A pushup workout for beginners that actually starts where you are
If you cannot do ten pushups yet, the plan is not "do pushups until you can." Start with your hands raised on a counter, table, or step so that you can complete five clean reps with a controlled tempo, then lower the surface every week or two. Most people go from zero floor pushups to ten in six to ten weeks that way, and they arrive with better form than anyone who ground out sloppy reps on the floor.
The mistake nearly every beginner makes is choosing the hardest version they can survive rather than the hardest version they can control. Those are different, and only the second one builds anything.
Get the position right first
A pushup is a moving plank. If the plank part collapses, the rest does not matter.
- Hands slightly wider than shoulder width, under your chest rather than under your chin.
- Body in one line from the top of your head to your heels. No sagging hips, no piked backside.
- Glutes and abs squeezed. This is what holds the line, and it is why a pushup is a trunk exercise as much as an upper body one.
- Elbows tracking backwards at roughly 45 degrees from your ribs, not flaring straight out to the sides. Flared elbows are where shoulder pain comes from.
- Depth until your chest is roughly a fist's height from the surface.
- Head neutral. You are looking at a spot slightly ahead of your hands, not at your feet and not straight forward.
Hold the top position for 20 seconds before your first set. If your hips are already drifting, that is the thing to train first.
Find your starting height
Set up at a surface and do a test set. You want the highest surface where five reps feel like real work but every rep looks the same as the first.
| Surface | Roughly who it suits |
|---|---|
| Wall | Cannot yet hold a plank position for 20 seconds |
| Kitchen counter | Complete beginner, or returning after a long break |
| Desk or dining table | Can do 1 to 2 floor pushups |
| Sofa arm or a chair seat | Can do 3 to 5 floor pushups |
| Bottom stair | Can do 5 to 8 floor pushups |
| Floor | Can do 8 or more |
Pick the one where five reps at a slow tempo leaves you with two or three in reserve. If you can do fifteen, go one step lower. If you cannot do three, go one step higher. There is no prize for starting on the floor.
The tempo is part of the exercise
Do not rush this part, because it is what makes a small number of reps worth doing.
Take two seconds to lower and one and a half seconds to push up. That is roughly three and a half seconds per rep, which means a set of five takes about eighteen seconds. It will feel much longer.
Counting that tempo yourself while breathing hard is genuinely difficult, which is the reason WorkoutPacer exists: it says the pace out loud so you can put the phone down. If you would rather count in your head, count out loud, because it forces you to keep breathing.
There is more on why this matters in pushup tempo and cadence.
The four-week plan
Three sessions a week, with at least one rest day between them. Monday, Wednesday, Friday works well.
Week 1: learn the shape. Four sets of 5 reps, 90 seconds rest between sets. Same surface every session. The goal this week is that all twenty reps look identical, not that they feel hard.
Week 2: add a little volume. Four sets of 7 reps, 90 seconds rest. If the last set gets ugly, drop back to 5 and stay there another week. Ugly reps teach your body the wrong pattern.
Week 3: shorten the rest. Four sets of 7 reps, 60 seconds rest. No new reps, no new surface. This is a harder week than it looks on paper.
Week 4: lower the surface. Back to four sets of 5 reps with 90 seconds rest, but one step lower on the list above. You are resetting the numbers because the exercise got harder. That is progress, even though the numbers went down.
Then repeat the four weeks from your new surface. Most people move down one step every three to four weeks.
When to move down a step
Move to a lower surface when you can do four sets of eight at the full tempo with two reps still in reserve on the last set. Not before.
The temptation is to move as soon as you can technically manage one rep at the next height. Resist it. The extra two weeks at a controlled height is what produces a pushup you can then do fifty of.
What to do when it stops working
Wrist pain. Very common early on. Make fists and do the reps on your knuckles, or use pushup handles, or grip the edge of a step instead of a flat surface. Also check that your hands are under your chest rather than in front of your shoulders.
Shoulder pinching. Usually flared elbows. Deliberately point your elbows back towards your hips.
Sagging hips. Your abs and glutes are fatiguing before your chest. Do shorter sets, and add a 20 second plank hold before each session.
Stalling for two weeks. Take four days completely off and come back. Beginners under-recover far more often than they under-train.
After the four weeks
Once you are doing four sets of eight on the floor, you have left the beginner problem behind and inherited a different one: how to keep progressing without adding reps forever. That is covered in how many pushups you should do a day.
At that point it is also worth adding a pulling movement, because pushups train only one half of your upper body. The pushup and pullup workout is the simplest way to balance it.
Common questions
What if I cannot do a single pushup?
Then you start with incline pushups, hands on a kitchen counter or a wall. This is not a lesser exercise, it is the same exercise at a load you can control. Lower the surface over several weeks and you arrive at a floor pushup having built the strength properly.
Are knee pushups useful for beginners?
Yes, though incline pushups are usually the better first step because they keep the full-body plank position that makes a pushup a pushup. Knee pushups are a good option when you have no suitable surface to push against.
How often should a beginner do pushups?
Three to four days a week is plenty at the start, with at least one rest day between sessions. Daily training can come later once the movement is comfortable and the volume is small enough to recover from.
How long until a beginner can do 10 real pushups?
Most people who train consistently three or four times a week get there in six to ten weeks from a starting point of zero. Progress is faster if you begin with an incline you can control than if you grind out bad reps on the floor.
What is the correct pushup form for a beginner?
Hands slightly wider than your shoulders, body in one straight line from head to heels, elbows tracking back at roughly 45 degrees rather than flaring out sideways, and lower until your chest is a fist's height from the floor. Squeeze your glutes to stop your hips sagging.
Try it with the pace running
WorkoutPacer counts the tempo out loud over your podcast or music, so you can put the phone down and just move. Free, no account, works offline.