Push-up program for girls and rules for successful training

Push-ups are an exercise that has been familiar to us since school. Despite its simplicity, it is very effective for working out the muscles of the upper body, and it is useful not only for men, but also for girls. Despite the fact that push-ups may be more difficult for the latter, many ladies are interested in how girls can do push-ups correctly and what this exercise can give us. If done correctly, it will be very useful for the fair sex too.

Features of the exercise for women

In order to perform the exercise correctly, regardless of the starting position (from the floor or standing from the wall), novice athletes should familiarize themselves with the basic features of performing push-ups for women. Such guidance minimizes the risk of harm to health, and also helps maintain motivation due to the visible effectiveness of regular training:

• You should start doing push-ups from your knees (minimum level of stress on the body);
• Keep your stomach pulled in during the exercise;
• make sure that there is no deflection in the lumbar area;
• do not straighten your arms completely when returning to the starting position (otherwise the risk of injuring your joints increases);
• keep the chest muscles in constant tension;
• gradually increase the load without allowing the muscles to adapt (use additional weight as a burden, for example, place a metal plate on the back in the thoracic spine area).

Important! The number of approaches and how many times a girl should do push-ups from the floor or wall should be determined by a fitness trainer. If a woman practices at home, then it is recommended that she start with 7-9 repetitions within 1 approach. With each workout, it is correct to increase this number by 2-3 push-ups.

Be sure to watch: Push-ups: working muscles, effective exercises, correct technique Push-ups program: recommendations and plans All the benefits of push-ups: different options for physical activity Floor push-ups: optimal programs for doing at home

What muscles work?

These movements are a good way to pump up and tighten the pectoral muscles, triceps, deltoids, as well as a huge number of other additional muscles, including the thighs and buttocks. Different methods of execution (grip widths) help increase efficiency for different muscle groups and, as a result, create a beautiful and slender figure.

Carefully! Before training, be sure to warm up, otherwise you can easily stretch ligaments and injure your joints. It should be aimed at the muscles you will be working. This will improve blood circulation and achieve better results in training.

Benefits and harms

Push-ups from the floor or wall can not only help improve your form, but also pose a danger to a woman’s health. To understand whether this type of exercise is suitable for a particular person, it is important to analyze the potential benefits and harms of the activities in question.

Based on the comparison table above, doing push-ups will be useful for all girls who do not have health contraindications, but only if they follow the rules for organizing the training process.

The benefits of push-ups for women

• Strengthens the chest muscles - visually lifts the bust, rounding the shape of the chest.
• Include in the work and strengthen the triceps of the shoulder , which in women often come to an atonic (relaxed) state.
• Stretches the chest muscles and engages the core muscles that support the spine. Stretching the pectoral muscles allows you to “open” the thoracic region, which, when slouched, can develop curvature of the spine and tighten the pectoral muscles. In this case, the shoulders may become sloping, and movements in the shoulder girdle may become constrained.
• The abdominal muscles and spinal extensors (lumbar spines), which fix the lumbar region and pelvis in the correct position, are strengthened and help maintain the tone of the gluteal muscles.
• When performed at a moderate pace, push-ups strengthen the heart muscle .
• Increases the overall endurance of the body.
• Speed ​​up metabolism.
• Increases the flexibility of the shoulder girdle joints.
• Improves lung function by opening the chest, allowing full chest breathing.

What results can you achieve?

Before starting classes that include a specific push-up pattern, women are advised to take initial measurements and set a goal (for example, reduce arm size by 3 cm in a month). Based on the experience of fitness trainers, girls most often succeed in:

• increase the muscle mass of the chest, arms, shoulders (delta);
• reduce the volume of the upper body, as well as reduce the overall weight of the athlete;
• strengthen the cardiovascular system;
• increase the strength of tendons and ligaments;
• increase in “explosive power”.

Important! Positive changes in a girl’s appearance are possible only with an integrated approach. It should include both regular exercise and adjustments to your diet and lifestyle in general.

How to do push-ups for women

To achieve maximum results from push-ups, girls should periodically change the load (use additional weight) and perform various variations of the basic exercise:

A more complicated version - push-ups

Hand push-ups from a bench can be done in two versions:

In the first option, we do push-ups in the same way as against a wall, only we use a bench, table or other stable structures as a support. By changing the angle of the body, the load increases

The second variation is known as the “reverse push-up.” To do this, you can use a gymnastic bench, or, as an alternative, ordinary chairs:

1. We stand with our backs to the bench.
2. We sit down with our palms resting on the edge of the bench. We stretch our legs forward and rest on our heels. Keep your back straight.
3. We do not spread our elbows to the sides; we keep them parallel to the body.
4. We perform the exercise by sitting down with emphasis on our hands until a right angle is formed in the elbow joint.

Options for ready-made programs for girls

If a woman is a beginner athlete, and she currently does not have the opportunity to turn to the services of fitness trainers, she can use the universal option of a ready-made program. Such push-up complexes are designed for girls aged 20-35 years who do not have serious contraindications to sports.

Weekly training plan

During the week, a woman needs to do push-ups 4-5 times a week, starting and ending the workout with a warm-up and cool-down, respectively. The main part should not exceed 3-4 variations of the exercise. Following these rules will help avoid muscle overtraining:

1. Monday:

• warm-up – 5-7 minutes;
• classic push-ups from the knees – 8 times;
• classic push-ups – 8 times;
• “crystal” push-ups (with palms together) – 7 times;
• wall push-ups – 7 times;
• cool down – 3 min.

1. Wednesday:

• warm-up – 6 minutes;
• push-ups with feet elevated – 7 times;
• push-ups from a hill with wide arms – 10 times;
• Triceps push-ups – 10 times;
• cool down – 3 min.

1. Friday:

• warm-up – 5-7 minutes;
• bench push-ups – 12 times;
• push-ups from the reverse position – 12 times;
• push-ups from the knees – 10 times;
• push-ups from the floor with supporting limbs positioned close to each other – 10 times;
• cool down – 3 min.

1. Sunday – repeat Wednesday’s complex, increasing the load using sports equipment and the number of repetitions by 2.

Table for 30 days

To achieve results from push-ups in the shortest possible time, girls are recommended to adhere to the table calculated by fitness trainers for 30 days of daily exercise:

Important! The daily rate of push-ups must be divided into several approaches throughout the day.

From scratch: scheme for beginners

To learn how to do push-ups “from scratch,” girls should gradually increase the number of repetitions, while monitoring their well-being both during classes and during the recovery period.

After completing the seventh week of push-ups, the athlete should switch to a narrowly focused training program with increased load on a specific muscle group.

Technique and features of push-ups for girls

While performing these exercises, it is necessary to ensure that the body does not bend, and that breathing is not held, and is as calm and uninterrupted as possible. If it becomes difficult to breathe when doing push-ups, you need to stop doing the exercise and first catch your breath. Having restored your breathing, you can proceed to the next approach.

When doing push-ups, you should first of all listen to the capabilities of your body, gradually increasing the number of approaches and push-ups. It will be much better if a beginner “gains” the number of push-ups performed throughout the day than at once.

But there are general recommendations for the number of push-ups that you can follow. In this case, each push-up must be performed fully, correctly, without bending. If there is no strength left to perform the exercise correctly, it is better to stop exercising and switch to training other muscles, returning to push-ups later.

To start, do a dozen good “clean” push-ups. Happened? This means you can do 20 full push-ups in about 4 approaches. If you manage to do less than 10 push-ups at a time, then try breaking 10-15 push-ups into 3-4 sets. In addition, do not forget that it is useful to do several push-ups throughout the day. This way you will quickly develop the strength and endurance of the necessary muscles.

There is a harmful myth that says push-ups are not for girls. That this is an exclusively male exercise, and if a girl does push-ups, she will look brutal, completely unfeminine

But this is not true, and if you want to have beautiful rounded shoulders, toned arms, raised chest, and a generally slender body, then do not ignore this exercise

By the way, push-ups can contribute to a slight visual enlargement of the breasts. Of course, not due to the growth of the mammary glands themselves, since they consist of adipose tissue and cannot increase from physical activity, but due to the strengthening and development of the chest muscles. You should not count on a large increase in the bust, but with constant and proper training, slight development is ensured, plus its appearance will improve, the breasts will look beautiful and toned.

Push-ups for girls are valuable because such an exercise helps to get your body in order in a fairly short time, if you strictly follow the instructions and do not shirk your training. By doing 30-50 push-ups, you can lose 100-200 kcal. This is a good result, considering that only jumping rope, exercise with an apparatus (punching bag) or fast running for speed, not endurance, can burn more calories in the same time.

with push-ups you can improve the shape of your arms, chest, abs, improve your posture, become stronger and more resilient

How to learn to do the exercise correctly

If a girl does not have enough strength or endurance to perform the classic version of push-ups, she can be helped by recommendations on the correct organization of training of this type. Among the main ones:

1. Start doing push-ups against the wall. This exercise puts minimal stress on the body, which is perceived by the athlete’s muscles as a warm-up before the main part of the exercise. The number of repetitions in this case should be twice as much as required to perform classic push-ups.
2. The second stage for beginners should be push-ups from the knees. At the initial stage, the girl does not need to monitor the position of her hands; it is more important to control the position of her back, which should be straight throughout the entire exercise.
3. Monitor the rhythm of your breathing. As with other exercises, during push-ups, the effort (bringing the body closer to the floor) should be done by exhaling (done through the mouth), and returning to the starting position by inhaling (done through the nose).
4. Do not ignore the warm-up, cool-down, as well as the recommended breaks between approaches necessary to restore strength.

Provided that you are focused on results and perform the exercises regularly, a woman can learn push-ups “from scratch” in just 3-4 weeks.

Knee push-ups. What, why and why

It is believed that push-ups are a purely masculine exercise. Nothing like this. According to our statistics, 6 out of 10 women want to learn how to do push-ups. And today we will look at an alternative option - push-ups from the knees, which will be your first step towards mastering full push-ups. Go!

Muscle atlas

The exercise belongs to the class of basic ones with a push force type and is aimed at working the pectoral muscles. The muscle ensemble includes the following units:

• targeted – pectoralis major (sternal head);
• synergists – pectoralis major (clavicular head), anterior delta, triceps;
• dynamic stabilizers – short head of the biceps;
• stabilizers – rectus and oblique abdominal muscles;
• antagonist stabilizers – back extensors.

A complete muscle atlas looks like this:

Advantages

By performing the knee push-up exercise, you can expect to receive the following benefits:

• development of pectoral muscles;
• increasing the strength of the muscles of the upper shoulder girdle;
• arm muscle toning;
• strengthening core muscles;
• strengthening shoulder joints, preventing injuries;
• the opportunity to move on to classic push-ups (relevant for women).

Execution technique

Knee push-ups are an exercise of medium difficulty level. The step-by-step execution technique is as follows:

Step #0.

Get into a plank position. Then lower your knees to the floor and cross your legs at the ankles or shins. Place your hands shoulder-width apart. Statically tighten your abs. Direct your gaze in front of you. This is your starting position.

Step #1.

As you inhale, bend your elbows and touch your chest to the floor. As you exhale, push up from the floor, return to IP. Repeat the specified number of times.

In the picture version it looks like this:

In motion like this:

Variations

In addition to the standard knee push-up, there are several variations of the exercise:

• with one leg suspended;
• with the leg laid back;
• from the platform.

Secrets and subtleties

To get the most out of the exercise, follow these guidelines:

• Keep your back straight throughout the entire movement;
• when lowering, do not spread your elbows to the sides, keep them close enough to the body;
• when lowering, do not touch the floor with your hips;
• when lowering, lightly touch the floor with your chest, hold for 1-2 counts and only then do a push-up;
• To prevent your legs from dangling, cross them at the shins or ankles;
• if necessary, place a fitness mat under your knees;
• breathing technique: inhale – when lowering down, exhale – when going up/push-off phase;
• numerical training parameters: number of approaches/repetitions – 3-4/12-15.

We're done with the theoretical side, now let's look at some practical points.

Knee push-ups VS toe push-ups: which is better?

Research published in the Journal of Applied Biomechanics (USA, 2018) suggests that in both versions of the exercise, the contribution of each muscle was the same. However, overall muscle activation was greater when performing toe push-ups due to the additional load on the upper body. This means that when you perform knee push-ups, you are training the target muscles in the same way, but without the extra stress.

Conclusion: Knee push-ups are not girly push-ups. They give a good workout to a large set of muscles. Therefore, women who want to learn full push-ups should first practice the kneeling version.

Why women are bad at push-ups

Most women have a pear-shaped figure: wide hips and an underdeveloped top. In push-ups, although this is an exercise for the pectoral muscles, the pushers - the arms - actively work. In pears, most often the hands are the Achilles heel, i.e. they cannot “pull” their bottom up. This is why push-ups and pull-ups are quite difficult for such women. For rectangular and sandy women, mastering push-ups and pull-ups is much better; these exercises are easier for them.

Actually, we’re done with the substantive part of the note, let’s move on to...

Afterword

Knee push-ups are the latest addition to our technical pantheon of notes. It is definitely worth including in your training program for women who love home exercises. Try it and you won't regret it!

That's all for now, see you soon!

PS: do you know how to do push-ups? How many can you do at a time?

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