never been able to do a push-up. how do you get there?

CeleryStalker

I've never had any kind of upper body strength. Not even as a kid to play on the monkey bars at the park! I'm in the processing of losing some weight and one of my goals is to develop my upper body strength, including the ability to add a set of pushups into my circuit. Problem is, I can't even do a single one, let alone a set of them!

How do you work up to the point that you can do them? I can do 'girl pushups' and 'wall pushups', but they've never really bridged the gap to 'real pushups'. Granted, I probably never stuck with them long enough to make a difference, lol!

Advice?

wellbert

start on the wall
then the knees
then the full thing

Gotta increase your workload. If you just do 10 modified pushups every day, you will only increase in strength to a certain point. Have to add more.

look at the 100 pushups program.

CeleryStalker

Thanks Is this the one?

http://hundredpushups.com/

Or is it this one?
http://www.100pushups.info/

Or a different one entirely? LOL

cyndy500

I started doing girly pushups every day gradually building up to 30 and then started doing full pushups which are quite a bit harder! Started with 5,then 10 and then 20-now I do at least 3 sets a day and can see a real difference in my arms. Takes time and effort but totally worth it!

fionarama

that was one of my fantasies too, had never ever been able to and now I can. I did 30 DS followed by 6wek six pack and after those I could do some - I think it was holding myself up with all those planks. Push ups are great as its not just your arms its your whole core that you need to do them. I can now do 3 x 10 so I'm still not megaly good but just to be able to do them at all is a big deal for me.

DaveRCF

Pushups are a great workout but be aware to take it slowly. Part of the reason is that with hands flat on the floor, there is a fair amount of stress placed on the wrists. Also, there is a fair amount of stress placed on the muscles surrounding the shoulders if the pushup is done correctly (that is, nose pretty much touching the floor at the bottom of the pushup while maintaining a straight back with neck aligned with the back).

There are few exercises as pure as the pushup for a full body workout with no equipment. Good luck with your efforts!

Spanaval

Look up 'negative pushups'. They can be a bridge between girly pushups and the real thing.

healthyme155

I have the exact same goal/issue. I can't even do the girly push ups on my knees though. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread, thanks for posting!

emelypoynter

We work on pushups a lot being the military! The biggest things I have found to help are; negatives, core strength, and just plain doing them. A good negative description given to us from a Air Force physiologist is below:


The Negative Pushup

The negative pushup is performed by starting face-down on the floor with your feet together and your hands directly under your shoulders. There should be a straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Keep your body in this position and slowly lower yourself toward the ground by bending both elbows. This is the “negative” movement of the pushup. As your chest reaches the ground, bend both knees and place them on the floor to take some of the weight off the positive movement of the pushup. Place your knees on the floor and return to the starting position by performing a knee pushup. As your arms straighten, lift both knees off the floor and return to the starting position. Repeat.

suzikay12

45 days of 30 Day Shred and I can now do 10 real push ups.

aproc

I just stuck with girl pushups for a while and would try a real push up each time. Once I got to where I could almost do a pushup, then I just continuously tried and tried more frequently. It'll come soon enough. Doing other chest exercises like dumbbell presses and bench press also helped me.

ArroganceInStep

Thanks Is this the one?

http://hundredpushups.com/

Or is it this one?
http://www.100pushups.info/

Or a different one entirely? LOL

My fiancee is following http://hundredpushups.com/ doing the pushups from her knees.
Once she can do 100 knee pushups, she'll switch to doing the same program with full pushups.
I think it's a good strategy.

BeckyJill7

I had pretty good success after completing the 30 Day Shred also. There are a lot of planks and push-up moves in each level. I was rather impressed with myself by the end of the dvd. You are pretty fatigued when doing a lot of the moves so they seem extra hard.

I think the key to success here is mainly persistence. Just keep at it and you will be able to do toe pushups before you know it

CeleryStalker

Thanks for all the advice, everyone This is something that has driven me nuts since I was a kid (not so much the pushups, just not being able to do things other kids could do....it's not like i was a fat little girl, so it never made sense to me!)

Watching my 7 year old daughter climb several feet up a rope that was hovering about a foot above the lake this weekend really drove home the point that I need to get myself in check. LOL!

PS: i've got the 30 day shred dvd. As I recall, that is one BRUTAL workout. LOL For someone that considers myself to be bottom-of-the-body strong, Jillian had me where I couldn't hardly walk or lower myself down to the toilet for about 2 days after just the very first day. LOL! Makes me really feel for the folks on Biggest Loser, LMAO!