Help with Push ups!

[fromfattofab]

Hello Everyone. I am hoping if someone could help me with push ups. I've been doing level 1 & 2 push ups for quite some time now however when I try to do level 3, knees up.. I can't seem to push myself up. lol I could feel my right arm shake and my left arm... worse! too weak I guess. What are the best arm/shoulder/back exercises to achieve perfect push ups?!? I have lost over 70 lbs and my goal right now is to be able to do push ups and pull ups. I feel like my legs are stronger than my arms. I can do squats and lunges no problem but when it comes to doing arms, definitely POOR! lol I love to lift weights and I'm falling more in love with it. I still have flabby arms/loose skin from all the fat I lost... sighs* need help please! salamat (thank you!)

[britchick884]

Congrats on your weight loss :)

There's no one magic exercise that you can do to improve your strength for push ups except push ups themselves. A push up primarily engages the pectoral muscles, the delts and triceps, so keep working on your upper body exercises. You also need to strengthen your core. Are you doing any direct ab work? Add in some weighted ab exercises, incorporate the bosu and stability ball and exercises like the plank. In the meantime keep upping the reps you do with your knees on the floor and set yourself small goals for example aim for 2 full push ups with legs extended, and then keeping upping the number. You'll be banging out full push ups before you know it.

[hieronymous]

Work on your core strength.

Any form of planks even on forearms.

Drag yourself across the floor as if your legs are paralyzed (gator walk).

Hang from a bar and touch your toes to the bar.

Crawl across the floor with your hands and feet (no knees).

Burpees.

A lot of push ups is core strength like Britchick said.

Also, the lower your body fat the easier they are to do.

You can also start off with wide arm positioning and wide leg positioning. I don't know the levels you are speaking of so sorry if that is repeated info.

[dsm246]

A year ago I could not do a single push up. I can now do 30 fairly easily. I worked my way there slowly by doing push ups on an incline. I used the Smith Machine in the gym. I started by placing the bar at about waist height and then doing pushups off of it. Every week or so, I'd lower the bar one notch so that I was getting slightly closer to the floor. Until, finally I was able to do a set of push ups off of the floor itself. It probably took me about 5 months to get to that first set of push ups off of the floor though.

Honestly, it is just a matter of time and persistence. You will get there. You've done a remarkable job shedding 70lbs. You can definitely do this too.

[solidmentality]

try elbows in one set and elbows out another set. diamond pushups. dragon pushups. just google push up technique and do ever technique within reason ffs

[KesStJames]

I do press and holds with my clients to work them towards a push up. We started doing this to correct form for the infamous butt pushup, and the sag push up. You could probably apply it to getting the full push up.

Starting from a straight armed plank, lower your body 3 inches, maintaining your plank. Hold for a five count. Lower another couple inches/hold, lower/hold, come flat to the floor and push it all the way back up. Even if you have a decent push up this one is a nice exercise. You could probably even add the hand variations to up the level even more!

[DanNZ]

Bench Press is very similar to Push-ups, they use similar muscles. So I would start with them until you can do push ups. Then either just do Bench press, or if you prefer push-ups then do weighted pushups. Personally I prefer bench.

Since I started benching I can do far more pushups. I used to struggle to do a sets of 5-10 with poor form. Now I can do that with strict form, and I can even do clap push-ups, although only about 2-3.

[fromfattofab]

thank you for all your response. I've been researching and checking youtube videos for proper form. And I realized yes, I need to work on my core and upper body strength. Will keep you all updated. At least now, I can do 4-5 lol. I'm slowly getting there! it's hard work but I love the challenge ;)

[WandyDiane]

Congrats on your weight loss :)

There's no one magic exercise that you can do to improve your strength for push ups except push ups themselves. A push up primarily engages the pectoral muscles, the delts and triceps, so keep working on your upper body exercises. You also need to strengthen your core. Are you doing any direct ab work? Add in some weighted ab exercises, incorporate the bosu and stability ball and exercises like the plank. In the meantime keep upping the reps you do with your knees on the floor and set yourself small goals for example aim for 2 full push ups with legs extended, and then keeping upping the number. You'll be banging out full push ups before you know it.

You have such advice! Thank you for posting!

[Wyomann]

If you want to get better at pushups work your triceps and chest hard, shoulders are secondary. Sissy exercises like tricep kick backs don't help, you need big compound movements. Keep your reps around 5 to 6 and get a spotter. That is how you build strength, lower reps and heavy weight. If you can do 12 reps and you don't need a spot its too light. Make sure you warm up etc.. but your hard sets should be 5 - 6 reps before failure. If you do that with these exercises, you will be doing push ups like a pro in no time.

Close Grip Bench Press
Bench Press
Dips
Skull Crushers
DB shoulder press

[VictoryWon4Him]

Bench Press is very similar to Push-ups, they use similar muscles. So I would start with them until you can do push ups. Then either just do Bench press, or if you prefer push-ups then do weighted pushups. Personally I prefer bench.

Since I started benching I can do far more pushups. I used to struggle to do a sets of 5-10 with poor form. Now I can do that with strict form, and I can even do clap push-ups, although only about 2-3.

This.

This statement Truly this hits the nail on the head. I had the same issue and the more I did benching, the better my push ups got. The more I did push ups, the better my benching got. I'll agree that there are many other exercises out there to help increase your push up strength but flat benching and push ups (with proper form) truly go hand in hand. If you need to, use DBs instead of a barbell and work your way up. The combination of strength needed along with balance on the bench will help you overall. To help strengthen your core while doing the bench presses, bend & lift your knees up and have your feet off of the bench to truly engage core strength as well. You can also do wall push ups to help build up strength - if you need to. Best of luck to you op and congrats on your weight loss and achieving your fitness goals!