10 pushup mistakes you're probably making

You've probably been doing some form of pushup since elementary school P.E. class, so of course you know how to do one correctly, right? Well, maybe not! If I've learned anything from my 15-plus years in the fitness industry, it's that most people are terrible at performing bodyweight exercises like pushups with proper form. And I'm not the only one who's noticed this.


"In general, I would say the majority of people don't know how to do a pushup," says Diana Mitrea, a New York City-based personal trainer who teaches group fitness classes at Equinox, "I spend a lot of time coaching this in my classes, and most people share the same mistakes." So rather than fall into the same category as "most people," learn to identify your weaknesses so you can rock a perfect pushup with proper form.

Your hand placement is all wrong

When it comes to proper pushup form, it all starts with proper hand placement. According to Mitrea, most people place their hands too wide and too far forward, "This puts more pressure on the shoulders, and you end up not having full pushup power."

Check your form by making sure the heel of each palm is directly under each shoulder, just slightly wider than chest-width apart. This provides a sturdy base of support for the exercise without placing undue stress on the shoulder joints.

You let your elbows flare

An all-too-frequent byproduct of incorrectly placed hands, along with a misunderstanding of what a pushup is supposed to look like (many people assume your body should form a "T" shape with your arms jutting out at 90-degree angles from the body), is the second pushup sin: flared elbows.

Chris Clough, an NSCA certified personal trainer refers to this as "flying elbows," and explains that this type of poor alignment results in additional stress placed on the shoulders. Placing your hands in the correct position helps, making sure your wrists aren't angled inward or outward, but rather neutrally aligned with your middle finger pointing straight ahead. But that's not all. Clough suggests checking your elbows to ensure they're pointing back at roughly 60-degree angles from your body, turning your body shape into more of an arrow than a "T."

You drop or crane your head

Many people are so concerned with the actual act of completing a pushup, they forget that a big part of the exercise is maintaining spinal alignment. This rears its ugly head in many ways, but one of the most common is the tendency to actually rear your head.

People occasionally forget that their neck is part of their spine, and, inevitably, when the exercise gets tough, neck alignment is the first thing to go. Mitrea chalks this tendency up to cheating, saying, "I see this a lot when people lack pushup strength — they stick their neck out to feel like they're getting closer to the ground." Unfortunately, it just strains your neck, doing nothing for your upper body strength. Focus on keeping your neck completely neutral, with your eyes on the ground, to help prevent yourself from looking up.

You let your lower back sag

Right after your neck drops between your arms, your lower back probably starts to sag. It's the inevitable form breakdown that takes place when you just don't have the baseline strength necessary to perform a standard pushup.

Clough points specifically to poor core strength as the culprit for this "swayback." And if you're not careful, your sway could result in an unfortunate bout of lower back pain. Instead of gutting through a few more reps with poor form, Clough says, "Try inclined pushups with an emphasis on bracing your core as you begin the pushups." Simply place your hands on a raised surface, like a counter, bench, or sturdy chair to give the exercise another go.


You press your hips toward the ceiling

A slightly less common (and less problematic) pushup mistake is the tendency to press your hips up toward the ceiling. While this is certainly a cheat move that makes the exercise easier by requiring less core engagement, it's less likely to result in pain or injury than the more common swayback.

Meghan Kennihan, an NASM-certified personal trainer points out that you're really just losing out on an opportunity to work your abs, advising, "Pushups are a great ab exercise, but if you look like an upside-down 'V,' you're not engaging your abs. Use your glute muscles and squeeze: this will help you lower your butt and return your body to its proper alignment."

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