Can barely do pushups solved!

[pastorjeff2u]

I've always been very bad at push ups and could only ever do maybe 2 or 3 at most with alot of effort and would give me bad shoulder pain. I've been looking at form videos for about a year now and couldn't point out my problem until I stumbled upon an Athlean X video. He said to open up your chest keeping the shoulders back to avoid the front delts from taking over (which was causing my shoudler pain). Well, I tried this and I instantly went from 3 measly push ups to 9 correct push ups with no pain, and finally felt my chest working for the first time. I'm sure this is common knowledge to alot of you in this sub but this was never pointed out to me even through all my searching and it could be the reason alot of others can't do push ups.

 

[dawn16]

@pastorjeff2u Best cue I ever heard of for activating the chest in a pushup is turning your hands outward as you push (they won't actually turn, but have the intent. Kind of like screwing your hands into the ground). It was a game changer for me, absolutely ridiculous pump compared to what I was doing before

 

[pastorjeff2u]

@dawn16 Will definitely give this a try next time!

 

[action]

@pastorjeff2u Like you're opening a jar of pickles. It creates an external rotation in the shoulder and helps to engage your chest.
Edit: something else to consider is to send your gaze about 2 ft out in front of you. The head is heavy and what this does is it engages your cervical spine to help offset some of that weight.

 

[scottmelve]

@pastorjeff2u Have a natural width but turn your hands in slightly so your elbow flair out and use full rom, you should feel it in chest

 

[k5onehundred]

@scottmelve Fairly sure flairing elbows is terrible.

 

[scottmelve]

@k5onehundred Stop playing games and go and try it for yourself.. it’s the same as dimond push ups just with a normal grip

 

[sans_simon]

@scottmelve yeh, bad advice, opposite from all the stuff I've seen from athleanX and fitness faqs

 

[bobbarnes81]

@dawn16 It keeps your elbows from flaring out as well.

 

[introyble]

@bobbarnes81 How should your elbows look when pushing up for chest pump? I find after I did a pushup routine last month, 3 times a week, my already big triceps were the only real thing growing or burning so I just flat out stopped

 

[bobbarnes81]

@introyble Lay on you stomach and don a set of tricep extensions or dips before the pushup. Burn those Tris out a little first or do dirrerent variation of pushup.

 

[princesspurple]

@dawn16 I use the Perfect Pushup handles for my pushups. They’re great and you end up automatically making that motion/rotation with your hands as you push. Plus, you can get a much deeper range of motion vs just putting your hands on the floor. Those pushup handles, a pull-up bar, and a 5-gallon jug of water (weight for light squats) have saved me during quarantine.

 

[moothecow]

@princesspurple Would you say they are worth buying over just some simple push-up handles? Debating which to buy. I've had success with just the regular static handles before but have been getting shoulder pain recently on regular floor push ups recently.

 

[princesspurple]

@moothecow I would say they’re worth buying. The rotation definitely adds to the workout since it involves extra muscles to do and you absolutely feel it in your shoulders when compared to a standard pushup. Someone might hear that and complain that it means it doesn’t isolate your chest as much.

My response would be that first, any pushup handles, whether they rotate or not, enhance pushups pretty dramatically just from how much deeper of a motion you get.

Second, the motion in the Perfect Pushup handles is so natural. You don’t think about rotating your arms as you push, it’s that they want to rotate and you’re allowing your body to move in the way that it wants to. I’m inclined to believe that following your body’s natural movements would reduce the risk of injury.

That being said, if you have some shoulder pain during pushups, don’t buy these and go 100% your first few workouts. It’s a slightly different movement that you absolutely feel in your shoulders and you should start with less intensity, shallower movements, and fewer reps until your brain and body are used to the new motion.

Also they’re pretty durable and not some flimsy thing that would wear out quickly. I’m 5’10” and 175 lbs and have used the same pair on and off for the past decade and they still look and function as if brand new.

 

[jahncrish]

@princesspurple Dang those things ain't cheap.

 

[princesspurple]

@jahncrish A quick Google search shows that Harbinger makes a similar set for about $20.

 

[sailorlyoko4life]

@dawn16 This helped me too. Someone mentioned on the sub last week, it instantly improved my chest activatoin

 

[novitativa]

@dawn16 I'd just like to thank you for your post. I started working out on the 8th of last month, mostly push ups and squats. at the beginning I couldn't do 5 pushups and I worked my way up to 50 during the day. today I tried your method and I made my first 100 pushups in a day thanks to you. ty so so so much dude.

 

[dawn16]

@novitativa Glad I could help, man!

 

[dawn16]

By outward do you mean turning your right hand counter clockwise and your left clockwise or the other way around?