Does anyone have any tips for doing press ups? I'm really bad at them, and I can only manage to do about 25 in one go before I cave. We're expected to be able to do 50 in one go in the dojo, and for my grading, at least 35. So I'm coming up short for both. Can anyone recommend any way I can get an increase in the number of push up's I can do, such as other exersize's etc? I do practice, but I can never seem to go above 25. Osu Sarah
Im bad at them too. The way ive been getting better is to get a goal. Lets say 20. Keep doing them until i get to 20, go up a few and just keep doin it that way. I also do different types of push ups to help my arms. Regular- hands in front of you, Turn you fingers in toward each other, then turn them out away from each other, and last on your fists.
You can also try Plyometric Pushups, staying partially on your knees and pushing your hands off the ground a couple inches on every up. Do those in sets of 3 to 5 at first. Mostly I would say just keep doing them.... The more you do the more you will be able to do in a set. Rob
First of all is your posture correct. I'm not about to tell you how (cause that would take ages) but ask your sensei or a senior to check that your postures correct to start with. Before breakfast in the morning you should try to do 3 sets of 20 press ups, 3 sets of 20 sit ups, and 3 sets of squats just to start off. Do this every morning for a couple of weeks and you should find it easier, then add another 5 reps to each set. By the time you get up to sets of 50 you should be looking to add more exercises to your routine. Good Luck
When you have done as many proper press ups as you possibly can, put your knees down and do as many more as you can. While they won't be of as much benefit as doing full press ups it will help. Freeform is right, doing press ups on a daily basis will make it easier for you to do more. Guess I'd better take my own advice then!!! I'm worried about Freeform - there was no reference to maiming anybody in his last post. Somebody call an ambulance!!!
Remember that quality is better than quantity. If you can only do 20 good pushups...thats ok. set small reasonable goals for improvement. It is better to improve from 20 to 25 good pushups...rather than to be able to do 50 low quality pushups. Also...remember to give your muscle groups time to recover from the workout. You may not be able to initially do large quantities of pushups everyday in the beginning. If your muscle groups do not have time enough to recover and you do more pushups every day...you may actually see a decrease in your performance.
There is a "100 pushup Plan" available on this internet thingy, i'll go find it. Also I'd recommend doing variable height pushes too.If you go right down then do say 10 at only half height it strengthens the tendons as well as the muscles. Also variate the sets by doing triangle pushups,(index fingers touching, and thumbs touching) these really hurt, but will help to strenghen the smaller muscle groups too. As jdog says quality first. Many people think they can do say 50-60 pushups, but in reality 50 full chin to floor pushes is damn hard! Freeform you must by from Lau Gar, coz thats what I do too! LOL TC.....
Ah, but thats not even I fraction of what I'm up to now My flatmates all think I'm mad. Like I said, its all about continually improving. I personally don't see the point in doing more than 40-45 push ups in one set (unless its punishment detail for you ) By the time you can do this either put more exercises into your routine or start holding for a couple of breaths between push up. Oh, I'm not a Lau Gar man, but it must be hard if you have to train as hard as me to survive a class . Colin
Recently I've found that going down with my chin too the floor and holding that for as long as I can, then going back up and holding that for as long as I can seems to be making an improvement in the quality of the press ups. Its also been making Kanku press ups and Wide arm press ups easier. I've started to use weights to help my training too. I'm thinking of applying some weight to my back or stomach to try and strengthen my press ups too, such as a weighted belt or something. Has anyone here tried this? I'd like to know if its any good? Osu
I wouldn't try to use weights as it can get quite tricky and dangerous, I've tried push ups with things on my back such as punch bags, my nephew and small women (who da man!). Rather, rest your feet on a chair and do push ups like that, or get push up extendor grips from Argos for about a fiver (or if your cheap like me make two stacks of hardback books). These exercises should be done along side normal push ups as they exercise the same muscles dofferently and once help develop some of the more obscure muscles. Thanx Just a point of interest, when I do push ups I face the ground rather than the wall and let my nose touch the ground (real interesting if your doing speed sets!).
I still haven't found that blooming 100 push up plan, but I will. (hopefully) Agreed, doing them with your feet on a chair is excellent. But if you find this hard as I do coz i'm weedy!, practice with your feet on your stairs. Then as you get stronger just move your feet up another step. Anybody here do three knuckle, or Pheonix knuckle push ups. or rather can any body do them. Coz we have to! But I can't even take my weight on the single knuckle. Even against a wall I find it eally hard. Any ideas? TC...........
I once demo'd 1 knuckle press ups on a wooden floor to student who challenged me to show it was possible. 1 press up was enough for me! Can't take the weight either now.
I try to avoid them whenever possible, but its eveitable I had to do 40 two knuckle push ups in my last grading. It took me ages and made my hands sore for a few days, but I did it (some shape). We also had to do 15 4 finger press ups. I actually find these easier than knuckle press ups. Tseek Choi, a good tip if your trying to do these is to praticse on 4 knuckles at first with a pair of sparring mitts or something on. It strengthens the muscles and doesn't hurt so much till you get used to it a bit. Then go to 3, then 2 etc.. Shodan have to do something like 100- 150 press ups on either knuckles or fingers as directed! Is this standard for karate gradings? How many does your syllabus's say to do? I've got a set of those push up extenders from Argos. They had sit up bars to hook your feet under as well... much cheaper to hook them under the sofa i reckon
Hi K-girl, 4 knuckles with a fully closed fist is fine. I find these easier than flat palms, because of a broken wrist a few years back! Or two knuckles, index & middle are ok too. It's the single pheonix eye push I find hard. You know with the index finger extended 1 joint. The finger tip ones aren't too bad, the hard thing is keeping on the tips not on the finger prints, so the end joints don't bend in. As for grading, there is no requirement to do any during gradings with us, but I think that if say 100-150 is required for a grading, then regular training over the years will enable this to be quite possible. K-girl, what are those push up bars like to use? because I have often thought about getting some. Only didn't because they would probably end up in the garage with the pull up bar, the strider, the stepping machine and the sit up bar! ( the idea is always better the the reality) HKF, a friend at training can do about 7-10 on the single extended knuckle! Unbelieveable for me! He says it is just having confidence to take your weight on it that is the barrier to start with. But I can see his face when he does them, and it really hurts! But we keep on trying, and that's what counts. TC.................
I've only ever seen push ups as part of a grading in TaeKwon-do. You shouldn't hook your feet under anything when your doing sit-ups as you are then taking the strain with your thighs and reducing the benifits on your abs. Thanx
See, I thought it would hold down your feet and thus make it harder to use your legs to help you up? Would doing it this way help to strengthen your thighs, or is it a possible injury causer? A good way that we do sit ups in the dojo is with our legs crossed in the air.... makes it much harder TC, the push up bars are pretty good, as freeform said earlier, they exercise the same muscles differently and help build up different muscles that are tougher to exersize. I think its a worthwhile investment, they aren't that expensive either. Just don't rely on those alone, because it is different to doing normal press ups.
The Wing Chun club I went to used to train with long pauses (up to 1 min) between press ups where you hold in the position with arms extended. Try holding for 20 seconds between pressups and doing 10. Then extend the time you wait to 30 seconds, 40 seconds etc. If you can do 10 pressups with a minute pause between then you are doing well.
