Tip #4: What If I STILL Don’t Feel My Glutes?!
There is a chance that you will still struggle, even after trying to tweak your form, with activating your glutes. Heck maybe even just one side doesn’t seem to want to engage!
This is where some mobility work, some Foam Rolling and Dynamic Stretching may need to come into play first to loosen those tight muscles so your glutes can engage properly.
Using rolling first can help you relax tight and overexcited muscles, muscles your mind may want to usually recruit first.
Roll your hamstrings (often for people rolling right under the glute helps).
Roll your hips to help loosen tight hips before you bridge. Heck, roll your quads!
Start there. Then do even a dynamic stretch or two, like the Half-Kneeling Hip And Quad Stretch, to start to open up your hips.
THEN try the glute bridge.
Often rolling, stretching THEN activating can help us FEEL the glutes working when they should be!
That process will allow us to restore muscles to their proper length tension relationships so we can get the right muscles working…AKA our GLUTES!
But what if it is only one side?
Well the focus on that tight side and even try some unilateral activation before.
Try a Fire Hydrant or Donkey Kick. Another basic bodyweight moves to focus on that side that isn’t firing.
THEN return to the bilateral move once you’ve established the mind-body connection! (I mention the Fire Hydrant too because sometimes activating the glute medius helps the glute maximus fire better even during moves like the Glute Bridge!)
But NEVER underestimate the importance of the Basic Bodyweight Glute Bridge. And don’t ignore the importance of those other silly looking basic activation moves for your glutes either!
Those moves are what help you prevent injury and get the right muscles working.
These silly, BASIC moves are so important it’s why I created a 28-Day Booty Burner to help my clients get their glutes working the way they should be!
Learn More About Glute Activation And Unlocking Tight Hips –>
by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 12, 2018 | Blog, Bodyweight, Exercises, Push Ups
To improve your Push Ups, you’ve got to actually practice doing them. The problem is…So many of us do them wrong to start!
We have poor form and don’t engage the correct muscles so we are stuck at a modified variation FOREVER.
Or we try and progress too quickly and then get caught up on doing harder variations even though our form is incorrect and we really aren’t getting the most out of the movement.
Below are 5 quick tips to help you improve your push ups!
How To Improve Your Push Ups:
Strengthen Your Core – I say this all the time, but I’m going to repeat it again because it is essential to remember…Push ups are just a moving plank!
If your core isn’t strong and engaging correctly, your hips will sag and your push up will look more like you’re doing the worm than a sleek and graceful upper body and core exercise.
You’ve got to first work on strengthening your core and making sure it engages correctly during the entire push up movement. This means you’ve got to work on your planks. You’ve got to work on engaging your back, not shrugging your shoulders, bracing your abs, engaging your quads and even squeezing your glutes.
So if you want to strengthen your push ups, you should include planks in your workout routines where you focus on really engaging and activating your core!
Here is a great tutorial on Plank Form and 3 Tips To Improve Your Planks.
Another great way to build your core strength is to use Incline Push Ups because Incline Push Ups are a way to modify the push up while still engaging your core in the same way as a full push up. Learn more about Incline Push Ups below!
Activate Your Back – Push ups do focus on your chest, shoulders and triceps. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to get your back activated and working correctly if you want to do a proper push up.
Getting your back muscles activated and working correctly helps stabilize your shoulders and mobilize your shoulder blades to prevent shoulder injury during push ups. Getting your back and your serratus anterior (the muscle on the sides of our ribs under our chest and in front of our lats) activated and working will not only prevent injury but also improve your pressing strength!
I recommend doing different exercises to improve your scapular mobility and strengthen your upper back. Scapular Push ups are a great way to strengthen your upper back and serratus anterior while also improving your core strength. You can do them from your forearms or your hands
To do a Scapular Push Up from your hands, set up in a high plank position with your hands under your shoulders and your feet together. Your body should be in a nice straight line from head to your heels.
Without bending your elbows or dropping your hips, pinch your shoulder blades together and press your chest out. Do not tuck your chin or jut your head forward. Also do not let your core wiggle or your elbows bend to try to increase your range of motion.
You are not doing a push up. This is a very small range of motion where you are simply focused on pinching your shoulder blades together. Just pinch your shoulder blades together and then relax or even round your back up out of it (rounding your back at the top is another variation but can be very useful for correcting certain push up problems).
Keep your core tight as you pinch your shoulder blades together. As you get stronger and build the mind-body connection you will find your range of motion increases.
If you struggle to pinch your shoulder blades together without wiggling your core or bending your elbows, go down to your knees as if doing a push up from your knees or even come into a quadruped position to start. You can also do this against the wall. Just focus on mobilizing your shoulder blades!
Another push up variation I recommend to activate and strengthen your back and serratus anterior while mobilizing your shoulder blades and strengthen your core and upper body is the Push Up Plus!
You may see what I call the Scapular Push Up also called the Push Up Plus, but the Push Up plus I’m referring to is very different.
This move is very focused on engaging the core and working to mobilize your shoulder blades.
To do the Push Up Plus, you’ll first perform a full push up. I recommend if you can’t do a full push up from the ground that you do this off an incline so you can really engage your core at the top.
Perform a push up and then, at the top, round out as if performing the “cat” stretch. Draw your belly button in toward your spine and perform a pelvic tilt, tucking your hips under toward your ribs as you round your back. You want to hollow out your belly and your round your back out. You should feel your back stretching.
Then return to the nice high plank position and feel your shoulder blades go back to neutral before you perform another push up.
While at the top of the push up, even feel around your rib cage under your armpits engaging to help stabilize your shoulders. You should even feel this if you think about it throughout the entire push up motion.
Use Incline Variations – The Incline Push Up is a must-do push up variation if you aren’t yet able to perform a full one with perfect form.
While I use the Knee Push Up and am not against that variation, I do believe if you’re stuck unable to progress to that first full one, it’s because you’ve only been doing push ups from your knees. Plus the Knee Push Up, may actually be too hard for some people to start. It may cause you to develop bad habits.
You may find you tuck your chin or your elbows flare way out or your core still sags. You may see this in your clients even. And this can be another reason to modify with an incline. It does give you more control and allows you, or your clients, to learn proper form with the right amount of resistance.
When you do push ups from your knees you do build upper body strength and you are working on your core strength; HOWEVER, you also never force yourself to take on your full bodyweight or engage your core in exactly the way you have to do a proper full push up.
With the Incline Push Up, you are working your core and body in the exact form you will with a full push up from the ground. It is also very easy to slowly progress. As you get stronger, you can slowly lower the incline even just ever so slightly each and every workout!
Use Eccentric Variations – If you want to build strength and take your push ups to the next level, you also need to do some Eccentric Push Ups. What this means is you need to do Push Ups where you focus on a slow lower down to the ground. By slowing down the lower down, you can challenge your muscles even more. You can build core strength while challenging your upper body further.
If you can do a full push up, this is a great tool to use to be able to do more push ups and even more challenging variations. And if you can’t yet do a full push up from your toes yet, this is a great way to help yourself progress toward that first full one and start taking on your full bodyweight.
Often before you can do that first full one, you can at least handle your own bodyweight for part of the movement. Which is where the Eccentric Push Up comes into play. By taking on your full bodyweight for a slow lower down, you are building upper body and core strength. You are learning to engage everything correct with perfect form even if you can’t push back up.
So if you aren’t yet at that first full push up, try doing just an Eccentric ONLY Push Up.
To do Eccentric-Only Push Ups, set up in a high plank position with your hands outside your chest and your feet together. Your body should be in a nice straight line. Keeping your body in a nice straight line, slowly lower your chest down to the ground. Try to slowly lower down for at least a 3 count if not a 5 count. Keep everything engaged until you touch the ground.
Here you can release and relax onto the ground and then reset. You do not need to push back up. Simply reset at the top. Your focus is on perfect form for a very slow lower down. At the bottom you can release and simply reset back at the top.
By just doing this slow lower down, you may find you are able to build toward that perfect full push up even when you feel like you’ve been working forever with other modified variations!
Its all about constantly challenging yourself and finding ways you can do as close to a full version as possible!
Mix Up Your Grips – We’ve all heard the phrase, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” Well the same is true with push ups. If your shoulders are weakest, triceps are weakest, chest is weakest….WHATEVER is weakest that is what will limit how many push ups you can do.
That is why it is important to include a variety of push up “grips” in your workouts. Do some close grip, some wide grip, some pike presses so T Push Ups…include a variety of hand placements and even movements that focuses on certain areas.
There are so many push up variations out there you can use to target your upper body and core in different ways to strengthen your weak points!
Here are 31 Push Up Variations you can check out to help you!
Ready For Workouts To Improve Your Upper Body Strength, Especially Your Push Ups?
–> Check out my Arm Burner program and WORKOUT CARDS!
So if you’re feeling these other muscles engaging and taking over for your glutes, you not only aren’t reaping the benefits of the glute bridge, so may need to change your form, but you’ve also got some compensations you may need to address that could lead to injury!
A great way to start to set up is to lie on your back and place your feet flat on the ground just beyond your fingertips when your arms are straight down by your sides. If your feet get too far away from your butt, you are more likely to use your hamstrings.
To do the posterior pelvic tilt, set up at the bottom of the bridge with your feet flat on the ground and elbows driving down into the ground too.
THEN return to the bilateral move once you’ve established the mind-body connection! (I mention the Fire Hydrant too because sometimes activating the glute medius helps the glute maximus fire better even during moves like the Glute Bridge!)
