Varying the body’s position during push ups to change the difficulty
In support of Coach Megan’s post today about varying the body’s position during push ups to change the difficulty, there’s also research to back up her words. See below:
In a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 23 recreationally fit individuals (14 men and 9 women) performed six variations of push ups. This includes the traditional style, knees bent (touching the ground), feet elevated by 12 inches, feet elevated by 24 inches, hands elevated by 12 inches and, finally, hands elevated by 24 inches. The research team behind the study assessed the peak vertical ground reaction forces (GRFs) of all the push-up variations, which measures the reaction to the force that the body exerts on the ground. Basically, this helps evaluate a subject’s ability to exert force and power. (Note: The more force required, the harder the muscles have to work.)
What they found was that GRFs were higher when the subjects did push ups with their feet elevated (slightly more so when their feet were elevated by 24 inches). This was then followed by the traditional style, hands elevated by 12 inches, knees bent and hands elevated by 24 inches.
Therefore, as you can see, Megan was on the money with her post. So if you’re looking to make your body work a little harder when doing push up try elevating your feet. Oppositely, if you find push ups hard to perform then you may want to do them with your hands in an elevated position or with your knees bent.
For more information:
Ebben, WK et al. Kinetic analysis of several variations of push-ups. J Strength Cond Res. 2011. Oct;25(10):2891-4.