Can't do a pushup? Read this.

Hey Wild League!

This morning I saw an article discussing the “controversy” over a podcast guest who stated that all women should be able to do 11 pushups. Even if I agree with a premise, stating absolutes such as “all women” is problematic so I had to check it out. 

The article referenced a March Mel Robbins podcast interview with Dr. Vonda Wright, who is an orthopedic surgeon. She is also a longevity expert and offered some advice about what women should do, fitness-wise, if they want to live long, healthy lives.

From the article: “It included walking a total of three hours each week (broken up over at least four days), lifting heavy weights at least twice a week, and learning “to lift your own bodyweight” — which according to Wright means all women should be able to do 11 push-ups. Robbins asked if those push-ups could be done on your knees, and Wright replied, “No.”’

I think her general outline is a good one, but I think she – and often the rest of us – gets a bit hung up on the details. 11 pushups is oddly specific, and while they are a great exercise, they aren’t the only way to build the strength to move your own body weight.  What if someone has carpal tunnel syndrome and struggles with pushups but can bench 150 pounds? There is a big difference in what we might see between a 20-year-old female and a 70-year-old female. The importance of being able to move your own bodyweight in a way that is meaningful in your life got lost in the insistence of being able to do 11 standard pushups. 

We’ve become a society that seems to struggle with inferring information. We don’t like vague or general concepts – we want hard instructions about how to accomplish a goal. Dr. Wright mentions:
*Walk 3 hours each week over a total of 4 days
*Lift heavy weights twice a week
*Learn to lift your own bodyweight

Turns into a slew of questions like, “Does it count if I walk to work?” or “Can I walk 4 days in a row?” or “Can I ruck instead?” and “How ‘heavy’ is enough?”

It’s impossible to give a broad audience a workout plan via a podcast. It requires us to take that information and expand it to our own lives, taking into consideration our current abilities, any health concerns, what equipment we have access to, and our available time. 

The truth is, if we put these concepts in place in whatever way works for us, it means we’re doing good things for our bodies and our health, whether we can do 2 pushups or 20. Whether we squat 250 pounds or do body weight squats with PM2. Something is always better than nothing. Just because someone said “You should be able to do 11 standard pushups” doesn’t mean you should stop doing counter pushups or knee pushups if that is what you can do.

What catches my attention the most about conversations like these is how often we stop at “I can’t do that, because X or Y” and never look past that statement that pops into our heads. 

For example: “I can’t do pushups because my wrists hurt.” Dr. Wright, in my opinion, is wrong to say, “No, you can’t do pushups on your knees.” To me, this implies that if you can’t do a standard pushup then knee pushups are worthless, which is not true at all. Perhaps instead she could have said, “Knee pushups can be a great alternative for some people, and they can be a way to work up to standard pushups for others.” Working up should always be an option. As should modifying when our needs require it.

Maybe your wrists are sore because you spent the weekend gardening and need a few days of rest and mobility work. Maybe your wrists have been hurting for years because you spend 8 hours on the computer at work every day and then go home and spend 4 hours on your phone while watching TV. Those two problems have different solutions and one takes much more time and effort than the other to resolve, but it’s worth the effort.

We should be asking ourselves, “Why do my wrists hurt?” rather than writing off pushups as impossible. Continuing to dig down into the “whys” until we arrive at the bigger questions – and the solutions – should be part of our health journey. I find that process so valuable because it allows me to feel empowered by having options rather than feeling like a failure. 

Years ago, a similar situation happened to me. When I was about 35 years old, our family was out on a pontoon ride. It was hot in the sun and we stopped so we could jump into the lake to cool down. To my surprise – and for the first time in my life – I had to use the ladder because I couldn’t hoist my body weight onto the boat, even though I could have done so without thinking just a few years before. 

I realized that I had lost not just upper body strength, but the overall mobility that allowed me to perform that action, which required shoulder and wrist mobility along with chest and arm strength. Since that day, any time I struggle with a movement that I used to be able to do, I dig into what is causing the obstruction, and I add activities or exercises that allow me to work on that skill. When I realized I had a harder time crossing a wobbly log while hiking, I used yoga to work on my single-leg balance. When I found squatting under a fallen tree on a hike caused my lower back to tighten up, I worked on my lower back strength mobility and added lateral squats to my workouts.

If you find you can’t do pushups, it isn’t necessarily a reason to give up on them all together. It can be a message from your body that you have some work to do. You can do pushups against a wall, a counter top, or a sturdy step stool as you continue to work your way to the floor. Then you absolutely can do knee pushups and planks, practicing good form that will eventually allow you to do a standard pushup. Even one might feel incredibly hard. You might do them on your fists because your wrists hurt. Or use a hex dumbbell so you can change the position of your wrists so they don’t hurt. Then suddenly one day, you can do 3 pushups.

Perhaps arthritis doesn’t allow you to move your wrists or hands that way anymore. You can try a forearm plank against the wall. Or maybe you are able to do a half-boat pose. There are many things you can do to work on core, chest, and arm strength even if you can’t do pushups anymore. I mentioned this before, but years ago I started my post-partum recovery with the old-school P90X program. One of the workouts is all combinations of pushups and pullups. I couldn’t do a pullup at all and I had to do pushups on my knees. After 90 days, I was able to do both without any trouble. Our bodies do amazingly well at adapting to what we ask them to do when we stay consistent and give our body what it needs to succeed: challenge, recovery, and nutrition. 

If you find a weakness in your abilities, it is a sign that you have things to improve, whatever that looks like for where you’re at, and your fitness goals. Being unable to do a pushup today doesn’t mean you can’t do one next month. It doesn’t mean you can’t find a modification that you can do instead. It doesn’t have to relegate you to a lifetime of sore wrists or the inability to push yourself up off the ground after you’re done weeding the garden.

If you can’t walk 3 miles but can walk around the block, that is something you can build on. Maybe you’re 40 and have never done a pullup in your life, but you want to. There are progressions for working up to them, including this one that Dan made using pocket monkii. Maybe you want to run (or walk) your first 5K during a family Turkey Trot in November. You have time to work up to it if you start today! 

League, be careful about buying into absolute statements made by people who are generalizing to a wide swath of the population. Listen to your body and what it is telling you, dig into why something is (or isn’t) happening. And look for solutions that can move you in the right direction.

Keep moving!
-Kim