Learn how Yoga Blocks can assist you in progressing your push-ups with our holistic strength coach, Jake Casey.
What is Full Range of Motion?
Performing the full (ROM) range of motion of an exercise; fully extended and flexing to the joint's potential
What is Partial Range of Motion?
Performing only a quarter, half, or three-quarters of your joints potential range of motion
So, Why would you even want to decrease your Range of Motion during a push-up? Here are a few reasons you would do so:
You Have an Injury
Performing decreased ranges of motion on your push-ups is great for people who might have an injury and need to rehab the exercise. Maybe you have a shoulder injury that doesn't allow for the full range of motion. Using the Yoga Blocks on one of the many different heights can help progress from say a quarter ROM to full ROM.
We don't say "No Pain, No Gain" here. Work in a position that doesn't have pain. Longevity is key to a healthy life. The goal is to move and live pain-free.
Build Up Strength
Some people aren’t strong throughout the whole push-up range of motion; pushing from bottom to top. Using the yoga blocks you can select the range that needs the work and double down on that until you've progressed to a position that is more comfortable. Once you progress to the full push-up, it's a good idea to keep doing full-range push-ups.
We'd also like to note that this is only one of many ways to progress your strength to get to the full range of motion push-up.
Build On Your Technique
A push-up is such a common exercise that we will often overlook the technique required to do the exercise. We aren't going to get into a push-up tutorial here, we'll leave that for a future post. But be aware of your technique and if it is off, you can use the yoga blocks to aid in perfecting each portion of the exercise.
We hope this helps you in the journey to a full push-up! Thanks for reading!