push-up question

7elizamae

When I started with my new friend, Jillian Michaels, about 6 weeks ago, I could only do one sorry little lady push-up. Now I can do about 20!

I can only do about 5 or 6 military-style push-ups. And I don't think the form is great -- I can't go all the way down with these and feel pretty shaky.

So, the question is: do I do 20 lady push-ups or 6 military-style-with-imperfect-form push-ups?

PunkyDucky

I'd say stick with the military form.
It's best to try to do 6 now and just continue working your way up each week.

By the way, good for you to getting to that level. I can't even do more than 5 lady-push ups.

7elizamae

I'd say stick with the military form.
It's best to try to do 6 now and just continue working your way up each week.

By the way, good for you to getting to that level. I can't even do more than 5 lady-push ups.

Maybe you should meet my friend Jillian.

7elizamae

Just one bump...

NotGoddess

I'd say do as many as you can military style, then switch when it gets too hard.

ninerbuff

Make sure your hands are inline with your chest. Many females have their arms inline with their shoulders. And start with your elbows closer to your body and as you get stronger, flare them out.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nutmegoreo

When I was working on building pushups I learned two methods:

1) Do as many full pushups as you can, then drop to your knees, do as many of those as you can, and then hold plank for as long as you can.

2) Do as many full pushups as you can, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, etc. until you are doing only one pushup. In this case, because you can do 6, by the time you are done the pyramid, you will have completed 21 pushups during that session.

I have found both of these methods very effective at improving my pushup count. I managed to get up to 43 consecutive before dropping! Best of luck :flowerforyou:

brower47

When I was working on building pushups I learned two methods:

1) Do as many full pushups as you can, then drop to your knees, do as many of those as you can, and then hold plank for as long as you can.

2) Do as many full pushups as you can, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, etc. until you are doing only one pushup. In this case, because you can do 6, by the time you are done the pyramid, you will have completed 21 pushups during that session.

I have found both of these methods very effective at improving my pushup count. I managed to get up to 43 consecutive before dropping! Best of luck :flowerforyou:

Interesting. Thanks for sharing these tips.

KBjimAZ

Don't discount the "Grease The Groove" idea. Randomly throughout the day, drop and do one (or two) really good push up(s). That's how I improved my pull ups, and it's easy to accomplish.

jassnip

Hold out for good/great form. If your form isn't good you aren't getting the benefit of the exercise you are trying to do...

kelly_e_montana

Make sure your hands are inline with your chest. Many females have their arms inline with their shoulders. And start with your elbows closer to your body and as you get stronger, flare them out.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My trainers always taught me that flaring my elbows out would cause unnecessary stress on my rotator cuff and that I should keep them close to my body. In both my CF classes and a sports conditioning class I take elsewhere, the instructors will stop us mid-push up and tell us to keep our elbows closer to our body to prevent shoulder injury. Just curious why you differ in opinion?

RhiannonBaugh

Do both!!! DO as many full push ups as you can and after that do as many half push ups as you can and each time try and do more and more of the full push ups until your strong enough and only need to do them. 2 weeks ago i couldn't do any full push ups now i can do 15 before i need to take a 30 second break! practice makes perfect good luck!

Tatyanne

Jillian is one of my best friends!
In one month I lost 2.8lbs and 11.2inches thanks to her videos and my commitment :blushing:

I can do 20 lady push ups as well, and so far only 5 military one.
I prefer the good form to the type of push up, so I've been doing it lady like in the videos, but I'm also doing 30 Day Challenge Push up (started last week), so in this I try to do it military style

Make sure your hands are inline with your chest. Many females have their arms inline with their shoulders. And start with your elbows closer to your body and as you get stronger, flare them out.

Great advice!

KarenJanine

...I can't go all the way down with these and feel pretty shaky.

To increase your range of motion, use negatives - get into the military push up start position and lower yourself down very slowly until you are millimetres off the floor. Then drop knees down and push back up.

Here's a good guide for how to progress your push ups: http://fivex3.com/2011/09/05/everybody-can-do-a-great-pushup-heres-how/

7elizamae

Reply to Nutmegoreo:

Gulp. That sounds completely intimidating. :huh:

But I'll try it.

7elizamae

I like this idea. I might try it with pull-ups. I can not do one single pull-up.

But we have a bar that my teenage boys use, so I might try this 'grease the groove' thing.

7elizamae

.

7elizamae

;

thesupremeforce

If you're serious about doing more push ups, you should definitely use a program that's specifically for push ups. I recently completed this one.

http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Granted, our starting points are different, but I did increase how many I could do at once from 40 to 100 in less than a month. Like with most things, if you want to get better/good at something, you need to put an emphasis on doing that particular exercise (or whatever).

kelly_e_montana

If you're serious about doing more push ups, you should definitely use a program that's specifically for push ups. I recently completed this one.

http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Granted, our starting points are different, but I did increase how many I could do at once from 40 to 100 in less than a month. Like with most things, if you want to get better/good at something, you need to put an emphasis on doing that particular exercise (or whatever).

I am starting from almost 40 and hoping to get to 100 and just started this program last week. Awesome to hear of your success!

nutmegoreo

Reply to Nutmegoreo:

Gulp. That sounds completely intimidating. :huh:

But I'll try it.

It might sound intimidating, but honestly, it works really well. Try one, then try the other and see what you are comfortable with. You will be surprised at how far you can come and how quickly.

EllaIsNotEnchanted

Make sure your hands are inline with your chest. Many females have their arms inline with their shoulders. And start with your elbows closer to your body and as you get stronger, flare them out.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My trainers always taught me that flaring my elbows out would cause unnecessary stress on my rotator cuff and that I should keep them close to my body. In both my CF classes and a sports conditioning class I take elsewhere, the instructors will stop us mid-push up and tell us to keep our elbows closer to our body to prevent shoulder injury. Just curious why you differ in opinion?

I'm not a trainer. But if you are talking about the difference between shoulders in and out it's the muscle you are working. I had no idea regular push-ups were considered bad for the rotator cuff (then again I practice good form). I guess it's because joint stabilization.

hotbikermama40

I'm going to try both of these...thanks! :flowerforyou:

When I was working on building pushups I learned two methods:

1) Do as many full pushups as you can, then drop to your knees, do as many of those as you can, and then hold plank for as long as you can.

2) Do as many full pushups as you can, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, rest for 60 seconds, then do one less, etc. until you are doing only one pushup. In this case, because you can do 6, by the time you are done the pyramid, you will have completed 21 pushups during that session.

I have found both of these methods very effective at improving my pushup count. I managed to get up to 43 consecutive before dropping! Best of luck :flowerforyou:

ninerbuff

Make sure your hands are inline with your chest. Many females have their arms inline with their shoulders. And start with your elbows closer to your body and as you get stronger, flare them out.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My trainers always taught me that flaring my elbows out would cause unnecessary stress on my rotator cuff and that I should keep them close to my body. In both my CF classes and a sports conditioning class I take elsewhere, the instructors will stop us mid-push up and tell us to keep our elbows closer to our body to prevent shoulder injury. Just curious why you differ in opinion?

Keeping them in will help IF your shoulders are weak (which is the case with most females). If you noticed I said "as you get stronger" (meaning pushups get easier to do and reps increase) then flaring the elbows out further from the body will make the degree of difficulty harder.
Keeping the elbows close puts more emphasis on the arms than the chest, but does protect the shoulder more. But IF there isn't an issue with the shoulders, then it's fine to have the elbows flare out more.
It's ironic that you mention CF trainers on push ups because weighted snatches, jerks and clean and presses put way more stress on the shoulders than push ups do.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

yogicarl

I won't be flairing my elbows out in push-ups ever - no matter how strong or skilled I get - I respect my shoulder joints too much.

I've seen too many shoulder screw ups in yoga buddies when they perform the yoga equivalent of a push-up (Plank to Chaturanga Dandasana and back) by not having the elbows brush the rib cage both sides on the way down and back up and leaning over the shoulder line too much. Shoulder joints are vital to movement and too easy to mess up.

beardedwarriortx

100 pushups.com has a good free program that might help you.

ninerbuff

I won't be flairing my elbows out in push-ups ever - no matter how strong or skilled I get - I respect my shoulder joints too much.

I've seen too many shoulder screw ups in yoga buddies when they perform the yoga equivalent of a push-up (Plank to Chaturanga Dandasana and back) by not having the elbows brush the rib cage both sides on the way down and back up and leaning over the shoulder line too much. Shoulder joints are vital to movement and too easy to mess up.

It's really a matter of choice. Most injuries in exercise happen because of bad form or attempting to do more than one can actually handle. Lots of people who attempt push ups have bad form and hence a shoulder injury can occur.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

yogicarl

@ninerbuff. I respect your viewpoint.