Push-up

Exercise Information

Exercise Name:	Push-up
Resistance Band Type:	A flat resistance band
Equipment Required:
Body Parts Exercised:	Chest

Exercise Procedure

Exercise Start Position

1. Start lying face-down on the floor with the resistance band draped over your upper back with one end wrapped around each hand. The resistance band should pass under your arm pits. There should be tension in the resistance band in this starting position.
2. Place your hands on the floor (palms down) slightly outside of your shoulders with your feet flexed and your toes bent and in contact with the floor. Your elbows should be directly above your hands.
3. Engage your core so that you maintain correct posture throughout the movement.

Exercise End Position

1. Arms extended with your body in a high-plank position maintaining the body posture with which you started.

Action

1. With your elbows directly above your hands and your palms facing down, extend your arms (without locking the elbows) to push your body up into a high-plank position.
2. Engage your core so that you maintain correct posture throughout the movement.
3. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Modification Options

1. Perform the push-ups with knees on the floor to make the exercise easier.
2. Vary the strength or length of the resistance band used to increase/ decrease the difficulty of the exercise

Technique Tips

• Maintain a slight bend in your arms at the extended position.
• You may lower your knees to the floor to make the exercise easier.
• Breathe out as you push up (extending your arms) and breathe in as you lower toward the floor (bending your arms).
• Perform the exercise slowly, especially on the way down. Aim for 4-5 seconds per repetition.
• To change the difficulty of the exercise, use a weaker or stronger resistance band.

Exercise Prescription

1-3 sets of up to 15 repetitions. Note that if you can do more than 15 repetitions of a particular exercise, you should increase the difficulty of that exercise. If you are performing multiple sets, you may do 2-3 sets of the one exercise before moving on to the next exercise or cycle through your whole program 2-3 times.

Up to 60 seconds rest between sets. The duration of rest will be dependent upon the intensity of the exercise for you.

Push-up Demonstration Video