There are some things that make me feel like a wimp or embarrassed to be a fitness professional. Ultimately I realize it’s my own expectations that cause the thoughts, but that doesn’t change the fact the thoughts exist. Lately the thing that’s been making me feel like a wimp are push-ups.
Until recently, throughout my career I’ve had two clients in the history of time that I’ve allowed to do modified push-ups. One of those clients was 72 and the other was 81/2 months pregnant. I’ve been anti-modified push-ups for as long as I can remember.
Push-ups were punishment in a class I took in middle school. They were also used as punishment during basketball practice. Despite the negative connotation I sometimes have when it comes to this exercise, it’s always been one of my favorites and one I’ve been good at (mostly because I’ve been doing them for so many years).
This all changed at the end of last year when my hip/back/hamstring/foot injury led to a pain in my shoulder for months. I never really thought the two were connected until I started going to PT at Finish Line earlier this year. A few months into treatment and my shoulder stopped hurting as abruptly as it had begun.
After several months of avoiding push-ups two things have happened. Number one, my arms are much weaker. Number two, I can barely do this exercise correctly. In fact last week at the Lady Foot Locker workout, I dropped down on my knees to do modified push-ups after doing about eight, bad full form push-ups.
It’s funny that a little thing like not being able to do an exercise I use to excel at has made me a more compassionate person. I now see people struggle with them every day and I let them do the modified versions. It’s even somehow translated into other areas of life and reminded me that just because something is easy for one person doesn’t mean it’s not extremely challenging to another person.
Ah, I remember the days of doing pushups for basketball punishment. During both high school and college, if our entire team failed to complete a suicide within the allotted time, it was pushups for all. Today, I definitely don’t hate them, but I also don’t do them as often as I should; I usually have “pushup phases” where I’ll incorporate them into my workouts for a few weeks, but then I stop for no apparent reason. Like you wrote, Jess, I can definitely tell a major difference when I regularly do them and when I don’t.
I’m all for modified pushups as a way to work your way up to regular push ups. I actually have a similar story as you, I used to loove push ups but haven’t been able to do them in a while because of unexplained shoulder pain. I also have been dealing with a hip injury…I never thought the two might be linked?
Hi Jess. I really liked this post. Very thoughtful and a great reminder for all of us. Thanks–have a great weekend!
Great post, and so true! I avoid pushups because they are hard and my arms are weak. I’ve been trying to build up the muscle by lifting, but I know sooner or later I’ll have to just get in there and do them and work through the difficulty.
I started with modified pushups because I felt like I was so bad at unmodified that I didn’t really get enough of a workout. I could do so few before bad form set in that it wasn’t really helping me reach my goals. I only switched to unmodified when I could do sets of 30-40 modified pushups.
One thing I’ve found amazing about pushups is the ability to improve. I was a college athlete and lifting has been something I’ve done for years. Despite starting to lift in 8th grade and lifting as part of a strength & conditioning program all throughout college, I found that in movements like bench press and db chest presses, I had a window of 80-100lbs for bench and 20-30lb db’s for chest press before I would just tap out. However, I’ve found an incredible window of improvement with pushups in a relatively short period of time. The magic of the pushup!
Keep working those modifieds and you’ll be back to where you were before you know it!
I know how you feel!! I had a neck injury few years back and for months I couldn’t exercise my upper body. After that I could do maybe 5 “real” pushups and I felt SO bad!! But they come back quickly – just keep doing them 🙂
I love this post because it is so true. I think you feel this as you get more ‘experienced’ (or older). I have certainly become more compassionate to others’ as I get older. With exercise I had not really thought about this but we do all come from different experiences as in all areas of life. Thanks for sharing.
I found doing dips (or assisted dips if needed) will work wonders for your push up prowess. Try doing 3-4 sets of 10-12 dips a couple times a week. You’ll hit often neglected muscles in your pectorals that will lead to increases in push up power…keep up the good work!
I’m one who can’t do real pushups but not because I haven’t tried. I damaged my elbow when I was younger (torn ligament which I never got surgery for, calcium deposits, chronic tendonitis) so it just hurts like hell when I try to do them for real. Didn’t take care of it right in the past so I’m paying for it now unfortunately. Ugh!
Push-ups were used as punishment and as a regular exercise when I was in the police academy. Those and pull-ups (while wearing 35 lbs of gear). They never let the women do modified push ups. I struggled bad until finally it just got easier. Since I left the department, I avoided push-ups because they brought back lots of blistering memories. Lol. However, I find that I need them to help my triathlon training. I can’t do full length well anymore, but the modified ones are a tad easy. I have been doing mixed sets instead. 🙂 Within a set of 12, I will do 6 full length and 6 modified. That along with dips and various dumbbell exercises have made these easier. I look forward to the day where I can do a full set of 12 full length push-ups. 🙂