Few bodyweight exercises are as well-known as the push-up. This strength training move has been a go-to for decades, with plenty of people dropping into a push-up to show off their strength.
But while most people understand the basics of push-ups, it’s not clear what happens to your body when you do push-ups every day. While a solid fitness routine is more than any one move, trainers say there’s a lot of good that can come from push-ups.
“Push-ups are a great way to build upper body strength,” Taylor Beebe, CPT, a personal trainer in California, tells Parade. “But they're also a great way to ensure that if we fall on the ground, we're able to get ourselves back up off the floor.”
Push-ups also allow you to build strength without the need for exercise machines or extra equipment, making them an approachable move to try, points out Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab. And, even if you can’t do a push-up right away, you can modify it and work your way up, he says.
Push-ups target several areas of your body at once. “Most people think of push-ups as a chest exercise, but a good push-up trains the chest, shoulders, triceps, core, glutes and upper-back stabilizers,” says Dani Singer, CPT, founder of Fit2Go Personal Training. He calls push-ups “a moving plank with upper-body strength layered on top.”
This exercise also has a “high return on investment,” Singer explains. “No equipment, easy to scale and the strength carries over to a lot of real-life tasks,” he adds.
Looking to build strength and considering adding daily push-ups to your fitness plan? Here’s what you can expect over time.
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A few things happen when you do push-ups every day. “You might feel stronger not only in your back, shoulders and chest, but you'll also gain strength in your trunk and core with the right technique,” Beebe says.
The biggest improvement at first is usually in skill, according to Singer. “You learn the line, the tension, the breathing and the rhythm,” he explains. “That is why beginners can see their push-up numbers jump quickly even before they build a lot of new muscle.”
But, over time, you’ll get better endurance in your upper body muscles and core stability, he says. That can do everything from make it easier to carry out daily tasks like hauling heavy groceries to lowering your risk of back pain.
Related: What Happens to Your Body When You Do Glute Bridges Every Day, Personal Trainers Reveal
How To Do Push-Ups
Technique is important with push-ups, according to trainers. Singer recommends starting in a plank position, with your hands positioned just outside shoulder-width. “Squeeze your glutes, brace your abs and make a straight line from head to heels,” he says.
From there, lower your body as one unit. “Your elbows should be about 30 to 45 degrees from your torso, not flared straight out to the sides,” he explains. “Your chest should move toward the floor between your hands, then you press the floor away to come back up.”
Related: Forget Planks—Pilates Instructors Say This Is the Move That Actually Fixes a Weak Lower Back
If this is hard for you to do, Beebe suggests doing a push-up on an angle, with your hands on a box, countertop or empty barbell set. This allows you to work on your technique and build up strength before progressing to a full push-up.
Singer agrees. “I usually prefer incline push-ups over knee push-ups because they train the same body position as a full push-up and are easier to progress,” he says.
Singer recommends being on the lookout for common mistakes, like sagging hips, your head reaching for the floor, flaring elbows, shrugging shoulders or doing half-reps compared to going all the way down and back up.
The ideal number of push-ups depends on where you are in your fitness journey, according to Singer. If you’re a beginner, he suggests doing two to three sets of five to eight incline push-ups. Intermediates should aim for two to four sets of eight to 15 push-ups, while advanced practitioners should strive for three to five sets of 15 to 25 reps.
“A simple rule: If rep eight looks completely different from rep one, the set should have ended at seven,” Singer tells Parade.
Related: What Happens to Your Body When You Lift Weights Every Day?
Matheny points out that you can plateau with push-ups, making it important to challenge yourself over time. “You can make them more challenging by adding instability—do single-arm push-ups,” he says. “But there are a lot of different variations you can do,” he adds, including putting weight on your back.
If you’re planning to start doing push-ups daily, Singer suggests that you stop with “one to two good reps left in the tank” to make sure you keep the proper form. And, if daily push-ups are hard to pull off with your schedule, he suggests aiming to do them three to four days a week.
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Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Strength LabDani Singer, CPT, founder of Fit2Go Personal TrainingTaylor Beebe, CPT, personal trainer in CaliforniaHence then, the article about what happens to your body when you do push ups every day was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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