Want to fix your push-ups once and for all?
If you’re stuck doing knee push-ups, then you’re not getting the full benefit of the push-up. You’re also not working the right muscles, which means you’ll struggle to transition from your knees to the full movement.
To do a proper push-up, you need to be able to push your entire body up from the ground – so if you can’t get low enough or just can’t seem to push yourself up, then this is the article for you.
But before I get into the nitty-gritty of push-up progression, let’s check out some of the most common mistakes that beginners make.
6 common push-up mistakes
Mistake 1: The Dog
Mistake number one for the push-up is the dog.
If you’ve ever done yoga, a downward-facing dog, or you’ve seen a puppy stick its butt up in the air and get really low to play, that is what happens with a lot of people when they do push-ups.
Instead, you want to make sure that you maintain a solid plank position. This means you should firm your heels all the way to the top of your head so that your body maintains a straight line without much bend in it.
Mistake 2: The Cobra
Mistake number two is what I’ll call the Cobra.
This is where the hips sag really low while the chest is high, so it’s the opposite of the dog. Rather than doing push-ups where the hips and shoulders rise at the same time, your hips stay down low. The bottom line? It’s not a proper push-up and is technically a no-rep.
qThe correct form is all about keeping your midline stable and making sure that your hips and shoulders are rising and sinking at the same time. If you’re struggling with shoulder and hip mobility, check out our courses. Start loosening them off!
Mistake 3: The T
Push up mistake number three is the T.
When you do push-ups, if your hands and arms are in alignment with your shoulders so that your elbows are out at the side (so that your body’s in a T shape), then you’re doing the T push-up.
For the correct form, make sure that your arms are coming down by your side and check your hands – they should be creating a triangle in relation to your shoulders.
Here’s how the two compare:
Getting your arm position right is a must if you want to see results faster and nail the right form to eventually progress to more advanced techniques like handstand push-ups or benchpress.
Mistake 4: The teenager
For mistake number four, we have the most inappropriately named push-up: the teenager.
This is where you’ll get your butt off from the ground after your shoulders have already come up. Rather than having the plank go down and up at the same time, it kind of turns into this really awkward floor humping movement where your shoulders and hips move at different times.
What you should be doing instead is moving your shoulders, torso, hips, and legs at the same time as you’re going up and down into the push-up. So, if you don’t want to look like you’re humping the ground like a teenager, you shouldn’t have any hinging going on – especially not at the hip.
Mistake 5: The lazy last rep
Mistake number five is what I’ve called the lazy last rep.
I see this a lot in workouts like the Murph hero workout. Murph is a workout I’m very passionate about, but one of the hardest parts of it is the push-ups – especially with that weight vest. I can’t tell you how many people I see making this mistake in their final rep – they’ll get halfway up, and they’ll just let their knees hit the ground and then finish the lockout. That’s a no rep.
Dropping the knees early is like doing a bunch of overhead squats, and, as you’re standing up for the last rep, you drop the bar early, which is obviously a complete no-no. So to avoid the lazy last rep, make sure you’re finishing the last rep of your push-up properly by maintaining form and locking that sucker all the way out.
Top tip: if you’re heading for complete max out fatigue, take a small break so that you can come back with the correct form where you’re maintaining that solid plank throughout.
Want the Best Murph score! Start our 14 Day Training Plan
Murph can go really well… or really badly. This free 14-day training plan will help you choose the right strategy, manage fatigue, and show up ready to perform your best.
Mistake 6: The basketball push-up
The final mistake I’m going to talk about is the basketball push-up.
The reason I’m calling it this is because I played basketball for a lot of years, and if we did something wrong, the coach would tell us to “drop and give me 20”, but people would drop down, and they would do 20 of the most ridiculous push-ups I’ve ever seen in my life.
The main thing that really bugged me was they would never lockout their arms fully. So my teammates would get halfway up and then go back down, they wouldn’t be touching their chest to the ground fully, and they wouldn’t lock out their elbows fully.
To avoid this double fault, you have to make sure that you’re getting your chest to the deck and fully extending the arms each time. Yes, it might take a little bit longer, but I guarantee you’ll feel better about yourself and get way more out of it.
Progressions
So how can you learn to do proper push-ups without defaulting to these mistakes or relying on knee push-ups? The answer is to do it through progression.
It all starts with elevating the platform that your hands are on while a solid perfect plank position, so if you draw a line from your head all the way to your heels, it’s a straight line.
From there, you take the platform of your hands and adjust it to gradually get closer to the floor. The reason this works so well is that it’s infinitely scalable. You can use a solid box or even a wall if you want to begin practising your push-ups at a very high elevation.
Most gyms have three-sided boxes with 30-inch, 24-inch and 20-inch sides – so start by doing push-ups with your hands placed on the 30-inch height side. This is going to be an easy starting point for most people.
Once you know you can do eight to ten unbroken reps with perfect form, then it’s time to drop that height down, so you can move it to the 24-inch height side and repeat. Then move on to the 20-inch side.
Once you can complete eight to ten push-ups from a 20-inch height, you can drop even lower by stacking 45-pound plates on top of each other. As you progress and begin to perfect your ground-level push-ups, you can challenge yourself even more by using plate stacks to do deficit push-ups.
From there, you can start working your way up to doing handstand push-ups – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
If you’re starting out at home, you can use platforms like kitchen counters, tables and chairs. Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a barbell and a squat rack, you can use that and gradually reduce the height of the barbell.
And just remember, no matter where you’re at in your fitness journey, if you follow this technique and keep practising, you’ll be ready for Murph in no time.
This article’s part of a series to help you get your best Murph score yet.
Want the full breakdown? Check out the rest of the series below:
- The Ultimate Checklist: Murph Memorial Workout For Beginners
- How to Scale Murph Workout With These Easy Steps!
- How to Scale Pull-Ups for Murph Workout
- How to Use a Weighted Vest for Murph Workout
- Memorial Day Murph Workout: The Ultimate Strategy
- Murph Workout Training Plan
- What is the CrossFit® Murph Challenge?
- What’s a Good Time for Murph? Let’s break it down
- Are You Doing Air Squats Correctly in Murph?
- Pace Murph Workout Based on Your Fitness Level
- Recover After Murph Workout Without Losing a Week
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common push-up mistakes?
The six most common are: hips rising too high (The Dog), hips and shoulders not moving together (The Teenager), elbows flaring out to the sides into a T position, cutting the bottom of the rep short without getting chest to the floor, not locking out at the top of the last rep (The Lazy Last Rep), and doing both at once by shorting the range of motion on the way down and on the way up. Any one of these will limit your strength gains and make the push-up less effective.
Why do my hips rise up during push-ups?
That’s The Dog — named after downward-facing dog in yoga. It usually comes from a lack of core tension. The fix is to actively firm your heels back, squeeze your glutes, and treat the whole movement as a moving plank. Your body from head to heels should stay in one straight line throughout.
Where should my elbows be during a push-up?
Not out to the sides. If your arms are forming a T shape with your body, your elbows are too wide. Your hands should create a triangle in relation to your shoulders, with your arms tracking down by your sides rather than straight out. Getting this right also sets you up for more advanced pressing movements like handstand push-ups and bench press.
What is a no-rep in push-ups?
Two things will get your reps called: not getting your chest to the floor at the bottom, and not fully locking out your elbows at the top. The lazy last rep — where athletes let their knees drop before finishing the lockout — is especially common in high-volume workouts like Murph. Every rep needs a complete lockout, including the last one of every set.
How do I progress from knee push-ups to full push-ups?
Stop doing knee push-ups and start doing incline push-ups instead. Place your hands on an elevated surface like a box or even a wall and maintain a perfect plank from head to heels. The higher the surface, the easier the movement. Gradually lower the surface over time until you’re at the floor. This works because the movement pattern stays the same — you’re building the right muscles in the right positions, not a modified version of them.
Why do my hips and shoulders move at different times in a push-up?
That’s The Teenager — the hips lag behind the shoulders on the way up, creating a hinging movement through the body. It usually comes down to a combination of weak core and tight hips.
The fix: think of the push-up as one rigid unit moving together. Shoulders, torso, hips, and legs all go up and down at the same time. If anything is hinging, something isn’t switched on.