Tabletop push ups - gotta love 'em - but...

[BAM]

I still feel them in my shoulders and not the chest. O.K. I have never been a push up person. I always fast forward through them. Who needs 'em, right? Apparently, ME! I was doing STS disc 1 today and Cathe offered the modification of knees or tabletop postion for push ups. Wow, I thought, you mean there's an even easier way of doing them outside of dropping to your knees? Where have I been???? So tabletop it was but I barely felt them in my chest. My shoulders and upper arms were bearing the brunt of them. I'm guessing it's because my upper body is not that strong and they will become easier as I strengthen these areas. Would this be correct? I never thought I'd care if I EVER did a standard push up before but maybe.......just maybe.......um, never mind, forget that thought. Yikes, I almost lost myself there for a minute!

Bam

 

[booboo39]

I am right there with you! Have always avoided them, fast forward through those segments and now with STS I have no choice. I too felt it only in the shoulders. I then started doing them against my coffee table and really focusing with each rep on contracting the chest. Even if it means doing less than you normally can focus only on contracting those pecs and keep the core tight. I was using more of my arm strength to perform the movement and never felt the tingling that I felt when focusing solely on using the pecs. Contract in both directions and you will feel a warmth or tingling in the pecs. Good luck
Booboo

 

[BAM]

Thanks Booboo. I think I will definitely try them either on my counter or on my steps and do them slowly and concentrate on the chest. They still didn't feel comfortable in tabletop position although I just love that option. I'll just have to play around with the positions that feel best. At least we have choices. Keep me posted on how you're doing. I need to know that there's hope. Good luck!

Bam

 

[banslug]

Hey Bam. A few years ago I had a cyst taken out of my wrist, and it sidelined me from full push ups for quite some time. But what I did to ease back into them was to use my step, set on 2 or 3 risers. I'd do push ups from my knees with my hands on the edges, and I'd concentrate on pushing down thru the base of my hand (not the full palm of my hand but the base) and into the step, which really isolated my chest. I was able to slowly ease back to full push ups, but let me tell you, I still, to this day, will use that variation simply because it hits the chest area soooooo well.

Good luck, and I hope this helps some.

Gayle

 

[BAM]

Thanks Gayle! I will try that option as well. I really want to build upper body strength and as much as I hate to admit it, push ups really do cover a lot of muscles so I "should" start to do them instead of using my ff button all the time. Hey, doesn't pressing the remote utilize chest muscles? I guess I just have to suck it up!

Bam

 

[kathryn]

Yeah, those tabletop pushups look like they would put a bit more emphasis on the shoulders (because of the angle that the body is at on the bottom of the move).

I agree with Gayle about using a step platform (or high step) with risers and the knee version of the push-up as needed. The beauty of this is that you can easily change the height of the step by 2" increments (until you get to using the platform only).

There is an advantage, though, to doing straight-leg push-ups from descending angles, as this wil gradually strengthen all the muscles needed to do full-on, straight-leg push-ups on the floor (whereas the transition from on-the-knees push-ups to on-the-toes push-ups is sometimes difficult: though there's no reason you ever HAVE to do on-the-toes push-ups!).

Start at whatever upper-body height you need to feel a challenge but still be able to do several full reps. In increasing level of difficulty, that would be : hands on the wall, hands on a counter, hands on the seat of a chair, hands on a high step set at 12-14", then from there, it's just a matter of removing a riser as you are able to.

You could aim for a set of 8-12 push-ups. Start at the level that allows you to do 8, then increase reps until you can do 12, then go to the next level and back to 8.

 

[BAM]

Thank you, Kathryn. I like your suggestions as well. I think I will start with the counter and slowly descend to lower positions. I'm actually thinking I "might" be able to do a regular push up one of these days.

Bam