How do YOU do yours

[Whitebelt]

They are the old favorite, theres no escaping them. Push-ups. I was intruiged to find that I do push ups much slower than most people in my class, and yet i have better arm streingth than those who do them quickly. It never occurs to me to look around as we are doing a set of them in the kwoon to see how everyone does them.

So I ask you, how do you do yours?
Slow and deep? Short and fast? Also how would you rate your upper body streingth in connection with the way you do push ups.

Thank you in advance.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

I do 'em slow as well. With my thumbs touching unless I'm going for sheer numbers like in the PT tests in my Army days. In which case I would get my arms as far apart as I could and just start cranking them out.

Jeff

 

[IWishToLearn]

The only pushups I do anymore are what I was introduced to as "hindu pushups". Some people call them "dip" pushups, some call them "rolling" pushups. It's a pushup done with the feet splayed out, wherein you start by pushing back until you get a slight stretch in your hamstrings, then dip your chest as close to your body as possible and then arch your back to curve close to the ground, ending up pushing forward with your toes before rolling the hips back over the feet.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I do alot of variations. regular shoulder width apart with quick short bursts of speed, slow and longer, creating a triangle pattern with my hands to work the triceps and doing this both quick and slower. Incline, decline, one handed with the hand forward, out to the side, backwards. I like to do pushups with my feet on a wall and at a 45 degree angle which is a very steep decline pushup. Lots of varieties of pushups. The way you are describing is definately good for muscular strength but do not count out the quicker variety as well because that will help develop explosive quickness. Bottom line do not get stuck in a rut doing them one way or you will make absolutely very little progress.

 

[stickarts]

I do many variations but prefer as perfect technique and strict form as possible. at the end when i get tired I will then explode into the last few.
Hands wide, hands close, on the knuckles, on the fingertips, feet up on a chair, etc....i like to mix it up.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Definately Hands wide and knuckle pushup are a favorite of mine. There are tons of great variations.

 

[fireman00]

slower seems to take more effort so we do 20 VERY slow (10 seconds down/ 10 seconds up) then 30 regular. Sometimes we add the thumbs touching push ups for variety to shock the muscles.

Personally I find that push ups are easier when my arms are wider and I do them as fast as I can.

 

[zDom]

Usually we do a minimum of 100, sometimes up to 200 or 300, during a class.

Four different types:

standard,

judo pushups (like hindu pushups described above),

swing-through pushups,

yoga pushups.


I do them deep when I can. I shallow them out some when I get exhausted.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

Since power=strengthXspeed if you are looking to get more power in punching motions I would think you would want to do them as fast as you could. If you want more strength over your range of motion do them slow.

 

[Jade Tigress]

The only pushups I do anymore are what I was introduced to as "hindu pushups". Some people call them "dip" pushups, some call them "rolling" pushups. It's a pushup done with the feet splayed out, wherein you start by pushing back until you get a slight stretch in your hamstrings, then dip your chest as close to your body as possible and then arch your back to curve close to the ground, ending up pushing forward with your toes before rolling the hips back over the feet.

We do these pushups in class. God I hate them! I hate pushups to begin with just because they hurt so much! But I do have strong arms cuz of it. No pain no gain as the old saying goes.

I typically do pushups slow, slower than others in my class. If you do them slower you will develop strength but if you do them faster you train "fast twitch" muscles which is what many styles of MA use. (which is what Blotan Hunka was explaining).

You will eventually fatique starting out faster and end up slowing down anyway.

We also have to do one arm pushups in class and for some reason I can do them better with my left arm even though I'm stronger with my right. It must be because of my position or something, I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong there. My shoulder always ends up hurting on the right side and remains sore, it hurts now to lift my right arm over my head.

 

[MBuzzy]

I do mine based on what I'm trying to accomplish. For the military, the STANDARD is arms shoulder length apart, open palms, and your elbows must break the 90 degree plane - no speed standard. Although in the Air Force, to max the PT test, I am required to do 55 in 1 minute, so speed is key.

One good tip for anyone trying to push themselves - if you are doing a large number and get tired, change the direction that your elbows are pointed. Generally a slight change in your hands will get your elbows close in to your body so that in the down position, they point back rather than outboard - it changes the primary muscle group from biceps to triceps and will give you an extra 10 push ups in most cases.