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    Push ups

    Posts: 251
    edited January 8 in Fitness and Exercise
    How do you go from only being able to do a handful of girly push ups to full-monty- unmodified push ups with ease?

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    • Posts: 2,956 Member
      start doing incline push-ups - ie. with the same form you would if parallel to the ground, place your hands against the wall, keep your elbows in and lower your body towards the wall.

      repeat.

      over time you will find you can increase the angle so you are lower and lower down the wall, or off a table.

      eventually you will reach ground level, and after that, raise your legs on something......

      :)
    • Posts: 921 Member
      even at my best physical shape, I have NEVER EVER been able to do ONE "real" push-up... I'll add it to the bucket list
    • Posts: 380
      By doing them - you can start yourself on a progression making them more difficult for example -

      Wall push-ups
      Push-ups on a high table
      Pushups on a low step
      Unmodified push-ups

      And then, just for fun -

      Walking pushups
      Pushup jacks
    • Posts: 281 Member
      How do you go from only being able to do a handful of girly push ups to full-monty- unmodified push ups with ease?

      PRACTICE PRACTICE AND PRACTICE.. Persistence and determination!!!
    • Posts: 229 Member
      Check out http://hundredpushups.com
    • Posts: 202 Member
      Practice. Lots and lots of practice.

      Another poster's recommendation about trying incline and slowly moving closer and closer to the floor is a good one too.
    • Posts: 70 Member
      Keep doing push ups from your knees. Then do push ups in a full plank, but with your hips slightly raised - this will put your weight back a little, and off of your hands. As you get stronger, move your hips down more until your body is in one straight line - don't ever let your hips drop, though! Always keep your core strong. Just go down as far as you can. And keep working on it, a little every other day. You'll get there in no time! :)
    • Posts: 251
      Will try the incline adjustment. I do all my push ups on my fists because I have a painful wrist (I damaged it from pushing it too far to pop it)
      Not sure if the fist thing is holding me back because I haven't built up my stabilizer muscles or not
    • Posts: 49,169 Member
      How do you go from only being able to do a handful of girly push ups to full-monty- unmodified push ups with ease?
      As you get good with girly push ups with your knees on the ground, then try doing them with your knees on a step. Eventually you'll be strong enough to get on your toes.
      Also instead of aligning your hands with your shoulders, align them more with your chest.

      A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
      IDEA Fitness member
      Kickboxing Certified Instructor
      Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    • Posts: 167 Member
      Define handful? Keep working and work your way up to say 20, 25, 30 girly pushups, what ever it takes. Each time try to do the first one unmodified, the rest girly, and increase that end number or dow more sets. Eventually you will build up the strength to get there. When you get one unmodified, go for two next time with the rest modified. Don't give up, repetition and practice will get you where you want to be.
    • Posts: 59 Member
      someone beat me to it. check out http://hundredpushups.com/#sthash.fBr92GMv.dpbs It's a great way to build up from a few to many
    • Posts: 5 Member
      Progressive push ups. Starting February 1, do one. Each day, add one more. By the end of the month, you'll be amazed that you're doing 28 push ups. I like starting at the beginning of the month so I can easily track how many I should be doing each day.
    • Posts: 3,908 Member
      By doing them - you can start yourself on a progression making them more difficult for example -

      Wall push-ups
      Push-ups on a high table
      Pushups on a low step
      Unmodified push-ups

      And then, just for fun -

      Walking pushups
      Pushup jacks

      This, and here's a video example of a progression http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mi7pZncY4Q

      Get off your knees, it's not the same exercise and you're wasting your times and causing discomfort to your knees.
    • Posts: 164 Member
      By doing them - you can start yourself on a progression making them more difficult for example -

      Wall push-ups
      Push-ups on a high table
      Pushups on a low step
      Unmodified push-ups

      And then, just for fun -

      Walking pushups
      Pushup jacks

      That's great advice! I will try this.. Thank you!
    • Posts: 17,299 Member
      How do you go from only being able to do a handful of girly push ups to full-monty- unmodified push ups with ease?

      www.hundredpushups.com

      I am 51 yo. For my entire life I could never do "full-monty" pushups. I started using the website above in Sept. Yesterday I did 100. Not all at once, but in sets varying from 5 - 20. And I'm still improving. Not as fast as the program seems to think I should. I've repeated weeks several times. But for me, doing 20 pushups in one set is a very big deal! :smile:
    • Posts: 3,908 Member
      Will try the incline adjustment. I do all my push ups on my fists because I have a painful wrist (I damaged it from pushing it too far to pop it)
      Not sure if the fist thing is holding me back because I haven't built up my stabilizer muscles or not

      You could try using these

      pushupbars.jpg

      to relieve wrist strain, or a substitute such as hexagonal dumbbells or kettlebells (big heavy ones), depending on what your gym has.
    • Posts: 818 Member
      http://hundredpushups.com/#sthash.voq81BxI.dpbs

      Also, as others said..Practice -:-)
    • Posts: 1,219 Member
      I'm not sure...it wasn't an option in bootcamp....girls had to do real pushups and there was no choice about it....pushups until you couldn't pushup no more, then do a few more after that on noodle arms. Then do some with a rifle on the backs of your hands....sorry, I guess I'm no help.
    • Posts: 251
      I'm not sure...it wasn't an option in bootcamp....girls had to do real pushups and there was no choice about it....pushups until you couldn't pushup no more, then do a few more after that on noodle arms. Then do some with a rifle on the backs of your hands....sorry, I guess I'm no help.

      Sometimes that's 3 push ups! My program calls for TWO 3 set push ups: Narrow and wide.
    • Posts: 35,719 Member
      PRACTICE PRACTICE AND PRACTICE.. Persistence and determination!!!

      this!

      i could only do girl press ups to start with, but since i started using dumbells as well i can now do 6 proper press ups and am working my way to a set of 10 and then 3 sets of 10.

      i am hoping that starting NROL4W will help me increase my upper body strength too

      doing plank to press up is great as well!!
    • Posts: 3,550 Member
      Try starting on your knees doing girly-ups. Then when you can get 20 of those with ease, graduate up to the real thing. No one is going to knock you for doing the girly ups. Even I do them when I can't hit that goal number. I just try harder next time to do less and less girlies and more and more of the real deal.
    • Posts: 1,897 Member
      Start with incline(even on the wall) and work your way to the floor.

      This also works for other things too, heh
    • Posts: 296 Member
      These are awesome suggestions!!
    • Posts: 1,414 Member
      I greatly increased the number of pushups I can do by increasing the amoutn of weight I can bench press.
    • Posts: 251
      I greatly increased the number of pushups I can do by increasing the amoutn of weight I can bench press.

      Working on that as well :)
    • Posts: 1,171 Member
      I like the wall and knee options.
      Also something that has helped me with doing regular push ups - a wider stance with my legs.
    • Posts: 15
      If you have stairs with room at the bottom, use them. Start at the 5th stair or so. Do sets at that stair until you feel strong enough to try the next stair. Keep progressing til your on the floor.
    • Posts: 184 Member
      Use a stability ball under your hips to do the push ups

      Over time, place the stability ball under your thighs, then shins,

      ...then try the full military style push up.

      The time sequence it will take depends are your overall strength, determination and dedication.

      Good luck.
    • Posts: 345 Member
      Keep doing them. When I started p90x. I could do maybe 20 in an HOUR. When I finished I was well over 167!
    • Posts: 2,181 Member
      For some people, it isn't chest or arm strength but the core strength that is lacking.

      So TRY PLANKS! There are a lot of plank styles out there, but any one of them will strengthen your core and help you with the push-up.
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