Try These Push-up Exercises for Your Year-End Landmarks
We are nearing the finish line in our year-end test series. You measured your flexibility and your progress in pull-ups (or their skill) . Now let’s focus on push-ups.
We’ve got tons of tips on how to get better at push-ups and what to do if you can’t do full push-ups . But remember, these are guidelines . While a control session can replace part or all of your workout (hey, that’s hard work!), It’s actually a strength test, not a workout plan. It’s the same with the pull-up tests we did last week: negative exercises and dumbbell rows weren’t listed because that’s how you build strength, not necessarily how you test it.
So let’s move on to the tests. The most common way to test your push-up prowess is to see how much you can do, but I don’t like that. If you can only do one or two, this is a strength test. If you can do 15, 20, or say 50, it’s more of a test of endurance and the ability to resist boredom.
Instead, I suggest this: find something in the list below that you can accomplish between 5 and 10 in great shape. Take a video.
- Wall push-ups (measure how far your feet are from the wall: perhaps two feet).
- Staircase push-ups (note which step)
- Floor push-ups (keep a firm plank position and fold each time)
- Regular push-ups
- Push-ups with raised feet (note how high; a ladder or something like a plio box can be used)
- Handstand push-ups (note if you are doing them or doing them strictly)
- Weighted or belt push-ups (note the weight of course)
- Push-ups on one arm
Then find another thing on the list that you can only make one or almost one of. Try it, and the video too. Maybe you try a one-arm push-up and only be able to get to the floor about halfway before your arm wrinkles under you. Ideally.
Next year, you will come back to these tests and try them again. Maybe you find that instead of doing 8 regular push-ups, you can now do 15. And perhaps you can now do two push-ups on one arm instead of doing a half-repetition. Or let’s say you do push-ups down the stairs; maybe this year you are on the sixth rung of the staircase in the hallway, and next year you will be doing the same number of reps on the floor. There is always something to strive for.