rant: upper body strength completely lacking

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Replies

  • jessef593
    jessef593 Posts: 2,272 Member
    Do you eat at a surplus of deficit while trying to build strength? Do you get proper rest every night (8 hours sleep) so you eat enough protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats? Have you stuck with said progressive lifting program for more than 2 months at a time and followed it to a T? How have your other lifts progressed, squats, deadlifts, pull ups, over head presses?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    @jessef593 please read the rest of the thread. It's all there.

    @lemmie177 when I say I do 12 reps it means I probably do 4 or 6, rest for a short moment do 3 more, rest, do 2 until I've reached 12.

    Soya: Not sure as I can't get it here. However I once tried soyamilk and it gave me the worst reflux ever, worse than fat reduced milk (full fat is better)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    Still not getting anywhere with pushups (focussing on those mainly). Tried to do 12x3 on a chair yesterday and ended up with 6,5,4. It's impossible to do any more unless I wriggle myself into the up position again, which really isn't a pushup. On some days I manage to do kind of one proper one, but that's all. Just do one more every day doesn't work. There's just no improvement at all.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Try resting for around 2 minutes between sets.

    Deadlifting 75kg isn't bad for a novice. :)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    I do rest about 2 minutes between sets. I just don't improve at all.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    BTW You're deadlifting over your BW! :)

    How many knee push ups can you do?
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,483 Member
    Have you tried a 6x6 instead of 12x3? You would get the reps in but with more recovery time.

    Do you do planks? You may find you can build strength by extending plank times then introducing push-ups. I found I couldn't hold good form for push-ups until I could do a decent 2 min plank.

    Have you tried straight wristed push-ups by having a couple of hand weights to hold on to instead of flattening your hands? It just may alter the geometry, or whatever it is called, enough for you to get better control.

    It is frustrating but take it slow :)

    Sorry, just going through things I worked through trying to do push-ups, (it was planks that worked for me) disregard post if not applicable.

    Cheers, h.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    darrensurrey wrote: »
    BTW You're deadlifting over your BW! :)

    How many knee push ups can you do?

    A few more than on a chair, but the general movement is different and it trains less muscles. In the past I never managed the transition from knees to normal pushups. That's why I'm hoping to get there from chair to normal ones this this even though chair is more difficult for me. Well.. having wide shoulders, one of the issues with chair is also that I only have one chair without wheels at the office and it's just a bit too narrow for me.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Can you hold a plank? How about a plank with elbows semi-bent?

    Also, you could try lowering from a plank position onto your front on a bed. (Negatives.)
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    Ok, need to work on my planks I guess. It's again not down to core strength (I can do core exercises quite well) but again shoulder/arm/etc strength. I can hold a plank for about a minute before those muscles give up and I need to stop to prevent falling on my face :hushed:
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    Good stuff @robininfl Yes, I noticed before that kneeling pushups are useless for getting anywhere, and none of the better bodyweight progressions actually advocate them. Mind you, I don't have ballerina arms and shoulders. They are quite muscly. But all those lovely muscles are just decoration.

    One thing I did notice is that I'm getting better with seated dips. I currently am able to do 7 slow ones, few seconds rest and then another 5 ones (and probably a few more). Maybe I should look for something to elevate my feet to make them more difficult.
  • Escape_Artist
    Escape_Artist Posts: 1,155 Member
    For the longest time my upper body was weak, it didn't really make any sense compared to my lower body, it was really frustrating. I Couldn't hold myself in plank at all, even on my elbows and there was no way I could do a pushup (I was even struggling on my knees).

    I started doing yoga regularly and after a couple of months I could do pushups and planks like a champ. It also helped immensely with my lifts. I'm pretty sure it had a lot to do with core strength as well. I was able to do ab work just in the past but now I have core control, something I realize now I didn't have at all back then.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    Hmm.. you might be right @Escape_Artist I looked at yoga before, but unfortunately not only a proper gym for lifting heavy is missing here but also a yoga studio that does anything else than fairly low impact relaxing, balancing and flexibility sessions. And I have no problem with either of them. Went to a few yoga lessons from different providers and left all of them with a feeling of 'was that really all?'. Didn't felt like I did anything at all. No tired muscles, no feeling of having achieved anything. Just .. restless (I get restless if I have to relax on cue) Without being warmed up I could easily do what you do on your photo, and while I don't think it's meant to be like it but I'm sure I could arch my back and work my feet down quite a lot more :blush:
  • Escape_Artist
    Escape_Artist Posts: 1,155 Member
    There are different kinds of yoga. Vinyasa for exemple would probably make you swear since pushups and planks are often used all throughout the session.

    There are a lot of yoga ressources online, going to a studio is not necessary if you are ok with doing it alone.

    From what you say, you are probably very flexible, you'd have a blast going into more advanced poses, it would challenge your core quite a lot. That pose in my profile pic wasn't easy to get into, I didn't swing myself like that, I had to lift my legs slowly from the floor, bring them above my head and down behind me in a slow controled motion which is essentially all core strength.
    I can't get into inversions like that without a warmup, I need to work my core a bit before or else I can't get my feet off the floor, unless I use momentum and swing myself on the wall, which is not the goal for me :smile:

    If yoga isn't accessible for you planks would help I'm sure!
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Ok, need to work on my planks I guess. It's again not down to core strength (I can do core exercises quite well) but again shoulder/arm/etc strength. I can hold a plank for about a minute before those muscles give up and I need to stop to prevent falling on my face :hushed:

    As my text suggests, I'm not talking about doing a plank. I'm talking about getting into the position before doing something else.
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,404 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Well, been trying some more push exercises today. Pushups on the sofa armrest (btw knee and hip height) and it still feels awkward unless I take a huuuuge step back and stand on my toes, but widening my hand position seems to help somewhat. pike pushups on the same, seated dips with straight legs (they seem to be easiest for me), narrow hand pushups on dining table and bouncing pushups on kitchen work top. Did 3 sets of 12 each. Now my arms are falling off. Lets see if it does anything in the longer run.

    How can you do push-ups flat-footed? If that is what you meant.

    It sounds like you may not be engaging your core and keeping your body tight. I might work on my posterior chain with elevated single-leg glute marches/bridges as well as RKC planks (Brett Contreras has a great tutorial).

    It also sounds like you also may need to practice progressive overload. I would start at kitchen-counter height with arms in position (shoulder width) so they can stay close to your body when lowering. Then go to bench height. Then step. Then floor... If you can manage one, there are more to come. Eventually. Also give yourself rest days.
  • dlm7507
    dlm7507 Posts: 237 Member
    Loaded carries seem to have a what the heck effect on exercises that seem unrelated. You might want to try that.
  • balibee146
    balibee146 Posts: 127 Member
    Great thread.....I have exactly the same issue...able to handle pretty heavy kettlebells etc but push up / pull up NOT happening!
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    rileyes wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Well, been trying some more push exercises today. Pushups on the sofa armrest (btw knee and hip height) and it still feels awkward unless I take a huuuuge step back and stand on my toes, but widening my hand position seems to help somewhat. pike pushups on the same, seated dips with straight legs (they seem to be easiest for me), narrow hand pushups on dining table and bouncing pushups on kitchen work top. Did 3 sets of 12 each. Now my arms are falling off. Lets see if it does anything in the longer run.

    How can you do push-ups flat-footed? If that is what you meant.

    It sounds like you may not be engaging your core and keeping your body tight. I might work on my posterior chain with elevated single-leg glute marches/bridges as well as RKC planks (Brett Contreras has a great tutorial).

    It also sounds like you also may need to practice progressive overload. I would start at kitchen-counter height with arms in position (shoulder width) so they can stay close to your body when lowering. Then go to bench height. Then step. Then floor... If you can manage one, there are more to come. Eventually. Also give yourself rest days.

    No, I mean, something doesn't fit with the geometry of the whole thing somehow. I don't know.. if I have a 90degree angle between arms and chest and stand at a comfortable distance from the sofa/chair/whatever by body touches the edge closer to my belly button than to my breast. If I step back further I don't have a 90degree angle anymore thus need to stand on my goes. I don't know.. something just doesn't fit. But things work out better if I don't have my arms at just over shoulder width but much wider than that.

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