Can't do a single push up!

Ice_azure · April 2013

:sad:

I have never done exercises frankly. I started 'Insanity' By Shaun T. I must say, I was breathless and dying during the warm up! lol: laugh:

I couldn't complete the fit test due to the push ups involved. I have tried several times to do, there's a lot of strain on my back .
I then tried to do te 2nd day , again left in between!

Has anybody lost inches off belly or hips/chest without push ups?

I feel discouraged that I couldn't do them despite a lot of effort on trying.:sad:

I'm 155lbs - 5'1 height - female.
29 Years old.

I'm blessed with 3 children. And I have gained a lot of baby weight AND ate a lot of junk food/ over eating :bigsmile: Hence I have a flabby belly and hips! Pear shaped . Now I feel How wrong I was that I ate what ever I felt like and to hearts content.

So my question, Is it worth the effort that I will lose weight / inches without push ups??

I need motivation..
Has someone did it not perfectly but still lost inches?

bookstitch · April 2013

I can only do a few and then I'm done. I have the information for the 100 push up challenge, just haven't started it yet. I work in plank position a lot and see how long I can hold it. Or a new favorite, hold plank position and then touch my left hand to my right, and then back to center. Then right hand to left, and then center. And that would be 1. Continue and do 10 of those. That will at least help build your arm muscle and endurance and then you can try push ups. I tell myself to do at least 1 push up a day because that is more than I normally do. And my motivation is that every bit counts.
Good luck and give it a shot!!

beattie1 · April 2013

Can you do one when you're standing, leaning / pressing against a wall? Build up some strength, then move your feet away from the wall and repeat. Progress to "box press ups" where you kneel down with your knees and hips at right angles and raise and lower your shoulders by bending your elbows. Gradually move your knees back so your shoulders and arms are lifting more of your weight. By building up your muscles you can eventually get strong enough to do "proper" press ups on your toes. Expect this process to take time and work your way up slowly.

MidnightDave · April 2013

We're all at different places on our fitness journey. Start laying on your stomach. Then come up to arms length with your knees on the floor if you can. If not, just keep at it every day until you can. That's called a plank, the push up's kid brother. Hold yourself up in a plank as long as you can. Don't be afraid to quiver a little, it builds character. ;-) You can move to planks on your toes if you want, or stay on your knees. Eventually, from a plank with your knees on the floor you'll be able to lower yourself, then come back up and guess what, you just did your first push up. From there, do more, and even more, then try one, just one, on your toes and remember today when you couldn't do any--you'll get there--if you choose to do so. It's in all of us to achieve nearly anything, we just have to want it and to believe we can do it, and then...work up to it. Be sure to post when you're doing spider push ups and don't feel bad if you don't get to one armed push ups, even I'm leaving that to Jack Palance and the young ones. ;-)

holothuroidea · April 2013

Does your home have stairs?

Do push ups on the tallest stair you can reach. Try to do 5 sets of 20. Do them every other day and track your progress. When you can do 5 sets of 20, move down to the next step and keep going until you can do a push up on the floor.

You can also do a "snake" push up.

Start in a plank, put your knees on the floor, lower yourself down slowly, come up to a cobra position, then move your legs up into a plank. Keep doing this movement until you can skip steps. First, try not putting your knees down in the beginning, then try pushing your whole body up instead of snaking.

I can't do a push up yet either, but I've been doing those things and I've made serious progress. I can now do pushups on the second stair, I started on the kitchen counter a couple of months ago, not even able to do 20 at a time.

MaraPN · April 2013

I feel you!
i started NROLFW today and i had to do 2 sets of 15 pushups!
I did 2 sets of 10 pushups somewhere inbetween girly and boxpress.
And those were hard! Just keep at it, with time comes strenght.

sauci · April 2013

Try doing them against a wall first, then with knees bent on the floor. You'll soon manage it , keep trying!

Ice_azure · April 2013

wow, so many messages!

I was in writing that my son pressed enter! lol
I wasn't done with completing the message as I had to ...

Thank you everyone for your input.

Ice_azure · April 2013

I tried against the wall, but then again, after a couple of them, I get exhausted.
I tried on my knees, it seems it puts a lot strain on them...

I feel I'm in so bad shape that I can't do them ...

SO my question ... Will I still be able to lose weight/ inches Doing insanity if I'm not able to do Push ups?

Of course I'll keep trying so that One day I can do a REAL push up...:bigsmile:

laineybz · April 2013

I also really struggle doing "proper" push ups. I'm gonna build them up, and hopefully i'll manage them eventually. I'm also doing Insanity and i havent done the push ups alot of the time but i can defo feel a difference. Keep at it!x

lambchristie · April 2013

Ice_Azure ... Its hard to do push ups...but what I discovered is that I worked up to being able to do them by:

1) up against a wall; after a few weeks and building a little strength in my back and upper arms,
2) I moved to my kitchen counter. Put your hands on the edge of the counter and push up. You will feel the affect
3) I then moved to a park bench or tire (the size off a semi truck...we have them at the gym). Again ... you've built up stronger arms
and back from using the wall and the kitchen counter ...
4) I can now do a few on the floor but trust me they are not perfect.

Its a matter of patience with yourself and adapting to what you can do now, until you can do them like in your workout video. Each day you do them, add 2 or 3 more than you do the previous day.

AND MAYBE you need to work on upper body strength FIRST before trying pushups. Listen to your body and not what the guy in the video is saying you should be doing.

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

Vailara · April 2013

I'm sure that pushups are just really hard for some people. I couldn't do them at all when I was young, fit and slim. I can now do them (while obese), but that's after working on them for a year! I suspect they are particularly hard if you don't have either good upper body strength (me - I'm also bad at the bench press) or good core strength (to keep your body aligned).

Anyway, obviously during that year that I was trying to do pushups and couldn't, I lost weight, so no, you don't need to be able to do pushups to lose weight!

Jesusgirl1984 · April 2013

I tried to do push ups but my back is weak so trying push ups against the wall sounds like a good option for me. Can you do sit ups ?

holothuroidea · April 2013

I tried against the wall, but then again, after a couple of them, I get exhausted.
I tried on my knees, it seems it puts a lot strain on them...

You got exhausted? Good!

Try for 5 sets of 20. If you can only do 5 in the first set, that's fine. If by the time you get to the 5th set you can't do anymore, awesome! You're muscles are going to get really strong, don't worry about it.

Keep doing it until you can do 5 sets of 20, then move down to the kitchen counter. Do them every other day, keep track of your progress on a piece of paper. Tape it to your fridge to remind yourself how awesome you are.

Knee push ups are not an effective intermediate for real push ups, they don't engage the same core stability muscles. Plus they're really bad for your knees, especially if you're overweight. Don't bother with them.

neandermagnon · April 2013

yes you can still do it... just do as much as you can, and push yourself to do a little bit better than last time... and over time your strength and fitness level will increase.

If you can do a couple of wall push-ups, do them, as many as you can. the number will go up

to strengthen your lower back, try doing planks (knees on the floor to begin with). if you feel a lot of stress in your lower back while you do push-ups, you need to do an easier version (for the time being) and work on strengthening your core (planks do this) and as your arms strength and core strength improve you can graduate to more difficult versions. Also many of the exercises in the programme you're doing will help strengthen your core.

as unfit as you may be right now, you truly can get fit, just keep on trying to do a little bit better than last time, stick with it, be patient, and before too long you'll be super fit

and really proud of what you achieved

EmilyOfTheSun · April 2013

Start on your knees with "girl push-ups."
I did girl push-ups for 5 months then finally decided to try real ones again....and BAM! I did 20 standard push-ups in a row.
Start with something simple and work your way up to the real thing.

bcattoes · April 2013

Insanity is not for someone that has never really exercised. You need to start off with something less intense and build up to it. That's why they give you the fitness test. To see if you are fit enough.

Two years ago I could not do even 1 pushup either. I started doing them against my desk. I could still only do 3 regular pushups. So, I began following www.hundredpushups.com with a goal of being able to do a set of 20 in Sep 2012.

I finally meet the goal in mid December. I had to repeat weeks on the schedule, some more than once. I had a real hard time getting past 15 and then past 18. But now I can usually do 5 sets of 20.

So start off slow. Against a desk or table, or stairs are good if you have them. Start as low as you can and gradually go down a step at a time. Then checkout www.hundredpushups.com and start working on them.

Doing tricep dips really helps with pushups as well.

invisibubble · April 2013

I lost 100lbs without doing a single push up. Hell, a simple 15-minute yoga routine and basic walking on the spot was all I did for the first 3 years or so due to restrictions of body and mind.
You'll be fine! I couldn't do one military push up at all last year, now I can just about do 3 sets of 12. Which for me, is pretty good. Anyway, start with a wall, then use your knees when that's too easy (on all fours, I mean) and build up. Lift heavy things too. Do what you can and be patient with yourself. It's amazing when you look back, if you do.
Good luck.

beattie1 · April 2013

Maybe you should do the groundwork getting ready for Insanity first. It's a particularly tough workout. You could work on building up strength on the areas you find hardest and come back to Insanity in a month or two. I think you'd find it more enjoyable and less demoralising.

jfrankic · April 2013

1) up against a wall; after a few weeks and building a little strength in my back and upper arms,
2) I moved to my kitchen counter. Put your hands on the edge of the counter and push up. You will feel the affect
3) I then moved to a park bench or tire (the size off a semi truck...we have them at the gym). Again ... you've built up stronger arms and back from using the wall and the kitchen counter ...

This is a great progression. It's better to to incline pushups at whatever level you need (wall, countertop, etc) than to do them on you knees.

Here's some hope.....I couldn't do one proper form pushup this time last year. Now, I can knock out a set of 25 easy. When doing shorter sets, I have to make them harder now either by adding resistance with a band across my back/shoulders or my elevating my feet on a bench.

It's possible. Stay consistent and you will progress. Remember: form over speed! Don't try to keep up with the folks on the Insanity videos. Pause the video if you have to. Quality over quantity. If you aren't doing them properly, then consider it a waste of time. You'll be using some muscles, but wouldn't you rather use all of the muscles the exercise should use?

ETA: Sure, you can lose fat and gain strength without doing pushups, but they are, in my opinion, pretty badass. Especially when you start doing more advanced versions, like one arm or single leg push ups.

Also, you should start with a beginner exercise program before Insanity.

centarix · April 2013

SO my question ... Will I still be able to lose weight/ inches Doing insanity if I'm not able to do Push ups?

Of course! As you progress in the program you will find MANY other exercise techniques. Shawn T loves push ups but they are not part of the entire program. You will still lose inches/weight.

Keep digging deep and you will improve each week!

VegKate · April 2013

Yes, you can lose weight without pushups. Weight loss has nothing to do with one specific exercise, it's the combination of calorie restriction and exercise (in general) that causes weight loss.

contingencyplan · April 2013

I recommend you not do Insanity if this is your first exposure to exercise and you are at the level of fitness you are at. It is an advanced users program and you will very likely injure yourself doing the program at this point because you will more than likely be unable to do most of the exercises with proper form.

nicoleashley_24 · April 2013

There's plenty of workouts I've done where I needed to modify exercises to fit my current ability or needs (i.e. knee pain!). If you can't do a full pushup, do a modified push-up instead. To answer the question about losing weight without pushups, of course you can!

I saw someone else mention the 100 pushup challenge. I just wanted to mention that I have done it myself, twice; the first time I did it with modified push-ups. The second time (immediately following the first round), I did them with regular push-ups.

98777 · April 2013

Yes, you can lose weight without pushups. Weight loss has nothing to do with one specific exercise, it's the combination of calorie restriction and exercise (in general) that causes weight loss.

This person is exactly right!

Additionally, I can't do any push-ups at all either. I feel your pain. I think it takes a lot of upper body strength to do push-ups in the first place, and when you have 40-50 extra pounds on you, it's nearly impossible. I don't think my thin brother and sister could do a single push-up either if I piled 50 lbs onto their backs...

Ice_azure · April 2013

Thank you folks!!

I'll definitely consider your advises. I'll gradually do the push ups with wall / table before jumping into real ones! I wonder when ~Sigh

As seeing the positive results for so many people with Insanity, It made me excited to this programme which can transform in Just 60 days. I needed to lose weight badly in 3 months.

Today I did the Plyometric Cardio Circuit -(2nd day) I did my best and I couldn't push more, in the last 10 minutes.I was on the ground lying there for atleast 5 minutes! :blushing:
So all in all I did for 30 minutes my best.

I'm not following Insanity nutritional plan however I'm having chicken protiens, lentils, brown rice, eggs , milk, fruits such as plums,kiwi, Green salads, cucumbers/tomatoes, fish and skimmed milk tea without sugar! etc

Will be adding new foods soon.

I hope I'm doing it right....:bigsmile:

I believe with effort and courage to cross boundaries I'll do it. ~ However my Vitamin D level was 7 a month ago, taking tablets still so it may have been a bit better than before...Again I think it may still be low and I'm out of breath and tired easily.

Oh well... Even my husband advised me to start off gradually but I'm INSANE doing INSANITY lol :laugh:

I hope I can dig deeper! :bigsmile:

I wish you all best of luck and thanks again to all of you for your input.

:flowerforyou:

BonaFideUK · April 2013

Here is a good tutorial on how to go from zero to 100 push ups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW0lK3b7zhA

holothuroidea · April 2013

I think if you like doing Insanity and you are able to scale it down for yourself and it gets you motivated, you should keep going with it. I think the problem doing something that's meant for people in better shape is that it can get discouraging after a while. So if you get discouraged with insanity, don't give up on fitness. As long as you remember that, you'll be fine.

With the push-ups, figure on taking a month at every new step down if you do it 3 times a week.

Keep working and it will pay off. Three months ago I couldn't run for longer than 2 minutes, and last night I ran 3 miles. There were times when I felt like it was pointless, there were times when I beat myself up for not being good enough, but I had to work through all that stuff.

One thing I've learned about athleticism is that it has nothing to do with the amount of push ups you can do or how far you can run, and everything to do with the amount of effort you can put in.

Can't do a single push up!

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