Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays. This week we are talking about a bodyweight exercise that is wildly popular, especially when people are working out at home, and that’s the pushup. The pushup can be a great exercise to challenge your chest and shoulder muscles, but oftentimes when people have preexisting or underlying shoulder issues, pushups can cause those issues to flair up. We have some tips to help you continue to do pushups without flaring up your shoulders if you find that is an issue for you.
1) Watch Your Depth
Our first tip for changing how you do a pushup if you have shoulder issues is to watch your depth. A lot of times, we have a preconceived notion of how far down we should be going with a pushup – getting our chest to the floor or to a block, elbows to 90 degrees, etc. While full range of motion can be very healthy for your joints, if pushups are bothering your shoulders, be mindful of the depth you are going.
Action Step: Give yourself permission to only go part of the way down for a pushup. Once you feel anything negative going on in your shoulders, stop, come out of the position slightly, and use that as your maximum depth for right now. This may change over the course of your workout, but in this moment that is as far down as your body is comfortable going.
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2) Play With Different Elbow Positions
Our second tip for changing how you do a pushup if you have shoulder issues is to play with different elbow positions. Pushups can be done from a variety of elbow positions, from all the way flared out to fully tucked in by your sides. Play around with what elbow position feels best for you and perform your pushups there.
Action Step: Start by doing some pushups with your elbows about 45 degrees away from your body. This is a relatively safe position to start. You can then begin to either move them farther away from your body or closer towards the sides of your body as needed.
Related: How To Build Muscle Without Tearing Up Your Joints
3) Utilize Isometrics
Our third tip for changing how you do a pushup if you have shoulder issues is to utilize isometrics. Isometrics are those cool exercises where there isn’t any motion happening but there is a ton of muscle work being performed. Find a position in the range of your pushup where your shoulders feel comfortable and practice holding that position for time.
Action Step: Isometrics can give you a tremendous ability to feel your muscles squeeze without putting excessive stress on your joints. Find a comfortable position in the pushup motion where your shoulders are not bothering you and focus on squeezing your chest muscles from there.
