New to doing push-ups…arms shake and feel super week for a long time
- Thread starter mstub
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- bodyweight fitness
@mstub All those little stabilizer muscles getting work they’re not used to!
Started calisthenics a few years ago and couldn’t do a full proper set of push-ups myself. The advice I was given was to finish your total target reps regardless. If you need to drop to your knees for half the reps, do it. Still can’t finish, use a countertop, still can’t finish, stand up and push against a wall.
Get through your target sets per week (usually 12-20) with each set close to failure. You’ll blow yourself away in a couple months!
Started calisthenics a few years ago and couldn’t do a full proper set of push-ups myself. The advice I was given was to finish your total target reps regardless. If you need to drop to your knees for half the reps, do it. Still can’t finish, use a countertop, still can’t finish, stand up and push against a wall.
Get through your target sets per week (usually 12-20) with each set close to failure. You’ll blow yourself away in a couple months!
rejoiceinfaith
New member
@mstub Somewhere other hybrid calisthenics explains why you’re supposed to space out and do different exercises on different days so you don’t use the same muscles day after day.
I’ve read many places that when you do exercises like sleep, muscle tears and you need to not use those so much insulin days so they can heal building muscle and then it’s time to start again.
Movement by David talks about how to make the choice to either build size by taking exercise to failure or not. Otherwise you can build strength without size. Movement by David specializes in flexibility, which does not exclude strength.
I’ve read many places that when you do exercises like sleep, muscle tears and you need to not use those so much insulin days so they can heal building muscle and then it’s time to start again.
Movement by David talks about how to make the choice to either build size by taking exercise to failure or not. Otherwise you can build strength without size. Movement by David specializes in flexibility, which does not exclude strength.
jessesgirl229
New member
@mstub Start with what you you’re comfortable with doing. It honestly doesn’t matter how many you start with. What matters is that as the weeks progress, you do more and more, and eventually do full-body push-ups. So if ten pushups is about your limit now, no problem! Start there, and gradually add more as you get stronger. And if do push-ups every day, you will get stronger.
You got this!!
You got this!!
@mstub OP, if youre doing 30 every other day, then increase your reps
perhaps take a break and then do a fourth and fifth set but using your knees, blast out as many as you can for that fourth burn set
Or rather than a full ten each set. Do more sets but sets of five.
Dont get discouraged, the strength will build over time
This will build endurance.
One you get more comfortable, you can do sets of 20, 25, 30
perhaps take a break and then do a fourth and fifth set but using your knees, blast out as many as you can for that fourth burn set
Or rather than a full ten each set. Do more sets but sets of five.
Dont get discouraged, the strength will build over time
This will build endurance.
One you get more comfortable, you can do sets of 20, 25, 30
@mstub Yeah that's normal. Just don't do it to failure & make sure you pay attention to your shoulders, and you're good.
Tip: if you physically can't do a standard push up, try a vertical one first - stand with your hands against a wall or door & di your push up against it just as you would against the floor / mat. Starting this way takes some of your weight off of your arms, but still let's them take some of the weight. It's easiest woth your feet flat on the floor - to make it harder you can go on your tiptoes. Once that's easy, move onto doing diagonal ones - against a counter top with your hands on the edge. After that's easy, you can move onto trying it on the floor again & you'll see it's a bit easier since you'll have prepared your arms for it.
Tip: if you physically can't do a standard push up, try a vertical one first - stand with your hands against a wall or door & di your push up against it just as you would against the floor / mat. Starting this way takes some of your weight off of your arms, but still let's them take some of the weight. It's easiest woth your feet flat on the floor - to make it harder you can go on your tiptoes. Once that's easy, move onto doing diagonal ones - against a counter top with your hands on the edge. After that's easy, you can move onto trying it on the floor again & you'll see it's a bit easier since you'll have prepared your arms for it.
@dawn16 Speaking of shoulders…I’ve always had shoulder issues from tennis and baseball. My rotator cuffs are cooked and pretty sore after every and any workout 
however, it’s just soreness. No serious pain, so should I continue what I’m doing as long as it just causes dull soreness, since it’s likely just making my shoulders stronger?
however, it’s just soreness. No serious pain, so should I continue what I’m doing as long as it just causes dull soreness, since it’s likely just making my shoulders stronger?@mstub I'm not a doctor, so take this with a pinch of salt.
Keep going, but listen to your body. Make sure you know the difference between "Oh, I can feel this muscle actually having to function" discomfort (good), "Oh, I can feel this muscle group learning how to work in this new way" discomfort (good), and "Oh, I can feel this muscle struggling / doing something which doesn't feel good" discomfort (baaaaad).
In the same way, make sure you can recognise the difference between "Man I'm gonna feel this tomorrow" pain (good), "Oh, this is new & yikes it's harder than it looks" pain (goodish), and "Oh I don't think that was supposed to happen...." pain (baaad).
Everyone's bodies are different, but you need to understand yours in order to exercise safely. What's safe for one person with an injury won't be safe with someone else with that same injury, and for someone else, it'll only be safe some of the time. Personally, I'm hypermobile - it means my joints have a habit of just dislocating when they feel like it. Sometimes, I can be active all day & not feel a thing other than a nice burn from actually using my muscles; other days, I can't even lift the kettle without my shoulder sliding out of place. That doesn't mean the kettle is too heavy for me, it just means the kettle is too heavy for me at that point and I need to stabilise it more with both hands, rather than just the one. When I do shoulder exercises, I need to be extremly aware of how the muscles & tissue are moving around the joint, how everything is interacting, and how the muscle groups in my upper arm, back, neck & chest all interact and overlap and join together in order to know how my shoulder joint is going to react to them & how they're reacting to it. I used to be able to do planks, bridges & pushups without much issue - I loved mountain climbers. Now I haven't been able to do them in almost a year because I didn't listen to my body closely enough & pushed my shoulder too far; now I can barely put any weight through it without the muscles & tissue protesting. I'm slowly building the area back up, but it's a very slow process.
So if you do an exercise & it feels OK, then keep doing it. But just know that your body can & will sometimes tell you that even the most OK exercise isn't OK every single time you do it, no matter how many times you've done it before. Listen to your body. If you're hesitant about something, consider why you're hesitant - is it because you think you won't be good at it, or is it because your body knows it isn't in a state to do it safely at this point in time? And if something hurts, don't just try to push through it - pay attention to what sort of pain it is.
Keep going, but listen to your body. Make sure you know the difference between "Oh, I can feel this muscle actually having to function" discomfort (good), "Oh, I can feel this muscle group learning how to work in this new way" discomfort (good), and "Oh, I can feel this muscle struggling / doing something which doesn't feel good" discomfort (baaaaad).
In the same way, make sure you can recognise the difference between "Man I'm gonna feel this tomorrow" pain (good), "Oh, this is new & yikes it's harder than it looks" pain (goodish), and "Oh I don't think that was supposed to happen...." pain (baaad).
Everyone's bodies are different, but you need to understand yours in order to exercise safely. What's safe for one person with an injury won't be safe with someone else with that same injury, and for someone else, it'll only be safe some of the time. Personally, I'm hypermobile - it means my joints have a habit of just dislocating when they feel like it. Sometimes, I can be active all day & not feel a thing other than a nice burn from actually using my muscles; other days, I can't even lift the kettle without my shoulder sliding out of place. That doesn't mean the kettle is too heavy for me, it just means the kettle is too heavy for me at that point and I need to stabilise it more with both hands, rather than just the one. When I do shoulder exercises, I need to be extremly aware of how the muscles & tissue are moving around the joint, how everything is interacting, and how the muscle groups in my upper arm, back, neck & chest all interact and overlap and join together in order to know how my shoulder joint is going to react to them & how they're reacting to it. I used to be able to do planks, bridges & pushups without much issue - I loved mountain climbers. Now I haven't been able to do them in almost a year because I didn't listen to my body closely enough & pushed my shoulder too far; now I can barely put any weight through it without the muscles & tissue protesting. I'm slowly building the area back up, but it's a very slow process.
So if you do an exercise & it feels OK, then keep doing it. But just know that your body can & will sometimes tell you that even the most OK exercise isn't OK every single time you do it, no matter how many times you've done it before. Listen to your body. If you're hesitant about something, consider why you're hesitant - is it because you think you won't be good at it, or is it because your body knows it isn't in a state to do it safely at this point in time? And if something hurts, don't just try to push through it - pay attention to what sort of pain it is.