Push-Up ?

SirenSongWoman

SirenSongWoman

Cathlete
Okay, I can't count how many times I've read that my chest should touch the floor when I lower down. If I were able to get that low there is no way I'd have strength enough to get back up. I'd just collapse.

I only just last night finally had the strength to get off my knees and up on my toes. Somebody please tell me I'll eventually have enough strength to do these properly?

Also, I have to make sure my knees stay soft or I tense up so much my left knee becomes painfully locked. Unreal. How do you hurt you knees doing push-ups :(?!
 
SirenSongWoman said:
Okay, I can't count how many times I've read that my chest should touch the floor when I lower down. If I were able to get that low there is no way I'd have strength enough to get back up. I'd just collapse.

I only just last night finally had the strength to get off my knees and up on my toes. Somebody please tell me I'll eventually have enough strength to do these properly?

Also, I have to make sure my knees stay soft or I tense up so much my left knee becomes painfully locked. Unreal. How do you hurt you knees doing push-ups :(?!
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Yes, Stacy you will get there. A year ago I couldn't do a push up if I needed to save my life. Now I can do 40 boy push ups in a row. I don't touch my chest all the way to the floor but I get probably 2-3" close. My advice take your time and practice, practice, practice. Hold your core muscles super tight that may help off load any pressure you might be having on your knees. I just do as many as I can on my toes and then drop to my knees when I've had enough. I also will rest at the top of the movement. Hey you go girl doesn't it feel great that you can get off your knees!! I'm working on getting my pull up and chin up numbers to at least 10.
 
i'm so glad you posted this question because i was wondering the same thing while i was doing body max this morning. i cant do a push up for the life of me. i read somewhere that women over 5'9 have a hard time doing a real push up because of their height. is this true or just a load of bull (which makes me feel like less of a weakling, haha)!?!?
 
Yay! This is where having big boobs can be an advantage, I can do toe-pushups and my chest always touches the floor!! :eek:

I can do 25 on-my-toes pushups, and the one thing that enabled me to go from knee pushups to toes was doing bench presses on a machine at the gym. That was the only way I could really exert myself, and build up strength, without worrying about a barbell falling on me. After a few weeks at the gym, I tried pushups on my toes, and voila', I was there!
 
Can we please stop calling them "boy" pushups and "girl" or "girlie" pushups and call them what they really are? Military or modified pushups? Or full or modified pushups? Just one of my pet peeves I guess! : )

I'm just at the beginning with this difficult exercise! I'm doing less than 10 right now in the modified position! I look forward to getting back to my toes! I was there years ago. As to my chest touching the floor, if I could wear a regular bra instead of a sports bra, I'd probably make it! ; )
 
I must be missing something. Who says your chest should touch the ground? My understanding is you should go till your arms are at 90 degrees, any further can be bad for the shoulders **scratches head**
 
I did the 100 push up challenge & that got me to where I could do boy/toe push ups. I was amazed!! I also just bought one of those push up counters - it was on clearance for $3!!! It shows me just how far I need to go. Any little motivator helps! :D
 
fit_fairy said:
I must be missing something. Who says your chest should touch the ground? My understanding is you should go till your arms are at 90 degrees, any further can be bad for the shoulders **scratches head**
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I agree, and I'm as perplexed as you are, Catherine, on the 'chest should touch the ground' advice. There's more risk than benefit in trying to touch the chest to the ground. (Unless you are well endowed, your chest will NOT touch when your arms are at 90 degrees).
 
kathryn said:
I agree, and I'm as perplexed as you are, Catherine, on the 'chest should touch the ground' advice. There's more risk than benefit in trying to touch the chest to the ground. (Unless you are well endowed, your chest will NOT touch when your arms are at 90 degrees).
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I agree as well. I think you would really hurt yourself and work the wrong muscles- way too much shoulder action that way. I wear a size 32H and don't touch the floor.
 
Govtgirl said:
Yay! This is where having big boobs can be an advantage, I can do toe-pushups and my chest always touches the floor!! :eek:
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That's it. I'm going to start working out in a push-up bra:p!

About technique, I know I've repeatedly read over at T-Nation/FigureAthlete.com that the chest should touch the floor but their authors/trainers often disagree. Chad Waterbury is a chest-to-the-floor believer. From "Huge in a Hurry" he describes the "down" part part of a push-up (the photo shows this) this way: "Bend at the elbows and lower yourself until your chest touches the floor..." I'm pretty sure Eric Cressey said something similar but it will take me quite a while to find it (I'll look tonight, after work). Alwyn Cosgrove (who co-writes all kinds of stuff with Waterbury) puts it this way in "The New Rules of Lifting for Women": "Lower yourself until you chest is two to four inches from the floor (with apologies for thinking like a guy, the size of your chest will help determine your range of motion here)... Keep your elbows in, next to your ribs, rather than allowing them to flare out away from your torso..." In all the photos and videos I've seen the chest is no less than an inch-and-a-half from the floor the the elbows no more than an inch-and-a-half above the shoulders.

I don't know that there's one right way to do any move. What is perfect for some is risky for others and you really need to know your own body. For instance, if you have shoulder issues, you may not want to chance going to the ground on a push up. I just know MY lack of chest and arm strength is an impediment to my improvement and I'm working on getting there:).
 
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