pushup variations to make them more difficult

B

benvonwojo

Cathlete
OK, so my boxing coach has me doing lots of pushups for my core. But we have been slowly adding variations to make them more and more difficult.
1. My favorite variation. Get down for a standard pushup but then put one leg perpendicular to the other near your hand. Alternate every other one for a total of 20.
2. Same thing but put your arm, on the side with leg out to the side, behind you and try to do 20 more.
3. Take a med ball and alternate regular pushups with the hand on top of the ball. Do 20 this way.
4. Do 20 more with one ankle crossed over the other.

Try it they are tough but so much fun.
Suzanne
 
Suzanne, that is impressive! Are you doing these as supersets, or do you have rest in between. Wow, I will try this. Thanks for the tip.

Robin
 
Very IMPRESSIVE as I just recently began the transition into doing them like a BIG GIRL....I'm doing them on an incline w/ my step at a 6" or 8" height! LOL
 
I wish more people would realize that the push-up is probably the most effective upper body exercise, right up there with the pull-up and chin-up, and you can cut your exercise time substantially if you do more of them and less of other upper body exercises. AND, you can do push-ups anywhere, not just in your workout area. I find that very appealing, since my workout area is in my basement.

The variations ARE fun - just give them a chance.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain ;-)
 
I always like to change things up, like plain old push-ups. Tony Horton does about 6 variations of them in his P90X workouts.

I like to do a 'stacked foot' push-up. It just feels cool to be able to do it!

>1. My favorite variation. Get down for a standard pushup but
>then put one leg perpendicular to the other near your hand.
>Alternate every other one for a total of 20.


I think this one *looks* harder than it is: putting the leg up there transfers some of the weight closer to the upper body and away from the lower body, and supports the upper body a bit, so actually makes the move easier (I just tried it to check out my hypothesis, and it's right).

I like med ball push-ups, either with one hand on top of the ball, or with both hands on top of the ball (Mindy Mylrea does these second version in "All About Abs" as a core exercise). Though I can't say that I do the two-hand version often (or that the "like" isn't tinged with some dread!) It's tough just to hold the plank in this position, and the push-ups are pretty shaky!, but it's a doable challenge, even if you have to take it to the knees. And if you wanna work the core, this REALLY works the core.
 
<<I wish more people would realize that the push-up is probably the most effective upper body exercise, right up there with the pull-up and chin-up, and you can cut your exercise time substantially if you do more of them and less of other upper body exercises. AND, you can do push-ups anywhere, not just in your workout area. I find that very appealing, since my workout area is in my basement. >>
I AGREE!!!

I've recently added full-form push-ups to my rotation and noticed an almost immediate increase in upper body strength.

I thought it would be great if I could work up to 10 reps per set, but I've quickly progressed to 20 per set!

But, they are HARD!!! Dang, they are hard...:)
 
Suzanne you should try these:

In karate I used to do
1) one armed push ups (with other arm behind your back)
2) tricep pushups with the thumbs and pointer fingers making a "spades" shape in front of your face
3) knuckles push ups
4) clapping push ups or as I called them "falling on your face" push ups
5) truly evil was fingertip push ups where you keep taking away fingers until you're doing pushups on two fingers on each side

Have fun!
 
I want to add that i, too, have found significant increase in upper body strength with push ups. P90x has many variations in the two workouts in the plan. I also find that the drop sets cathe uses in gym style C& T challenges me everytime. Sometimes when i'm short for time and want to throw in some upper body work, i'll do just the drop sets. I always feel the burn and i'm sure you could do them with hand position variations.

I am just one of those people who need a video to give me the encouragement to do push ups. They are not enjoyable by any means, and unless someone is counting and I am challenged that way, I wimp out far too soon.
 
>5) truly evil was fingertip push ups where you keep taking
>away fingers until you're doing pushups on two fingers on each
>side!

Now THAT sounds tough (actually, right now, it sounds IMPOSSIBLE! LOL!)
 
Alhambra:

We also do these variations in boxing. You are correct, the finertip pushups just hurt. Fingers werent made for that. We also do jumping side-to-side pushups. These are very tough and quite aerobic. Also, we do squat thrusts and then jump back into a pushup and repeat for 20. Also on my evil list.
Suzanne
 
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