Random question: girl pushups: why?

[jen3kids]

I cannot even do 1 standard pull up, but I recently joined a new gym and the coach suggested thinking of it as pulling my elbows down to my sides rather than my chip up and over the bar - that change of focus has made a huge difference!  I mean, I still cannot do one yet, but I can actually feel my lats engaging!

As for standard vs knee push-ups, I think it has a lot to do with core strength, to keep yourself in a plank while going to the floor.  You can improve this by working on negatives - slowly lowering yourself to the floor while holding a plank.  Then get yourself back up and repeat.  Elevated push ups are a great way to get to a standard push-up as well.  Have your hands elevated against a wall, or table, chair, etc. The more vertical you are, the easier it is, and then as you gain strength, move closer to horizontal.   

[Kuovonne]

When I was younger knee pushups were called “girlie pushups”. I never heard the term “lady pushups”. I now prefer the gender neutral (and more descriptive) term “knee pushups”.

Knee pushups are just another regression of full pushups. They have health benefits over not doing any sort of pushing exercise at all, and many men and women cannot do full pushups. The inability to do full pushups is not laziness.

As for whether or not knee pushups “count” as pushups, it depends on the context. For example, when talking to a personal trainer about my push-up ability, knee pushups and full pushups are different. In casual conversation outside of a fitness context, both full and knee pushups are pushups, but not wall pushups. During daily exercise, any appropriate push-up regression/progression (including wall pushups) count as pushups.

I have worked up to full pushups twice in my adult life. The first time was with a personal trainer in a gym who started me with incline pushups. Then I had many sedentary years when I lost the ability to do full push-ups. The second time, I built back up to doing pushups on my own at home. Both times, it took me a few months.

For those of you who want to do push-ups, but have wrist issues, have you tried using parallettes or other hand supports/grips?

[LaughingCat]

On 1/20/2024 at 12:56 PM, El... said:

 

I don't know how you'd transition from knees to feet effectively. I couldn't. 

Doing full pushups on stairs, moving down a stair as you get stronger, are the best way to build the strength for full pushups on ground imo

i also never could transition from half to full before I saw that idea.

(also found that keeping arms at 45 degree angle instead close to body or completely out, like most people do/recommend, was a game changer for my shoulders!)

[Kassia]

I haven't tried this and I'm sure there are better articles, but I've heard that using bands to make progress on full push-ups works really well.  

 

https://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/arm-workouts/modified-resistance-band-push-up-tiktok#:~:text=Before you settle into a,your push-ups as usual.

[Ginevra]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:53 PM, SKL said:

I really don't care if you believe me, LOL.  I have nothing to gain or lose either way.

But it's cool to know that the ability is somewhat unusual.

It’s very usual, but some people can. 
 

For purposes of this thread, I have always done only standard push ups and always thought “girl” pushups were so awkward I would rather just do standard. Once upon a time, I could do an impressive number of pull ups (it wasn’t 100, but it was around 20-30) but at present I can only dead hang for a minute. I’m trying to work up to two minute dead hang. I can still do many crunches in a set but no “standard” sit ups. I am also practicing doing leg-ups from a dead hang. I can do 20 of those. 
 

My dh still does 100 push ups every morning at 60yo. This subject came up at Christmas time and my BIL was absolutely flabbergasted at that; he thought dh must be joking. BIL said he cannot do *one* standard push up; only a few “girl” pushups. I suppose I do take dh’s strong upper body for granted; it’s probably pretty unusual for his age. 

[SKL]

It's fascinating to me how different bodies are.

I do have relatively broad shoulders for a woman, so maybe that is a factor.

There are plenty of things I have never been able to do properly.  Leg lifts?  These were absolute torture, until I learned a trick that may or may not make my leg lifts invalid (putting my hands slightly under my rear)  😛  I'm also not good at planks, but I'm trying to work on that.

I used to be the fastest runner in my class as a kid, but the only time I was "timed," I tripped myself twice and was just happy to emerge upright.  😛  I didn't ask what my time was.  😛

I was born with extremely bad vision, including eye-hand coordination and eye tracking.  Sports, gym, even recess were torture for me.

[denarii]

I figured what the hell, let's see how many I can do. The answer is at least 3. I got 3 pushups in before I was tackled by twin toddlers and then a dumb as rocks mutt trying to be involved in whatever it was we were all doing on the floor.  😂

[Terabith]

I actually think, at least for me and probably other large busted women, depending on the muscle groups I'm targeting, knee push ups are BETTER than regular push ups.  The times in my life when I was doing lots of push ups, regular push ups were really good for my core, in the way that planks are, but I actually felt totally different muscles engage when I did knee push ups, and as an upper body workout, knee push ups felt more effective.  For a long time, I thought regular push ups were better, and I was doing multiple sets of 25 or 30 regular push ups, but just like diamond vrs wide armed push ups utilized different muscles, knee push ups used different muscles from regular ones.  They're all valuable.  But I think it changes center of gravity or something.  My arms and chest felt more engaged with the knee ones, whereas my core was more engaged with regular ones.  

[Clarita]

3 hours ago, denarii said:

I figured what the hell, let's see how many I can do. The answer is at least 3. I got 3 pushups in before I was tackled by twin toddlers and then a dumb as rocks mutt trying to be involved in whatever it was we were all doing on the floor.  😂

I can get 4 done. I have to wait until night time where I can sneak about 30min when no one needs me. Except the cat, who likes to motivate me to challenge myself by sitting on top of me while I do the push-ups.

[SHP]

I had no idea that regular push-ups were so difficult for so many. When I have gaps when I am not doing them it takes me maybe 2 weeks to get back to them. 

Never really focused on pull ups and chin ups. The only school I attended that even pretending they existed had 3 stations in a tiny room in the music department. I might see about working towards them. 

[SKL]

12 hours ago, denarii said:

I figured what the hell, let's see how many I can do. The answer is at least 3. I got 3 pushups in before I was tackled by twin toddlers and then a dumb as rocks mutt trying to be involved in whatever it was we were all doing on the floor.  😂

This is why I stopped trying to do yoga after I became a mom.  Something about "downward dog" seems to communicate "climb on mama.'  😛  Though it was cute when they asked, "are you doing your yogurt?"

Edited January 22 by SKL

[Soror]

I'm going to agree with those who said that the term girl pushups area derogatory term making fun of the fact that women are not typically as strong as men. Technically speaking it is just a variation but not the best for training towards regular pushups.

However, it shouldn't be a slight on women that we are not as strong as men. We are different biologically and we have different biomechanics. Both of these make a big difference. (this is not to say women do not have other strengths and every individual male is stronger than every individual female). 

It is easy to see how biomechanics make a difference when you look at the elites in any sport. There is a reason gymnasts and cyclists and swimmers and sprinters have similar body types likewise how we are built will make some exercises harder or easier. We also have differences in our ability to gain strength- due to hormones, body types, etc. 

I can build up somewhat easily on pushups with regular practice. Right now I'm deconditioned from a year of being injured with a good chunk of that I couldn't do much more than walking. I couldn't do planks for the longest time because it flared up the sciatica. I'm still not 100% but much improved. I've been slowly working on regaining strength. I just tested and I can do 10 'regular' pushups. My form isn't what I'd like but I'm a lot stronger than I was 6 months into this. Pull-ups however are very difficult for me. I have narrow shoulders and wide hips and an old shoulder injury. I've worked up to doing them from a door rack multiple times but doing them from a dead hang I've only accomplished once when I was 40-  I started already fairly strong with years of strength training, used a personal trainer, and proper progressions just to accomplish that once. Now, grip strength is pretty decent. I was able to hang like a monkey- and switch grip, do the bars, and climb a rope easily but dead-hang pullups nope.  

[skimomma]

I am the very definition of a gym rat and spend hours each week weight training (as well as endurance cardio and mobility exercises).  I can climb the rope up to 10 unbroken times.  I can box jump (24") until the cows come home (even though they STILL scare the crap out of me!).  I can dead hang for well over 2 minutes.  I can plank forever.  I can do 100 sit-ups and more.

But.

I can only do maybe 5 regular unbroken push-ups.  When I need to do higher volume, I modify to an inclined push-up, which several here have already stated as to why they are better than knee push-ups when it comes to core strength and moving toward "real" push-up proficiency.  And looking around at my gym, is not uncommon at all, for women OR men.  We also do not call them "girl" or "lady" push-ups in our gym.  However, many exercises in my gym do have different targets for men versus women, which is appropriate considering the difference in muscular builds.

I probably will never be able to do 100 push-ups.  Or even 10, to be honest.  And I'm ok with that.

One of my coaches is a nationally ranked Crossfit athlete and he cannot do 100 strict pull-ups without breaks.  No one in our gym can.

[LaughingCat]

On 1/21/2024 at 1:42 PM, LaughingCat said:

Doing full pushups on stairs, moving down a stair as you get stronger, are the best way to build the strength for full pushups on ground imo

i also never could transition from half to full before I saw that idea.

(also found that keeping arms at 45 degree angle instead close to body or completely out, like most people do/recommend, was a game changer for my shoulders!)

Well, this thread got me trying out my pushup level 😁 -- and although I could do a few on my bottom step, when I tried to switch to the floor I was getting stuck right at the point where my upper arms were parallel to the floor and couldn't even squeeze out one 😢 

I was thinking, I wish there was a band assisted way to help with pushups the way there is for pullups -- and google granted my wish (after a bit of playing around with search terms haha).   

You can either use a band attached to something else (longer style band) and wrap it at your chest or hips, or wrap the band around your arms (either longer style or shorter style band) and either way will give you a bit of help at the bottom part of the pushup.

Here is a video from youtube showing both ideas (+ there are lot of shortie versions if you search on "band assisted pushup")

youtube video that shows both ideas

 

[lewelma]

Back in my trapping days, I had to carry 120lbs of traps to the study sight (about 10minutes). And I weighed 110 at the time. I would drop half the weight and cary 60lbs of traps up and down the trap line, lifting them up and down as leaning I set them. (there were 200 to set). At the end of 3 months of this 3 times per week, I got down and did 100 pushups in a row, having never done pushups. That was at age 22.

Now, at 54, I can do 3 sets of 16 pushups in a day. So almost 50 but not in a row. 

As for pullups, in my gymnastics days, I could do 3 sets of 10 pull downs on a machine at more than my body weight (so 30 in total). I would have someone hold my shoulders down so I could lift weight greater than my own weight. Now at 54, I can't do 1 without blowing out my elbow. 😞 Instead I do 3 sets of 10 every other day with a band that supports about 75% of my body weight. I've never known anyone, even a guy, who could do 100 pullups in a row. So Kudos to you SKL.

Edited January 27 by lewelma

[Katy]

I haven’t been able to do pull-ups since about 6th grade (after stopping gymnastics in 5th). But a few years back when I was on a weight loss kick I had DH install a pull-up bar in the basement for me. I couldn’t even jump up and do a bent arm hang or slowly decend, the bar was just too high. 

So I got a long elastic exercise band and looped it over the bar and stuck my foot in for an assist. Suddenly I could do pull-ups! I think I got in a solid 4, then couldn’t finish the 5th. But then the trouble started. To get my leg OUT of the elastic band it was already stretched about 3” higher than was comfortable. The band was caught of the rubber heel of my double-knotted shoe. My arms were rubber. I struggled and struggled and eventually stretched that band off my running shoe, but when it popped off it slingshotted into the basement ceiling (and open rafters) so hard that DH, on the toilet on the second floor thought it was a catastrophe and I’d pulled down a bookcase, or maybe fallen off the back of the treadmill and through the big windows behind the treadmill. ETA: he ran down two flights of stairs holding his pants up around his hips!

I haven’t managed to attempt a pull-up again. 

Edited January 27 by Katy

[Kassia]

@Katywhat a great story.  Sounds like something that would happen on a sitcom.  🙂 

[LaughingCat]

I do band assisted pull-ups all the time (although at my current weight I need two bands) BUT my pull-up bar is in the doorway so I can still put my feet on the floor while in the bands 

fwiw one thing I do to work on just hanging is put my feet on a stool -a tall one, like you would sit on, not a step stool - it takes a lot of my weight off (and I’ve used it occasionally to get the bands off too)

Also have gymnastics rings on the pull up bar but I only use them to do rows- if I had a taller bar I would definitely be trying to do pull ups on them (and dreaming of doing fancier things 😂)