This article was written by our regular contributor; personal trainer and fitness writer – Adam Willis.
The pursuit of achieving your first “full” push up is a very common goal. There’s something hugely empowering and alluring about being able to have command over your own body using movements like Push Ups and Chin Ups, isn’t there?
However, whilst this is a common goal, it’s also a goal that is often approached the wrong way.
The most common misstep [in my opinion] is that people use kneeling push ups as a push up regression, with the belief that by doing them it will eventually lead to them being able to do a “full” push up.
This might hurt some feelings, but if you want to achieve your first “full” push up, ditch those kneeling push ups right now.
It’s not that kneeling push ups are inherently bad, and you MIGHT EVENTUALLY get to achieving your first “full” push up if you did kneeling push ups, they’re just a much slower approach to take and give you little return on your time and effort investment.
Put simply, they’re just not going to help you all that much when it comes to being able to do push ups from the floor.
The biggest issue with kneeling push ups is that they don’t teach you the full push up position or how to create tension from head to toe, a vital part of being able to perform a “full” push up.
This is often why people can crank out 10-20 kneeling push ups but ask them to do one full push up and they’ll struggle.
So, what should you be doing to achieve that illusive first push up?
1] Eccentric Only Push Ups
…and…
2] Rack Push Ups
These 2 exercises alone will get you to your first push up faster than any kneeling push up ever will.
When a client comes to me with the goal of achieving their first push up the first 4-6 weeks are spent doing both of these exercises, because both add value in different ways. Once the eccentric only push up is to a certain standard it is removed from their programming in favour of two days of rack push ups.
So, why do I like combining these 2 exercises in the early stages?
The eccentric only push up teaches the “full” push up from the end goal position, which is push ups being performed from the floor. It allows you to perfect your body position, your ability to create maximal full body tension and patterns the lowering portion of the lift. As most people are 30-50% stronger in the eccentric portion [lowering phase of a push up] than the concentric [the pushing up phase] the eccentric push up allows you to take advantage of this, building strength and your technique in the movement.
I’ll usually program eccentric only push ups for between 4-6 reps and build the lowering time up from 3 seconds per rep to 5 seconds. When a person can achieve 3 sets of 6 reps with a 5s lowering, that for me is the standard where we move on to 2 days a week of rack push ups.
So, what about the rack push up?
The rack push up for me is the simplest way to incrementally progress and improve your push up strength over weeks of training. As you get stronger at rack push ups the bar, and you, get closer to the floor until you no longer need the bar and can-do push ups from the floor.
Where the eccentric only push up allows you to build your push up skill from the floor, the rack push up allows you to do more rep work and focus on your technique through the full push up range of motion, rather than just the lowering.
It’s this combination of the 2 where the magic happens early on in your push up journey, then from there it’s all about those rack push ups until you’re doing push ups from the floor.
Now I’m not one for just words, let me give you something actionable so that you can get that first push up.
But before I do, there is one other misstep that people make when pursuing a push up goal.
They don’t prioritise it.
If achieving your first push up is a goal your training program should reflect this. Push ups should feature at least twice a week and should be prioritised early in your workouts, because, well, they’re your priority.
This will often mean swapping out 2 pressing exercises you would otherwise do during your week to create space for your push up work. You don’t just want to add the push up work on top of your usual training.
With that off my chest, here’s your very own 12-week programming “cheat sheet” to help you achieve your first push up. Simply add these exercises into your usual workout programme twice a week for 12 weeks.
WEEKS 1-4
| WORKOUT: EXERCISE | SETS / REPS / TEMPO |
| Workout A: Eccentric Only Push Ups | 3 x 4-6 reps w/ 3-5s lowering every rep |
| Workout B: Rack Push Ups | 3 x 8-10 reps w/ 3s lowering every rep |
WEEKS 5-8
| WORKOUT: EXERCISE | SETS / REPS / TEMPO |
| Workout A: Rack Push Ups | 3 x 4-6 reps w/ 3s pause at the bottom of every rep |
| Workout B: Rack Push Ups | 3 x 8-10 reps w/ 3s pause at the bottom of every rep |
WEEKS 9-12
| WORKOUT: EXERCISE | SETS / REPS / TEMPO |
| Workout A: Rack Push Ups* | 3 x 3-5 reps |
| Workout B: Rack Push Ups | 3 x 8-10 reps |
*you may find by this stage you can do the 3-5 reps from the floor
If you truly want that first “full” push up, go “all-in” for the next 12 weeks on prioritising that goal.
Work those eccentric push ups.
Work those rack push ups.
…and before you know it, you’ll be doing push ups from the floor.
