Push Ups are my Nemesis

[LadyM]

Hi

I'm a complete geek who loves Star Trek (TNG), LOTR, squats, Discworld, deadlifts, shooting zombies and running. I've been reading NF for about 6 months and it has changed my whole attitude towards fitness and training in nearly every regard.

The exception is the ******* push up!

Partly through a general lack of upper body strength and partly through a lack of willingness to do the things, push ups are my biggest weakness in fitness and have been since I was 17. I'm in my final year of an engineering degree and I've decided I have to get the push ups sorted out before I finish university this year.

My other biggest issue is my diet. I'm generally pretty healthy but I seem to indulge my vending machine habit far too often. I'm hoping that being part of the rebellion can help me to quit my crisps and chocolate habit. I'll be doing the next challenge and moving away from junk food will be one of my goals, along with the push ups.

I definitely want to do a pull up and an ironman at some point, as well as get my dead lift to 2xBW. I'd like to get to the point of eating 80-90% paleo (I'll die before I give up cheese!) but that probably won't be possible for a while yet.

Ok cutting off this novel now!

LadyM

[Tanuki]

Welcome!

 

I started here unable to do a single pushup. It was as if all the required muscles were simply missing. I started out on knee pushups, just a few - 8 I think - and worked up, then tried real ones. Yoga helped - there's a transition between two poses that''s basically half a pushup and really helped with positioning. Then one day, it just clicked, and I did a small amount of real ones. Once you know how, just increase by as many as you can each day, even if it's just one.

 

I d 3 sets of 10 now, but the last ones are still pretty intense and I've not added for a while.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Welcome!!! 

 

The vending machine addiction can be from a few things:

• You're actually thirsty rather than hungry.  Try drinking some water or tea instead
• You're actually bored rather than hungry.  Try some walking, stair climbing, or desk yoga/exercises instead.
• You're addicted to sugar ... as are so many of us.  No simple way to prevent that, but swapping for fruit might help.

Are you thinking of joining the next 6-week challenge??

[LadyM]

Thanks for the welcome and advice guys! Never really thought about yoga for helping with push ups but I might have to give it a go. Been meaning to get into yoga for a while so this is a good push.

I'll definitely be doing the next challenge, I've been trying to decide what my goals will be for it.

[Arya Sapphire]

Welcome welcome!

 

Push-ups are also one of my weakness. During PE, I couldn't finish a single one of them and failed miserably. Let's work on those during the next challenge and I can be your push-up buddy! We'll rock it. 

 

I also recommend staying hydrated as it helps pushing away a lot of cravings.  

[LadyM]

Deal!

[Manok]

There's a lot of ways to achieve a push-up. But it's perfectly doable. As Tanuki suggests, strengthening youself in general will help you (as yoga would do) as well as going for easier progressions of the exercise before and building up!

I'll leave you with a couple of online resources that have worked well!

 

Motus Virtute - 10 steps to the one arm push-up

Start bodyweight push-up progressions

 

Start where you can and build up from there. You'll be pushing in no time (warining, progressing is addicting and might take you to go for harder exercises after).

[Superdan042]

A few years ago, I couldn't do a single push up. So I started the Atkins Diet and decided that I was going to start doing push ups. So I started with one every day for a week, then 2 every day for the next week, and 3 every day for the week after that etc. until I got to 5. Then I started doing 5 for a week, then 10 for a week, etc until I was doing 35 a week. That was where I stalled out, and I felt like 35 was a good number so I stopped increasing. Now I do like 25, but I've also lost anything resembling a healthy diet and have gained a lot of my weight back. 

 

But anyway, that's how I went from none to 35. 

[Salivanth]

There's a lot of ways to achieve a push-up. But it's perfectly doable. As Tanuki suggests, strengthening youself in general will help you (as yoga would do) as well as going for easier progressions of the exercise before and building up!

I'll leave you with a couple of online resources that have worked well!

 

Motus Virtute - 10 steps to the one arm push-up

Start bodyweight push-up progressions

 

Start where you can and build up from there. You'll be pushing in no time (warining, progressing is addicting and might take you to go for harder exercises after).

I'm definitely a fan of the Start Bodyweight progressions; all of them, not just push-ups. Two months ago I couldn't do a single proper nose-to-ground push-up, now I can bust out 3 sets of 6 and that number's improving all the time, thanks to those workouts. (I also lost a bit of weight, which helps in bodyweight exercises; the less weight you have to move, the easier they are.)

[LadyM]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Doing push ups is in my challenge, so here goes!

[Manok]

I'm definitely a fan of the Start Bodyweight progressions; all of them, not just push-ups. Two months ago I couldn't do a single proper nose-to-ground push-up, now I can bust out 3 sets of 6 and that number's improving all the time, thanks to those workouts. (I also lost a bit of weight, which helps in bodyweight exercises; the less weight you have to move, the easier they are.)

I know, I check it when I need to bridge between progressions.