Pushups

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Replies

  • SmallMimi
    SmallMimi Posts: 541 Member
    Great recommendations, think I will put some of these ideas to use also.
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Try also folding a yoga mat a few times over and then doing on your knees. For me, this makes a huge difference.

    Thanks much!!!
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Great recommendations, think I will put some of these ideas to use also.

    woot!!! yeah love that we are helping each other out!!!
  • southpaw211
    southpaw211 Posts: 385 Member
    Regardless of your opinion on Tony Horton (personally, I love the guy, but I know he can be polarizing), here's a YouTube video that totally changed the way my wife went about doing push-ups when we do P90X together.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NFVD7-2dx0

    Wow, thanks for this! After not being able to do a single pushup on day 1, I can now do most of the pushups on day 31 (of course we're only doing Power 90 at the moment). This of course is on my knees. No mas! I can't wait to try this technique tomorrow morning on my pushups! Whenever I try them on my toes, I definitely go down much lower than he says and then I struggle coming back up. I'm sure I drive the toes and not the heels, too.
  • xxthoroughbred
    xxthoroughbred Posts: 346 Member
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    You want to get rid of flab from your arms? Pushups aren't the best way to go - they mostly work your pecs, triceps and deltoids. Not that you shouldn't do them, but they won't help the most for what you want.
  • 2knoxs
    2knoxs Posts: 81
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    Can you do one traditional push up? Have you tried? No derogitory inflection, I am asking with a serious tone. If you havent, then you should try. If you can do one full push up then do that one, daily, add to it, even if it is one and the second one is only 1/4 way back up, most people can do one push up. If you cant complete one, do as much of the full rep as you can, if that means the negative and exerting to go up, but not moving then so be it, one day very soon you will start to be able to push yourself up and you will be on cloud nine. So much of a push up is mental, so much of a good hard core work out is mental! The push up is a complete total body exercise, it engages a lot of muscle groups, concentrate on form, its important You need to breath, if it is tough and you dont HEAR your self breath then you probably are holding your breath which will hinder your ability to push up. From years of experience (Im soft and flabby now but on the road to changing back) you have to do the push up, it will not only build your strength but your confidence. So see if you can do that ONE full push up and then do more a different way. In my opinion you will not see results you want from a wall push up, you have to have resistance. My experience and knowledge come from not ebing able to a damn upper body exercise, to being able to push up more than I could count, hang on a pull bar with my chin over the bar for 60+ seconds, and doing 5 pull ups in 13 week (Marine Corps Boot Camp) The biggest thing is just do it. Recently I started JM30DS and couldn't do a proper push up (pissed me off) now I am up to 5 and I have only done the workout 13 times. You want this? You got this! You just need the right mental attitude. :) Good Luck!!
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Regardless of your opinion on Tony Horton (personally, I love the guy, but I know he can be polarizing), here's a YouTube video that totally changed the way my wife went about doing push-ups when we do P90X together.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NFVD7-2dx0

    I just did 10 of these in a row!!! holy, I'm gonna be toned in no time! Thanks so much!
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    Can you do one traditional push up? Have you tried? No derogitory inflection, I am asking with a serious tone. If you havent, then you should try. If you can do one full push up then do that one, daily, add to it, even if it is one and the second one is only 1/4 way back up, most people can do one push up. If you cant complete one, do as much of the full rep as you can, if that means the negative and exerting to go up, but not moving then so be it, one day very soon you will start to be able to push yourself up and you will be on cloud nine. So much of a push up is mental, so much of a good hard core work out is mental! The push up is a complete total body exercise, it engages a lot of muscle groups, concentrate on form, its important You need to breath, if it is tough and you dont HEAR your self breath then you probably are holding your breath which will hinder your ability to push up. From years of experience (Im soft and flabby now but on the road to changing back) you have to do the push up, it will not only build your strength but your confidence. So see if you can do that ONE full push up and then do more a different way. In my opinion you will not see results you want from a wall push up, you have to have resistance. My experience and knowledge come from not ebing able to a damn upper body exercise, to being able to push up more than I could count, hang on a pull bar with my chin over the bar for 60+ seconds, and doing 5 pull ups in 13 week (Marine Corps Boot Camp) The biggest thing is just do it. Recently I started JM30DS and couldn't do a proper push up (pissed me off) now I am up to 5 and I have only done the workout 13 times. You want this? You got this! You just need the right mental attitude. :) Good Luck!!

    Thanks!!! I just watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NFVD7-2dx0 and was able to do 10 in a row... what an accomplishment for me!!!
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    You want to get rid of flab from your arms? Pushups aren't the best way to go - they mostly work your pecs, triceps and deltoids. Not that you shouldn't do them, but they won't help the most for what you want.

    Ok! What is the best way to go? :happy:
  • xxthoroughbred
    xxthoroughbred Posts: 346 Member
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    You want to get rid of flab from your arms? Pushups aren't the best way to go - they mostly work your pecs, triceps and deltoids. Not that you shouldn't do them, but they won't help the most for what you want.

    Ok! What is the best way to go? :happy:

    Take a look at some of these exercises - they'll really work triceps (if you're concerned about the back of your arms): http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/10/muscle/triceps

    If you think you have big arms overall, try kettle bell exercises.
  • confettibetti
    confettibetti Posts: 405 Member
    Hi all! Just wondering what your thoughts are on "wall pushups" instead of "floor pushups"? I am not strong enough to do military style pushups yet, and doing it the other way hurts my knees... Is it as effective? I need to remove some.. ah-hem flab from my arms...:-) Thanks in advance!

    You want to get rid of flab from your arms? Pushups aren't the best way to go - they mostly work your pecs, triceps and deltoids. Not that you shouldn't do them, but they won't help the most for what you want.

    Ok! What is the best way to go? :happy:

    Take a look at some of these exercises - they'll really work triceps (if you're concerned about the back of your arms): http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/muscle/id/10/muscle/triceps

    If you think you have big arms overall, try kettle bell exercises.
    Thank you thank you! :)
  • bleumanchu
    bleumanchu Posts: 23 Member
    Thanks!!! I just watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NFVD7-2dx0 and was able to do 10 in a row... what an accomplishment for me!!!

    Way to go!
  • suelegal
    suelegal Posts: 1,282 Member
    I realized that my pushup form is not great. Check out this video.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiFdfDBY77g&feature=related

    I think it's pretty helpful and is what I intend to do to relearn my form. I've just started New Rules of Lifting for Women. This program wants pushups with elbows at your side, which I can't do at all! So I'm moving backwards, but I think I will be better off relearning.
  • kaylurzz
    kaylurzz Posts: 121 Member
    Wall push ups are a great way to start. Floor push-ups hurt my wrists, so I usually stick to wall ones.
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
    And the wall doesn't engage your core muscles where the real power needed for a push up is. If you go to a gym I do my pushups on the Smith Machine and just keep lowering the bar as I get stronger. Works great!

    This is exactly how I started. You can also use a bench or step with risers (or your own stairs, actually). These keep the line/angle of your body consistent to floor pushups; knees do not.

    But any way you do them is better than not doing them at all :)

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