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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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 Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:25 pm Post subject: A question about push-ups |
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When I do push ups, I find that the tips of my fingers on my left hand and right hand do not line up, ie one is slightly more farther forward than the other.
Should I try to correct this and align them exactly or just leave it as that is my body's natural and preffered alignment?
I have been adjusting it after assuming the initial position, yet I find this makes my left shoulder inflamed.
I also feel like my left side is working differently, time lagging slightly or something compared to my right side.
I know that nobody's body is 100% symetrical, so not sure if the best thing is to correct, adjust or just let it be...
I guess an idea would be to just go super slow and controlled and maybe then it will iron itself out.
In case anyone's interested I'm doing this programme.
http://www.hundredpushups.com/week1.html
Just finished week 3 (should be at end of week 5 but repeated a week due to inflamed shoulder and then repeated it again to be on safe side.)
Should be able to do 100 consecutive pushups in 3 weeks time!
Also doing the 200 squats, 25 pull-ups and 200 sit-ups programmes. Just finished week 5 of those. Alongside some low intensity cardio (an hour walk everyday and 2 hours on sat and sun both) I'm finding it an awesome way to get back in shape and it's free, only takes 30 mins and has no equipment (except the pull up bar at the outside gym near my school.) Have been doing all of the above for 5 weeks now and feel very strong and my torso feels like it's carved of wood! I even have the visible 'tear drop' on my quads! Honest.
Last edited by The Floating World on Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:00 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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chevro1et
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Location: Busan, ROK
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I always align my hands/ push-up handles straight across. After time, you will build up the strength on your left side. Look into some fish oil caps (EPA/ DHA essential fatty acids) and/ or glucosamine caps for joint maintenance. |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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| chevro1et wrote: |
| I always align my hands/ push-up handles straight across. After time, you will build up the strength on your left side. Look into some fish oil caps (EPA/ DHA essential fatty acids) and/ or glucosamine caps for joint maintenance. |
Yeah a set of handles might be an idea. I'm all into free and eqpt free exercise tbh, so I'll try just going more slowly and controlled and see if that helps first. Cheers for the suggestion though and I'll bear it in mind. |
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weso1
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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I'm a pretty fit guy that has been in gyms for years. I found the 100 push-up plan to be a bit more challenging than you think. The first 4 weeks I flew through, no problems. But week 5 and 6 are exponentially harder. It's almost as if it should be a 9 week plan that got pressed into 6 weeks.
Either way, I couldn't finish it. Mind you, I wasn't doing push-ups like most people. I did them the military way, back perfectly straight, head up, dropping the chest all the way to the floor, and then coming back up until arms are about 90% locked straight. Most people can't do a push-up correctly so when they finally get around to doing 100 half-arsed push-ups they think they've done the program successfully.
Other people I know that have done it, said they had to re-do week 5 and 6 4 or 5 times each to finish.
Good luck |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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| weso1 wrote: |
I'm a pretty fit guy that has been in gyms for years. I found the 100 push-up plan to be a bit more challenging than you think. The first 4 weeks I flew through, no problems. But week 5 and 6 are exponentially harder. It's almost as if it should be a 9 week plan that got pressed into 6 weeks.
Either way, I couldn't finish it. Mind you, I wasn't doing push-ups like most people. I did them the military way, back perfectly straight, head up, dropping the chest all the way to the floor, and then coming back up until arms are about 90% locked straight. Most people can't do a push-up correctly so when they finally get around to doing 100 half-arsed push-ups they think they've done the program successfully.
Other people I know that have done it, said they had to re-do week 5 and 6 4 or 5 times each to finish.
Good luck |
Hey weso. Yeah I am also using perfect form (despite my symetry issue, which is probably mostly in the mind or exaggerated by the mind's perception of it, if you will and best ignored.) I found week 4 to be tough but just finished week 3 the 2nd time and am more than confident I will breeze through week 4 next week as my 5th set exhaustion number is almost double now.
I know a guy in his 50's doing it and yeah he has had to repeat a lot too. He repeated week 5 a few times and just jumped from 28 consecutive to 40 in a week. I'll see how it goes and will keep on until I do the 100 regardless.
100 consectutive pushups? Man, no lie, I'll be chuffed to bits if I can do that after 12 weeks man. 20 weeks even. And in the meantime, hey I'm getting fit. Even if after 6 weeks I can only do 50, still pretty damned good.
I'm finding the 200 squats and 200 sit-ups (crunches really) easier and just finished week 5 of both with more than enough gas in the tank spare (though by the end of the final set of squats once you get into week 5, there's not much you can do other than collapse on the floor for 2 minutes afterwards.) Would you say that is normal and that pushups are harder than those exercises weso1?
Pull-ups are tough too, but I did 4,3,3,2,1 yestersay after only being able to do 1 two weeks ago, so I'm happy with that (not following the programme exactly for those, I don't like the legs assisted pulls, bad for joints imo, so I just do pulls, power hangs and negs.) |
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weso1
Joined: 26 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 12:14 am Post subject: |
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| The Floating World wrote: |
| weso1 wrote: |
I'm a pretty fit guy that has been in gyms for years. I found the 100 push-up plan to be a bit more challenging than you think. The first 4 weeks I flew through, no problems. But week 5 and 6 are exponentially harder. It's almost as if it should be a 9 week plan that got pressed into 6 weeks.
Either way, I couldn't finish it. Mind you, I wasn't doing push-ups like most people. I did them the military way, back perfectly straight, head up, dropping the chest all the way to the floor, and then coming back up until arms are about 90% locked straight. Most people can't do a push-up correctly so when they finally get around to doing 100 half-arsed push-ups they think they've done the program successfully.
Other people I know that have done it, said they had to re-do week 5 and 6 4 or 5 times each to finish.
Good luck |
Hey weso. Yeah I am also using perfect form (despite my symetry issue, which is probably mostly in the mind or exaggerated by the mind's perception of it, if you will and best ignored.) I found week 4 to be tough but just finished week 3 the 2nd time and am more than confident I will breeze through week 4 next week as my 5th set exhaustion number is almost double now.
I know a guy in his 50's doing it and yeah he has had to repeat a lot too. He repeated week 5 a few times and just jumped from 28 consecutive to 40 in a week. I'll see how it goes and will keep on until I do the 100 regardless.
100 consectutive pushups? Man, no lie, I'll be chuffed to bits if I can do that after 12 weeks man. 20 weeks even. And in the meantime, hey I'm getting fit. Even if after 6 weeks I can only do 50, still pretty damned good.
I'm finding the 200 squats and 200 sit-ups (crunches really) easier and just finished week 5 of both with more than enough gas in the tank spare (though by the end of the final set of squats once you get into week 5, there's not much you can do other than collapse on the floor for 2 minutes afterwards.) Would you say that is normal and that pushups are harder than those exercises weso1?
Pull-ups are tough too, but I did 4,3,3,2,1 yestersay after only being able to do 1 two weeks ago, so I'm happy with that (not following the programme exactly for those, I don't like the legs assisted pulls, bad for joints imo, so I just do pulls, power hangs and negs.) |
Whoa, wait. You mean you started at 1 push up two weeks ago? I guess everyone starts at 1 at some point, but I don't want you to get discouraged about it. It's going to be tough to work up to a hundred from just 1. Are you female? I don't mean that negatively, it's not unusual for females to not have the chest and tricep muscles to do push ups, hence the "girl push up." Stick to it, but I will say it's going to take a long time. When I started, I could do about 31 or 32 in a single two minute set without stopping. I just kind of hit a plateau around 85 or 88.
One thing to remember though, don't get too caught up on push ups. Don't get me wrong, they're a great exercise. One of the best you can do without weights. But too much build up in the chest and upper shoulders will cause you to hunch forward. I mean to say, don't ignore your back. You should find a way to do pull ups as well. Palm facing out pull ups, not palms in chin ups, they suck. A good rule of thumb is to be able to do half as many pull ups as you can push ups. The back is a much larger group of muscles and training it will cause fitness goals to accelerate.
As for the squats, I never did that program. I train at a gym and do Muay Thai, so the 100 plan was just for fun. With legs though, the legs are the strongest parts of our bodies. They hold us up all day long. So doing equal number of reps for legs as we do upper body is nothing to them. To really work your legs you need to do squats, lunges, calf raises, and glute thrusts. About 4 sets of 25 for each of those. Please don't ignore your legs.
Hope that helps. Any other questions, just shout. |
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shifty
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 1:06 am Post subject: |
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| weso1 wrote: |
| The Floating World wrote: |
| weso1 wrote: |
I'm a pretty fit guy that has been in gyms for years. I found the 100 push-up plan to be a bit more challenging than you think. The first 4 weeks I flew through, no problems. But week 5 and 6 are exponentially harder. It's almost as if it should be a 9 week plan that got pressed into 6 weeks.
Either way, I couldn't finish it. Mind you, I wasn't doing push-ups like most people. I did them the military way, back perfectly straight, head up, dropping the chest all the way to the floor, and then coming back up until arms are about 90% locked straight. Most people can't do a push-up correctly so when they finally get around to doing 100 half-arsed push-ups they think they've done the program successfully.
Other people I know that have done it, said they had to re-do week 5 and 6 4 or 5 times each to finish.
Good luck |
Hey weso. Yeah I am also using perfect form (despite my symetry issue, which is probably mostly in the mind or exaggerated by the mind's perception of it, if you will and best ignored.) I found week 4 to be tough but just finished week 3 the 2nd time and am more than confident I will breeze through week 4 next week as my 5th set exhaustion number is almost double now.
I know a guy in his 50's doing it and yeah he has had to repeat a lot too. He repeated week 5 a few times and just jumped from 28 consecutive to 40 in a week. I'll see how it goes and will keep on until I do the 100 regardless.
100 consectutive pushups? Man, no lie, I'll be chuffed to bits if I can do that after 12 weeks man. 20 weeks even. And in the meantime, hey I'm getting fit. Even if after 6 weeks I can only do 50, still pretty damned good.
I'm finding the 200 squats and 200 sit-ups (crunches really) easier and just finished week 5 of both with more than enough gas in the tank spare (though by the end of the final set of squats once you get into week 5, there's not much you can do other than collapse on the floor for 2 minutes afterwards.) Would you say that is normal and that pushups are harder than those exercises weso1?
Pull-ups are tough too, but I did 4,3,3,2,1 yestersay after only being able to do 1 two weeks ago, so I'm happy with that (not following the programme exactly for those, I don't like the legs assisted pulls, bad for joints imo, so I just do pulls, power hangs and negs.) |
Whoa, wait. You mean you started at 1 push up two weeks ago? I guess everyone starts at 1 at some point, but I don't want you to get discouraged about it. It's going to be tough to work up to a hundred from just 1. Are you female? I don't mean that negatively, it's not unusual for females to not have the chest and tricep muscles to do push ups, hence the "girl push up." Stick to it, but I will say it's going to take a long time. When I started, I could do about 31 or 32 in a single two minute set without stopping. I just kind of hit a plateau around 85 or 88.
One thing to remember though, don't get too caught up on push ups. Don't get me wrong, they're a great exercise. One of the best you can do without weights. But too much build up in the chest and upper shoulders will cause you to hunch forward. I mean to say, don't ignore your back. You should find a way to do pull ups as well. Palm facing out pull ups, not palms in chin ups, they suck. A good rule of thumb is to be able to do half as many pull ups as you can push ups. The back is a much larger group of muscles and training it will cause fitness goals to accelerate.
As for the squats, I never did that program. I train at a gym and do Muay Thai, so the 100 plan was just for fun. With legs though, the legs are the strongest parts of our bodies. They hold us up all day long. So doing equal number of reps for legs as we do upper body is nothing to them. To really work your legs you need to do squats, lunges, calf raises, and glute thrusts. About 4 sets of 25 for each of those. Please don't ignore your legs.
Hope that helps. Any other questions, just shout. |
He in fact says he started off at one pull-up, not one push-up. |
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The Floating World
Joined: 01 Oct 2011
Location: Here
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| Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2011 5:03 am Post subject: |
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Ha ha, lol, cheers wes, saying I can only do one push up! 
Started at one pull up and am now doing 4,3,3,2,1.
Am starting with chins though just to build the arms and grip strength up. As soon as I can do ten reps I'll switch to pronated grip.
Used to be able to do around ten pronated grip pullups but I have lived the life of an alcy essentially for the past two years and was spending whole 48 - 72 hr weekends in casinos for a year before that, so I got very much out of shape during the past 3 years.
So I have some catchign up to do ha ha.
1 push up! Oi! |
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