In elementary school, the competition of strength is: “How many push-ups can you do?”

But in high school, the competition shifts to: “How much you bench?”

I’m not sure why, but as athletes get older they begin to phase out bodyweight movements and phase in weightlifting movements. The push-up is no exception.

I suppose that I have an idea of why this might be the case. But to render those exercises that develop relative strength obsolete seems ludicrous to me. Especially when I see athletes unable to complete 40 push-ups in one set.

The purpose of this blog, however, is to provide many different variations to the push-up. With a list like this, an athlete will never outgrow the need to work on their push-up.

Progressions

Click on the hyperlink below to see a video demonstration of each push-up variation.

• Knee Push-Up
• Traditional Push-Up
• Hand-Release Push-Up
• Ring Push-Up
• Hollow-Body Push-Up
• Parallette Push-Up
• Kipping Handstand Push-Up
• Strict Handstand Push-Up
• Ring Handstand Push-Up
• Freestanding Handstand Push-Up
• Planche Push-Up

Tyler

WOD

EMOM x 12:00
Odd Minutes: 10 Push-Ups (you choose the variation)
Even Minutes: 200-meter Run