Stretching the muscles before and after training is important to prevent injury and increase flexibility. Proper form for push-ups includes keeping the body straight, elbows at a 45 degree angle, lowering all the way down and breathing out on the way up. Progress should be made by gradually increasing the number of push-ups over time and tracking progress in a notebook or app. Variations can be added once mastered to further challenge muscles.

2. Performing proper push-ups is essential to acing your next IPPT . But the first thing you
need to do is to stretch. Stretching prevents injury and increases flexibility.
As push-ups work mainly on the three main muscle groups - the triceps, deltoid and the
pectorals, do remember to take some time to stretch these muscles before and after the
training.

3. Push-ups take a certain amount of strength to perform properly. Common mistakes most
people make include going too fast, or using only partial range of motion. The idea is to
do it in a consistent and thorough fashion. Here are 5 points on how to do a perfect
push-up.
1. Keep your body stiff and straight as a plank
2. Elbows at a 45-degree angle from your sides
3. Breathe in on the way down
4. Lower your body all the way down, allowing your chest to gently touch the floor
5. Breathe out on the way up

4. Push-up is a repetitive exercise. The idea is to keep increasing the number of push-ups
higher than the previous training. To motivate yourself, set a target on the ideal number
of push-ups you would like to do in a given month and work towards it incrementally.
Keep track of your training records in a physical note book or phone app , it helps to
motivate you on how far you have come.

5. Once you have mastered the standard push-up, it is time to push your muscles to the
limit by introducing new variations. These add-ons help to ‘confuse’ your muscles to
maximise growth and overcome a training plateau. Some of the push-ups variations are:
• Spider-man push-up
• Diamond push-up
• Basketball push-up
• Three-point push-up

6. While building your muscles, do remember to let it rest for them to grow stronger.
If you are training daily, you may find doing push-up training every second day is
desirable to improve your strength and to get sufficient rest. Build a training calendar
and stick to it.
Plus, don’t forget to stretch and relax after finishing your push-ups training!
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