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I had a great question recently from one of you, and I wanted to share my answer with
the rest! It was about how to build the strenght to be able to do full, strong pushups. So many women have trouble building up the strength, or just say they hate doing
them and give up, so I am happy that you want to master them! It's very important for women to have stong upper
body muscles. Just follow these steps... 1) Start standing
arm's length away from a wall and count as many as you can do against it. if you can do more than 20, move on to
step 2. If not, practice every other day until you can do 20 against the wall, trying to do one or two more each day. (You
need to give yourself a day to recover in between.) Finish by stretching your chest muscles: link your fingers behind
you and lift your arms upwards for 15 seconds. 2) Find a table, couch, weight bench, bed or counter. This should be around knee
to waste level high. stand back far enough so that you can lean your body diagonally onto the bench, holding yourself
up with your arms. Do the pushups at this level, working slowly up to 20 at a time, practicing every other day. Bring your
chest down to the bench or whatever you are practicing on, and be sure to focus on keepng a straight line from your ankles
to your hips to your shoulders. Hands should be farther than shoulder width apart. Keep the body aligned and don't hinge
at the hips. It is better to only do one perfect move rather than 10 with poor form. Watch yourself sideways in a mirror
or have a friend watch you and tell you if your hips tilt up to the sky or you let the belly sink to the floor instead. 3) Move to a step
(either like one from an exercise class or a step at home on a staircase.) Start on your knees with feet together. Again focus
on your form being a straight line from your knees to hips to shoulders while bringing your chest and chin to the step
and work your way up to 20. 4) Now you are ready to do them on your feet, still on a step. Ankles, hips and shoulders in line, chest and chin
to the step. 5) Congrats! You are ready to try the full pushup. Once you work up to 20, the sky is the limit! (Note, you should always work your upper back muscles - the opposing muscle group - to avoid a muscle imbalance. An imbalance will cause the shoulders to round forward, tight pectoral muscles, overstretched trapezius and rhomboids, and other back conditions, even pain. You can strenghten your back by doing weighted dead rows, weighted reverse flys, or by laying on the floor, arms out to the side away from body at shoulder level - forming a T - and lifting the chest and arms off the floor. You squeeze the shoulder blades towards each other and release down for 20 reps.) |
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