Subbing for Pushups

[Yogadad]

Originally Posted by Pat58

Scott, thank you SO MUCH for those variations. They sound doable for me with my bad wrists. I loved pushups and can't do them now - these suggestions are valuable!!!!

You're welcome, I hope they help!

Best,

Scott

[Yogadad]

Originally Posted by wendy2

I'm interested in subbing for push ups, too. However, I can't put weight on my right wrist. I've been doing elbow planks and roll outs on the stability ball to sub for straight arm planks and pikes on the ball... But for push ups, I find that just subbing chest presses and chest flyes isn't nearly the same challenge. I may be able to do some of the substitutions listed in this thread. I'm just not sure they will be challenging enough, as I've been able to do at least 20 pushups on my toes for a long time.

Does anyone have suggestions? Thanks so much!

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

This may be a dumb question, but is your wrist only painful if you're in a hyperextended position (which is how it would be w/ regular push-ups) or in all positions.

The reason I'm asking is because sometimes I've had issues w/ my wrist and was able to use push-up bars which allowed me to keep my wrist in a neutral position and it didn't put the same stress on my wrist.

I also have some weight lifting gloves that have pretty thick wrist wraps that help support my wrist which I use from time to time if my wrist is a bit tender.

If you have pretty heavy duty bands and you do them from a split stance position it should provide enough resistance and also give you a lot of core work as well. I would reverse which foot is in front for every other set (or if you were doing 20 reps then do 10 reps w/ one foot forward then switch feet for the last 10 reps).

Take care,

Scott

[Jane P.]

Because I did pushups for years, I have developed painful spurs on both of my wrists. They're not for everybody.

[wendy2]

Originally Posted by Yogadad

Hi Wendy,

This may be a dumb question, but is your wrist only painful if you're in a hyperextended position (which is how it would be w/ regular push-ups) or in all positions.

The reason I'm asking is because sometimes I've had issues w/ my wrist and was able to use push-up bars which allowed me to keep my wrist in a neutral position and it didn't put the same stress on my wrist.


Scott

Not a dumb question at all, Scott.
I began to notice the pain when my wrist was hyper-extended. I have now been diagnosed with Dequervian's tendinitis after going to an orthopedic surgeon when the pain started occurring even in a resting position. I also have developed a ganglion cyst, which they tell me is not causing the shooting pains I'm experiencing randomly. Coincidentally (I guess), they both came on the scene at the same time.

I sort of feel that whatever it is that is causing my pain was caused or at least aggravated by all the pushups in STS. I think using my laptop on my chest when I'm laying on the couch isn't helping matters.

In any case, I now have pain when there is any weight on my wrist, even when I use pushup handlbars. Sometimes I can support myself on my fingertips or fists, but I don't like to do that since I'll probably snap something eventually, with my luck!

Thanks for asking--sorry for such a long answer!!

Wendy

[shells]

One year for Christmas I bought my husband "The Perfect Pushup" by BodyRev, he was never really interested, thought it was to gimmicky; but I really like them and use them in my rotations. I noticed a body change within the first 2 weeks. JM's 30 Day Shred also has a 'walking pushup' that is pretty cool.

[Yogadad]

Originally Posted by wendy2

Not a dumb question at all, Scott.
I began to notice the pain when my wrist was hyper-extended. I have now been diagnosed with Dequervian's tendinitis after going to an orthopedic surgeon when the pain started occurring even in a resting position. I also have developed a ganglion cyst, which they tell me is not causing the shooting pains I'm experiencing randomly. Coincidentally (I guess), they both came on the scene at the same time.

I sort of feel that whatever it is that is causing my pain was caused or at least aggravated by all the pushups in STS. I think using my laptop on my chest when I'm laying on the couch isn't helping matters.

In any case, I now have pain when there is any weight on my wrist, even when I use pushup handlbars. Sometimes I can support myself on my fingertips or fists, but I don't like to do that since I'll probably snap something eventually, with my luck!

Thanks for asking--sorry for such a long answer!!

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Thanks for answering that with such detail because it helps me knowing that information. I'm really sorry to hear that you are dealing with such painful issues!

Creating a substitution for pushups under those circumstances definitely presents difficulty. Ideally something like the old "pec decks" would probably be the best type of thing because you wouldn't have to get your wrists involved since you could brace your forearms against the pads.

Perhaps you could use something like a theraband and tie one end of it beneath your wrist with the other end attached to an anchor at a door. Then you could stand sideways to the door w/ your elbow bent and 90 degrees and do single arm flyes. This would be the same basic movement as a pec deck, you'd still have to use core stabilization but you wouldn't have the triceps involved in the move as you would in a press or pushup.

Or maybe if you had a pill shaped ball (like the "transformer" from Barry's Boot Camp") you could do something similar lying down using therabands and doing supine flyes w/ the bands attached below both wrists.

I'm "reaching" here because it's a tricky type of injury to work around for that type of movement but those are two possible things that might work. You should clear either of those with your health care professional before doing them just to make sure there's nothing contraindicated about either of them.

Take care,

Scott

[videofit]

I used to do pushups on dumbbells to keep my wrists straight, but Perfect Pushups are better because the handles are somewhat padded plus they rotate a bit to take stress off of one particular spot. Perhaps someone else could explain the physiology. I found them less painful to use. Still, you have to listen to your body. When my wrist (I have a ganglion cyst as a result of doing pushups many years ago) or shoulder hurt, I just substitute something else.