Pushups are one of the most efficient upper-body strengthening exercises you can do with just your body weight. To do numerous reps correctly, you’ll need a fair amount of strength in your arms, chest, back, and shoulders.
Unsurprisingly, many people have difficulty executing them – or doing them without experiencing lower back or wrist pain. Here’s where wall push-ups really shine.
When it comes to push-up variations for beginners, wall push-ups are one of the best. The wall push-up is a stepping stone to the harder regular push-up, and it may build up your upper body, create functional core strength, and let you drop and give ’em 20 when done consistently.
Ok, So What are Wall Push-ups?
Wall push-ups are a bodyweight workout that works the muscles in your arms, shoulders, and chest. Standing in front of a wall with your feet shoulder-width apart and your hands against the wall, perform wall push-ups by leaning forward and bending your elbows while keeping your back and legs in a straight line.
Placing your hands against a wall makes the exercise easier while yet exercising the same movements and muscles as a conventional push-up. The body mechanics are essentially the same, but the load is different.
Sweet, Now Teach Me How To Do Wall Push-ups
- Stand with your feet beneath your hips and an arm’s length from a wall.
- Place both palms against the wall, wrists aligned with shoulders and fingers pointing to the ceiling.
- Bring your chest to the wall by bending your elbows. Instead of pointing out to the side, keep your elbows at a 45-degree angle away from your torso.
- Pause for a brief moment at the bottom.
- Squeeze your chest and straighten your elbows to begin the upward movement while keeping your alignment.
- As you push to the top of the movement, your shoulder blades should protract.
- Squeeze your chest and triceps to complete the repetition.
And Here Are The Benefits Of Wall Push-ups
Beginners who are unable to complete a regular pushup should try wall pushups. It minimizes some of the load generated by gravity by pushing against the wall, making the exercise easier to complete.
This isn’t to say that you can’t benefit from wall pushups. In fact, because it’s a comparable exercise that utilizes the same muscle areas as pushups, they’re a stepping stone to full push-ups and a wonderful way to train your body to do them correctly.
With practice, you’ll be able to complete conventional pushups with an appropriate form. In fact, starting with wall pushups can enhance your form if you don’t have a condition like shoulder impingement because you can slow down and focus on correcting your form.
This allows you to establish a suitable mind-body connection and recruit the appropriate muscles for the task.
Additionally, because there is less strain on the wrist joints, wall pushups may be beneficial for persons with mild wrist problems. It may also be beneficial for people who suffer from lower back pain or elbow pain.
Finally, whether you do a conventional pushup or a wall pushup, you’ll strengthen your upper body and improve your posture, which will help you operate better in your daily life.
Muscles Worked In Wall Push-ups
Wall Push-ups provide a full-body exercise. While you may think of pushups as an upper-body exercise, they actually involve a variety of muscles throughout the body to keep the pushup position and action stable.
During a wall pushup, the following muscles are used:
- the chest muscles (e.g., the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor)
- the deltoids
- the triceps
- the serratus anterior
- the upper and lower back muscles (e.g., the traps and rhomboids, as well as the spinal stabilizers)
- the core muscles (e.g., the transversus abdominis, obliques, multifidus, and rectus abdominis)
Your lower body muscles, such as your glutes, quads, and calves, are used to some extent for stability in this exercise. These muscles are employed to assist you to enhance your balance, postural stability, and upper body mobility.
8 Pro Tips For Wall Push-ups
1. Brace Your Core Muscles
You won’t be able to complete a regular push-up unless you have enough core strength to provide stability for the exercise in addition to arm and shoulder strength. To build your abdominal muscles, make sure your core muscles are engaged the entire time you’re doing this exercise.
How you go about doing that is by tightening your stomach as if you’re about to be punched in the belly. Think about drawing your belly button in toward your spine and eExpanding your midsection out to the side.
According to the American Council on Exercise, To strengthen your core further, you may start with a 20-second forearm plank and work your way up to 45 seconds. Perform 3 to 4 sets of holding a high plank, in which you are in the top of the push-up position, for 20 seconds. Try holding it for 45 seconds as your core strength improves.
2. Squeeze your shoulder blades together
You are in for a shoulder disaster if you let your shoulders get all loose.
Instead, focus on slightly pinching the shoulder blades back and down as if you’re holding a grapefruit between your shoulder blades.
3. Maintain A Consistent Breathing Pattern
Controlled breathing helps provide oxygen to your muscles and boost your stamina when you increase the number of reps you do and your muscles become exhausted. Your inhalations and exhalations also work as a metronome, keeping your push-ups at a consistent pace. Make sure you’re not holding your breath by paying attention to your breathing.
Breathing out on the effort and in on the return is the rule of thumb for hard exercises. In this example, breathe out as you push up and in as you descend.
4. Go Down All The Way AKA Full Range Of Motion
You must travel through the whole range of motion to gain the benefits of the wall push-up, Doing only partial reps puts you at risk of damage.
Continue lowering your head until your nose or forehead is almost touching the wall. If you don’t have the strength to control your descent, take a step toward the wall to reduce the distance you have to travel.
Push the wall away from you on your way back to the starting position until your arms are entirely straight.
5. Maintain A Neutral Neck/Head Position
Neck-reaching is a regular occurrence in all push-up varieties. This is a compensatory mechanism used by the body to get an additional range of motion where none exists, or to cheat range of motion by sticking the head out farther. Needless to say, this can easily result in a strained neck.
Focus on keeping a neutral head and neck position during the exercise to rectify it. Consider this: your head, neck, and spine should all be in a straight line!
6. Row Yourself Towards The Wall
Other common range-of-motion compensations during wall push-ups, are: Allowing the shoulders to shrug up and away from the ears, as well as the shoulder blades to relax. Both of these can be harmful to your neck and back, preventing you from gaining full strength in the ideal push-up posture.
We may avoid this by engaging the lats by drawing the shoulder blades back and down while pressing them together as if we are holding a pen between them that we didn’t want to drop.
Bonus: By pushing your shoulder blades together and almost rowing yourself toward the wall, you strengthen both your chest and back.
7. Keep Your Pelvis Tucked
Under no circumstances you should let your hips sag.
When a person loses core control, the hips and pelvis tilt towards the wall, which is known as hip sag. This one is usually noticeable because the belly appears to be reaching and the low back appears arched.
This may not seem like a big deal, but the more horizontal you get in your push-ups, the more tension you’ll feel in your lower back. As a result, it’s better to start learning appropriate form now.
Imagine you’re doing a standing plank against a wall. That’s the easiest way to perform it.
Maintain a straight line from the top of the head to the bottom of the spine, drawing the navel in and tightening the core, squeezing the glutes and bringing the hips and low back to neutral. Consider tucking your pelvis just a tiny little bit until your spine is no longer arched.
8. Perform as many Quality reps as you can
It’s crucial to challenge yourself with each set if you want to gain strength.
Begin with three sets of as many repetitions as you can until you lose your form.
Once you’ve settled on a number, stick with it until you’re comfortable, then gradually increase it each week.
Take Away
When compared to a conventional pushup, wall pushups are thought to be the simpler alternative because gravity’s impact is minimized. A conventional pushup, for example, entails more muscle activation of the pectoralis major and serratus anterior.
Stronger chest, shoulder, arm, and back muscles are among the benefits of wall push-ups. Improved core strength, posture, and upper-body mobility are also where you will see improvements.
You’ll eventually be able to do any and all push-ups with the perfect form if you do wall push-ups. We can actually take the time to slow down and break down the form to perfect it before going to the floor in a wall push-up, This gives the body enough time to build the proper mind-muscle connections in order to recruit the appropriate musculature when needed.
