Just not a push-up girl?

eminenz2

eminenz2

Cathlete
Do these ever get easier?

I'm starting the original P90X rotation again and finding the Chest and Back workout just plain unpleasant.

I'm trying not to be too hard on myself because it is a difficult workout anyway, but are pushups just always difficult for some people?

I do them little girl style, and stay on the shallow side of the range of motion. I worry that I'm never doing them correctly - putting my arms in the wrong place, and risking pulling a muscle or something.

Besides, on my knees, my belly always seems to get to the ground first, before I get too deep in the motion - how embarrassing! But push-ups on my toes is way out of my ability level at this point!

Is anyone else out there not a push-up girl, but has improved just through plain old persistance?

On the plus side, I am getting back into the Ab Ripper workout and can do quite a bit more this week than I could last week!

Thanks in advance for any tips and encouragement!

-Susan L.G.
 
Like Catherine said, the only way to get better at doing them is to do them:)

I didn't used to be able to do ANY. Not even one. I started doing them on my knees (and that's not girlie, it's just modified;)). Now I can do all 72 in GS C&T on my toes. Keep at it, you'll get there!
 
I've always hated pushups. They're awkward, they're hard, and they hurt my wrists. But I do them. And yes, through plain old persistence, you CAN improve. I used to max out at 12 on my toes. Now I can do 37 and then drop down to my knees to finish out 50, straight through. And today I did 3 sets of 20 with a brief break in between each.

I'd suggest that you start out on your toes and do as many as you can, even if it's just a couple, and then without stopping, drop to your knees to finish out your total. Just go for it!!!:7
 
i could not do any more than 2 straight leg until i started p90x and i have been doing cathe for years. i am still slowly building up to it. so far i can do 8 and i have only just started.

laura.
 
I was a 'knee push-up' person until I did P90X. I still do some of the push-ups on my knees (I just can't do 'triangle' push-ups or triceps push-ups on my toes...yet). I just did as many as I could on my toes for each set, and tried to do the others either on one knee or with my knees on a balance disc. I think what really helped was all the chaturanga push-ups in the yoga workout.

Just keep at it!

I think a good way of working up to 'on the toes' push-ups is NOT doing knee push-ups, but doing on-the-toes push-ups with the upper body at different levels (whatever level you can do). Start with hands on a kitchen counter. Then use a chair seat or bathtub edge. Then go to a 10" step, then to 8", then 6" then 4" then the floor. I think that teaches your body what it needs to do to do full on-the-toes push-ups.

That being said, I'm sure that push-ups are harder for some women than others: especially "apple" shape women, or women with larger breasts. Women who are built more like adolescent girls probably have an easier time of it.
 
Hey Susan, I'm not a push-up girl either and I'm alright with that. I can do a few slow on my toes but between my whacked out degenerating neck and my ganglion cyst wrist they are just too uncomfortable to 'push' through, I refuse to cross the line into 'bad' pain, I'm all about the John Cougar Melloncamp 'Hurts so Good!' type of pain. I would rather do all of the pushups with impeccable, neutral spine 'girl' form than sloppy ones on my toes. I'll never give up working on improving my pushups but I figure doing them on my knees is a good way to keep me humble;-)

Kudos on your Ab Ripper progress, good on ya!!!

Take Care
Laurie:)
 
Yep, you heard it - any chick CAN do push-ups. We've just been told we can't.

"You can't win them all - but you can try." - Babe Zaharias http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/musik/music-smiley-004.gif[/img]
 
I haven't read any of the other posts so I apologize if I am being repetative...

I am not good at push ups but getting better slowly...

I used to always do them on my knees. I now do them on my toes but on an incline. I use my step and risers for this. The higher you go, the easier it is. I find them much more "doable" this way. As I get better I will take the incline down until I can finally do them on the floor.

HTH!:)
 
Yes, they get easier. I was never a push-up girl, or a plank girl, or a pike girl, or a pull-up girl. I wasn't anything. I did the exercises as they were, mostly with very light weights and just kept going. I was surprised that I was able to crank out 4-6 push-ups on my toes when I started. At the time, I was using the PS series. I never went down on my knees. I'd crank out however many reps I could, rested, and continued until I did the same number of reps Cathe did. Then I worked up to doing all the reps without resting. Don't give up. It will happen.

Pinky
 
Thanks for all the advice! I think I'm going to try doing them with thw counter top, then use an elevated step and dropping the height down as I get better.

-Susan L.G.
 
I used to never be able to do them on my toes until I really tried and kept pushing myself. At my peak (about 2 years ago) I could do about 25 pushups on my toes, nonstop. This was when I was doing them every single day (I was in training for law enforcement and HAD to learn to do them). After all that training was over, I slacked off and have only been able to do about 13-16. Guess what? Ever since I started doing Cathe's pyramid upper body (about 2 weeks ago) I can do more! I tried yesterday and did 20 on my toes. This is progress! So I guess, the moral of the story is that anyone CAN do them - you just have to keep working at it and strength training at the same time. This is all I can really suggest.

Dianna

http://www.picturetrail.com/Luv2WorkHard
 
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