Press up problem

narommy

My problem is I can't really do them.

I don't have the strenght to do more that 4-5 and they aren't as good as they could be. I never have been able to do them.

What could I do to get started or that would have an equivalent effect. only at home and only dumbbells

Overall I am strong but not my chest.

spiral

If you can only do 4-5 , try doing 3 at a time with best form you can 7-8 times a day. You'll soon up your numbers.
Bench press, overhead press with Dumbells would help if you are using a reasonable weight. Handstands against a wall for time if you can manage that or holding a pressup position statically.

davyjose

Follow this, and take it from there. http://hundredpushups.com/

Roper

Will Heffernan posted a vid on his blog about the progressions he uses in his gym and I've been doing it for my weaker peeps since to good effect. Won't post it as I may need permission but it's on his blog from a few weeks ago.

DamienH

Why not just try knocking out low numbers of push-ups. Say if you can do 5 all out then just do 3 about 4 or 5 times a day ( when wouldn't you have time for 3 push-ups ! ) You numbers should soon go up, just don't max out on any sets.

brendansmith

spiral wrote: »

If you can only do 4-5 , try doing 3 at a time with best form you can 7-8 times a day. You'll soon up your numbers.

DamienH wrote: »

Why not just try knocking out low numbers of push-ups. Say if you can do 5 all out then just do 3 about 4 or 5 times a day ( when wouldn't you have time for 3 push-ups ! ) You numbers should soon go up, just don't max out on any sets.

Damien, there was only 3 short replies before yours, could you not have just glanced over them first?

smashey

brendansmith wrote: »

Damien, there was only 3 short replies
before yours, could you not have just glanced over them first?

Does it matter? He gave advice as he saw it.

Killme00

and his sig is quality

Oryx

I found knee push ups a good way to get started. (As shown in davyjoses link above) Once I could do a good few sets of 10 in a session, I began doing full push ups.

Cookpasbabtridg

Staying on the push up topic, what's the view on only doing push ups to get bigger and more toned. I find them better then the bench press and have started doing them nearly everyday now...are they one of the best things you can do for upper body?

conceited

Listen to me !

Get 2 chairs and lean forward and put one hand on each chair.
You obviously need to do press ups elevated because you haven't got the strenght to lift your body weight comfortably.



Do 3 sets of 10 or 15.You'll be able for them.

plasmaguy

narommy wrote: »

My problem is I can't really do them.

I don't have the strenght to do more that 4-5 and they aren't as good as they could be. I never have been able to do them.

What could I do to get started or that would have an equivalent effect. only at home and only dumbbells

Overall I am strong but not my chest.

Are you doing sets?

Do as many as you can in the first set. Take a break and/or do something like crunches for a while...then do another set of pushups of as many as you can, then crunches again and then another set of pushups...

You should do pushups and crunches preferably in a place where there is plenty of oxygen as fat burning etc needs oxygen intake...so open your window when doing these kinds of excercises.

you will find after a week of this that you can do far more pushups.

rubadub

Cookpasbabtridg wrote: »

Staying on the push up topic, what's the view on only doing push ups to get bigger and more toned. I find them better then the bench press and have started doing them nearly everyday now...are they one of the best things you can do for upper body?

Once you get stronger then it is really just endurance. It would be like starting out doing barbell curls with say 5kg, then being able to do loads without increasing the weight.

Big & toned=hypertrophy, and most recommend 3 sets of 8-12reps for this. If you can only manage 3 pushups, then do them on your knees until you can do 8-12.

I can do ~75pushups last time I bothered, but I cannot do a single handstand pushup. I incline me legs and position my arms in different ways until I am in the 8-12rep range. I do not bother much with them anymore, I do a lot of weighted chins and dips, military press and am getting back into deadlifting.

Pugsley

plasmaguy wrote: »

You should do pushups and crunches preferably in a place where there is plenty of oxygen as fat burning etc needs oxygen intake...so open your window when doing these kinds of excercises.

Sorry, but this is the kind of urban myth stuff that really gets on my tits, it's nonsense.

If you do a few pressups here and there the strength doesn't be long building up, especially when your only working with 4 or 5 reps to begin with, you should be up to 10 within a few weeks if you do them once or twice a day. The type of pressup also has a big effect on how hard they are, if you do wide stance pressups (hands far apart, a chest exercise) I would find them easier than a close stance pressup (hands below your shoulders, more of a shoulder and tricep exercise). Doing them from your fists rather than hands flat on the floor also makes them harder.

kevpants

plasmaguy wrote: »

You should do pushups and crunches preferably in a place where there is plenty of oxygen as fat burning etc needs oxygen intake...so open your window when doing these kinds of excercises.

Yes always somewhere with plenty of oxygen... like the Earth.

Hanley

kevpants wrote: »

Yes always somewhere with plenty of oxygen... like the Earth.

They'd be easier on the moon tho. I know there's no oxygen, but there'd be less gravitational resistance...

littlefriend

http://willheffernan.blogspot.com/2008/09/running-late-but.html

I could do 3 full push ups about 6 weeks ago..now I can do 5 sets of 8 or 10. In between I practiced doing 3 full ones and then the ones as shown by Will on the link above. I'm probably the weakest person in the world so if I can do it literally anyone can.

plasmaguy

Pugsley wrote: »

Sorry, but this is the kind of urban myth stuff that really gets on my tits, it's nonsense.

If you do a few pressups here and there the strength doesn't be long building up, especially when your only working with 4 or 5 reps to begin with, you should be up to 10 within a few weeks if you do them once or twice a day. The type of pressup also has a big effect on how hard they are, if you do wide stance pressups (hands far apart, a chest exercise) I would find them easier than a close stance pressup (hands below your shoulders, more of a shoulder and tricep exercise). Doing them from your fists rather than hands flat on the floor also makes them harder.

And you are the voice of reason then?

Maybe you should do some research before posting your opinions on these matters...read this if you aren't convinced...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Weight-Loss-Tip:-Burn-Fat-With-Oxygen&id=170345

There is hardly any oxygen in a closed stuffy room. I always open my window before doing any excercises. Proper breathing is essential to seeing the benefits of your excercises.

Hanley

plasmaguy wrote: »

And you are the voice of reason then?

Maybe you should do some research before posting your opinions on these matters...read this if you aren't convinced...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Weight-Loss-Tip:-Burn-Fat-With-Oxygen&id=170345

There is hardly any oxygen in a closed stuffy room. I always open my window before doing any excercises.

Oh wow... a peer reviewed journal article that conclusively proves it.






















No, wait. It's an "ezine" artile written by a guy who seemingly writes about everything but has qualifications in nothing... I'm sold.

plasmaguy

Hanley wrote: »

Oh wow... a peer reviewed journal article that conclusively proves it.


No, wait. It's an "ezine" artile written by a guy who seemingly writes about everything but has qualifications in nothing... I'm sold.

Here is his bio

"The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the '70s after reading numerous books, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper's "Aerobics". This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years, and to pursue course work on health and fitness. He now has an online health supplement store, and also has a website with articles on health, fitness, and weight loss, and a blog dedicated to the subjects of health and weight loss."

A member of Mensa...that's usually enough to make me sit up and listen. He also draws on research from the university of Edinburgh.

Fine if you want to believe that proper breathing doesn't improve your fat burning. I can find you at least 50 other articles if you want, that was just the first I came across.

Hanley

plasmaguy wrote: »

Here is his bio

"The author .... has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has .... has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the '70s after reading numerous books. This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years"

Wow. Quite some qualifications he has there.

A member of Mensa...that's usually enough to make me sit up and listen. He also draws on research from the university of Edinburgh.

So someone in Mensa suddenly knows everything about everything now?? I wonder if he could tell me how much longer the burger I have on cooking has left.

Fine if you want to believe that proper breathing doesn't improve your fat burning. I can find you at least 50 other articles if you want, that was just the first I came across.

Who gives a damn?? Know what helps fat loss?? A good diet and consistent training. That's hard. Give someone an easy option like opening a window and telling them it's gonna help them burn fat and people are gonna look at it as a miracle solution.

Know what else is funny?? The opening lines in that ezine article was;

"In fact, studies by a California university have shown that simply deep breathing can help burn up to 140% more calories than riding an exercycle."

It didn't say what type of air you were supposed to be breathing, and what the hell is an exercycle??

And is this the "reasearch" from The University of Edinburgh you're talking about??

"When the oxygen supply is diminished, as is the case with most shallow-breathing Americans, this ability to absorb and process nutrients can drop almost 75%, according to research by the University of Edinburgh."

Doesn't say much as to how it effects fat loss now does it??

The article is crap. It's badly written. There's no references and it's full of sensationalist sh!te - "Merely increasing oxygen intake through proper breathing can increase the body's ability to burn fat by 100% or more"

For anyone who believes all this is the miracle cure to their problem, BRIDGE FOR SALE, good price!!

EDIT: Burger's done

BossArky

Once you have mastered the standard pushup up to 50 or so reps you may want to try crocodile push ups. These help to build up towards a one armed push up.

Assume the standard pushup position. Move one arm about two palm lengths upwards (direction your fingers are pointing) and only touch the group with the tips of your fingers and thumb, so your hand looks like a crocodile jaw.

Now, do a few pushups. You will have to use your opposing arm alot more, thus making it a harder workout on that side. Repeat on the opposite side.

If this is too hard move the hand down a bit. If it is too easy, move it further away.

BobbyOLeary

plasmaguy wrote: »

There is hardly any oxygen in a closed stuffy room.

I'm sorry but this nearly made me p*ss myself. Define hardly any there please. Oh and I qualified for Mensa too and I reckon this guy is bogus. Which of us are you going to sit up and listen to now? If any of those 50 articles are from a peer reviewed journal I'll both buy and eat my newly bought hat.

Oh and an exercycle, I think, is a stationary bike that can be set to a certain power output while allowing the user a varying rpm.

plasmaguy

Fine, here are more articles...

http://www.weightlossnutrition.org/best-exercise-to-lose-fat/

http://www.fitnesshealthzone.com/exercises/fat-burning-workout-program-for-maximum-fat-loss/

http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Lose_Belly_Fat_Quickly

http://hubpages.com/hub/Fat-Burning-Exercises

http://www.womenfitness.net/fastweight.htm

http://www.intervaltraining.net/fat-burning-zone.html

http://www.weightlossforgood.co.uk/burn_fat.htm

Read all these articles and you will be informed and then you can post from an informed point of view, rather than a merely ill-informed and speculative point of view

smashey

Right, enough on the oxygen lark please.

Roper

Actually there's something to this Oxygen lark.

I remember reading something about guys being put in a room which had about 21% oxygen in it, and another group which had no oxygen at all. I think the oxygen breathers performed a lot better. Can't remember the name of the study I read....Schindler's something or other....

conceited

haha classic.

Hanley

Roper wrote: »

Actually there's something to this Oxygen lark.

I remember reading something about guys being put in a room which had about 21% oxygen in it, and another group which had no oxygen at all. I think the oxygen breathers performed a lot better. Can't remember the name of the study I read....Schindler's something or other....

We need a sticky thread to put all the best quotes in. That one definitely deserves a place. Or at least it should be someone's sig!

Cookpasbabtridg

brilliant!

billius

Roper wrote: »

Actually there's something to this Oxygen lark.

I remember reading something about guys being put in a room which had about 21% oxygen in it, and another group which had no oxygen at all. I think the oxygen breathers performed a lot better. Can't remember the name of the study I read....Schindler's something or other....

AHHAHAHA!...best post ever!! Good man yourself!

Greaney

conceited wrote: »

Listen to me !

Get 2 chairs and lean forward and put one hand on each chair.
You obviously need to do press ups elevated because you haven't got the strenght to lift your body weight comfortably.



Do 3 sets of 10 or 15.You'll be able for them.

Concieted is right, I'm a gymnasitcs coach press ups are considered the number one conditioning excersise for a gymnast (they are also considered one of the most difficult to teach). They condition core, upper body and believe it or not, even lower body. The weaker you are, the higher your arms and chest should be to your feet; if you're super strong, raise your feet.

Get the shape right, don't let your middle flop, make the top of your back like an "angry cat", squeeze your bum, suck in your tum, and make sure your shoulders are over your hands... infact holding that shape without doing a press up for say 15 seconds, is a wee workout in itself, it's called front support.

In conditioning, your own body weight allows for useful, and more proportioned muscle

edges

Conceited and Greany are both on the button.

Doing pushups from th knees is an option but it's a big jump to gofrom the knee to the full push up.

To this end I've used the smith machine with several people (thats right, an actual bona-fide use for a smith machine!)

Set the bar to a height where you can perform 3x8 elevated push ups, work this till you get up to 3x12, then lower the bar a notch.

Results usually come fairly quick, if you're consistent.

Lil' Smiler

Greaney wrote: »

Concieted is right, I'm a gymnasitcs coach press ups are considered the number one conditioning excersise for a gymnast (they are also considered one of the most difficult to teach).

Oh god, I couldn't agree more about how hard they are to teach!

SO SO difficult, they don't seem to be able to understand that they need to keep their bodies in the tight front support/plank shape!