This may seem like a silly question, but I have a personal goal to be able to do regular push-ups. I can do modified push-ups with my knees on the ground, but whenever I try a regular one, after going down, my arms won't lift me back up. Does anyone have any hints about how to do regular ones, other than just continuing to do modified until my arms are strong enough? Thank you.

I am working on this too....I lower down and must not have the strength because I end up on the ground...I can push myself back up into plank though...
I am trying to do them at an angle, like on a bench or something. Feet together on the ground, hands on the bench. Then I will keep finding lower things to push-ups on until I am on the ground.
There are also wall push-ups...but it is sometimes hard to find a wall

It's all up to patience. Burn some fat and gain some muscle.

I can totally relate to your personal goal. When I first started working out with my personal trainer, I wasn't able to do a single regular push-up, sit-up, or chin-up. Rather embarrassing as a guy. If you have access to weights or weight machines, I'd recommend using them to develop more muscle mass and tone up what muscles you do have. If you don't have access to weight lifting equipment, there are some plank poses that will help.

Two that most resemble regular push-ups are:
1.) Position yourself in a regular push-up position with arms fully extended. Keep your body rigid and hold the position for as long as possible.
2.) Same as the first but instead of supporting your weight on your hands, lower yourself onto your forearms and hold the position for as long as possible.

Keep working on it, I know you'll get there.

push ups are not just your arms and chest, you need a very strong core and legs as well to help stabilise and hold yourself up.

I can do about 30 full push ups now (thats on your toes, down to touch a persons fist with my chest and back up...something about the height of a small handweight that'd be).

we have regular "bench marking" tests in the dragonboat club I paddle for - a lot of the girls can do 50+ and some are up to doing 80...

Diabetic is correct with working your core in plank exercises. We're also tested on core strength using planks - how long you can hold one before you just collapse lol. I'm up to about 6 minutes.

It's all perseverance and determination. You just need to stick it out, practice and build your strength.

Good luck!

I'm the same as the OP - I have an ambition to do full press-ups but can only manage about 20 modified ones on my knees. I do wonder, at 46 years old, whether I've left it too late to achieve this.

Kitty

Kitty - DEFINITELY not - there are ladies in my club older than yourself in that 50+ range

Never say never!

Kitty - I'm the OP and I'm 60, so if I can keep trying, so can you I like the idea of increasing the time of my planks to help. I can do 90 seconds, so I will keep working on that too.

regular push-ups are on my list of goals as well. I have gone from not being able to do even one to being able to (usually) do 5 so far. I have used what Dagny said as part of my training for it. I started with a wall and then the back of a bench, then the seat of the bench, then my aerobic step, then the floor. I also do strength training using hand weights and planks. Look online to get proper form before starting planks. A friend of mine caused major back trouble doing them wrong. Now what I do is do as many regular push-ups as I can (usually 5, max so far has been 7) and then I continue on to whatever my number for that workout is in the modified position. Once I can do 10-15 push-ups I'm going to move my focus to chin-ups.

Kitty - My father was doing push-ups until he had a completely unrelated arm injury last year which left him probably unable to ever do them again. He's 78!

I suggest using an exercise ball. You can start as easy as hugging the ball to the chest and increase the difficulty by rolling the ball out at intervals until the ball is on the shins and do a push up from there. If you can do it that way, then going to a regular on-the-ground push up is no problem.

I agree with the comment about a strong core being necessary. I went into the Army not knowing how to do pushups. Of course by the end of Basic Training, I knew all about how to do pushups, LOL!

And for me the breakthrough came when I really focused on tensing up and tightening up my core - trying to make my body be as straight as a board. Once I did that, the muscles in my arms were able to work much better!

Good luck to you, you can do it!

When I started with my trainer, I didn't have the upper body strength to do one push up, any pull ups, or when I put my arms in those strap things and you pull your legs/knees up? I couldn't do any of them either.

Now, three years later, I can do 3 sets of 20 of all of them.

I should echo what others have said - core training helps. Also - I use those special handsets that swivel to do pushups with because regular ones hurt my wrists. One thing my trainer had me do when we were first doing pushups was - turn the Bocu ball (the 1/2 blue ball) so the ball is down and the flat side is facing you. Then do the push-ups grabbing onto the side handles of the ball. You don't go so far down to the floor, but you are developing all of the same muscles. For added benefit - do this -

Ball on the round side to the floor. Pushup position with your arms grabbing the handles, feet out behind you - sort of a plank position. In one smooth movement, do a push up, then jump your feet up to the edge of the ball, pick up the ball and raise it above your head and hold for 5 seconds. Then reverse the ball down, jump your feet back out, and repeat.

I can do about 15 of those before I plop on the floor. For variation, when you raise the ball, just push it straight out in front of you, then back down to the floor.

Good luck. If you plug away at it, you will be doing pushups before you know it.

Try this push up challenge ... I started it last week and already I"m seeing improvement. I'd love to be able to do the same with pull-ups...

Great link, thanks! I will definitely be adding this challenge to my workouts.