Can’t do a single pushup

@maqs I am 5'6", weighing about 57 kg. Just like OP I can't do pushups/pull ups at all, as you said muscles are just weak. Was around 50 kg last October, started consuming bulking shakes to gain weight, but it went straight to my face, stomach and ass. I couldn't workout in the gym due to a sprain in the shoulder blade region that wouldn't go away on its own and tbh didn't have time due to college.

Now I have the time and thanks to physiotherapy sessions the injury is recovering. Physiotherapist has recommended to continue the stretches he showed and has given a go to join a gym but to be very careful with form and any shoulder workouts. But I don't feel good about joining a gym right now, due to fear of aggravating the injury even more.

So I was thinking of starting swimming (physiotherapist approved) along with home workout to stay fit.

Would you recommend swimming if my goal is to gain weight and muscle? My concern is that, won't it make me burn a ton of calories, when I need to be packing in the calories?

If you still recommend swimming, how many days a week would be better?
 
@craigb44 Stretch daily really good. Swim 3 times a week if possible. Swimming is great for the muscles. It won’t bulk you up, but you can definitely tone up with that exercise. It’s safe to do in the water with proper form and is very good at engaging multiple muscles to build strength. Also works well with breathing. Breathing while doing these types of workouts is very important. Set some goals in swimming and once you feel you’ve developed the strength to try push ups go for it. Remember it takes time. In 6 months from now you should have a goal set and work hard to meet it
 
@maqs Thanks for the reply!

I do struggle with consistency but 3 days a week seems plausible and I really want to work on my overall health and fitness. I used to get cramps easily anytime I was in a pool (not specifically for "swimming" it was always with friends/family play time). But I think along with home workout as my body gets stronger I'll be able to overcome that as well.

For home workout the only equipment I will be getting are dumbbells, resistance bands and I already have a make do pull up bar at home. So with these I am going to workout my chest, shoulder, bicep, tricep, core and legs. I'll find the workouts from YouTube and fitness wiki.

If it doesn't bother you I wanted your opinion on this workout schedule -

Stretches by the PT - 3x /day

Mon,Wed,Fri - Swimming

Tue,Thur,Sat - Full body workout

Sun - Rest
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn Grab a heavy resistance band (turn it into a loop) or hip band and stick your arms through it so it sits above your elbow joint. Now do a push up.

The band will give you support as you lower down AND when you’re coming back up. Let me know what you think!
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn One, wall to floor is a big jump. That’s bodyweight’s cross to bear. Don’t feel down that you haven’t made the leap because just exercising consistently is progress.

Second, I think you should take that motivation and apply it to another approach. You have a lot of different muscles in your body that play obvious and subtle roles in how it moves, and it might be that strengthening elsewhere will make inroads towards doing a standard pushup. I think the simplest catch-all to general strength and conditioning, especially when you’re a beginner, is yoga. It’s incredibly accessible for all levels due to its popularity, so there’s a lot of free content available. It’s also incredibly scalable, even within lesson. I would look up a popular yt channel like Adrienne’s and follow along every day with one of her beginner courses.

Doing that while continuing with your pushup progression will definitely help you accomplish your goals. Progress is very slow, but it’s inevitable so long as you keep trying.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn Ah so you at a good wight for you size so that makes your task a little more simple. I can give you an example of a program I would try using.
3 sets of 5 reps of incline pushups (set the height where you could do 6 or 7 max) 3 times a week. Rest 2 mins or more between sets.
Every week go up 1 rep until you get up to 10 then lower the incline and restart the process.
That’s just an example the main thing is to have some kind of measurable progressive overload so you can increase difficulty in small increments. It will get you strong fast and let you see the progress as it happens.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn My belief is that you need to stop hyper-focusing on just being able to do push-ups. What I mean is you should be doing a bunch of different types of exercises. Last time I got in hella shape a few years ago (albeit it was in a gym with weights), I was doing all sorts of exercises (consistently) and one day I tried doing push ups and was amazed at how easily I could do them. So what I would say is definitely continue your routine of practicing your push-ups, but just start thinking about all the other things you need to work on for your overall fitness too and your push-ups should come. Incorporate more variety of exercises into your overall fitness regimen on top of what you’re already doing, and stop hyper fixating on the push ups. You’re essentially cross-training which will also effect your ability to do push-ups. You could also start researching what muscles are needed to be able to do pushups, and see what other body weight exercises can be done to help strengthen those muscles. For example, I’m assuming pushups involve some tricep strength, so perhaps this exercise? I’m not saying it will help the push-ups but if it doesn’t, no harm no foul. Also stuff to work on building your core in other ways you might not think of, like glute bridges. Also all the muscles needed to be able to support your shoulders for a push ups, so maybe even pull ups could help. Also google if there are any parks in your nearby area with public gym equipment you could get creative at to exercise.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn Eat well, train well, sleep well.

No, you’re not permanently atrophied or untrainable.

Start by doing pushups against the wall, and progressively move your feet back. And eat protein. And sleep long and well.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn I feel like you’re too focused on “doing a push up” to the point you’re not really hearing the advice of what people say.

I know it’s hard to write a history of everything you have tried but someone says “do negatives” and you reply with “I can’t to a pushup so I can’t do that”

Someone says to do sets throughout the day and you say that’s basically what you e been doing, but you didn’t specify that when describing the problem so it’s hard to know who what you’ve actually done / tried when your response to most things here is “that’s basically what I’ve done” (ok but is it exactly what you’ve done? ) or you respond with “but I can’t do a push up”. Every suggestion can be done modified as well…most of us se to get this since we’re suggesting other variations but despite many people explaining variations it doesn’t seem to enter your thought process to. Modify a suggestion.

A push up may just be too big of a jump for you/ it would help like me saying I can’t bench press 300 lbs, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. (I’m a 55 year old woman)

Well IF I’m ever going to do that it’s going to take a long time and a lot of variety of exercises and a steady progression while tracking exactly what I’ve been progressing.

Eg…you say you can’t do a push up on a table. The person that painted this (I think) was suggesting it as a variation to try. Your response if “but I can’t do that” shows your mind is giving you strong “I can’t” blocks.

Flip your mental talk to what you CAN do. I can do 10 elevated pushups at 70 degrees (an example). Can you do this with one foot for support instead of 2? Can you do a 1 arm negative at 70 degrees? If no, make it 80 degrees for the variations.

Medical issue aside like MS, muscular dystrophy, myasthenia Gravis and a handful of other things, this is a solvable
Problem.

You may never do a pushup, but you can do chest press exercises in a huge variety of ways with different challenges that you CAN do.

Make those your goal. You’ll improve and one day a push up may be in sight.
 
@quest20 I think you’re missing the point of my post.

Being able to do a single pushup isn’t some hyper-fixation of mine but a benchmark of general physical fitness. It shows that I’m lacking basic strength in a large number of areas. I’ve spent a lot of time attempting “beginner” fitness routines and getting hurt because I’m unable to do the introductory exercises.

I’m trying to find a way to increase my fitness to a level at which a single pushup, among other things, is achievable.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn Well maybe I am missing your point but you’re also missing mine.its a Benchmark of strength because why? Can you open and close doors and drawers? Push open a sticky door or open one against the wind? Put a car in park? Put groceries away? Those are benchmarks. Doing one push up is something many can do but not everyone and it’s not a life need (clearly because you’ve come this far)
 
@quest20 I got your point. I disclosed what I can currently do. I struggle with those kinds of daily functioning tasks much more than I’d like to admit.

My issue is that I haven’t improved since day one of training. Therefore what I’m doing isn’t working. Trying to do things that have hurt me in the past aren’t going to help.
 
@fjdajfkldajkbfejfnsiqn I like the suggestion of using other things to measure your strength and measure your progress. If you have access to weights like dumbbells, try doing a dumbbell bench press with 5 pound weights. If you can do 8 repetitions of that, give yourself 1-2 days of rest for your muscles to recover and try 10 pound weights another day.

If you haven't mentioned what has hurt you in the past, you should probably mention that here. You might need to be specific about how hurt you were. For instance, if I try to push near my limit by doing lots of pullups or pushups that can make my muscles feel tired the same day but the next day it develops into constant dull soreness and stiffness that gradually goes away after 2-4 days. I'm no expert, but I consider that a normal recovery and I expect it to happen every time I work muscles hard enough that they are exhausted. It might not take a long time to get my muscles exhausted, I can be sore like that from 7 pullups which takes less than 1 minute to perform.

I've also injured myself by lifting things too heavy or using weird motion or running in bad shoes and those injuries were immediate sharp pain, followed by weakness and occasional sharp pain depending on movement, which took weeks or months before it completely went away. IMHO, injury is usually missing the constant dull soreness of tired muscles and it usually adds the feeling of quick sharp pain that only happens when you move a specific way.
 
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