Perfecting your push-ups....
It's no secret I'm a stickler for push-up form, but here's why I encourage starting with your hands under your shoulders and keeping your elbows in whilst performing push-ups:
1) Your strongest foundation is going to be the position where your joints are stacked, i.e wrists, elbows and shoulders all in line. This prevents shearing force through the shoulder.
2) This stacked set-up also reduces the risk of your elbows travelling too far behind your wrists which would place extra stress on the elbow joints.
3) Keeping your elbows closer to 90 degrees to your wrists, also prevents further isolation of the triceps to the point of compromised recruitment of the pecs and delts (keeping your elbows pinned in already places more emphasis on the triceps).
4) Your lever arms are shorter with your elbows pinned tight to the body, which allows for optimum leverage and greater potential to create force.
5) Crucially, this position also prevents internal rotation of the shoulder which reduces the risk of shoulder impingement.
Now there's a time and place for a whole variety of push-up progressions and regressions but if you want to the reduce risk of overuse injuries try and avoid doing the funky chicken.
Coach Harri
The content in this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health.