Pushups- Try Reading Here First- Merged Thread

[bojangles]

Again.... this original post was ages ago but I can give my 2 cents for what its worth coming from a Personal Trainers perspective....and some advice I have yet to see on this topic unless I missed it along the way.

When training to do push-ups and you are having difficulty doing little to none with proper form.. a good way to start is by doing the exact opposite of what is suggested by some... to elevate your feet and try to do them. Heck if you can't do one with good form in a regular push-up postion, does it make sense to tackle advanced ones? Hmmm I would think NOT!

So... instead of elevating your feet, elevate you upper body instead of your lower. First try doing pushups against a hard surface like a wall. Keep good form... body straight and stand approximately 3 to 4 ft away from the wall. From this position your push-ups should seem fairly easy... start moving gradually towards the ground.. Next use a sturdy desk or counter top... then move down to a bench... eventually you will be doing them on the ground...ONLY when you have that mastered with good form.. should you be elevating your feet.

Good Luck and hope this helps you out. 

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

Just finished my Expres last week and got an exempt!! WOO HOO.
I've always had trouble with pushups and so started back in the Fall to really concentrate on them.
First I went to the PSP guys and got some pointers on form and technique.
Then they told me to start with mats doubled under my knees until I could do 25 that way...which is what I was aiming for.
Then when I had that mastered I went to the Mat singled under my knees.
Then no mat and just doing them.
It worked like a charm.....had no problem on the Expres.
I'm actually starting to like them now that I can do them properly....there is no harm in getting the PSP folks to help you...then you know what they are looking for .

 

[Hawkeye]

Personally i think that if pushups are not being done properly it can cause injury and if continued can cause severe injury this has happened to a friend of mine alot of factors come into play though your weight? new at pushups? could be many factors every excercise has it's proper way of being done or maybe you just have bad wrists hope things have gotten better

 

[TacticalW]

This used to be a very annoying problem for me, what helped me fix it was getting some 10 pound weights, holding them at my maximum reach in front of me and then with my hands making the weights to up and then down for a while. Since I started doing that I've had no problems whatsoever and this also helps with hand-grip and excercises the forearms.

 

[stealthylizard]

Something else to watch out for........ ganglions (bible bumps).  Most common area is in the wrists, caused by a few things, like repetitive use.  The old treatment for them was to use a heavy book (like a bible) to "pop" them, but doctors don't recommend doing it.

 

[Moggie]

Normally, I can get between 30 and 35 pushups done, feet on the floor and elbows at 90 degrees.  However I cant get any lower than 90 degrees, not on the first one I do, not on the last.  Is it because certain muscles aren't strong enough or do I have weird elbows?  Are there any ways to fix it?

 

[Dale Denton]

Again.... this original post was ages ago but I can give my 2 cents for what its worth coming from a Personal Trainers perspective....and some advice I have yet to see on this topic unless I missed it along the way.

When training to do push-ups and you are having difficulty doing little to none with proper form.. a good way to start is by doing the exact opposite of what is suggested by some... to elevate your feet and try to do them. Heck if you can't do one with good form in a regular push-up postion, does it make sense to tackle advanced ones? Hmmm I would think NOT!

So... instead of elevating your feet, elevate you upper body instead of your lower. First try doing pushups against a hard surface like a wall. Keep good form... body straight and stand approximately 3 to 4 ft away from the wall. From this position your push-ups should seem fairly easy... start moving gradually towards the ground.. Next use a sturdy desk or counter top... then move down to a bench... eventually you will be doing them on the ground...ONLY when you have that mastered with good form.. should you be elevating your feet.

Good Luck and hope this helps you out. 

Would doing pushups using your bedframe (1 foot high) be  good practice?

 

[Pte AJB]

Would doing pushups using your bedframe (1 foot high) be  good practice?

Yes. Try varying your grip from tight to wide as well. This will act to involve the triceps and shoulders to varying degrees as well to target the individual muscles that make up the chest. If you can get your hands on an exercise ball they are excellent for incline pushups, it forces the rest of your muscles to work to stabilize your body, which is great for your core.

 

[Testify]

Hey Guys,

Great tips so far.  I have a question that I hope can get answered here.  I'm doing standard pushups (like they say to on the cf site)  and I notice that the next day, it's not my arms that are hurting the most, it's my chest.  Almost my armpit area if you can picture that?  Is there a different form I should be doing while I let this heal and then go back to standard?  I notice when I try to do them while this area is sore I can't do as many due to this pain.  Should I maybe spread my arms apart more or in more?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Pte AJB]

Well, we all have to start somewhere. Testify, the push-up is a chest specific exercise, yes varying forms will act to involve the triceps, shoulders and upper back to differing degrees, however the push-up chiefly targets the pectoralis major (the chest muscle). I am going to presume that you have never consistently worked out before. The soreness in your armpit is nature’s way of saying that you are training muscle groups that have not been heavily trained before. Put a little Google time in and you will readily find a plethora of information on push-ups, variations, proper form and in your specific case the muscle groups targeted.

FH

 

[Biggoals2bdone]

This is a big point of contention for me...
I think push-ups should be tossed from the fitness requirements and bench press should be used...that way it would be a standardized weight that EVERYONE would have to lift...because as you all might know when you do a push-up you don't lift you entire weight...i would say 75% at most. 
Ex: Pers A weighs: 120lbs can do 20 push-ups...at 75% this person is only lifting 90lbs
    Pers B: weighs 200lbs can do 20 push-ups...at 75% this person is lifting 150lbs

Obviously these are approximations...but i think you get the point, that just because lil johny buck twenty (120lbs) can do his 20 push-ups it doesnt mean necessarily that he is strong enough to handle the same kinds of weights (ammo, canno shells etc) that Big tim 2 bills (200lbs) can.

Anyways thats a whole other bag....

The whole i can crank out 90 push-ups or whatever...well not to step on anyones toes...but out of 10 ppl on avg i don't see more then 3 do PROPER push-ups: straight, ALL the way down...none of these half-a$$ push-ups where you bob your head up and down, or pelvic thrusts or whatever...i did 48 PROPER nose touching the floor, straight back push-ups in a row...and you know what...thats fine i wanted 50...i was 2 short...but i got the highest out of everyone there...but i don't care...


Now to answer the poster's question...don't listen to the stuff thats like ya do 30push-ups every time you see a yellow car, or 30 push-ups if you step on the cracks between tiles (im being facetious) but you get it...doing all these push-ups EVERYDAY...will just wear you down, be smart get the best bang for your buck...do you wanna be lil mister push-up king who blasts off a gazillion push-ups to only end up being able to do the minimum required amount....i don't think so.

So you're best course of options is...1) get a gym membership  2) either get a trainer or educate yourself read a lot of training books and websites
3) prepare or have a trainer prepare a proper training plan for all your goals 4) implement plan.

What you need to improve for your push-ups are your deltoids (shoulders) triceps (bottom portion of upper arm), your pectorials (chest) and your back (ask any good strength trainer or powerlifter how to get wicked strong on pressing movements....and they will say you need a strong back)

Good exercises for strength gains:
Chest:
Incline bench press
Incline dumbbell bench press
flat bench press
flat dumbbell bench press
decline bench press

Deltoids:
Standing or seated military press
clean and jerk
Standing or seated dumbbell shoulder press
front raises

Triceps:
Overhead extensions (standing french curl)
Lying triceps extensions (Skullcrusher, lying french curl)
Close grip bench press
Reverse grip bench press

and Rowing exercises for your back
such as:
Cable rows
1-arm dumbbell rows
bent over barbell rows
T-bar rows

AND DON'T FORGET YOUR CORE (ABS AND ERECTOR SPINAE)
working these exercises and groups will help you get stronger and therefore better at push-ups but you also need to get your nutrition in proper order to maximize your training and the results.

and to the people talking about benching your own weight...i agree...but i don't it should be flat bench press...i think it should be Incline press your own weight...which i do easily...even after being injured...b4 injury 285lbs x 1 on incline at (210lbs 5'8) now im doing 250x6reps for 5 sets or 240 x 10-12...so yes i totally believe it is do-able and think people who cannot are either a) to heavy  or b) to weak and either way need to start working at it.

 

[The_Falcon]

Push ups in fitness tests are used primarily to measure your MUSCULAR ENDURANCE not your strength.  When the testers want to test your strength they do use the bench press (JTF 2 Coopers test, Peel Regional Police entrance test).  Read the army fitness pam biggoals.

 

[Biggoals2bdone]

i dont know what exactly that comment was for....but if it was in regards to me saying push-ups should be switched out for bench press....well you could better assess someones endurance and compare it to others if everyone lifted the same weight....with a minimum number of repetitions to be reached.

other then that i don't know what that comment was aimed at.

If you took the time to read my comment properly, i mentioned why i don't think push-ups are a good measure.
If you are telling me that he should go to a gym and train doing 100 of reps...then well i don't think you have been training long or very well.
yes i agree muscle endurance can be worked...but im saying to initially get good at push-ups and the best course is to get a higher top end strength.
let me explain...if pers A can only lift 100lbs x1 at his max effort then if we go by percentages a 50% submax would be 50lbs correct, and in the fitness world 50% submax lifts are gauged at easily over 15reps.
so again i say if pers A only lifts 100lbs as his max effort....50% submax = 50lbs vs. Pers B who lifts 250lbs x 1 as max effort making his 50% submax = 125lbs.

What im trying to tell you is that top end/max effort strength corelates with submaximal strength...therefore increasing the max effort strength is in our favour to reach our goal...and also has the added benefit of making us not only more durable but stronger.

 

[The_Falcon]

Yes push-ups may be imperfect for testing for endurance, because peoples bodyweights vary, however it is a much better indication of someones overall muscular endurance, than a benchpress, due to the simple fact that with a bench press you are lying down on a bench and not using all those muscles other muscle than keep you in line.  You complain that people don't complete perfect push-ups (butt in the air, sloped back etc.), so why suggest a different test?  People who are performing push ups in this manner, aren't going to get better by doing a bench press and some tricep extensions.  As well ever think, one of the reasons push ups are frequently used, is because the testing require no equipment to use, therefore its easier to test/train large numbers of people at the same time.  Also the best way to get better at pushups is to do push ups. Sure doing all those superfluous exercises may help, but the best way to get good at something is to practice doing it, over and over and over. Now the sentiment of doing push-ups every 5 mins everday, is a little silly, your body needs time to heal, but that doesn't mean you can't do 100-200 or 300 pushups every other day broken down into small sets.  You can also vary how you do them by using one of or a combination of the following: wearing weighted vests, elevating your feet, using blast straps/rings, plyometric pushups, doing them off of a medicine ball/helmet, using a wider/narrower hand placement.

 

[PMedMoe]

Not to mention, if a push up is not properly performed during an Expres Test, the PSP staff will not count it.  None of this "butt in the air" or "sloped back" stuff.  Besides, if someone is heavier, as per your example, then their muscles should be bigger and therefore, shouldn't they be lifting more weight?  I guess I should have someone sit on my back when I do push ups....... :

 

[ZipperHead]

(I found this on the CrossFit message board (trying to find out if it is legit, but I think it would work, due to the fact that it follows the maxim of "if you want to get good at <whatever>, you must do <whatever> a lot.....", aka Practice Makes Perfect. ) Link for original post: http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/22/29390.html

The NASA push up program looks cool. I haven't tried it yet myself, as I'm currently focusing on other goals than push ups, but here it is:

Take your max rep push up, for instance 50, divide it in two, that'll be 25. Then you perform this number of push ups every hour on the hour for 10 hours a day. Each day you add a rep. When you can't keep doing the prescribed reps anymore, you back off on the reps, for instance 5 rep less per set, and instead decrease the set intervals, so you'll be doing the push ups every 55 minutes. Every day you work on the same number of push ups, but cut off 5 minuttes between sets every day. When you can't keep up anymore, you take a day off and test your new PR and begins again. Keep adding reps in the same fashion as the first cycle. So it's essentially two cycles: one adding rep within a fixed timeframe between sets, and another cycle where you work on time between fixed rep-sets.

So this is how the program could look like:

Current max rep: 50
1st day: 25 push ups every hour for 10 hours
2nd day: 26 push ups every hour for 10 hours
3 ...: 27 ...
4 ...: 28 ...
...
7th ...: 31 push ups. Now I can't do every set fully, so I back off to 26 reps per set and begins altering time between sets instead.
8th day: 26 push ups every 55th minute x 10
9th day: 26 push ups every 50th minute x 10
10th ...: every 45th minute ...
...
12th day: 26 push ups every 35th minute. Now I can't keep up anymore, so I take a rest day, test my new PR and begin all over.

This is out of memory, the original program may be slightly different, but the main idea is switching between two parameters: reps per set and time between sets.

The same program may turn out to be compatible with pull ups as well.

I would recommend setting an hourly chime on your watch, as it is easy to "forget" to do them every hour. Or a countdown timer would actually be better (due to the diminishing rest times). Plus this is a good way to get the blood flowing to the noggin (and other body parts) if you are a desk jockey, such as myself 

AL

Edit: The closest I could find to a "reputable" source for this "NASA pushup program" is here: http://www.dragondoor.com/b31_toc.html. Pavel is Pavel Tsatsouline, who introduced (aka made trendy) the use of kettlebell's in training in N America. Anyway, YMMV, but I am trying it (when I can remember to do them every hour..... d'oh!!!! Curse my feeble brain!!!), as I truly suck at push-up's, and using "I suck at <name of an exercise>" as an excuse to not do them is pretty weak (pun intended). One should focus on one's weakness(es), not one's strength(s). That's my deep thought for the day.

 

[deedster]

"if you want to get good at <whatever>, you must do <whatever> a lot.....", aka Practice Makes Perfect. ) Link for original post: http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/22/29390.html

using "I suck at <name of an exercise>" as an excuse to not do them is pretty weak (pun intended). One should focus on one's weakness(es), not one's strength(s).

Excellent suggestion!  "Do them as often as you can": doesn't always work...I like the hourly thing.  I'm going to give it a shot (may look wierd while at work, but, they know wierd).  You do have to focus on your accomplishments though...as in: wow, yesterday I did 10 pushups and today I did 12...tomorrow I'm going to do 14 (as I fall flat on my face). 
Actual numbers have been altered to protect the innocent.   

 

[armyvern]

Excellent suggestion!  "Do them as often as you can": doesn't always work...I like the hourly thing.  I'm going to give it a shot (may look wierd while at work, but, they know wierd).  You do have to focus on your accomplishments though...as in: wow, yesterday I did 10 pushups and today I did 12...tomorrow I'm going to do 14 (as I fall flat on my face). 
Actual numbers have been altered to protect the innocent.   

It may not look so weird. After I had my SI joint popped back into place last year (after it's dislocation had been 'undiagnosed' for over a year), I was required to do physio exercises 4 times a day to get my lower back muscles back into proper shape for two months.

I'd just go into my office, sprawl on the floor and get it done. It included sit-ups, stretchs, and eventually push-ups. Mind you, I had an office with a door on it!! But the troops all knew what I was up to in there, eventually I justed started doing them in the large meeting area (it was easier that way!!) and the troops who weren't busy...jumped down and did some too....you'd be surprised how quick it can catch on...and become "routine."

 

[CdnArtyWife]

I may have to give this a try too. I've been wanting to increase my push ups.

Here's hoping the Det Commander doesn't look at me funny when I drop down and do 20 next time I'm in a meeting with him. LOL Meh...maybe I'll try it with the Det 2IC in Charlottetown first, just to test the waters.

 

[Testify]

So this NASA program.  I would think it be for someone who is pretty fit to start with?  Someone just starting out doing push ups every hour?  Is that a good thing to do?

I bought a book and it had an 8-week get ready for basic training program in it.  It includes long runs and sprint runs and then push ups and sit ups.  Program starts out like this:

Day 1 - Sit ups / Push ups
Day 2 - Long run
Day 3 - Sit ups / Push ups
Day 4 - Sprint run
Day 5- Sit ups / Push ups
Day 6 - Long run
Day 7 - Sit ups / Push ups

and so on.. There is more to it than this however, there's an initial run that you use to put in a formula to figure out your goal sprint time and you update your sprint time with new formulas as the weeks progress.

The push up program goes like this:

Weeks 1-3 (3 sets) - Do as many as you can in 1 minute.  Immediately drop to your knees and start doing "diamond" situps (do these slowly, 3 seconds down, 3 seconds up)
Weeks 4-6 (3 sets) -                                    1.5 minutes
Weeks 7-8 (3 sets) -                                    2 minutes

Anyway, that's what I'm doing.  I also do push ups whenever I think of doing them.