One of the most common misapplications of regressing an exercise is the “converted” or “assisted” or “woman’s” push up (the names vary – the misapplications remain the same – see figure 1). The idea, or so the theory goes, is that by placing the knees on the ground, this takes much of the body weight out of the movement allowing a push up to be completed by someone who ordinarily would be unable to perform one.
The problem with this logic is a common one in the fitness industry – it’s based on an overly simplified partial truth and a misconception, not the whole truth.
The misconception in this case is the belief that a push up is an exercise for the chest and arms.
In actuality, a push up, if done correctly, is an exercise for the core much more than your chest or arms. A lack of core strength is the real reason most people can’t do push- ups correctly, if at all.
The most difficult part of the push up is holding and maintaining the correct position. Keeping everything from the knees to the neck more or less in a straight line while on your hands is a far more difficult and complex process than people realize. This requires a lot of isometric strength, particularly from the hips and abdomen.
A lack of strength here typically manifests itself in one of two ways – the exerciser either looks like they are in a real bad yoga class (see figure 2) or they look like they’re doing their impression of a seal (see figure 3). The best examples of this are the guys that can bench press 400 pounds, but have no core strength whatsoever as a result of spending their exercise lives on benches. They then put themselves in a position where they need to support their own body weight and they look like figure 3. It looks like they’re waiting to bark and then have a herring thrown at them.
Generally speaking, neither of these scenarios is safe and/or helpful.
By placing the knees on the ground and eliminating the core from the movement you’ve succeeded in making the exercise performable, but ultimately, ineffectual. You’re disregarding the weak link that needs to be addressed to address an area that may or may not be a problem.
Either way, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Because you’re not training the core to stabilize your body weight (or anything else for that matter) you are progressively making yourself weaker and completely eliminating any chance you ever had of doing a real push up.
There are countless ways in which to regress the push up to make it useful for everyone. Simply holding the position for a short period of time will make you stronger. Elevating your body weight by placing your hands on a bench or some other apparatus will make you lighter but still involve the core. The most obvious alteration you can make is to simply limit the range of motion – only lower yourself and inch or two initially. Eventually you’ll get further down and gradually build your core strength to the point where you can get to the floor.
More importantly, is what NOT to do – don’t drop to your knees under the assumption you can now do a push up. You’re actually weakening part of your body that needs to be strengthened and decreasing the likelihood of you performing push-ups and many other exercises for that matter.
Figure 1: Ree-damn-diculous...
Figure 2: What's That?!? Yoga?
Figure 3: If she barks, throw her a herring!
Figure 4: Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!
*As usual, contact me with any questions and/or comments.
**Also as usual, this article is for informational purposes only. Application thereof comes at the sole risk of the reader.
***This article and photos are the sole property of The Training Rim, LLC. Reproduction and/or dissemination without permission is prohibited.
Jon thanks for the information on push-ups, Ive been guilty in that Ive been getting my beginner client to do floor pres-sups, and really identify what you say about disregarding the weak link. Its helpful stuff like this that goes a long way. Catch you on the SC forums.
ReplyDeleteCraig