GIRLY push ups vs. MANLY push ups?!?

Monroe121

Hi All,

I want to tone my arms-- How many push ups (and reps) should I do? The giylr ones or the manly ones?


Toning my belly!! How many crunches (and reps) should I do? I want a wash board!! :bigsmile:

Thank you for the advice!!

UponThisRock

to achieve what you're looking for, you need to focus on getting stronger and losing weight. Unweighted exercises are only going to get you so far.

grapenutSF

Unforch for me, pushups are rather far from "unweighted". Real pushups are great exercises, IMHO. If you can't start there, there are other ways to work your way up besides "girl" pushups. See New Rules of Lifting for Women. Oh, and that'll also inspire you to lift other things, which kinda rocks.

mandylooo

This is a very individual thing and will depend on your level of fitness. i f you know the exercises, then you almost need to work out how many you can do in 1 set yourself , with the aim of completing 3 sets yourself.

erickirb

I would suggest you do as many regular ones as you can in a row, then drop to your knees and continue doing as many "girly" push-ups as you can, without taking a break, then take a 2-3 minute break and do it again.

even if you only get 2 regular followed by 6-7 girly ones that is a start and you will continue getting better and able to do more and more of each. Once you can get 15 or more regular you can stop with the girly ones at the end.

safetypins

I prefer the term "modified" because I've seen grown men incapable of doing "manly" push ups and my 15 year old sister beast out 50...

I like to mix them and add more non-modified as I get stronger....

mcdonl

Eric gave good advice. When I started P90X I had to resort to modified pushups on some of the exercises. You will get stronger.

MaximalLife

to achieve what you're looking for, you need to focus on getting stronger and losing weight. Unweighted exercises are only going to get you so far.

When I was....er...a "guest of the state" ....lol

We had no other options.
Here are some great sites for those interested in Body Weight Exercises.
ENJOY!
http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/index.html

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/equip/bodyweight.html

http://extreme-exercises.com/body-weight-exercises/

engineman312

sorry, their is no fixed number of reps of exercises that you need to do, or distance you need to run to be able to get the results you want.

appearance is the end result of hard work. if you do a combination of strength training and cardio you will see results, but it will take a very long time.

by the way, no one says you have to be able to knock out 100 push ups in one sitting. try this: do a fixed number of push ups every half hour. say you can do about 5 in a row before your arms get shaky. so do five every thirty minutes over the course of the day, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. if you need to skip a half an hour you make them up asap. over the course of 16 hours you'll have done 160 push ups. do the assisted ones, and build up to the full "manly" push ups.

TimWilkinson101

You "could" google the "100 pushup challenge" (which also has situps) and go with that.

When I was a LOT younger, I used to do as many pressups as I could in a minute as quick as I could (stops the lactic acid build up and the hurt) just before I went to bed. I got up to 110 in a minute and I was pretty strong. It also improved my chest and stomach (I had a 4 and a bit pack - never managed a 6 pack). That was using the "manly" pressups. However, start with the easier ones and "move up" if and when you feel like it. I was doing one armed and feet raised agaisnt the wall by the end.

i'm a lot older now, so when I recently did the push up challenge, I had to pack in at 70 something as my wrist was just hurting too much. Ah well.

So in short, do either push up type and do what feels comfortable. Push yourself a bit more each time if you can and you'll get the results you want.

AmyRhubarb

Unforch for me, pushups are rather far from "unweighted". Real pushups are great exercises, IMHO. If you can't start there, there are other ways to work your way up besides "girl" pushups. See New Rules of Lifting for Women. Oh, and that'll also inspire you to lift other things, which kinda rocks.

Real pushups are a huge challenge for me! And I really think I need to get that book. I keep hearing great things about it.

I would suggest you do as many regular ones as you can in a row, then drop to your knees and continue doing as many "girly" push-ups as you can, without taking a break, then take a 2-3 minute break and do it again.

even if you only get 2 regular followed by 6-7 girly ones that is a start and you will continue getting better and able to do more and more of each. Once you can get 15 or more regular you can stop with the girly ones at the end.

That's what I try to do - even if it's only a few regular pushups, I do as many as I can and then drop to my knees for the rest. As I get stronger, I do more regulars and fewer from the knees.

engineman312

here is a good article for a beginner body weight routine.

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/

GeneveSparkles

I like doing pyramid push ups, do 10 p/u then take a 15-30 sec break, then do 9 w/ a break etc.... until you're down to 1. You end up doing 46 P/U but it doesn't feel nearly as hard if you just did 46 in a row!!! As you get stronger you can increase your starting number.

(Manly ones by the way, you end up using more muscles then the girly ones )

knittnponder

The like the advice to get NROL. I'm just starting the program for women and so far am really, really liking it. In his book he explains why modifying the pushup by doing them on an angle is better than going to your knees. When you go to your knees you take the majority of your core out of the equation. So while you're making your arms strong the core isn't getting much progress. If you do them at an angle (like against a wall, counter top, bench or box depending on where you need to start) you're developing ALL the pushup muscles. You wanted to work your abs, a pushup modified in this way will help! P90X has a gazillion pushup variations in it too but he does have you go to your knees. I started with that program and one benefit of all those different varieties is I have no fear of the pushup now! lol

Body weight will get you started but there are so many varieties you can do to keep making progress. And then when you've whipped all of those you can get a weighted vest or use resistance bands to up the ante. Just loop the band over your back and hold the end snugly under your hands to get resistance. You don't need the fancy band holder some companies sell but you can buy one that is designed to make your pushups more challenging. Of course I'm all for doing the whole NROL4W program but if you don't have the space or money for all those weights there are still things you can do!

mhotch

I started doing wall push ups, worked my way down to the kitchen counter. I would do them while waiting for water to boil, or something that was cooking. Worked my way down to the floor. then I would do 1-2 "manly" and dropped to my knees and finish the set in the modified push up. Each week I would add 1-2 regular, until I was able to do 2 sets of regular.

rovernio

i used this site to build my push ups range a few years ago can do 100+ now http://hundredpushups.com/

hlcook

I disagree with whoever said unweighted exercises won't get you far. I was 30lbs overweight and when I joined the army I could do TWO pushups (from my toes).

Do AS MANY from your toes as you can, when you have maxed out, do as many as you can from your knees.

Repeat daily

If you can do 30 push ups from your knees, that translates roughly to 10 ( or 1/3) from your toes.

If you want to increase the push ups from your toes, you will want to just do as many as you can and then switch to knees... and do as many as you can. You will get stronger and your arms will get more defined.

Heather

trkinsky

When I first started my fitness push I was 40 lb over where I am today. I couldn't do many regular push-ups and needed to build strength. I didn't care which version I used as long as I was progressing and did not injure myself. Today I can do hundreds in a workout session. One thing to try is a push-up against a stair/step, or an incline PU. Here you are keeping your back straight and toes on the ground and can "graduate" as you get stronger. A great core exercise to get you in shape for pushups is the plank. Body weight exercises will tone so do what you feel you can do, but continually challenge yourself.

Monroe121

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions!! :flowerforyou:

rebeccawalker1982

If you do the "girly" push up the correct way, you will actually get a good work out. Make sure your butt is down and back is straight and you will feel it. You could always start wtih the girl push ups if you are not that strong yet and when you get to like 30 or 40 with no prob start maybe warming up with girl and then go to regular or switch it around....or alternate.

lilRicki

I read that girly pushups are pointless (New Rules of Lifting). You can do them standing up, find a bench or something and use that instead of the floor. You are engaging ALL of your core muscles, but the minute you drop to your knees, you're only engaging the upper part of your body.

elgo1819

Never understimate the value of a good pushup or any body-weight-based exercise. I do a couple hundred pushups a day. Not at once, but I always start and end my day with pushups, 30-50 depending on how sleepy I am. Haha.

Another great thing to do for these lazy winter days, while watching tv, drop down and bust out as many as you can during a commercial breaks. You can still enjoy your tv, but you still get that little bit of victory in there. If you manage to do just two pushups during a commercial, over the course of 2 hours of tv, you'll probably have done around 25.

Once you get good at pushups, you can elevate your feet, such as putting them in a chair. This focuses more body weight onto your arms. Be careful doing this, I'm guilty of falling on my face before haha.

fteale

I do regular pushups, not the girly ones. If you do them right you'll exercise your abs as well. No amount of crunches will give you a 6 pack, as that's about body fat. I usually do a minute of press ups, as many as I can full - which is usually 20-25, then switch to girly if I really am going to face plant if I attempt another.