Girls can do push ups too.

I have many pet peeves in the fitness industry, such as guys who where hats in the gym and women who read Womens Own magazine whilst using a recumbent bike (anyway…). One issue that perhaps should be considered is the use of ‘girly push ups.’

I recognise strength based training is considered a masculine pursuit and that women steer away from it for fear of compromising their dainty and feminine looks (I don’t want to digress but if you are interested check this out). However, the point is that whenever I have a guy in the gym he is often more than happy to have a go at doing full push ups, however when I have a girl in the gym they are often more than content to try a ‘girly’ variety and any suggestion of stepping it up is met with more than a little concern.

This issue has become more obvious to me over the last couple of weeks, when at my Bootcamp the weather has got decidedly wetter and colder. In warm dry weather the girls are more than happy to rest their knees on the floor and take the easier option, however when the weather gets a little worse, and involves putting their knees in the mud, suddenly I noticed that most of the girls are happy to try full press ups!

Its not that doing ‘girly push ups’ is a problem. If you can only manage the girly variety you should do that. However, if you are capable of doing a full push up you definitely should do that.

The press up, if done properly, is a great exercise for developing stability and strength through the shoulders, triceps and torso. This is good because it aids in bingo wing prevention!! It is very rare to have someone in the gym on day one, guy or girl, who can do a good push up. Fundamentally, there are several reasons why the girls struggle with push-ups more than the guys; most notably guys are typically stronger than girls. Nevertheless, with good coaching, the right progressions and a bit of practice more girls can advance onto the full variety in no time at all.

So what makes a good push up? Take a look at this video by Eric Cressey and I will fill in the gaps.

Most importantly you must get your set up correct before you get started. With your hands underneath your shoulders, or perhaps just a little wider, and in a good neutral alignment, lower your body to the floor. Try to keep your elbows tucked in a little and make sure your chest gets to the floor before your head and hips.

There is no major problem doing the knees down variety, but once you get good at it you should progress. Making the transition from half press up to full is not easy, so I like to use the eccentric press up shown in this video . You will find you are stronger in the eccentric phase of the press up (lowering), so by lowering in a full press up and pushing up in a half you can make that transition easier.

So give it a go! A couple of alternative for progressing everyone’s favourite exercise… Let me know how you get on.