@Blaine
But I’m not flaring, and I’m not asking why flaring is bad. I know why flaring is bad. What I’m asking is why you’re supposed to keep your forearms as vertical as possible, while simultaneously keeping your elbows close to your body. This is extremely hard, I find, so I’m wondering if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
@Sullivan
>Letting your elbow move down over your hand I think is not outright bad for you, but puts more emphasis on your triceps. Look up impossible push-ups. You lower your elbow to the ground for those, and it works the triceps hard.
I wasn’t talking about flaring here. Where does your elbow even go if you’re not flaring, but not keeping it over your hand either? Either you’re doing pseudo planche push-ups (elbow goes forward) or you’re doing something closer to forearm push-ups (elbow goes back).
@Blaine
I guess what I’m doing would be forearm push-ups, though I’ve never heard of that before. My elbows go back, so that my shoulders almost touch my hands.
@Sullivan
Link bro? How do we find it?
Keenan said:
@Sullivan
Link bro? How do we find it?
@Dez
Oh my god! That is amazing. I never knew the hand thing. That totally did help. I played the video while I did my workout, and saw that right before my last set of push-ups, and it was the easiest one. I definitely think it’s gonna help a lot.
Although I should be moving to diamond push-ups soon. Is there any way that will translate? Or even better, before I found all this stuff I was planning to start doing them with my feet raised; would anyone recommend that in place of diamond push-ups, while on my way to one-handed?
@Remy
Decline push-ups are a little easier than diamonds, so they can be a good progression if diamonds are kicking your butt. The other halfway point between regular push-ups and diamonds is to move your hands closer together but not full-on diamond.
@Zeke
It’s not that they are too hard, just idk why, but I would rather do decline push-ups. I actually did some last night, and they weren’t so bad. I guess I’ve improved my technique. Before, whenever I tried, it was very awkward and quite painful.
It wasn’t too bad last night, didn’t seem much harder than normal either, tbh. I guess I shall just follow the normal routine.
Thanks though.
Edit: I just had a mental block against diamond push-ups from doing them wrong when I was a kid.
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
I’m no expert, but I believe keeping your hips behind your hands will focus the movement more on your chest than your arms. Like the difference between chair/bench dips and push-ups, just less extreme.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
Find the Buff Dudes dips tutorial on YouTube. It’s really helpful. Basically, for tricep dips, you’ll be more upright and have your arms closer to your sides. You won’t go down as far, but instead lock your elbows at the top so your arms are straight.
For chest dips, you’ll be leaning forward more and have your elbows farther from your body. You don’t go up all the way but you lower yourself farther to get more stretch in your chest.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
Yes, forward leaning dips.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
Use a TRX band to keep your feet behind your hips. The further out, the more “forward” you will feel it. I use different angles for rock climbing training because it helps with mantling.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
When I was in good shape I used a weighted vest, suspension system like TRX, and a bosu ball. It helped a lot for really hitting all the areas. It does take more equipment though, which does suck.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
Tris help your bench too. I might have misunderstood your top post, but if the goal is to get a better bench, doing regular (/weighted) dips will help.
Wil said:
Do weighted dips instead.
What program are you doing, by the way?
[deleted]
Tilt your head forward. So instead of being vertical, you’re more like… diagonal to the ground. It will still work your triceps but focus more on your chest. Think of it as being the same as a push-up. The more parallel you are with the ground, the more it works your chest. Only, with a dip, you don’t have your feet as a pivot and therefore are displacing more of your body weight.
The most important thing about dips is to get the full range of motion. Have your elbows bend to 90 degrees+. It’ll work the full range of your pecs and really help give you the chest pump you deserve!!
Avery said:
@Logan
[deleted]
He means that your feet aren’t supporting any weight.
Avery said:
@Logan
[deleted]
It’s not bro science, might not be explained terribly well, but it makes sense.
When you are doing a push-up, you have two points of your body pushing against the ground, your hands and your feet. So your body weight is distributed between the two. The distribution varies on the position of each, so if you raise your feet (place them on a box and have your hands on the ground), you have more pressure in your hands, and the same thing goes the other way around.
When you’re doing dips, your feet aren’t touching the ground. So your entire body weight is being lifted through your chest as your only point of contact is your hands.
This type of change of angle is also used in suspension training to vary the difficulty.
If you still don’t understand what I’m saying, give it a try. Do a push-up with your feet on the ground and your hands on a box, try lots of different angles, each one with your hands lower to the ground, then once flat on the ground, start raising your feet.
