Perfect Pushup Tips

by Monica

Even I thought I was the last person on earth who should be giving advice about how to perform the perfect pushup until I watched the silliest pushup video EVER this weekend!!! Yes, this is my monthly workout rant (enjoy)...

Some "fitness trainer" shot a video of herself showing people how to perform the perfect pushup. She was clearly doing a tricep pushup but she goes on a rant (worst than mine by the way) about how the tricep form with hands right next to the shoulders and elbows tucked in is THE correct way to perform a pushup. According to this clueless trainer, placing your hands out in a wider position puts too much strain on the shoulder and it hurts. She even says she can no longer do pushups in this wide hand position because it hurts her shoulders.

One of my readers commented on this video and said "when I first saw this, I thought there was something strange about it. If her way is the only way, then a bunch of fitness professionals have been wrong for a very long time". My reply to this is if it smells like b.s. then you're probably right.

Clearly this person has never been exposed to Circular Strength Training or Paul Chek's book Movement That Matters or anybody in fitness who actually cares about training for function and optimum health vs. training to just look pretty.


I think her head would spin if she saw the hand position for CST pushups. In CST they're not called pushups they're called quad presses and there are endless progressions with arms in all kinds of crazy positions.

There is no such thing as


the ONLY way to do a pushup or the perfect pushup (don't even get me started on that piece of junk gadget either). Any trainer who's telling you this has no idea what they're talking about, has a very limited view of fitness, and has no knowledge of the wide range of movement patterns the body can achieve.

Imagine if you were hiking out in the desert and a mountain lion leaped out at you from the side and landed on you and started mauling you (happens all the time here). Would you tell the lion to hold on while you turned your body so you could push it off with perfect form or would you try to fight off that lion any way you could. How about pushing an attacker or an opponent off your body or pushing your body onto a flying trapeze. None of those situations would allow you to get in the "correct position" but you would still have to be able to push yourself away from the object without hurting your shoulder.

There are many ways to do pushups and many reasons for different people to use different styles. Many of my 80 year old clients with serious shoulder problems do something called a wall pushup with a very wide grip. The wall and the wide grip actually trains scapular retraction as well as core activation.

Want to learn how to get better at pushups, be able to do more pushups, or do pushups without pain? Watch the CST quad press video to get started. Looking for more traditional pushup tips? Check out the second video with CB.

There is no 1 way to do anything!


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Perfect Pushup Tips

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starstarstarstarstar 		More TT Pushup Variations
by: Monica

I got this awesome email from Craig yesterday that included all kinds of pushup options. These are some great tips if you're training in a super busy gym or if you're training at home and you don't have dumbbells or don't feel like dealing with weights but you still want to get a great upper body workout.

"Alright, let's say you go into the gym and it's waaaaaaay too busy (or you are exercising at home with only one set of adjustable
dumbbells) and you need some alternative exercises. What can you do in place of dumbbell presses?

- pushups
- close-grip pushups
- decline pushup
- elevated pushups
- off-set pushups
- pushups with your feet on the ball
- pushups with your hands on the ball
- spiderman pushups
- pike pushups
- or possibly the hardest two hand pushup of them all, decline close-grip spiderman pushups"

Craig Ballantyne is the master of getting your workout on and the bodyfat down using only bodyweight exercises. Watch me doing his Bodyweight Exercises Workout or check out all his awesome Bodyweight Workouts for Fatloss. My favorite thing about TT workouts is they work without wasting your time.
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starstarstarstarstar 		Lateral One Arm Pushup
by: Monica

Movement artist Ido Portal shows you how to rock the lateral one arm pushup + pistol. Ido's got one of the coolest blogs out there and it's all about moving in new and interesting ways.

The reason I love Ido's videos so much is he shows you amazing progressions so no matter what fitness level you're at you can do any exercise then progress to more challenging versions of the exercise.

BTW, I tried this evil exercise and I can't do it so it's beginner version for me.

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