If you think this is going to be about a bra, you’re going to be minorly dissappointed. Although hang tight until the end – I won’t let you down like that two-dollar clearance bra you bought because it had cute polka dots and was, you know, two dollars.
First Things First
Reader Rachel sent me a question about push ups. Not the bra variety but the actual up & down on your hands kind.
She writes:
This has been bothering me TO NO END. I complain about it all the time, and that would be: my sorry lack of push-up ability. I am improving in every area of fitness except for the dreaded push up. I used to be able to do about 8 – until I realized that a real push-up means basically kissing the ground at the bottom of the movement, in which case I can only do 4. 4!!! And beleive it or not, that is an improvement over the 3 that I could do 3 months ago. And yes, I’ve had trainers check my form and I am doing it correctly.
what can I do? I practice push-ups about 4 times per week – always going to muscle failure (it obviously doesn’t take long) then switching to halfsies (going down in a full push-up, then to knees on the way up.)
Any ideas on how to improve my push-ups? I’ve always had a weak upper body, but it’s getting much stronger (I’m now in the “strength” section of MBG for just about everything) and YET my push-ups suck. Any advice from you or your readers would be much appreciated.
My Reply
Ah, Rachel. I am bothered that you are so bothered! Do not feel alone – I do not know a single woman that hasn’t struggled with push-ups at some point. And probably most men too, not that they’ll admit to it. The humble push-up can work you in ways that no other exercise can, and yet it has the possibility of wrist & elbow pain, rib misalignments that require chiropractic care (in the case of Gym Buddy Candice), and the always-fun face plant into a dirty floor.
As for your technique, I couldn’t possibly explain it any better than our beloved MizFit. Check out her video on push-ups and her follow-up guide to all things push-up (except, again, for the bras – I think she was intentionally leaving that for me. She’s nice that way.)
As for your quandry of how to improve your mad push-up skillz faster, I do have a suggestion of my own: train around the muscles. Don’t just rely on push-ups to build those pecs, bis, tris and delts – train those with other exercises, especially weighted ones. I can’t really explain why but for some reason my push-ups and my pull-ups go hand in hand. When I started to really train my pull-ups then my push-ups simultaneously got a lot better. Can’t do pull-ups yet? Just the thought of repeating your disastrous eighth-grade arm-hang experience makes you want to hide in girl’s locker room? Work negative pull-ups. Other good exercises to help your push-ups include bicep curls, tricep extensions, chest press and the military press.
You’ll get there girl – next time you write, I’m sure you’ll be doing plyo push-ups;) Keep up the good work! Nothing makes me feel more like She-Ra (princess of power!!) more than banging out more push-ups than the guy next to me:) What about your tips? Guys, this is your chance to chime in since you certainly won’t get to in the next section.
Push-Up Bras
You knew I’d come back to this eventually. I got an interesting tip from a gym friend who will remain unnamed for soon-to-be-apparent reasons. The other day I was complaining about the lack of thicker sports bras in my size. Why thicker? Well let’s just say that Nips Ahoy isn’t a stage name. And since having kids the girls sometimes like to work independently. Ahem. So anyhow, my gym friend told me her secret to the perfect rack (and I do not mean on the Smith machine) is to buy one of those bandeau-type bras and put it under her sports bra! Genius!! It’s the best of both worlds – coverage of a non-gym bra but with the support of any cute sports bra I can find! And no stray straps to worry about hanging out of my tank top!
So what’s your fave way of reining the girls in without getting all IHOP on your chest? Anyone have a secret to share??
PS> I’ve had a flurry (not to be confused with a blizzard or even a mediocre hail storm) of questions about me and my site. So I added a FAQ page. It was probably about time anyhow. So if you are interested in the minutiae, check out the link under my pic.
4 days a week seems a little on the high side? At least for me, I feel that I need extra recovery in order to make progress.
I found that my triceps were the weak link in the exercise so one day a week I do pushups and the other day I do chest press and tricep (assisted) dips. I feel that you struggle and then one day, they will just seem easy!
I am this exact same dilemma! I finally found success with the strategy of doing just half the maximum number of pushups that you can do, and do them every day, and increase the number every few days.
I’ve been successful with this and am nearly at my goal of 20 real pushups!
I’ve actually already blogged about “operation pushup” on my at http://lady-g-fitness.blogspot.com/search/label/push-ups
Doing pushups every day has actually made a huge difference to lots of other upper body exercises – I think because it’s a funcation exercise that trains the stabiliser muscles together with the bigger pecs etc.
Sorry, not “funcation exercise” (although that sounds funky!) but I meant, pushups are a FUNCTIONAL exercise
I can’t add any advice Charlotte didn’t cover! Just know that you have to work up to doing 10, 15, 20, whatever your goal. Practice makes perfect (form) and builds strength.
It seems that all of us who have commented thus far approach push ups differently. I do mine 2-3 times a week, 3 sets of 10-12.
The only idea I can add is doing negative dips along with the negative pull ups you already suggested. I like to do body weight exercises on those adjustable chin up, dip machines (not the gravitron) at the gym. Really, if I could steal one “machine” from the place and take it home, that would be it!
Dr. J
#1 – thank you for the bra tip! Seriously, jogging with sore girls is no joke, right? And I can totally relate to “nips ahoy!” It’s really kind of annoying.
#2 – It sounds like she is training to muscle failure once and that’s it. If that is the case, resting and then doing another set (even with a long rest) might be something to add. I’d agree that 4 days a week might be too much, but I guess that is a personal thing to some extent.
Thanks for the push up advice! My arms aren’t as strong as they used to be so now I’m working hard on perfecting my technique as well as upping the amount that I can do. By the way, very nice FAQ page:)
For the bra question, I love Victoria’s Secrets sports bra line. They are cute and functional supporting my 34Cs well even when running (even the “medium impact”) and they have a thin layer of padding that takes care of the nipple problem. My only complaint is the padding tends to shift and/or fall out during maching washing… but I can easily slip them back into place before I lay them out to dry…
I wonder if I will ever get the courage to attempt push ups again. If I do I am coming back here for advice. I had gotten up to 4 (which was HUGE for me) and then got pregnant and gave up.
As for the girls… I have worn two sports bras but I like the bandeau bra idea.
I wear a pretty heavy duty sports bra form Champion, it has thick lycra over individual molded cups, probably overkill for my b-cups, but no nip show. I’ll see if I can find the style name, I usually buy them at Dick’s sporting goods. Buying bras at Dick’s? Irony, what irony?
Thanks to all of you for your excellent push-up advice! I knew I could count on you guys to give Rachel some good tips.
AT22 – glad I’m not the only one with rebellious ta-tas!
krs – I had NO idea that V.S. had a sports bra line. I’m totally going to go check that out now!
Ice Cream – I’ll occasionally “double bag” with the two sports bras but that just makes me flat as a boy.
Geekgirl – I must have that style name! please please look it up for me? I love Champion bras. And Dick’s + bra shopping? I have never thought of that! (and you’d think with my dirty mind I would have) Thanks, girl, I totally needed that!
I was grateful for the tips on pull-ups. My next big goal… I work some with the assisted lift (the one with the counter weight), but the weight is embarrasingly high!! I was glad to see that the lat pulldown is helpful. THAT I can do without embarrasing myself!
Oh, am I the only one that doesn’t care about Nip show?? I like the sports tops with shelf bra… remember nearly A’s so little support needed, but… am I committing a cardinal sin? I need to know!!
godivagirl – if your nips don’t bother you, they don’t bother me! I don’t think it’s a “cardinal sin” – I just don’t like the looks I get on the weight floor from the men. Also, since having kids, even though I’m only an “a” I still have sag issues which leads to the girls pointing in completely different directions. I like them both to face forward – that’s why I’m interested in such a supportive bra. If you don’t need that, then don’t worry about it!