Comments on: No more girly push ups!

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:17:44 +0000

That’s quite unusual, to find them easier with feet raised off the floor! If you feel you are weak around the middle, a good exercise to try is plank. This involves holding your body in the same position as it should be in a push up so it’ll get your body used to maintaining that ramrod straight lever position. Try to hold the plank for as long as you can without either sagging in the middle or sticking your butt in the air. Getting stronger at plank should make push ups easier.

By: Nikkie

Nikkie — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:33:55 +0000

Hi, I have been doing Karate for 20 years and have always been told to do do proper push ups, I have always found them difficult, but i always try my hardest and push out as many as possible.
Since i have had my children (4) i find them extremely difficult, i actually find them easier when my feet are raised off the floor!! Have you any ideas why this is??

By: Quick and dirty push ups | Hard Sweat

Quick and dirty push ups | Hard Sweat — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:40:16 +0000

[...] No more girly push ups! [...]

By: Quick and dirty push ups - weight training, strength, fitness, weights, losing fat, women's weight training, bodyweight, free weights, powerlifting, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bodybuilding, olympic weightlifting

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:12:27 +0000

[...] No more girly push ups! [...]

By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:32:32 +0000

Good idea Justin! I have seen something similar recommended for one-arm push up progressions (e.g. using the bar of a smith machine set at a low height) so the same principle must apply to the two-handed variety.

By: Justin_P

Justin_P — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:48:03 +0000

I showed a few girls a variation on the push-up where I had them do them with their hands on two blocks of wood approx. 30 cm high. This way, they were pushing less weight but still able to get the trunk working.

By: Wed, Jul 1st – CrossFit Ireland - Great People. Great Fitness.

Wed, Jul 1st – CrossFit Ireland - Great People. Great Fitness. — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:03:51 +0000

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By: gubernatrix

gubernatrix — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:08:44 +0000

@ kenzilisa: 50 full push ups per workout is awesome!! Nice work

@ Steven: thanks for those additional tips!

By: Steven

Steven — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:31:59 +0000

A couple of ideas on this: Keeping the spine straight is quite important, as mentioned. The usual problem is too much curve in the lumbar spine(hyper lordosis.) I suggest adding a posterior pelvic tilt to correct, which also gives more of an abdominal exercise.

Make sure the shoulder tips stay up and not pointed toward the floor. Pointing down can compress the tendons of the supraspinatous and long head of the biceps at the acromonial joint.

To protect the wrists and help strengthen the hands try to put the weight on the knuckles, especially the index finger’s, grip with the fingers, and pull the wrists up. Think of supinating the hands to do this.

I actually like the idea of starting with the hands on an elevated surface such as a box or a barbell in a rack, but certainly agree that push-ups from the knees have too much negative connotation to be useful.

Regarding your training in the sun, check my blog post from Sunday on vitamin D and sunshine* for info on why that can be very healthy.

Happy Solstice, Steven
*http://positive-massage.blogspot.com/2009/06/vitamin-d-sunlight-and-health.html

By: kenzilisa

kenzilisa — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:39:28 +0000

I totally agree with you (and thanks for the pointers on how to do them better). I did a lot of girl pushups which definitely strengthened my chest muscles which was a good precursor to “boy” pushups, but I think I got stuck doing girl pushups out of fear. A friend/trainer told me the same thing that it’s better to do one boy pushup than only girl pushups. I am now up to 50 per workout and it’s really great. The benefits of full pushups are incredible; they work so many parts of your body that you could almost limit your uppper body workout to pushups and variations on them. Thanks again!