10-13-15, 11:35 AM | |
Join Date: May 2006
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It's been my experience that lifting "heavy" does not translate to a big improvement in push-up counts. First, when most woman say "heavy", they aren't anywhere near to bench pressing their body weight (which is close to what you do when completing a push up). Secondly, there is more unified core work in a pushup than there is in a bench press. Also, most of the modifications shown in DVD programs involve bent knee push-ups. I did those for years and never made much headway. I had far better luck using straight body (full) push-ups on a bigger angle (wall, elevated step etc) or doing full push-ups with a partial drop. The partial drop can be as little as an inch in the beginning. I could complete 50 full push-ups without much difficulty by the time I finished STS. I could make it to100 push-ups but struggled still.
Of course, a lot depends on individual factors---shoulder & wrist health/flexibility, core strength, personal goals. ETA: I was typing this reply before I saw the previous post, which addresses some of the same points. I will add that STS did increase my push-up count dramatically. As previously mentioned, Meso #1 was daunting in its count. I was actually irritated initially that Cathe would start the program at such an advanced count. Then I improved dramatically and decided that she knew what she was doing Doing push-ups makes you much better at them. Modified push-ups make you better at modifying. Of course, I was very careful to stretch and use trigger point balls etc to protect my shoulder/wrist health.
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Taiga |
10-13-15, 03:28 PM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Colorado Springs
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Cathe considers push-ups to be an endurance exercise. She does them in warm-ups, she does variations that make them harder etc. and she does lots of them.
However I think, for most women, they are a strength exercise, and require you to start with a lower rep count and work up (and also to do a modified style if necessary). STS is built on the model of starting with high reps and working down in number as you increase the weight. For body weight exercises, that approach doesn't really fit. If I were to do STS again, I think I'd do it pyramid style. Starting with meso 3 and much lighter weights, then increasing the reps until I got to meso1, then going back to mesos 2 & 3 with much heavier weights.
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"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." Leo Tolstoy |
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door anchor, dumbbell size, sts, sts results, weighted gloves |
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