rant: upper body strength completely lacking
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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
I never had arm strength until I had kids..It was lifting kids around that gave me some mass in there, before that I had the arms like string, ballerina arms.
Yoga has given me much stronger arms and shoulders than I had before, though. Lots of vinyasas and just generally doing stuff where we are supporting our weight on our hands. Planks as you note here, arm balances, forearm planks, side planks, more vinyasas...
And I want to put a plug in for the slanted push ups. I do not think doing them from your knees is progressive, it is the wrong angle, like you are very short with long arms. Try putting your hands on the weight bench. This guy, Antranik, from the reddit bodyweight exercise thread, has understandable progression for getting to a real push up.
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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.0 -
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.
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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
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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
If yoga isn't accessible for you planks would help I'm sure!0 -
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
As my text suggests, I'm not talking about doing a plank. I'm talking about getting into the position before doing something else.0 -
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.0 -
Loaded carries seem to have a what the heck effect on exercises that seem unrelated. You might want to try that.1
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Great thread.....I have exactly the same issue...able to handle pretty heavy kettlebells etc but push up / pull up NOT happening!1
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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.0 -
balibee146 wrote: »Great thread.....I have exactly the same issue...able to handle pretty heavy kettlebells etc but push up / pull up NOT happening!
I love kettlebells, and especially turkish getups and clean and presses 0 -
The classes and variations of loaded carries. Of course you chose appropriate weight and choice.0
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The classes and variations of loaded carries. Of course you chose appropriate weight and choice.
Oh! Hmm.. that might be difficult as I don't have any weights nor any space to store anything somewhat bigger. My flat is tiny and has no storage space. Need to be creative I guess.0 -
A bag of rice, beans or dog food might be plenty for you. You probably have something suitable to carry around in your apartment now. We don't really need expensive exercise equipment. Mothers with young children do loaded carries with their children. "Creative" is a good idea.0
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Of course though bags of rice are not available here (not even 10kg!), and my heaviest kettlebell is also only 12kg (26lbs). Hell, my 3 week travel bag is never heavier than 10-15kg including snorkeling and hiking gear. Hmm.. all lightweight stuff... *looks around*0
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The waiter walk with your 12 KG kettlebell might be right for you. I hope you give it a try.2
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Absolutely!1
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Straight arm planks, while working the abdominals, also work on improving the shoulder stabilizers which could be helpful for you. My office right now is working on increasing our planks to 4 minutes over 60 days. From there we will transition into a push-up challenge.0
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