correct style pushups.

[john13]

I can only lower my body about six inches when doing pushups and I wonder why I cannot nearly touch floor with my chest.I am 72 and am doing as many as 300 of thes types of pushups a day. Also I can't do one pullup. I have been working out regularly for about one month with isometrics and the Miracle seven.Will I be able to do correct pushups and a few pullups if I continue working out as I have been?Please can anyone suggest how I can train to do correct pushups and also do a couple of pullups or more?

[revwally]

John,

I just wanted to say -- even if they are partial pushups -- and especially after only a month of working out, I am impressed with 300 at 72!

on pushups: is the problem flexibility or strength?
on pullups: realize that there are a lot of very healthy and physically fit folk who can't do a pullup. Part of that is they have not set that as a goal -- and part has to do with the difficulty of the exercise/weight. In one group I read a world champion deadlifter who said she had it as a lifetime goal to do one pullup. Having said that, it is achievable, if you set your mind to it. Things I would recommend are: 1. Isometric holds. To do these use a stool or something so that you are able to stand in front of your pullup bar in three different positions: top middle and bottom. Then hold yourself in tension at each of these points. John demonstrates this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYNJufizGsA . do this only every 2 or three days, because it is intense. Another thing to do is VRT pullups. This is basicly visualizing doing a pullup -- and doing it while standing in front of a mirror. This can be done much more often.

Wally

[Viking Dan]

For me, negatives were the key to doing full range chin ups. Use a stool, get into the top position and lower yourself for a 10 count (if you can't handle 10, do 5 or whatever you can manage that's a controlled descent.) Climb back to the top and repeat. Once you can do 10 or so of these with a 10 count, give a regular one a try.

[john13]

Thanks for advice. Reason I cannot dip right down when doing pushups is lack of strength in triceps

[tom]

Not implying anything here, but my pull-ups go up when my weight goes down.

Do full-range push-ups on the counter, then table, then chair, etc.

I like all the other suggestions, too.

Tom

[EyeDoc]

Thanks for advice. Reason I cannot dip right down when doing pushups is lack of strength in triceps

The top of the push up is pretty much all tricep. So, if you're going down 6 inches and coming back up you're working your triceps, and your triceps are not the reason you can't go down close to the floor. Either it's a flexibility problem, or it's a lack of strength in your shoulders and maybe a little bit in your pectorals as well

I don't completely understand what happens when you try to lower yourself down. Can you physically not get your body down, or do you sort of collapse downwards? My suggestion right now would be that you do push ups where you only do the bottom 6 inches of the movement, along with the sets of push ups you do where you do the top of the move.