Are you a beginner at working out? Does doing a push-up make you think of high school gym class? Don't count this classic exercise out before watching the video from physical therapist, Dr. Marnie Wortman, below.

Push-ups are one of the most useful and effective exercises you can do - no equipment needed! They increase functional strength by activating every major muscle in your body, they’re an effective cardiovascular exercise, they improve your posture, and they are beneficial towards injury prevention when doing other exercises.

Rather than struggling to do a full push-up in the beginning, Dr. Wortman has put together a video to demonstrate these 4 progressions you can use to work up to your first push-up:

1. Push-ups on the wall: You can make this exercises easier or more difficult by changing the distance of your feet from the wall. Make sure your hips don’t sag and your back stays straight.

2. Modified push-ups: This push-up modification is the most well-known and beginner friendly. When this doesn’t feel challenging anymore, be sure to level up to one of the progressions below.

3. Push-ups on a box: Otherwise known as an a inclined push-up, this push-up progression is a little harder than the last 2. You can also change the difficulty by choosing different heights of your box.

4. Controlled negative push-ups: The most challenging push-up progression on this list, the negative push-up helps build core strength that will help you achieve a classic push-up down the line.

~Dr. Marnie Wortman - Director, Iron Physical Therapy Midland Park