Lizard Push-up

Emotional Regulation, Fitness (High Energy), Postural Strength and Control, Pre-Writing, Strength, Upper Limb

Strengthens chest, arms and tummy muscles
Improves strength and control for handwriting and fine motor skills
Helps ‘use up’ excess energy by doing a physically demanding exercise

Uses

After lunch breaks, have children do this exercise against a wall before entering the classroom. This provides deep pressure sensory input to the torso and joints, which assists with achieving a “calm alert” state ready for learning.

Instructions

Start in a push-up position, on your hands and knees
Switch your tummy muscles ‘on’
Bend your elbows to lower your body to the floor
Push through your arms to straighten your elbows again

Watch Points

Body kept straight (from shoulders to knees)
Body all lifting together as one (like a plank of wood rather than shoulders lifting first like a wriggly worm). To achieve this, keep the abdominal muscles switched on.
Bend and straighten the elbows to achieve the movement (rather than moving hips up and down)

Seated:

Do Lizard Push-ups with your hands on your knees (or against a parent’s hands, with them pushing gently against your hands).

Standing:

Do push-ups with your hands shoulder-width apart on a wall (or against a parent’s hands, with them pushing gently against your hands).

Kneeling:

Try Lizard Push-ups kneeling on all fours like a cat. Keep your bottom up in the air rather than down.

Progress Tracker

How many lizard push-ups you can do?