Although there are many variations on the push-up

Although there are many variations on the push-up, the basic principal remains the same: Engage your upper back, shoulders, and arms to lift your body weight off the floor, then slowly lower it back down. While that sounds simple, experts say there's plenty of room for mistakes.

"The biggest mistake people make when doing a push-up is to try and take some of the stress off their arms by using other muscle groups to help lift their body, so they don't get the full benefits," says Todd Schlifstein, DO, a rehabilitation physician at the Langone Medical Center's Rusk Institute at New York University and assistant professor at the NYU School of Medicine.

Ross agrees: "Body weight should be lifted by your arms, and don't use your butt or stomach or the lower half of your body to pull you up," he says.

The correct movement for the perfect push-up, he says, is smooth, "with no swaying of the hips as you go up and down."

Bottesch adds that it's also important to keep a straight line from your head down to your ankles when you're in the lifted position