How to do your first push-up: a four-week plan
Published 5 October 2026 by TRACK AI Coach
If you can’t do a single push-up yet, you’re in good company, and it says nothing about how strong you could be in a month. A full push-up is a moving plank: your arms lower and lift most of your body weight while your core keeps you straight. Build those two things, then put them together.
What’s holding you back
- Pushing strength. Your chest, shoulders and triceps aren’t yet strong enough to lower and lift most of your body weight.
- A core that gives way. Your hips sag, the push-up turns into a struggle, and the rep falls apart halfway.
- Practising the wrong thing. Trying full push-ups when you can’t do one means you never practise the movement. Easier versions you can do well are how you get there.
The four building blocks
- Raised-hand push-ups. Hands on a kitchen counter, a table or a sturdy bench. The higher your hands, the easier it is; lower the surface as you get stronger.
- Knee push-ups. On your knees, with your body straight from head to knees. See the knee push-up guide.
- Slow lowers. Start at the top of a full push-up and lower yourself as slowly as you can, taking 3 to 5 seconds. Drop your knees, push back up and repeat. Lowering is the part you get strong at first, so this is where your first push-up comes from.
- Plank holds. A high plank on your hands, body straight, for 20 to 30 seconds. It trains exactly the position you need at the top of a push-up.
The plan
Three sessions a week, with a rest day in between. Rest for about a minute between sets.
- Week 1: 3 sets of 8 to 10 push-ups with your hands on a kitchen counter, and 3 plank holds of 20 seconds.
- Week 2: 3 sets of 8 to 10 push-ups with your hands on something lower, such as a table or a chair seat, and 3 slow lowers.
- Week 3: 3 sets of 8 to 12 knee push-ups, and 2 sets of 3 slow lowers from your toes.
- Week 4: 2 sets of 10 knee push-ups and 2 sets of 4 slow lowers, then try a full push-up. If your chest gets close to the floor and you push back up with your body straight, that’s your first one.
If a week feels too hard, repeat it. Everyone’s timeline is different, and it’s fine if yours takes six or eight weeks.
Good form from day one
- Hands a little wider than your shoulders, fingers spread.
- A straight line from your head to your heels, or your knees. Squeeze your glutes and brace your stomach.
- Elbows angled back at about 45 degrees, not flared straight out to the sides.
- Lower until your chest is close to the floor (or the surface), then press all the way up.
- Eyes on the floor just ahead of your hands, not on your feet.
After your first push-up
Do one or two full push-ups at the start of each session, then finish your sets with knee or raised-hand push-ups. Add a full push-up each week. When you can do 3 sets of 5, follow how many push-ups to do a day to keep progressing.
Let the coach watch your form
Put your phone on the floor to your side and press Start training. The coach recognises both push-ups and knee push-ups, counts every rep and calls out “Hips sagging” or “Too shallow” when it sees them, so the push-ups you build are good ones from the start. The push-up counter page shows how to set up.
Practise, don’t test. Lots of good, easy reps build your first push-up faster than failing at full ones every day.