Knee push-ups are a great way for people who are just starting to work out their upper bodies to ease into it since they use less weight than the traditional version.
The form is most important when doing knee push-ups; by perfecting the motion and taking your time to get it right, you can make sure you are getting the most out of every repetition.
Remember that proper form isn’t just beneficial for safety reasons; with correct form, you can focus on building strength faster and more efficiently.
How to do a knee push-up
Step 1: Kneel on the floor with your feet together, ensuring that your body weight is balanced. Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the ground in front of you. Make sure that your arms are straight, as this provides stability and helps to ensure proper form.
Step 2: Tighten your abdominal muscles while you bend your elbows and lower your torso until it brushes or almost touches the ground. Keep breathing throughout this motion, inhaling as you lower and exhaling as you raise back up.
Step 3: Begin to push yourself back up by pressing down with your arms and straightening them again. It’s important to remember that form is key here; keep the motion slow and steady so that you can target the proper muscle groups without putting too much stress on any one area of your body.
Tip: To maximize its effectiveness, make sure to do at least three sets of knee push-ups with eight repetitions each set. After completing each set, rest for a few seconds before moving on to the next set. Give yourself enough time between sets so you don’t overwork yourself or let fatigue affect your form or intensity.
knee push-ups Benefits
Knee push-ups are a great exercise for those looking to work on their form and stability, but with a decreased load.
This makes it more suitable for people who are unable to do traditional push-ups, as indicated by the results of a 2011 study that found knee push-ups equally effective.
Also, because these modified push-ups put less stress on the shoulders and back, they might be better for people who are recovering from an injury to their upper back or shoulders.
Ultimately, knee push-ups serve as a great starting point that can ease into traditional ones without a steep learning curve.
Knee Protection Tips
When performing push-ups, it is important to make sure you are doing them correctly, and safely.
Instead of a bare floor, always do push-ups on a mat or carpet to provide extra cushioning and avoid any unnecessary injuries.
It is also important to place your hands flat on the floor with fingers slightly spread so that your front half takes half the weight and not your knees.
To further protect your knees while doing push-ups, kneel on a folded towel or throw a pillow.
Consistently checking your form is recommended to ensure that you are evenly distributing the weight across your torso, which will help avoid any injury to your wrists or knees.
If, after following these precautions, you still find that your knees feel beat up, then you should chat with a professional about strengthening exercises or stretches for those muscles.
Tricep knee push-up variation
You can alter the knee-push exercise so that it targets the backs of your upper arms (also known as the triceps).
How To Do A Tricep knee push-up
Step 1: Kneel on the floor with your arms straight in front of you, shoulder width apart. Make sure to keep your back and neck straight and your core engaged throughout the exercise.
Step 2: Start the movement by slowly flexing at the elbows and bending them to lower your torso towards the floor. Make sure to keep your elbows close to your body and parallel to each other as you do this. Keep going until your chest touches or nearly touches the floor and your elbows scrape against the sides of your ribs.
Step 3: Once you reach this point, it’s time to push yourself back up by extending at the elbows and slowly straightening them while engaging all of the muscles in your triceps. Do not lock out your joints at any point during this part of the movement; instead, keep a slight bend in them while driving through with strength from the triceps.
Tip: It is important to maintain good form throughout all reps of this exercise in order for it be effective. If you find yourself losing control or feel any sharp pain, stop immediately and take a short break before continuing.
This is especially important if done on hard surfaces such as carpets or tiles try using an exercise mat for extra cushioning and stability when beginning this exercise.
Continue going through these steps for 8-12 repetitions depending on fitness level and above all else remember to keep breathing throughout each rep!
As always, warm-up properly before starting any fitness routine in order reduce risk of injury or strain on muscles or joints, cool down afterwards as well.
