Lie face down with your hands on the floor directly under their respective shoulders. Straighten your back so that your feet and your shoulders create a straight, rigid line. One repetition consists of bending your arms down to a 90 degree angle and straightening them out again. Raise and lower your body in a slow, steady motion. Do as many of these as you can! If you are an absolute beginner, you may need to start out doing pushups with your knees on the floor, but your hips and back straight.
Lie face down with you hands on the bench. Position your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and your feet about hip-width apart, with your toes on the floor. Keep your back and legs as straight as you can. Then, slowly and steadily lower your body so that your chest is just a few inches from the bench. Return to the starting position by straightening your arms, and repeat. Incline pushups are an easy variation, making them great for beginners. [4] X Research source
Place the chair up against the wall for extra stability. One repetition consists of bending your arms down to a 90 degree angle and straightening them out again.
Gorilla pushups are are a more advanced pushup variation. Don’t try these until you can comfortably do lots of basic pushups.
After doing a few repetitions, switch legs. For example, try to do five single-leg pushups with your left leg raised, then do another five with the right raised. Keep your glutes tight while doing these. If you want to, you can exercise your legs at the same time by moving the knee of the raised leg toward your elbow as you push up, and switching legs with each repetition. Some people call these, “reptile” or “lizard” pushups. The wider apart your feet are, the harder the push up will be, because it will shift more of your weight to one arm. [7] X Research source Single-leg pushups are among the most challenging variations. [8] X Research source You will probably need to work up to these.
You can steadily increase the weight as your muscles develop by placing heavier objects in the backpack.
Make sure the chair is sturdy and stable. If it breaks or moves while doing this exercise, you may be injured. Do not attempt this on hardwood floors or other smooth surfaces that might allow the chair to slide easily.
Dips are a great way to work out the inner chest muscles, which are often under-exercised with pushups. For beginners, you can actually do dips with your hands on the seat and your legs stretched out in front of you and the backs of your heels touching the floor. [12] X Research source When beginning dips, be careful with how far you lower yourself. Slowly increase your range until you can lower your torso to a 90-degree bend in the elbow. The elbow should never bend more than 90 degrees, or else a shoulder injury can occur.
Do ten of these, and increase your speed with each repetition. This exercise also works your back.
This exercise also works your shoulders.
Each repetition of this should be about 10 seconds. Your partner should not allow your elbows to move while you are pulling them forward. After each repetition, relax, and have your partner pull your elbows back as far as is comfortable to stretch the chest muscles. To avoid injury, be sure to let your partner know when to stop pulling. This exercise also works the shoulders.
