Want to get better at push ups?
Stop doing them on your knees…
Push ups are considered one of the big fundamental upper body strength exercises. They are believed to have been made popular in the early 1900's, however there is evidence in writings that it even dates way back to the ancient Roman soldiers' military training routine. The beauty of the push up is you don't need anything to do it, other than the ground!
However, they can prove to be quite difficult when starting your strength journey. After all, you have to lift up a decent amount of your bodyweight (about 60-70% on average).
It's common to see push ups being done on knees as a regression. It is also common to see people doing push ups on an incline to a bar as a regression.
So, which is better?
Well, we need to preface this by saying ANY push up is better than NO push up. BUT, if we had to choose? It would be a bar push up.
Why?
We ran our own experiment using our Vald force plates to measure the exact weight distribution through the push up.
The only progression from a kneeling push up is to go straight onto your feet (it's difficult to change the angle from knees without altering mechanics and working muscles). You're essentially adding 15% body mass load straight away*.
That could be the equivalent of bench pressing 50kg one week and then 60kg the next (or even more). It's a pretty decent jump in weight, things might get ugly… You wouldn't really do this with any other exercise, so why make an exception for the push up?
We measured the weight distribution through a push up at 100cm high, right down to ground level in 20cm increments.
If we average out the drop in kg/per cm from 100cm to ground level, it works out to be just under 350 grams per centimetre*.
Starting on an incline to a bar, then doing smaller drops is going to be easier to scale, measure and progressively overload over time - making it the smarter decision. For example, you could drop 10cm every couple of weeks and you'd be adding about 3.5kg, which is a much more attainable jump up in weight.
Furthermore, the lumbopelvic control tends to be quite poor in kneeling push up. People tend to lift their bum in the air in the kneeling push up (which takes away another 4% body mass*), as it is not entirely mimicking a regular feet push up.
So, what's our takeaway from all of this?
If you're looking to get better at push ups and eventually smash out reps from the floor, knee push ups are okay. But bar push ups are probably going to be better in getting you there!
If someone you know insists on doing push ups to knees instead of a bar - send them this.
*These results were based on Timsy's weight and anatomy. Your weight distribution may be slightly different, but the general trends would be similar!
