Hi guys,
I started this program two weeks ago, started on level 6, completed it and then moved onto level 8. Did level 8 a few times even though I was failing( couldn't do max sets and reps for everything). Moved back to level 5 and tried level 6 yesterday.
I noticed that I was doing pushups all wrong and my elbows were going completely outwards and my arms were more than shoulder width apart. I tried doing them properly yesterday and found them really hard( arms should width apart with elbows almost parallel to the body). What can I do to improve my push ups as I can do the pull exercises up to level 7 and push apart from push ups.
Also another question when I do dips, when I go down my body and legs are not in the same line. How can I improve my for? Is because my chest is much stronger than my triceps?
Sorry for the long post and thanks for anyone who answers
Hello ssb2441,
Good to see that you got the program. There's no such thing as perfect form, perfect form refers to get the most of the exercise and get as little chance of injury as possible. So yes, it is better to do them with elbows going back. And you sort of answered your own question, your chest is in fact probably stronger than your triceps, because if you do push ups with elbows flaring outside, it uses your chest more, if you do them back, it doesn't use the chest as much so it uses the triceps more. At least that's what I believe is happening here. Well just keep doing them (or if you can't do even one, do negatives or do them on the knees), you will eventually get better at them, dips help a lot as well for push strength.
For the dips, your torso is supposed to lean a bit forward, well there's more variations, doing them straight uses the triceps more, if you lean a little it hits the chest as well, which is what we do here.
But I am able to do 6*10 dips. So if the exercise uses my triceps how come I am able to do them?
Hey ssb2441,
wide push ups are not wrong ssb2411, like gligor already said they focus more on your chest strength. i would say that your triceps power is not as strong as your biceps or your chest. you can improve this while doing close pushups or, my favourite exercise, diamond push ups. both focus really good on your triceps.
However to be sure, i do not get it. how can you do 6*10 dips but are not able to do closed push ups? i would assume that you do the dips wrong, because i can not explain it to me in another way. how do you do your dips? are you leaning forward? probably yes, because this focuses more on the chest (which is maybe your stronger muscle region)
Thanks to Josef & Gligor for great replies!
For me I was able to do like 6*10 dips but I lacked pull strength, not push strength. Dips are harder than push ups so I don't see the logic here, like Josef said, look at the form of the dips, record yourself with both push ups and dips and maybe upload it here if you can, we will help any way we can!