JJ Virgin4x NYTimes Best Selling Author, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer

Master These Workout Basics

7 Apr 2025 · 0 min

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0:27

In this segment, fitness expert JJ Virgin stresses the importance of working with a qualified trainer or physical therapist before tackling foundational strength exercises. She outlines four essential movements—squat, deadlift, bent‑over row, and push‑up—and provides a detailed progression system for push‑ups, starting from wall and bench variations, moving to tabletop and toe‑on‑the‑ground forms, and advancing to explosive clap and one‑arm push‑ups. The message underscores that push‑ups (and strength work generally) have limitless progression possibilities when approached correctly.

I think working with a trainer is essential, or a physical therapist. Get these down. So a squat, a deadlift, a bent-over row, a pushup. Cuz you can take a pushup, you can do a pushup against a wall, you can do a pushup against a bench, you can do a pushup on your hands and knees as a tabletop. You can do a pushup on your toes. You can keep making that pushup harder and harder and harder till you get to the point where you're doing jumping pushups, right? With a clap, or you're doing one-arm pushups. So there's no end to pushups.