I can’t do push-ups

[ilovejesuschristourlord]

@shnn18 This is an excellent trick!

 

[intellectualdiscussionftw]

@ilovejesuschristourlord Didn’t see this covered, but have you had a wrist sprain or shoulder injury? I sprained my wrist with a nasty bone bruise six months ago and still have a lot of trouble with pressure on my wrist. I modify my wrist position a lot when I do push ups and several other actions.

 

[ilovejesuschristourlord]

@intellectualdiscussionftw No I haven’t I don’t feel it in my wrist thank goodness

 

[acatholicheart]

@intellectualdiscussionftw Can you explain your methods for modifying your wrist position? My wrists are the main reason push ups are difficult for me.

 

[intellectualdiscussionftw]

@acatholicheart Some of the modifications I use are listed below already; push up handle or using the weights as handles and the knuckle position. I love the knuckle position, but I need stable but padded surface or I get rub marks. My trainer also had me using the end of the weight, kind of wrapping my hand in a claw around the end of the weight with my palm on corner of the weight. If I do push ups late in my workout, then I sometimes do the push ups off stairs.

 

[ycgp]

@acatholicheart To add to what the other commenters said, I have some "push up handles" that are made for exactly this purpose. If you do a search you'll see what I mean. They make a huge difference and also make the pushup feel a little more like a bench press, which is kind of nice.

 

[ssyk]

@acatholicheart Not OP but when my wrists are burnt out, it helps me a lot to put dumbbells on the ground and grip those instead! Much easier on the hands than doing pushups on your fists, but still has the benefit of taking the brunt of the exercise off your wrists

 

[boards1986]

@ilovejesuschristourlord Don't feel bad! Idk how much you weigh but (to point out what may or may not be obvious) bodyweight exercises really depend on your bodyweight! If you're heavier, you just have more weight to push up, it is what it is. However, that's not to discourage you, I powerlift and I know many people, men and women, who struggle to do bodyweight exercises despite being able to lift hundreds of pounds.

If strength is the issue, you need to train your chest, shoulders, and triceps. If you have access to a gym, benching will directly help will push ups. If you work out at home, you can also bench with dumbbells or even a large resistance band. You can put a mini band above your elbows for some assistance as well! Don't be too hard on yourself, building strength takes time! Good luck

 

[ilovejesuschristourlord]

@boards1986 I’m just starting my fitness journey. I’ve lost ten lbs but am still progressing.that may be why I’m still not there yet

 

[pastormoazzam]

@ilovejesuschristourlord I remember posting something exceptionally similar to this a few months ago — in fact, here's the exact thread with many excellent tips and tutorial links!

I know EXACTLY how it feels. I recently got my first pushups only a few days ago, and before that I was struggling to do knee pushups, and before that I was too weak to do a single knee pushup but had too big of an ego to focus on wall pushups. I felt so insufficient + cried several times because it's such a classic exercise that I associated with authentic fitness. When I first got my knee pushup, I proudly showed my mom, sister, and brother my success (albeit self-aware of the irony).

I can't offer any special advice, but I will say this — it sucks getting into your first pushup or knee pushup, but once you get over that stupid hump (in my case through many subpar attempts over time), you will progress very fast in that form. It felt so impossible, but I just kept trying until I got my first knee pushup and then the next reps become so much more accessible.

Also, the difficulty of the pushup forms are not as far apart as you might think. Wall pushups would probably still be tough for me after 15-20 reps, and knee pushups are 80% as difficult as full pushups if you have adequate core strength. Doing a modified form is not as pathetic as it initially feels.

Hope this vomit of text helped

 

[ilovejesuschristourlord]

@pastormoazzam It did thank you so much!

 

[blowhorn]

@ilovejesuschristourlord I built up to doing a push-up by doing negatives (start from the top and lower yourself down slowly, with control), as many as possible in a set. I managed to get to 1 in about a month, it felt like forever. I was able to add reps more quickly after that though!

 

[jlmetcalf]

@blowhorn This is a great scale! When I have to do a bunch of pushups in a workout, I like to do eccentric push-ups: knees down on the way up and full push-up form to slowly lower myself back down. It's a good in-between if you can't quite do full push-ups, but want to build up strength for that rather than knee push-ups (which are also good, but don't hit quite the same muscles).

 

[leafis]

@blowhorn +1 on this. It's a great strategy for developing your strength for both push ups and pull ups.

For push-ups, try moving from wall push-ups to stairs with your hands on a higher step and your upper body angled higher and then your legs on the lowest step or the floor. Do sets and keep going until it gets easier and then progress to a lower angle, slowly increasing the amount of weight being supported by your arms.

For pull ups you can add resistance bands as well to assist you, even when you're doing negatives. Just going through the motion and slowly increasing the difficulty will help your muscles learn.

 

[d1975mon]

@blowhorn This. Eccentric push-ups are the easiest progression because your body learns to stabilize the weight, unlike the lightened load from knee pushups

 

[pastormoazzam]

@blowhorn LOL this is a fancy way to say what I did. I just tried over and over to do a knee pushup, but always flopped to the ground until a month later when I squeezed myself back up again. After that, it's comparatively easy to stack on the reps.

 

[dawn16]

@ilovejesuschristourlord Don't modify pushups by going on your knees. Put your hands up on something, like a bench or step, until you can do it properly. Use lower and lower surfaces until you can do it right with your hands on the floor.

 

[ilovejesuschristourlord]

@dawn16 I’m gonna use your method I appreciate it thank you

 

[shirleymontreal]

@ilovejesuschristourlord Check out the push up progression in the side bar of /r/bodyweightfitness. I find it's really helpful and there's a form video as well. The key is that rather than starting on the floor on your knees, have your feet on the ground and raise up where your hands are (wall progresses to table to chair etc). This progression can start pretty "easy" and then you build up in difficulty gradually rather than going from knee push up with no easier progression to eventually floor push up with no in between.

 

[erin30ga]

@shirleymontreal This! I did knee pushups off and on for years and made no progress. I recently tried incline pushups, starting at 45 degree and eventually making it down to flat pushups. I can now do 6-7 pushups.