Can't do "guy push ups"?

[Keltron]

I'm sure most of you ladies can but beginners may have trouble or may think that they're just not capable. I'm not claiming that this is the best method but I've worked with several women who could barely complete 10 knee push ups and now are cranking out 12 standard push ups with superb form.

Here is the progression. Find your point on the spectrum. As far as frequency and reps, it's malleable via trial and error but if you would like some basic guidlines, find your point and the spectrum and do the exercise three times per week and move on to the next one after a week or two [or three or four, it's ok if you take longer at each phase as long as you progress to the next one eventually!] You can do them at one or two sets of 20 reps or so. Like I said before, the frequency and rep range is not set in stone so play around with it if it doesn't work for you.

pushing off against a wall
pushing off against a wall on your tippy toes
pushing off against a railing
pushing off against a wall while holding a foam roller
pushing off against a wall while holding a swiss ball
pushing off against a swiss ball against the wall and on the ground while on your knees
knee push ups [now shoot for 12 to 15 reps]
knee push ups while holding a foam roller with fingers wrapped around the roller
knee push ups while holding a foam roller with palms open

Once you can do 15 or so knee push ups, try doing one standard push up followed by 11 knee push ups.

If you can't do 11 knee push ups after one standard push up, do as many as you can until you can.

Once you've achieved the 11 knee push ups after the one standard push up, do 2 standard push ups followed by 10 knee push ups.

Each week [or two weeks if you can't progress that quickly], increase the number of standard push ups by one while decreasing the number of knee push ups by one for a total of twelve.

I have a 60 year old woman who is currently at 6 and 6. She is my pride and joy!

Good luck!
[and if anyone wants to add some improvements or critiquing, please do so!]

[Mindi912]

I remember not being able to do a proper push up. My PT kept pushing me and pushing. I can't remember how I transitioned from girl pushups to full pushups.

I know I used the swissball, but once I suddenly found I could do one by myself the rest just came in easyily we built it from there.

I remember the once my PT was being funny and put his foot on my back messing around and pushed down as I was coming up only I had hardly any stregthen left in my arms and ended up kissing the floor as he rammed me into the floor lol.

We both ended laughing for at least five minutes.

[WANNAGETHEALTHY]

You can even do push ups off the kitchen counter.

[alexwilliams]

Thanks for posting this! I personally am very strong with my lower body... but my upper body is WEAK. Working on that with my training right now ;) I used to hardly be able to do two regulars, but I actually havent done them in ages. I can do 15-20 knees for sure, but I've never done the combos.

I think I'll start incorporating this transition into my upper body workouts! Thanks again!

[Trapstar4.4]

i know a girl who would start pushups at a big incline and as she got stronger and more use to the motion, she would begin to lessen the incline, until eventually she was able to do it without any incline help....

she reps them out now, maybe that will help

[valpo2518]

Last year I had to do 25 pushups(guy ones-strict form) to pass a physical agility test. When I first started training I could only do about 3! I just started doing them all the time until I stalled out around 15-17. On the advice of someone I started doing sets of about 12-13(not to failure) wait 2 minutes, go again. I would do 3 or 4 sets of these but never to failure(which made me nervous b/c I thought I had to go to fail everytime to improve). Eventually, it got easier and I would increase my reps. I did this in the morning and evening-at the end I was doing 250-275 pushups every other day! I would max out every 2 weeks or so just to check my progression. So, test day came and I cranked out 30 pushups and actually beat out several men;) That was pretty cool!

[Tishalicious]

Anyone had luck with those push-up bars?

I had wrist surgery a while ago and my wrists are not fond of being 90deg backwards and holding my weight.

[InaSpin]

I found the easiest way was to just keep going at man pushups focusing on form. Once you can do 1-2 very good ones, they come flooding in. I can quite happily pump out 20+ averaging 1 every 1-2 seconds. I'm still training and vary from working in stes e.g. 3x 10 to following a program I found called 100 push ups for breakfast (on the internet, google it) to just forcing myself to do 15 every time I want to go upstairs, have a drink etc. Silly things like that. Even doing 10 every hour during the time I'm awake. Practise makes perfect - it's all about form.

[smdiskin]

Anyone had luck with those push-up bars?

I had wrist surgery a while ago and my wrists are not fond of being 90deg backwards and holding my weight.

They are great... using them I can do close to twice as many full push ups as without... even with my feet on a step...

Ladies... can we please stop calling a full push up a "man push up"... there is nothing in them that can possibly define them as specifically for a man... there is a full push up and a half push up (on your knees) ... men and women do either or both depending on fitness / strength levels...

[IronIc]

Wow, thanks for this post! :D I can do 20 knee pushups now ... I think I can start easing the full pushups in :)

And yes, I agree that they should be called "full" instead of "man" pushups :p

[Keltron]

Anyone had luck with those push-up bars?

I had wrist surgery a while ago and my wrists are not fond of being 90deg backwards and holding my weight.

You can try making a fist and pushing off of your knuckles. I had fractured my wrist a while back so that was the only way I could do them for a while. People say they're harder but I didnt really see much of a difference.

[corzzx]

I've always been convinced that I cannot do pushups. But yesterday I felt like trying a "guy push up" on the floor and I ended up doing 5. :D

[ChicagoChef]

i know a girl who would start pushups at a big incline and as she got stronger and more use to the motion, she would begin to lessen the incline, until eventually she was able to do it without any incline help....

she reps them out now, maybe that will help

That's basically how I'm conditioning myself to do them... it's hard though because I weigh so damn much... that's a lot of girl to move, lol!!! :D

[Keltron]

I've always been convinced that I cannot do pushups. But yesterday I felt like trying a "guy push up" on the floor and I ended up doing 5. :D

Awesome job... You'll be surprised at what you can do if you actually try.

[lopaw]

Ladies... can we please stop calling a full push up a "man push up"... there is nothing in them that can possibly define them as specifically for a man... there is a full push up and a half push up (on your knees) ... men and women do either or both depending on fitness / strength levels...

Amen!

[TurbulentFluid]

i know a girl who would start pushups at a big incline and as she got stronger and more use to the motion, she would begin to lessen the incline, until eventually she was able to do it without any incline help....

It's what I did... Now I can go up to 40 reps, then I stop... gets boring! :D I count it as one of my biggest successes, but I think upping my bench press (30 kg -> 55 kg) played a major role.

[bodyburner1]

Thanks for posting this. I can't do more than 4-5 push ups in a set but after the 3rd set, I can barely move. I will try this to improve the strength of my lower body!

[paulett]

They are great... using them I can do close to twice as many full push ups as without... even with my feet on a step...

Ladies... can we please stop calling a full push up a "man push up"... there is nothing in them that can possibly define them as specifically for a man... there is a full push up and a half push up (on your knees) ... men and women do either or both depending on fitness / strength levels...

Sounds like what I need. My left wrist is fused, and I have limited range of motion. I'll have to try the bar.

[digitalangel3]

For the workout that I am doing I am having to do 3 sets of 8 push-ups. I started against my kitchen counter (home gym) Then went to a step, and finally after months I did 2 full push-ups!!! I was sooo happy :D
Now cause I want to do all 8 reps I only put one knee down. I still concentrate on doing a full push-up -just with a bit of a crutch.

[lexagon]

I use an incline bench for mine and I'm doing pretty good in the progress dept. I was doing knee's and wasn't seeing the results I wanted so someone suggested incline. Those are awesome :) I can do 1 something 2 full push-ups. Looking forward to doing more full pushups as time goes on. Something I've never been very good at!

[tinktinktink]

i can do about 30 on my knees and about 20 with my feet on my exercise ball but can only do 2 proper ones lol

[SuperCyclonic]

i can do about 30 on my knees and about 20 with my feet on my exercise ball but can only do 2 proper ones lol

you are very weak then. 8 months into training (and 2.5 years training in total using **** routines and half-arsed efforts which you've posted about on other forums like moneysavingsexpert) and you can only do 2 pushups. ****ing pathetic.

[MandaJeaux]

Thanks for the advice! I can do like 2 proper pushups but I haven't been able to get more despite repetition. :)