Kathy S, Donna and Other Pushup Weenies

What a lot of great posts!

Mogambo, I've often heard about that "hump," but so far, after consistently exercising for about 15 years, it has eluded me! I have kept at it, believe me! You asked where we PW's reach failure. For me, that would probably be my core and my shoulders. I think it's a great idea to watch for that weak link and target that part.

Kathy, your "trilemma" makes sense to me. (I'm a nonexpert, though, too.) When I read which ab work was particularly troublesome to you, I thought you were talking about me! I'm also good at oblique work but I have trouble with the same moves as you. I'm stubborn, too, and I've REALLY been focusing on improving my core. It has improved, but not to the degree I want it to! I do pushups to the best of my ability (read: bent knee) in every Cathe workout, and I do power yoga videos, some of which have endless chaturangas (yoga pushups) but I have not tried anything beyond that. A "Weenie Check-In" sounds good to me!

A-Jock, I feel my quads and hip-flexors are pretty strong. My hip-flexors are also very flexible (I can do a split - 40th birthday fitness goal!), but I can't see how flexible hip flexors have anything to do with pushups. My triceps, on the other hand, are another weenie-area which never seem to get much stronger (another fitness area Rocky lords over me}( ).

Bobbi, are you going to develop another plan, a la the SFP? If so, count me in!
 
I think AJock is onto something about triceps strength needed for pushups.

I have the classic long limbs, short torso, weak core that many of you seem to share with me, but what gives out first in pushups is definately my shoulders and triceps. My arms are supper weenie!!! Another thing I've noticed is that whenever Cathe reaches for a tricep weight it's not just 3 to 5 pounds heavier than what I would use, but more like 10 even 12 lbs heavier!!! I think that woman must have some monster tricep strength! So maybe if we start a Pushup Weenie check in we could add triceps to the core work too :D

Susan
 
Wow this is an interesting thread. I went and did a search to see what other muscle beside the chest that push ups work and found this link according to this it also works the tricep and shoulders. When I do "bent knee only" my shoulders do feel it. I have a hard time doing push up because it bothers my wrist for some reason but here is the link http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Pushups. Maybe I will join the weenie push ups check in:).
 
Thanks, Barbara! Do you see how his hands are parallel with his chest. When I do push ups like that (the proper way) I fail very quickly but moving my arms just a bit foreward, it's easeir. The shoulders come into play and not in a good way since the shoulder is unstable to begin with and mne are weenie supremes. I'm going to have to work on my form as well as my core. x( I quit breathing too which is not a good thing. LOL!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"
 
I will do it, Susan! I've been planning to sit down and look at all the workouts so I can pick specific triceps and rear delt segments that isolate those muscles. I'll review the ab and core work and see what looks good. I think low back work is order too, for balance. What a can of worms you've opened! :)
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"
 
Wow, a lot of information to digest.

My weenieness is definitely in my arms...that's where I feel like I have the most trouble...it feels like if I get down for that pushup I don't have the strength to push up. Could be my big head, or it could be the tricep thing. I've developed a decent bicep in the last year and a half, but that darned tricep is still flapping in the breeze! My hip flexors are also quite tight and I too have to really stretch them...in fact the darned things are bothering me today, and had to stop and stretch at work for gosh sakes.

I am game for a checkin and I'm going to up my tricep and core work (I really avoid core work, so I'll commit to at least doing some of it with each workout).
 
I started doing Cathe's workouts in 1995 and it wasn't until about a year ago that I could do push ups on my toes - I guess I got over the hump!

In retrospect, I started to faithfully do my upper body weight training - 3 times a week - plus lots of core work - I know that has helped. I use to get so discouraged doing Cathe's tapes and feeling like a wimp because I had to do the push ups on my knees.

I joined martial arts karate about 4 months ago - and let me tell you not many woman can do the "MAN" push up (I hate it when they say "GIRL" push up)- but I found that the men in these classes do the push ups really fast but not all the way down and they say it builds endurance.

I can do at least 40 or 50 good push ups now and I love them now - I have really built up my chest area (for I am small busted) - but I have actually built up some cleavage and I feel I have been lifted, too - after ten kids and my chest expanding ten times I feel like I have achieved the best look I can get without surgery.

So keep on building the upper body - I do know the tricep strength helps - I do have great tricep muscles. If you keep working on the upper body weight work and your core - you will be able to do those push ups.

Cheryl
 
Cheryl, you are saying that a year ago you were a weenie and you can now do 40-50 pushups? (Long, slow whistle...) My hats off to you! :eek: I prefer "straight-legged or bent knee" to MAN, GIRL, or BIG BOY pushups. Big Boy???? :D Whatever they are called and whichever I chose, I am a woman! I do WOMAN pushups! LOL! HUH!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"
 
To Soosan:

It's hip flexor and quad strength that helps promote stability during push-ups, not flexibility. It's great that you're flexible in the flexors (I'm not sure what I meant by that, but it sounded good), but again it's strength / endurance in those muscles that are key.

Re triceps contribution to push-ups:

A better way to develop triceps strength as a means to improve push-up performance is to do weighted triceps dips, as opposed to supine triceps extensions (skullcrushers, French presses, etc.) or kickbacks. Triceps dips more closely mimic the movement of push-ups, and you can do those with the legs elevated, in a longer extension, and a barbell across your hips to promote strength in the tris.

Just another suggestion from a recovering Push-Up Weenie -

A-Jock
 
It makes a lot of sense that weak arms are the culprits. Which reminds me, there is something weird I wanted to ask about. Every time I do the second half of PLB, you know, the inner thigh and hamstring stuff on the ball, the next day my triceps ache!! What in the world is that about?? I just can't figure it out. I decimate my hamstrings, but they're not sore at all the next day. My thighs and glutes don't ache at all, but my triceps are sore!?!? What the heck is up with that??
 
Kathy said:
"Y'all know those stability ball things in PUB where you lie prone and lift the ball over your head while curling up and then tap the ball with each leg, roll back and then immediately come halfway back up for what Cathe (from somewhere on planet Mars, apparently) calls "a partial recovery"? Sheer torture at that tempo."

Kathy - I am right with you on that!!!!! I hate to admit that I usually have to ignore the tempo and slow the whole thing down. :-(

-Nancy
 
It seems like as you are lying on your back doing the froggy inner thigh things, etc, you are pushing against the floor like mad with your arms, ditto for the hamstring lifts on the ball. Could this be it? I know my neck gets real real tight when I do all that stuff.
 
I was thinking that too, Liane. It must be that cuz I can't think of anything else. It still feels like my hamstrings and thighs are getting a good workout though...
 
A-Jock, it makes sense that weighted triceps dips are a good tricep exercise to improve pushups (Is "pushup" hyphenated or not? I'm gonna go check... Hyphenated! We're "Push-Up" Weenies, not "Pushup" Weenies! We should at least be able to spell them even if we can't do them:p .) And, A-Jock, I've got to say, I'm very surprised you were EVER a push-up weenie, considering you lift more than 20 lbs (each!) for shoulder and tricep work!

Bobbi, are you taking notes for your plan:) ?
 
Hello, Sooooooooooooosan . . .

Trust me, it took many a moon to work up to my current weight loads for all lifts. I remember when buying 6-lb dumbbells was a total victory, and actually using them successfully made me feel like Amazon Woman.

And I remember the summer/fall 2000 when I graduated from bent-knee push-ups to straight-leg push-ups, thereby cutting my reps down about 90%; took weeks and weeks until finally, I was able to grind out 30 one afternoon. My husband stood watching me as I groaned my way up to number #30, and I heard him say behind me, "I'm proud of you, Dolly."

A-Jock's Motto:

A little bit more than you did before, each and every session / week / month, and you can't help but improve.

A-Jock
 
What helped me get over the hump were three different things. One was experimenting with where I placed my hands. Shoulders are a very individualized structure from person to person, so for me, as I think Bobbi said, putting my hands forward a bit from the classic position made it a bit easier. For others you may need to widen or narrow the space between your hands as well as move them forward or back in order to best utilize the shoulders.(I also think of push-ups as almost a total body exercise, so I don't mind decreasing the emphasis on the pects.)

Second, I projected myself forward a bit as I lowered down; in retrospect this seems like it was more of a psychological crutch than a mechanical adjustment, but it helped. Maybe my shoulders liked it better.

Third, I did a lot of "yoga" push-ups, or triceps push-ups, if you will. You start these in a plank with hands directly under shoulders, and lower yourself down, keeping the elbows alongside the body. Hold at the bottom an inch off the floor as long as you can bear it and then either push yourself back up to a plank, or drop to your belly and get back up from the knees and start over. These will emphasize the secondary classic push-up muscles.

The hip flexors in the push-up context are part of the core, and in my opinion are some of the most neglected muscles in the body. If you do a lot of leg work, your quads, only one of which is a hip flexor, will hog the load on the front of the thigh because they are a much more massive group. If you have good quad strength you do not necessarily have good hip flexor strength. Some of the standing work in L&G addresses the hip flexors well. Double up on it if you think this might be the weak link in your push-ups.

Good Luck!

--Ann
 
There is some great advice here...Thank you all!!! I'm going to try a bit of it all to see what works. I like the idea of holding the tricep push-up at the 1 inch mark...I don't think I could get back up, but that would certain start to strengthen the muscles. I haven't done L&G yet, but think I will.

I'm printing this entire thread out to keep.
 
Good advice, but what if you NEVER seem to be able to eek out even one more? I try, I really do. If I start out with straight-leg push-ups in a Cathe workout, I can MAYBE do two, but then I'm too spent to do the rest, even with bent knees. Would it do any good to do as many straight-leg ones as I can, even if it only amounts to two or three, and forego the rest of the reps? Seems I would improve by doing them all on my knees, since starting out with straight legs doesn't allow me to do any more bent-knee reps. The trouble is, I have never improved this way.

And then I ask myself, "All this agony for PUSH-UPS? What's the point? I'm pretty fit already! I'm not planning on entering a push-up contest! Blah, blah, blah..." But something in me makes me keep trying...
 
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