Push ups

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Carrot1971
Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been working out alot. I am doing 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30 in addition to some others. I have a hard time with "real" pushups. I've been doing the girly kind. I can do about 25-30 that way but find I can only do about 10 full pushups. So my question is this: should I work on the "real" push ups or are my girly pushups ok? They seem to work different muscles so am I hurting myself more by not doing the real ones?

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  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    bumpp
  • MissFit0101
    MissFit0101 Posts: 2,382
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    Always start with real pushups and do as many of those as you can, then drop down to do the modified ones. If you keep this up, you will be finishing up doing all real pushups before you know it!
  • Smuterella
    Smuterella Posts: 1,623 Member
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    Honey, I'm on day 18 of the shread today and still can't do a single REAL push up and only anout 12 modified before I collapse. I have no upper body strength at all. Don't worry! I'm working on building up slowly.
  • heartshines
    heartshines Posts: 53 Member
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    Challenge yourself to do more real pushups. 10 today will be 12 tomorrow. You will only get better by pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone. If it were easy, everybody would be a picture of perfection!

    Before you know it, you'll be able to do knuckle pushups.
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    Anyone else have horrible pain doing them? Or is that just pain from my stupid freakin' thyroid screwing with my joints?
  • cmosu981
    cmosu981 Posts: 4
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    I would do as many real push-ups as you can. The point of working out to lose weight and improve your physique is to add intensity to your workouts. You need to push yourself to do the real ones. The girly ones are good for beginners but if you keep doing the girly ones, you likely will stop seeing results. You probably really can do more real pushups than you think. It's all mental. If you tell yourself you're going to do it, then you will. So start your workout in with a positive attitude and give yourself a goal of doing 15 real pushups and then keep increasing the amount of real pushups you will do each week. Before you know it, real pushups won't seem so bad after all.
  • RockChick1984
    RockChick1984 Posts: 239
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    i myself used to be totally pathetic with real push ups (lucky if i could do 5) lol... but when i took up boxing my instructor gave me no choice but to get them done... the more you try, the easier they do get... and they are more challangin so deffo go for it... good luck
  • natalieg0307
    natalieg0307 Posts: 237 Member
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    I start with the real push ups. I do as many as I can and then when I can't do any more......I drop to girlie push-ups. They seem so easy after the real ones.....but my arms are still working. I've gotten stronger and can do more real ones now. Good luck! Keep pushing!
  • maryjay51
    maryjay51 Posts: 742
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    I've been working out alot. I am doing 30 Day Shred and Ripped in 30 in addition to some others. I have a hard time with "real" pushups. I've been doing the girly kind. I can do about 25-30 that way but find I can only do about 10 full pushups. So my question is this: should I work on the "real" push ups or are my girly pushups ok? They seem to work different muscles so am I hurting myself more by not doing the real ones?

    i can do three sets of 15-20 regular pushups now when at one time i struggled to do one. i do it more out of pride and bragging rights than anything. i wont do the girlie ones any more . i push for the real ones and for as many as i can do.
  • amuhlou
    amuhlou Posts: 693 Member
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    I would suggest you do as many real as you can, and than switch to modified (knees) and either do as many as you can or however many of the total set you were not able to do 'real". The result should be that you can do more real push ups as time progresses...this is how I did pull ups when I started-- did as many real as I could (1) and then did them using a chair... wasn't long before I could do 5, 10, 15 or more pull ups...

    This really helps. I did the same thing with pull ups (though I still can't do a ton)

    You could also practice plank position first, or plank with the arms slightly bent to get the push up muscles working. Try for 60 seconds at a time.
  • Carrot1971
    Carrot1971 Posts: 272 Member
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    Thanks...I will try to push myself more! I appreciate all the feed back!
  • Jenlwb
    Jenlwb Posts: 682 Member
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    I've just started- despite having made my way through ripped in 30, i still can't do them properly!! This is a really good guide to proper technique:

    http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/02/15/proper-push-up/

    I've started with hands on the third stair, 3 sets of 10 kills me. When i can I'll go down to 2nd stair, etc. It's hard to know if your body is straight, I had the hubby make sure I didn't stick my butt up (sounds rude..!) - it's way harder if you do them properly!

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