Pushups form -- am I cheating?

[Golfingirl]

Hi everyone! I mostly lurk here, but I've got a question about form on pushups. When I do modified (bent knee) pushups, I can lower my upper body all the way down to just graze the floor. But when I do full-form (straight leg) pushups, I can't go down as far... I do go down enough that my arms form 90 degree angles, but my chest is a lot further from the floor than it would be with a bent knee pushup. I have been working up to doing more and more full-form pushups, but I wonder if I am "really" doing them or if I am just doing half pushups? Or, is it just the biomechanics of the positions that one's chest gets closer to the floor at the bottom of the modified pushup than it does with the full-form?

Hope that made sense!

 

[mogambo]

It's due to the existence of your toes.

They lift your body up higher when you do a straight-leg pushup so when you go down, you're above the level of your outstretched leg. From your knees you are flat at leg level. I hope that made sense.

 

[Golfingirl]

Thank you! Makes perfect sense! I kind of thought it was something like that, but I guess it is hard for me to believe my own progress. Full-form pushups seemed so impossible at one time. To be able to do a bunch of them... my first thought was that I must be cheating!

Thanks again for clearing that up!

 

[CRennie]

>But when I do full-form (straight leg)
>pushups, I can't go down as far... I do go down enough that my
>arms form 90 degree angles, but my chest is a lot further from
>the floor than it would be with a bent knee pushup

Actually, that's as low you should go when doing straight leg push ups (arms at 90 degree angle), since going lower will put stress on your shoulders and take the work away from the pecs, which are the muscles you are targeting when doing pushups.

So, you're doing them correctly.
Rennie