Should I do my sad, pathetic "girl" pushups everyday?

daydreams_of_pretty
daydreams_of_pretty Posts: 506 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I recently decided to start doing push-ups after my weights sessions and discovered that, despite my recent strength gains, I still cannot do an actual push-up. I started doing 3 sets of 20 "girl" push-ups 3-4 times a week after my strength training in the hopes that I could build up to real push-ups.

Lately I've been seeing/hearing people say that they do push-ups everyday. I thought that I needed a rest day after push-ups, but if I can do them everyday, then I'd like to because I feel seriously pathetic and want to be able to do real push-ups.

Do any of you do push-ups everyday? Will doing them on my rest days between strength training hurt my progress/muscle repair?

Replies

  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    It took me a while to build up from modified pushups to standard ones. (Don't call them "girl" pushups or my sister-in-law will find you and deck you. :smile: )

    One tip: don't do the bent-knee pushups. Instead, do inclined pushups: find a countertop that you can do pushups on. When that gets easy, use the edge of your bathtub. Or find a stairway, start with your feet on the floor and your arms on a fairly high stair, and when you can do 3-5 sets of 5-10 pushups, move one step down.

    You can also mix it up by doing standard pushups, but only the downward motion. Use your knees to get to the up position, then lower your body in a controlled fashion to the ground. Then use your knees to get up again.

    For building strength, focus on doing fewer reps per set, but you should be at or near failure on the last rep of the last set. And definitely take a rest day. When done properly, pushups are demanding and require rest. If you reach the point where you can knock off 100 standard pushups in a row, then doing a few sets of 20 every day is fine, but at that point you're not overloading the muscles to the point where they require rest.
  • MamaMollyT
    MamaMollyT Posts: 197 Member
    I do pushups most days as part of my warm up. You will gain strength quickly if you stick with it. Also try to do just one or two full pushups before you drop to your knees.
  • liznotyet
    liznotyet Posts: 402 Member
    Planks with your gut sucked in, your back flat - try them still (except for breathing) and then add variation - running planks, side planks, alternate leg/arm in the air, all the time elbows slightly bent.
  • nancybuss
    nancybuss Posts: 1,461 Member
    you also don't need to be going 'all the way down' and up to be a pushing.... it can be partially down to be building that strength.
  • pknjhh
    pknjhh Posts: 117 Member
    You can do them everyday but watch getting burned out hitting same muscle group. Try doing negative planks. Get in plank position and go down as slow as you can. That will help develop the muscle in the back and arms that are essential to do pushups. Pushups are mostly triceps and back. Chest gets worked only if you go wide with them. Most people use a width that it is mostly triceps and back. Hope that helps =))
  • daydreams_of_pretty
    daydreams_of_pretty Posts: 506 Member
    Wow! Thanks you guys. :smile: This was very helpful.
  • UtahWI
    UtahWI Posts: 257 Member
    Do them on gradually decreasing inclines as described above, til you get to the floor. Or, get on the floor and make your range of motion smaller. In any event, get on your toes. Knee push ups don't really train real push ups...I didn't get better at real push ups til...I started doing them. Good luck!
  • Swotie
    Swotie Posts: 3
    I totally love the gradually decreasing incline idea! I've had the same problem with push ups. I'll try this
    . Thanks!
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    I don't do them every day, but I do try them at least once a week. For a long time, I couldn't even lower myself, lol. My arms just didn't have any strength at all.

    I still can't do real push-ups and always do girl push-ups, but I'm getting closer. :)
  • daydreams_of_pretty
    daydreams_of_pretty Posts: 506 Member
    Today I tried the incline push-ups and now I can do pathetic regular push-ups!!! Thanks guys! (Where are all of the good emojis???)

Categories