How To: Do an ROTC/US Military-style push-up

The Georgetown Army ROTC program first describes the benefits, and then demonstrates a proper army pushup to standard. Pushups are common in the army, they increase the strength and endurance of your chest, shoulders, and triceps muscle. The push up is also a part of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). In order to be contracted and received scholarship benefits male cadets in the age range of 17 - 21 must perform 43 pushups while female cadets in the same age range must perform 19 pushups. The starting position for a proper push up - the arms are locked and the body is held in a straight line from shoulders to ankles. To conduct a repetition the cadet lowers his body so that his upper arms are at least parallel to the ground or deeper, then he pushes his body up locking his elbows out to the full position. The feet can be together or up to 12 inches apart, while the hands are typically a little wider than shoulder width apart. As a person gets fatigued during push repetitions, the tendency is to not lower yourself to the point where the upper arms are parallel or lower - these pushups will not count. The cadet now will perform a series of pushups. The cadet lowers and raises his body as one unit, his upper arms go below parallel and when he raises up he fully locks out his elbows.