12 Times

I saw this today at Instapundit

An Enduring Measure of Fitness: The Simple Push-Up

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.

Very true.  Watch the video they posted with this story and you'll see a whole bunch of women all doing very very bad push-ups. Their heads are down, the middle of their bodies move around like spaghetti noodles and their butts stick up in the air.  I'm guessing the only reason someone hasn't seriously hurt themselves is because they are young.  None of the women they showed looked over the age of 25.

Lest you think I dis them unfairly.  Not at all.  I have, until recently, never been able to do a push-up correctly.  Ever. Back when I was doing tae kwon do - I did the "girly" push-ups on my knees because it hurt my back to do a full out push-up.  I looked like the young women in the video.  Sad but oh so true.  No wonder my back hurt!!!

But, where did these stats come from?

Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27. By the age of 60, those numbers drop to 17 for men and 6 for women. Those numbers are just slightly less than what is required of Army soldiers who are subjected to regular push-up tests.

National averages from where?   After all, I know few if any women who can do push-ups.  Until I started pilates - I didn't know any women who did push-ups correctly.  I do wish they would cite their sources for statistics that are "generally accepted".  I guess that's asking too much.

As for me, I'm working on it.  I've always had VERY bad upper body strength.  Terrible upper body strength may not even be a strong enough description.  As the title of my post says and going at it cold (I did a set to see what I could do) I was able to do 12 push-ups correctly.  I could've done more... maybe 15, but I don't want sore arms - yeah, I'm a wimp, so what. 

In my pilates class we do at least 3 sets of 8: one set with hands straight and under shoulders, one set with hands in triangle, one set with hands wide, with a rest in between - the rest is only long enough to reset the hands in the new position (lest you think we wait a few minutes between sets).   Of course we don't start with push-ups and they aren't the only arm exercises we do.  We won't even mention the wonderful instructor who is on our every mistake to make us do it correctly. Plus there is so much emphasis on "the core" that I can finally do a push-up correctly after all these years.  No more back pain.

I want to get that number up to 20 though. No reason it can't be at least that many... so if someone ever says "drop and give me 20" I can do it.  Wouldn't that be fun. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ummmmm at 10:09 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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