Push ups are a multi-tasking exercise that work the chest, shoulders and upper arms as well as the core muscles. They also need no equipment and can be done pretty much anywhere. So they’re a great choice to get started with upper body strength training. A full press up needs quite a lot of strength, so isn’t a beginner’s exercise. But there are plenty of variations that you can do to build up your strength. This workout uses the wall press up and the knee press up. As you go through the challenge, you’ll increase the number of knee press ups and decrease the number of wall press ups so that you gradually build more strength. The exercise instructions and challenge chart are here in the post and you can also download a copy of the push up challenge for beginners PDF.
Push ups challenge for beginners exercise chart
The chart gives you the reps for each day. Exercise instructions are below the chart.
There are 2 types of push up in the challenge – wall push ups and knee push ups. Once you get up to 24 reps of wall push ups, the number of these goes down each day, while the number of knee push ups increases.
You’ll need a cushioned surface for the knee push ups – ideally an exercise mat. See an exercise mat buying guide here.
Please read these general exercise guidelines before you do the workout.
Exercise instructions
Warm up
Do 8 arm circles to warm up your arms first
Push ups exercises
Get the push up challenge for beginners PDF
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Related to push up challenge for beginners PDF
Challenge FAQs
The first day of the challenge should feel like it needs a bit of effort, but not too much. If you really struggle with day 1, then you probably won’t get through the challenge. The idea with the challenges on this site is that the first few days get you used to the exercises and the daily habit. Usually about halfway through the challenge the effort levels start to increase more quickly.
Avoid challenges that increase effort levels very quickly – they’re simply not realistic. It’s unlikely that, for example, you would be able to increase how many squats you are able to do by 10 a day for 30 days, or increase your plank hold time by 10 seconds a day for 30 days.
In general, allowing muscles 48 hours between workouts is good because it gives our bodies time to recover and adapt. Challenges are generally short workouts and for a limited period of time (usually 30 days), so not having many rest days won’t be a problem. With challenges that alternate exercises each day, it’s not an issue, because you’re using different muscles.
Fitness improvements don’t always happen in a predictable way. Sometimes we’re just not as strong or energetic for no apparent reason, or we hit a plateau. If you get to a point where you’re struggling to complete the day’s challenge, you can try one of the following:
- Take a couple of days off and start again where you left off
- Do the challenge on alternate days rather than every day
- Instead of increasing the effort every day, stay at the same level for 2 or 3 days and then go onto the next day of the challenge
Obviously these solutions mean the challenge will last longer, but you’ll still benefit from doing it.