Where should your elbows be for a pushup?

Someone asked me this recently and it is such a good question! (thanks Leslie!)

Maybe your yoga teacher has told you to ‘hug your elbows close to your sides’ when doing a pushup or a chaterunga in yoga class. Maybe someone even told you that this would prevent injury to your shoulder if you did it.

So what is the ‘right way’ to do a push up?

Let’s think about what a pushup really is. It is basically pushing yourself away from the floor! If all movements are goal dependent, think about how you might generate the most force.  

For example, if you were going to push a refrigerator across the floor, how would you approach it? With your elbows tight by your side, your elbows about 45 degrees out to the side or elbows really wide? 

For me, elbows at about 45 degrees to the side is the best way to generate force, but in your pushup if your elbows are close to your sides, it is not wrong! It is simply working your triceps more than your chest and it may feel less stressful on your shoulders if your pectoral (chest) muscles are not strong. It is more difficult to generate force this way so it may actually be a more advanced version. Yet in many yoga classes, this is the preferred version and I have heard teachers claim it will protect your shoulders from injury which may or may not be true.

So what will make you better at pushups?

Full body tension, progressive overload, and concentrating on the eccentric part of the move.

Pushups are a compound movement, meaning they use a lot of different muscles. They are basically a moving plank pose. They work your shoulders, back, chest, core and even your legs. This means you need to make your whole body stiff and keep it that way.
The two most common mistakes I see are not holding the core strong and hanging the head. Learning to hold a plank pose well will help so much with the pushup. Bracing yourself away from the floor with your core and squeezing your buttocks as well as your thigh muscles is super important. It will also make the pushup a more efficient movement, thereby making it easier to do more of them.

If you want to get better at pushups – try doing them on an incline. 

Try it at your kitchen counter or a higher counter if you have it. This will allow you to do more than you could do on the floor and therefore get better at it. Once you master the counter, you move to the kitchen table, then the coffee table etc. This is called progressive overload since you are pushing more of your body weight away as you become more horizontal. Have your elbows wherever it feels best and strongest in your shoulders. If I am using a chair seat for example, my hands are going to be pretty close together and therefore maybe my elbows will be too. If my hands are wider, my elbows will be wider also.

We are stronger in the eccentric phase of any exercise so that means lowering down to the floor in the pushup is also one of the best ways to get better at pushing back up. Using the full body tension (no head hanging or sway back) try lowering as slowly as you can, maintaining the plank shape.

Most trainers suggest the 45 degree angle with the elbows when you are a beginner, but don’t get out your protractor. It is most important to concentrate on maintaining your plank position, progressing from vertical to horizontal and working to slow down the eccentric (lowering down) phase.

Pushups are definitely a functional and full body movement worth cultivating. But they are not easy! Your elbow position and hand placement may change depending on how it feels in your shoulders and the level you are on.

Best to focus on your core, work on an incline and slow down the descent to the floor to improve your strength in pushups.