When I started training Paul, he was struggling to do five push-ups.  He wasn’t overweight, but he just didn’t have the upper body strength and endurance to crank out more push-ups.  In a matter of weeks, following these five simple steps, he was able to pound out almost two dozen push-ups in a row.  If you do the following, you’ll find you will be able to do more push-ups too.

Step 1:  The Harsh Truth

While Paul wasn’t overweight, he still needed to lose body fat, and when I helped him drop seven pounds in three weeks, his push-up performance skyrocketed.  The harsh truth about push-ups is the more body fat you have, the more dead weight you are trying to push around.  So make sure you are doing your interval training, doing your supersets and incorporating a healthy diet to bring your body fat down. 

Step 2:  Control Your Muscles

Most men and women aren’t able to control the muscles that need to do the work of a push-up.  Push-ups require your chest, shoulders and triceps (muscles at the back of your upper arms) to contract and provide force to raise your body to the top position.  However, most people don’t realize that those same muscles must control the lowering phase of the push-up.

For every push-up you do, focus on thinking about your chest, triceps and shoulders controlling your descent and then contracting to produce the force as you rise up.  Plus, in every push-up, you must brace your abs (as if someone was about to punch you in the stomach).  This will give your torso stability and create a powerful straight line from ankles to shoulders.  This will work your abs and protect your back.