I have been doing 30 day shred (level 1) and have been having wrist pain due to the pushups I am assuming. I do them bent knee on the floor and using a step as well. Any advice? Thanks

One of my goals this year is to be able to do a real push up (NEVER have been able to, even when I was really light)!! So I have been doing the bent knee push ups almost daily, as well as planks and taking yoga classes that spend a lot of time in downward dog, so yeah, I've been feeling it in my wrists ... one of my instructors said something that I hadn't thought about before. She said that wrists need to build up endurance just like every other part of your body and there really isn't much "real life" activity for most of us that puts weight on the wrists. So assuming you don't have an injury or other reason that you really can't put weight on your wrists, it just takes time till the wrists are OK bearing weight.

One option that is offered in yoga is using closed fists so that the wrist is not bent. I've done that before, when my little wrists just give up, but that kind of hurts in a different way, on my fingers. Maybe mix the two postures until your wrists are stronger?

to you! I hope more people write in with advice about how to do good pushups...

And I just saw this on the hundredpushups.com site:

"Knuckle" push ups - don't worry, these are not just for the hard-core push up folks. Some people experience wrist discomfort as they perform "good-form" push ups, but by closing your hands and making a fist, your body weight ends up on your knuckles instead of your palms, thus avoiding the wrist extension motion. Note: Please be sure to do this type of push up on a padded mat, plush carpet or even better a rolled up towel.

Emma - one thing I've read is that is very hard to go from doing bent knee pushups to straight leg pushups. If you want to do straight leg pushups, then you should do inclined straight leg pushups. I progressed to full pushups by doing pushups on stairs and going on lower stairs until I finally didn't need the stairs. You could also do pushups on a chair or a step anything really that makes it easier but not easy to do a straight leg pushup. For those that really struggle, wall pushups are a good start.

Hi jeanies,

Tony Horton always recommends these pushup stands (watch the video) - they are supposed to minimize the impact on the wrists. I have never tried them myself and maybe he is just toting his own stuff - anyway, I thought I would mention them.