make me believe Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 (edited) Are pushups really a decent workout for the arms? I see a little more definition of my muscle since I started doing them regularly (about 2 months ago) but my triceps still seem flabby. I've only recently begun doing cardio on a regular basis though, so maybe that will help lower my bodyfat. I am kind of a "skinny fat," and working towards lowering my bodyfat and increasing muscle because I feel like my body just looks kinda lazy even though I'm relatively thin. Ladies, how many pushups can you do in a row? The "real" pushups, not the ones where you have your knees on the ground. I can only do 11, even though I've been working on them for a couple months! And I started at like 8 in a row so I haven't improved very much. Argh. I usually do 3-4 sets per day. Not seeing much improvement is frustrating! Maybe I should be doing other arm exercises in addition to the pushups? Any input?? I just want nicely defined arms and no flabby triceps! Here's a picture of what I think my arms look like now. Not bad, but kinda soft and untoned: http://primped3.hcdn1.net/images/uploads/beauty_duty/may/top10scents/cannes/87241319.jpg And here's how I'd like them to look if possible! (Not too muscular): http://www.dailyspark.com/blog_photos/671932433.jpg Edited July 2, 2010 by make me believe
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Pushups are great for shoulder joint stability. When done with proper form, they provide for balanced upper body musculature. Two things: 1) Don't do them every single day. Every other day should suffice. 2) Couple them with a pulling exercise such as pull ups, rows, or pull downs. I usually do some form of push up/pull up routine about 2-3 times per week. It consists of 5 sets of each. I always try to rep out as many full range of motion push ups as I can on each set, rest a short time (30 seconds tops) and then rep out as many pull ups as I can. One thing that I've found that helps with push ups is speed. The faster you can push yourself up (concentric phase), the more power you're getting out of the movement. This will improve your muscular development and strength. Personally, I try to perform both the concentric and eccentric phase of the push up as fast as possible. This usually allows me to get more reps. The same concept can apply to pull ups, though I'm not convinced that fast eccentric phases on a pull up are either safe or that effective. In my experience, it's better to lower oneself down at a normal, controlled rate and then pull up explosively.
Crusoe Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Hands together and elbows in to work the tricep during pushups.
norajane Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 You can do pushups until the cows come home and build up your triceps using weights, but the arm fat is fat. You have lose fat overall in order to have leaner arms. High intensity cardio and a healthy diet with less sugar and carbs and more fruits, veggies and protein will help you get leaner.
TheLoneSock Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Pushups are great, in their various types. Form is key, 2 perfect push ups do more for you than 5 half ass. As another member said, you should not be doing them every day. Every other day is best. As far as the flab you don't like, body fat is more related to your diet. Along with these pushups and other exercises, you need to do a couple things if you haven't already. 1) Cut out most, if not all processed foods. 2) Increase your lean protein intake, this promotes the growth of those lean, firm arms you're looking for. Preferably protein from animals instead of plants, since it is more easily digested. 3) Increase your water intake.
Author make me believe Posted July 2, 2010 Author Posted July 2, 2010 Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'll cut back to doing pushups every other day. I don't have access to a full gym though, so I'm not sure if pull ups and the other things tman suggested will be possible. (I'm unemployed so can't really afford to buy a gym membership, and the gym in my apartment is ok but doesn't have free weights and only has a couple weight machines.) Crusoe, I have noticed that when my hands are closer together it seems to work my triceps more and when they are further apart I can feel it more in my chest/pectoral muscles. I guess the main thing I need to do is decrease my body fat. I don't want to get super skinny though because I'm already fairly thin, so I've always kind of avoided cardio. I see now that it's necessary, even just for overall health. 1) Cut out most, if not all processed foods. 2) Increase your lean protein intake, this promotes the growth of those lean, firm arms you're looking for. Preferably protein from animals instead of plants, since it is more easily digested. 3) Increase your water intake. 1) done! I eat a pretty healthy, whole foods diet. 2) I'll work on this, but I'm a vegetarian so the little animal protein I get is from small bits of cheese here and there. (No eggs.) Most of my protein is from beans, whole grains, tofu, and nuts. 3) I've been working on this one. I bought a gallon jug and fill it up every night with water and try to make sure I finish the entire thing throughout the next day. I think I'll go pour myself a glass now.
Shakz Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 All this is good advice, although there is something to be said for doing your repetitions slowly and controlled. Remember also that pushups work the pecs as well, so overdoing pushups could result in more chest development than you might desire. The woman in the second picture appears to have a somewhat different body-type than you, so she might not be a realistic target. However, the way you look now is fantastic!
TheLoneSock Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 (edited) 1) done! I eat a pretty healthy, whole foods diet. 2) I'll work on this, but I'm a vegetarian so the little animal protein I get is from small bits of cheese here and there. (No eggs.) Most of my protein is from beans, whole grains, tofu, and nuts. 3) I've been working on this one. I bought a gallon jug and fill it up every night with water and try to make sure I finish the entire thing throughout the next day. I think I'll go pour myself a glass now. Very nice. I will say that being a vegetarian you are naturally at a disadvantage when it comes to shaping your muscles. But you can compensate it with supplements. If I were you I would look into a whey supplement instead of getting animal protein from cheese. Any fitness or nutrition store you go to will have it there, and they'll be able to tell you what the best deal is. Normally it's only about 25 bucks for a tub. Whey is animal protein derived from milk and cheese, without the fat. It's the purest form of protein we know of today. Tastes good too. Nonfat yogurt is a great place to get your protein from too if you're not up for supplements, unless you're vegan. Edited July 2, 2010 by TheLoneSock added
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Do you have a playground near your apartment? I've done a lot of traveling for my job to plenty of god forsaken towns that had no gyms, swimming pools, etc. Most places will have some sort of stable structure that you can hang off of. Monkey bars work great, as do I-beam supports (these work your grip especially well too. Avoid water pipes for pull ups... For example, if there is a playground near your place, you could jog there to warm up, and do 5-6 rounds of : 30-40 yard sprint, push ups (as many as possible, and pull ups on monkey bars (as many as possible). This kind of thing will keep you lean and in good shape, regardless of money you have to spend. Other useful training tools can be improvised for a small amount of cash and a little ingenuity. I made my Bulgarian training bag for less than 20 bucks. It's a versatile training aide, plus it kicks my ass every time. See below: http://rosstraining.com/blog/2010/04/08/bulgarian-training-bag-exercises/
TheLoneSock Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 I made my Bulgarian training bag for less than 20 bucks. It's a versatile training aide, plus it kicks my ass every time. See below: http://rosstraining.com/blog/2010/04/08/bulgarian-training-bag-exercises/ I've never heard of a Bulgarian training bag until now Tman, definitely going to check it out - it looks effective. It reminds me of weight vests and kettlebells in a way. If that makes sense.
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 I've never heard of a Bulgarian training bag until now Tman, definitely going to check it out - it looks effective. It reminds me of weight vests and kettlebells in a way. If that makes sense. It's a deceptively hard workout! Mine weighs about 35-40 lbs and it's plenty heavy. It's not like a 40 lb dumbbell. It's a strange, almost amorphous awkward object. One of my favorite things to do with it is clean it and then perform a jump squat. I usually try to ramp up and then down over ten cleans (i.e. 1 clean + 1 jump squat, 1 clean + 2 jump squats, etc.) up to 5 jump squats and then back down. It does wonders for grip strength too.
TheLoneSock Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 It's a deceptively hard workout! Mine weighs about 35-40 lbs and it's plenty heavy. It's not like a 40 lb dumbbell. It's a strange, almost amorphous awkward object. One of my favorite things to do with it is clean it and then perform a jump squat. I usually try to ramp up and then down over ten cleans (i.e. 1 clean + 1 jump squat, 1 clean + 2 jump squats, etc.) up to 5 jump squats and then back down. It does wonders for grip strength too. Yeah I bet. And in today's world of 'training' we are taught that awkward is bad for you, will hurt you, etc. When in reality it's the way to real strength. I'm going to try and make one of my own and add it to the makeshift backyard gym. It definitely looks like a challenge. I've been looking for a new way to work my forearms/hand grip lately too.
Feelin Frisky Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 All I can say is I prefer what's behind door number one. I like Gillian Michael's face but that body is too much--you bounce a quarter off her stomach and it comes back fifty cents. Lady flesh is worth more especially in the range of the first pic.
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 I like Gillian Michael's face All I can say is how is this possible?
USMCHokie Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 1) Don't do them every single day. Every other day should suffice. Pushups are ok to do daily...here's my daily pushup program done Monday through Friday, resting on the weekends. Moment I get up in the morning, I do 50 pushups. After I do my morning hygiene routine, I do another 50 pushups. Midway through breakfast, I do my last 50 pushups. So 3 sets of 50 every morning, increasing by 5 pushups per set each week. I peaked at 100 pushups per set. So I would recommend that you start at perhaps 5 pushups, and increase by 2 or 3 each week. You'll be amazed at the increase in muscular endurance after a couple months. I usually do some form of push up/pull up routine about 2-3 times per week. It consists of 5 sets of each. I always try to rep out as many full range of motion push ups as I can on each set, rest a short time (30 seconds tops) and then rep out as many pull ups as I can. One thing that I've found that helps with push ups is speed. The faster you can push yourself up (concentric phase), the more power you're getting out of the movement. This will improve your muscular development and strength. Personally, I try to perform both the concentric and eccentric phase of the push up as fast as possible. This usually allows me to get more reps. This is a good general rule for all kinds of lifts. You can do pushups until the cows come home and build up your triceps using weights, but the arm fat is fat. You have lose fat overall in order to have leaner arms. High intensity cardio and a healthy diet with less sugar and carbs and more fruits, veggies and protein will help you get leaner. This is the key.
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 I agree 100 percent that one can do pushups/pullups daily without overstressing the CNS. However, (and I know you didn't say this Hokie) I still don't think that training them daily is a necessity for improving rep count on either exercise. If you're not doing them daily, you'll have to train at a higher level of intensity to improve. Training them daily affords you the potential for a less "ball busting" workout. Two ways to skin ye olde kitty kat. *shrug*
Crusoe Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Pushups are ok to do daily...here's my daily pushup program done Monday through Friday, resting on the weekends. Moment I get up in the morning, I do 50 pushups. After I do my morning hygiene routine, I do another 50 pushups. Midway through breakfast, I do my last 50 pushups. . I have almost exactly the same routine, 3 sets of 50 every morning, (two sets of 50 sit ups inbetween) only I do one set with hands together, one set hands under shoulders and the last set hands far apart. I weigh 220 and it makes for a good, quick and fairly comprehensive upper body workout. Adding a rep or two each week is a good idea. My wife started by doing 10 push ups a day, a year later she was rattling off 62 with ease. Gained herself a nice little V shaped back too. Aways attractive in my eye.
Feelin Frisky Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 All I can say is how is this possible? I like bossy sexy-ugly Jew chicks. Just as long as they boss everyone else but me.
tman666 Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 I like bossy sexy-ugly Jew chicks. Just as long as they boss everyone else but me. Full of WIN
Shakz Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Nobody ever believes me when I tell them this but when I went through ROTC basic at Ft. Knox back in '82 for the PT test I did 126 pushups in two minutes, 120 situps in two minutes, and ran two miles in 8:46. I won the award for most physically fit in the company. Damn, I was a stud back then.
Author make me believe Posted July 2, 2010 Author Posted July 2, 2010 All I can say is I prefer what's behind door number one. I like Gillian Michael's face but that body is too much--you bounce a quarter off her stomach and it comes back fifty cents. Lady flesh is worth more especially in the range of the first pic. Oh yeah, I don't want #2's overall look -- just her arms!! I'm not a fan of a super hard body on a woman either. tman, the playground idea is great! Thanks!! I live about half a mile from an elementary school so that could be perfect. My wife started by doing 10 push ups a day, a year later she was rattling off 62 with ease. Gained herself a nice little V shaped back too. Aways attractive in my eye. Nice!! Good for your wife. That inspires me, Crusoe!
Circular Posted July 2, 2010 Posted July 2, 2010 Have you looked up onehundredpushups? There's six week guide on how to get up to 100 push ups, even if you start at like 8. I've been doing it for a few weeks now. I've gone back a few weeks because I decided I wasn't doing the full push ups properly. But like all exercise I look at it as a lifestyle not a one shot thing.
deebeechrisyo Posted July 6, 2010 Posted July 6, 2010 The one hundred pushup program is great. Once you feel you have passed that program, you can begin learning even more intense pushup exercises as well, such as handstand pushups and one-armed pushups.
FitChick Posted August 9, 2010 Posted August 9, 2010 Pushups, the girly kind, really shaped up my bony upper body. Great form pointers on YouTube from Tracie Long for that and other moves.
taiko Posted September 20, 2010 Posted September 20, 2010 Nobody ever believes me when I tell them this but when I went through ROTC basic at Ft. Knox back in '82 for the PT test I did 126 pushups in two minutes, 120 situps in two minutes, and ran two miles in 8:46. I won the award for most physically fit in the company. Damn, I was a stud back then. I was there that summer also, C 19-4. I basically burned off the post high school fat I was developing. Besides two inches on the waist I'm still about the same size of my graduation day. I still test myself on the then 40 push up pass/fail line of the APRT standard.
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