1/30 Technique Tuesday

Kerri doing a great job of keeping her elbows pointed back. 
The Perfect Pushup is what we're asking you to do today. Some days we work on kipping push-ups, some days we work on banded push-ups, and some days, like today, we work on the perfect pushup. We like to vary the ways in which we work on certain movements so that you don't always fall int the habit of doing it a certain way. Variance will help you get out of a rut, will develop new motor pathways, and will show you your weakness. CrossFit excels at showing us our weaknesses. 
The perfect push-up is a weakness for many of us. Push-ups are an excellent upper body and core strengthening exercise. Yet, so many people do them wrong! All you have to do is a Google image search for push-ups and you'll soon be screaming at your computer screen! 
​A properly executed push-up, irrespective of the distance of your hands from your chest, is butt squeezed, pelvis titled and elbows pointing back. NEVER, EVER flare your elbows. Flared elbows push your shoulders into internal rotation and you definitely don't want to be pushing up from internally rotated shoulder. You can kiss your rotator cuff muscles goodbye. PLUS, the push-up is designed to increase your striking power, think martial arts and boxing, and when do you ever see someone strike with elbows flared wide. Right, you don't. So tuck those elbows back. 
But, this makes it harder you say. Yep, it does, because it's supposed to be hard. The push-up is hard and it builds strong shoulders, arms chest and abs like nothing else. The best way to scale the push-up is to push off an elevated surface like a box, NOT going to your knees. Knee push-ups do not allow you to squeeze your butt and tilt your pelvis, two of the proper form points of performance we're chasing today. 
Check out the video below to see exactly what we're looking for today. 

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