Can you recommend an exercise to get me strong enough for push ups?

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BethE238
BethE238 Posts: 222 Member
edited January 2019 in Fitness and Exercise
Is there an exercise or exercise machine that would help me build up enough muscle to be able to do regular push up? Assisted/knee pushups are too hard on my knees - like they start painfully snapping and crunching for normal activities for days after if I do this. A lot of at home work out videos I do have pushups in the routine and I’d truly like to be able to do regular push ups, but I am just not strong enough. I’ve been doing wall pushes in place for my videos for a month now, but I don’t seem to be gaining much strength to be able to do a regular push up. I’m able to hold a regular push up type plank for over a minute (up from 20 seconds a month ago), but doing those the last month hasn’t seemed to help much either in being able to do even a single regular push up. I have access to a gym for equipment that may help, or I am happy to try anything I can do from home too. Thanks for any advice!

Replies

  • BethE238
    BethE238 Posts: 222 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    Incline pushups. To increase the difficulty, use a lower hand position, or raise your feet up onto something. Or wear a weighted backpack. :+1:

    Thank you so much! I will try this! 🤩
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
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    You can also start standing out from a wall and progress your feet further and further away. Then hands on something tall and progressively lower and lower, maybe the smith machine and down to benches and eventually down to the floor.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Chest press, bench press will help too. I think I read you need to be able to press half your bodyweight to be close to doing a regular push up. I don’t know how close to truth that is, but it seems logical.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Planks for your core.
    Bench press and/or push ups with your hands on stairs (when you can do 10 with good form move down a stair).
  • andynewtron
    andynewtron Posts: 3 Member
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    Try using stairs for an incline
  • Strongfitmama100412
    Strongfitmama100412 Posts: 90 Member
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    Practice!!! Honestly you just have to keep doing them and instead of picturing pushing your body weight up think about pushing the floor away from you. Try a little every day to build up. I do 100 before bed.

    Also bench presses, or dumbbell presses, chest flys, cable flys
  • BethE238
    BethE238 Posts: 222 Member
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    lorrpb wrote: »
    Chest press, bench press will help too. I think I read you need to be able to press half your bodyweight to be close to doing a regular push up. I don’t know how close to truth that is, but it seems logical.

    Thanks! That does make sense. I imagine I would barely be able to do just the bar with no weights for more than 20 reps, so this is a good way for me to think about how I need to add weight over time to that to increase strength. I’ll start trying to work on this. I appreciate your reply!

  • BethE238
    BethE238 Posts: 222 Member
    edited January 2019
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    @sijomial - I’ve been doing planks and have made improvement over the past month, as mentioned above, and it doesn’t seem to be helping. But as you and @andynewtron recommended, the stairs make total sense to me. Thank you both for the idea! I don’t have ready access to stairs, but I’ll try to seek some out, or at least put to use the concept with varying heights of items from around the house.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
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    Around the house
    Wall
    Kitchen counter
    Kitchen table
    Chair
    Coffee table
    Foot stool/kitchen step.

    That is the way I did it, plus extending plank holds from 10-120 sec. (that was good for my shoulders, they thought they were earrings)

    Cheers, h.
  • BethE238
    BethE238 Posts: 222 Member
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    middlehaitch wrote: »
    Around the house
    Wall
    Kitchen counter
    Kitchen table
    Chair
    Coffee table
    Foot stool/kitchen step.

    That is the way I did it, plus extending plank holds from 10-120 sec. (that was good for my shoulders, they thought they were earrings)

    Cheers, h.

    Thanks! Super helpful. I’ll work on my extending planks too. My shoulders definitely think they are earrings 😂

  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
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    Also fun to try: Negative pushups.. Instead of pushing yourself up, try lowering yourself down in a slow, controlled movement.
  • NoExcusesFromNowOn
    NoExcusesFromNowOn Posts: 76 Member
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    I couldn't even do a girl push up. I took a resistance band at the gym and looped it on a squat rack about calf height. I got down and did the girl push ups using that as a way to bounce back up. I made sure it was a little lower than my navel. After that got easy, I started doing regular ones. Use enough resistance to.help but then decrease the band thickness. I now do 100 regular a day, sometimes more and they are not hard!!! Seriously, use the bands to bounce the belly back up! Now I'm using the bands to do pull ups!

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