Kymberly Williams-Evans, MA and Alexandra Williams, MA
Dear Fun and Fit: I am working on building some bulk, yes, I said bulk in my arms and shoulders. As I get older, my skin is sagging a bit and I think building some muscle will fill it out a bit! So, I am doing pushups as one of my exercises. But I can only do up to 10 REAL pushups and they are not very deep.
Am I better to do more deeper push ups from my knees or keep doing them from my toes and just trying to get my chest lower to the ground. Or does it matter? Thanks for your help. I love your vids. Elle, Canada
Kymberly: Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Ears and eyes and mouth and nose. Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Is that song stuck in your brain yet?
Now to get to bid-ness!
Thanks for the zippy question about push-ups, as we LOVE them! Start with full body (toe) push ups with as full a range of motion (ROM) as you can muster up with good form. In other words, get the chest as close to the ground as possible with your hands fairly wide. Even if you do just one or two full range push ups, start there. As soon as you have to sacrifice form or range of motion, switch to incline or knee push ups so you can achieve full ROM.
K: Take this approach for a week or two or five until you are up to a full set of full body push ups. At that time, still switch to the knee or incline ones once form goes, but take twice as long to push up as you did to drop down. For instance, count down for 2 counts, up for 4. This rhythm change will tax the arm muscles you are wanting to target while still working the back, chest, core. You will soon look MAHVAHLUSS!
Alexandra: My sis did a good job explaining what to do right, so I’ll comment on some of the “unique” things I see my students do that we are sure you won’t! Use a mirror to be sure.
* Butts up like they’re advertising for the weekend
* Hands above the head, which strains the shoulder area
* Butts down like a worm, which compresses the lumbar area
* Hinging from the hip and touching the forehead to the floor (quick anatomy tip: your chest is not in your forehead)
* Calling them boy and girl push ups, which makes us irritable
Remember, knee push ups are REAL push ups fair and square! For even more exciting (beyond belief) push up ideas, take a look at our Patriot Push Ups post.
Readers: How did you work up to full body push ups?
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great info!
love the cameo by Max and the dog always barking!
but seriously, love your property! rocks, pool, view! jealous…
Yes, Chloe is a barking dachshund. All day every day. She is very sweet, yet highly annoying. Our property is pretty, but of course, we don’t film the ugly bits! That pool is unheated, if that cheers you up.
Great tips! Basically, do it right regardless of if it’s (head, shoulders) knees, toes or incline. Form is important! Loved the video.
Great instruction! And I too, hate the girl vs boy pushups; full pushups ARE girl pushups!
It’s been so long since I had to do them on my knees I can barely remember how I progressed them.
With clients, I often have them do one or two negatives once they’ve done as many, good form toe pushups as they can. Similar to your change in cadence suggestion.
Pushups are one of my favourite exercises; just ask my class participants (who do them a lot!)
Interesting. I just did a fitness assessment today and they had me doing knee pushups. As many as I could in 1 minute. I did 20. This was about 19 more than I thought I could do, but probably still not impressive.
Different goal = different recommendation. For your assessment, doing the knee push ups was appropriate. And impressive!
I LOVE PUSH-UPS of all kinds!
Love the video!
Hands closer together make them more challenging!
Hey Cheryl, the reason for that is that closer together means the shoulders are more a part of the push-up, and the chest a bit less. So the smaller muscle groups have to work harder. We love the wide as it engages the chest in a fuller ROM. Great point. Thanks!
Oh I will have to be careful when I ask questions now as I may become a blog post… but I am thrilled to have been your inspiration for this wonderful and helpful post, and I do love your videos, as I have already told you.
I am working on these push ups and making a BIT of progress, but it is so nice to have this for reference. Thank You Both!
Pushups are the bomb!
They are almost all I do for my upper body (next to pullups). My secret though is to use many different types. That way I range from easy to crazy hard.
I must admit-I DON’T do toe push ups, but I do the incline sometimes. I play water volleyball 6 hours a week and I get lots of shoulder and chest exercise. I have to keep it in my my mind to do more push ups-not my favorite exercise. Thanks-loved the video and the kitty kat!