Question about Pushups

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Carrot1971
Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I can do at least 30-40 girly pushups without breaking a sweat with no problem. But when I do real pushups my quads HURT. My QUADS? The only reason I have to drop to my knees is because of my legs, not my arms. What am I doing wrong? The same thing with doing planks. My legs hurt before my stomach does. What can I do so I don't tense these muscles up and get the workout for the right muscle group? What am I doing wrong?

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  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    Anyone? All I hear are crickets....
  • ZugTheMegasaurus
    ZugTheMegasaurus Posts: 801 Member
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    Just because the exercise isn't targeting your quads doesn't mean you aren't using them. My guess is that they're simply working harder than you're expecting during those exercises. If I were you, I'd do the forms of the exercises that were making me feel strain there; you can't ever strengthen the muscles if you're not working them.
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    Sounds like either:

    1. You have VERY weak quads, which shouldn't be it since almost everyone is quad dominate.
    2. Your form is off
    3. You are tensing your legs up tooo much.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Keep doing them, this will cease to be an issue as you get stronger.

    I find hip flexor strength and oblique strength to be a bigger limiting factor with one arm pushups than chest and tricep strength for me, but that will pass in time.

    Compound exercises like pushups strengthen your weak points faster than everything else, soon enough those weak points will no longer be weak points.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Sounds like either:

    1. You have VERY weak quads, which shouldn't be it since almost everyone is quad dominate.
    2. Your form is off
    3. You are tensing your legs up tooo much.

    Could be flexors and not quads; they are right next to each other. Flexor weakness is a common weak point in the plank position.
  • lauren3382
    lauren3382 Posts: 372 Member
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    I was also going to suggest weak hip flexors.
  • chuisle
    chuisle Posts: 1,052 Member
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    I would approach as with anything - improve bit by bit by making it more challenging. Try doing push ups at a 30-45 degree angle and work yourself close to the ground. It's a better approximation of a real push up than those with your knees on the ground.

    Agree that its probably hip flexors.
  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    How in the world do I strengthen my hip flexors? ??? I have very strong quads so I don't think its it. I AM flexing my quads alot. But should it really be that big of a difference between breezing through 40 girly pushups and not even being able to do 10 real pushups?
  • kgprice11
    kgprice11 Posts: 750 Member
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    Honestly doing push-ups also build your core area of your body, however you must have weak quads if they are hurting while doing push-ups or you are doing them wrong
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    How in the world do I strengthen my hip flexors?????

    Clean, snatches, barbell hip thrusts, Olympic high pulls, squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings

    basically anything that makes you bend at the hips.
  • RenfieldX
    RenfieldX Posts: 87 Member
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    I would approach as with anything - improve bit by bit by making it more challenging. Try doing push ups at a 30-45 degree angle and work yourself close to the ground. It's a better approximation of a real push up than those with your knees on the ground.

    Agree that its probably hip flexors.

    Yes, this. Doing proper form push ups at an angle (upper body higher than feet) is the way to go rather than the 'girlie' push ups with the knees on the ground. Doing it that way strengthens all of the muscles that you use for 'regular' push ups, making for an easier transition once you're ready. Decrease the elevation as you get stronger until you're doing them flat on the ground. Once you're rocking the regular push ups, you can then start elevating the feet to up the challenge.
  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    Well thats the problem, then. I have a bad back and can't bend at the waste for fear of throwing out my back. CRAP! So I just have to live with doing girly pushups or dealing with the pain?
  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    I would approach as with anything - improve bit by bit by making it more challenging. Try doing push ups at a 30-45 degree angle and work yourself close to the ground. It's a better approximation of a real push up than those with your knees on the ground.

    Agree that its probably hip flexors.

    Yes, this. Doing proper form push ups at an angle (upper body higher than feet) is the way to go rather than the 'girlie' push ups with the knees on the ground. Doing it that way strengthens all of the muscles that you use for 'regular' push ups, making for an easier transition once you're ready. Decrease the elevation as you get stronger until you're doing them flat on the ground. Once you're rocking the regular push ups, you can then start elevating the feet to up the challenge.

    This I can do....THANKS!
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
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    You could also try doing negatives. Do as many regular pushups as you can, then do as many negatives as you can before you do girly pushups.
  • ittybittypixie
    ittybittypixie Posts: 25
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    you can also do "push ups" standing in front of a wall. you put your feet a little further than arm-length away from the wall, and do the same thing as you would on the floor. hope this helps!
  • vendygirl
    vendygirl Posts: 718 Member
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    Well thats the problem, then. I have a bad back and can't bend at the waste for fear of throwing out my back. CRAP! So I just have to live with doing girly pushups or dealing with the pain?

    Just because you have a bad back doesn't mean you can't bend at the waist. You just have to be careful on how you bend. I too have a bad back (3 herniated dics once upon a time, at once) and I still bend at the waist. I just can't really bend over w/o bending my knees to some degree. Depending on the day I can bend almost all the way over with little bend but on bad days I have quite a bend in them. Squats will probably help a lot as little bending is required there.

    However, you know your body best so good luck.

    Also when you are doing plank is it while you are on the elbows or while on your hands? Because that can make a difference as well.

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