I know that many of you are looking for ways to improve the quality and quantity of your push ups. I have a tip that will not only help you push ups, but it will help you with your pull ups as well.
It doesn’t sound wildly sexy, but it’s effective to help stabilize the shoulders and strengthen the upper back.
It’s called scapular stabilization.
What this means is that in the push up position, or plank position, you need to squeeze the shoulder blades together rather than letting them protract or let the back round. Draw the shoulder blades down and back and keep the back flat. This helps to strengthen the middle back, (the rhomboids and spinal erectors) and helps to create more stability and strength through the back. This will help with push up quality and quantity and also give more back strength to aid in quality and quantity pull ups.
You can check out the video for a demonstration of what I mean about retracting and protracting the shoulders. Shoulder stabilization is necessary to avoid injury in all kinds of training, particularly in doing push up exercises and pull up exercises.
I have lots more tips and tricks to increase the quality and quantity of your push ups. Check out my program to see if it’s right for you.