Proper push up form? huh??

[Reid Peryam]

This appeared on the Main page on 11/13/2011 -- last Sunday

the proper form for a push up

http://www.crossfit.com/assets_c/201...Edit-9125.html
(WFS)

"At the bottom of the push-up the chest and thighs should come in contact with the ground, rather than diving the chest, dropping the hips or shorting the depth."

By this description it can understood that the proper form for a push up is demonstrated in the upper left image and the bottom left image of the referenced link.

Perhaps this is a miscommunication or poor wording in combination with poor photographic reference?

Please explain.

[Vickie Ellickson]

Left = bad. Right = good.

[Reid Peryam]

The description is completely opposite the right side's imagery however

"At the bottom of the push-up the chest and thighs should come in contact with the ground, rather than diving the chest, dropping the hips or shorting the depth."

which can only incline me to believe they are advocating the left side's ROM

[Danny Sidebottom]

Top left - Chest and Thighs contact the ground - Good

Top Right - Chest diving down, thighs never touch - Bad

Bottom Left - Driving off thighs, worming - Bad

Bottom Right - Shorting the range of motion - Bad



I could be wrong, this is just what I see from the pictures.

[Reid Peryam]

from the main page comments:

A little confused about the push up standard. The body position recommended seems to be a broken plank. The knees have fallen to the ground in order for the thighs to make contact with the ground. Any movement up from this position will use the knees as a brace point before returning to a plank. A body position with a tight plank - something between the first and the second position (second position being with the butt up and the thighs off the ground) - will be a better push up... in my opinion. What do people think?

The following nicely describes how I do push-ups (it's from a recent CFJ article by Dusty Hyland and Jeff Tucker titled "Bearing the Standards"):

'The Push-Up—The hands are set just outside shoulder width (measured by the cubit of each athlete or within 30 inches). The chest touches the ground and the athlete’s body returns to a locked-out position. There is no deviation in the trunk or breakage of integrity between shoulder and hip; i.e., no angle in the body line.'

I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) you are saying that the form in the picture does not agree with the last sentence in this quote, and I agree with you.'

[Vickie Ellickson]

The right side seems correct to me because the hips don't drop to the floor. However, I could see a case for the bottom right to be an example of diving the chest, so the upper right would be correct.

Funny how differently we see the same images.

[Daniel Wheeler]

The description sounds more like their Hand Release variation of the pushup.

[Jeff Yan]

I agree with Danny's assessment here.

While in the upper right picture, it's true that his hips aren't dropping, that doesn't necessarily automatically make it right by CF standards. In fact, he's piking his hips a bit too much, i.e., his butt is sticking up too high up in the air.

I believe these pictures are meant to show only the bottom of the push up ROM, not to serve as some sort of time-lapsed slideshow of a single rep. If that's the case, then the top left picture shows the correct "CrossFit" push up.

[Arturo Garcia]

My thoughts are added in Bold.

"At the bottom of the push-up [this means all four photos represent the bottom of a push-up, and are not a sequence] the chest and thighs should come in contact with the ground [pic 1 or Top Left], rather than diving the chest [pic 2 or top right], dropping the hips [pic 3 or bottom left] or shorting the depth [pic 4 or bottom right]."

I never finished studying english so maybe I'm wrong.

[Reid Peryam]

Ah thanks guys great translation.