The push up is pretty straight forward, but if you are pregnant, postpartum, or working on healing diastasis recti, an abdominal separation common from pregnancy, then learning these modifications and how to use your core throughout the movement are essential.
The most common mistakes I see in the push up is simply not modifying when needed. Instead, people will compensate for a lack of core and upper body strength by pushing their butts high in the air, or alternately, letting their low back sink down. The push-up takes a lot of core strength. It is challenging to maintain a tight core throughout the entire movement. If you aren’t there yet…no worries. You will build strength.
And want to know a secret? I seldom do a strict push ups anymore since discovering my abdominal separation. The prone position (belly facing down as in the plank position) puts a lot of pressure on your connective tissue. Gravity pushes our organs down and it causes strain. I simply modify by using a bench. Check out these progressions. They are great for pregnancy, too!