Nobody is going to like what I have to say today.
Women, get off your knees.
Seriously. I was in class the other night and I watched lots of strong women in a metcon on their knees.
WTFO?
Stick with knee push-ups and you know what you’re going to get really good at? Knee push-ups. That’s it. Not real push-ups. Not ring push-ups. Not even holding plank position.
See, in a knee push-up you just shortened your body length. You gave yourself a big advantage. Stop babying yourself. You’re stronger than that and you’re going to get even stronger.
Do tire push-ups, bench push-ups, ring push-ups, wall push-ups. If you don’t have real honest-to-God, chest-to-deck push-ups, then do whatever you have to do in order to get the push-ups done. Tire, rings, wall. But NEVER knee push-ups.
Seriously. Simply decide that you would rather eat glass than ever go to your knees again.
If you have real push-ups and you start to fail in a metcon, you know what to do? Shake out your arms, change your hand position, rest a second, etc. But for the love of She-Ra, don’t go to your knees! Get those push-ups one by one if you have to, go to the tire if you have to, go to the bench. But stay off your knees!
And if you don’t have real push-ups? Then work those wall push-ups, those tire/bench push-ups, those ring push-ups again and again and again. Then try working your real push-ups. Start wherever you have to. Then increase your range of motion until it’s perfect.
And I don’t just mean at CrossFit. Do them now, in your office, at home, in your classroom — wherever you happen to be right now, kicking butt and taking names. Drop.
Push-ups can be done anywhere and, if you want to get better at them, you simply have to do more of them — and you have to STOP doing them on your knees. So, pick a number: 30 push-ups a day, 50 push-ups a day, whatever. Sprinkle them throughout your day — 5 here, 10 there. Grease the groove. Get stronger bit by bit.
If you want to own your world — seriously wake up every flippin’ day of your life and feel like you can do anything, be anything, conquer anything — then you need to work on conquering two things in the gym: Your push-ups and your pull-ups.
Because once you own those b******, you will see, feel, and think about yourself and this world differently. Nothing will stand in your way.
Honest to God, you will park your car at work and kick the door open, even if you’re wearing heels. (Now, that’s an image!) You will be so ready to do, to achieve, to really be something in this life. The world will be yours. Make it so.
Get off your knees.
April 7th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I’m suprised you didn’t yell at them like you did to me… Knee push ups are just not an option.
Do I smell another 100 push-up challenge??? hhhmmmmmm???????
PS- Love when you get mad!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Lis,
two things. First, where were you this a.m. for my wall ball clinic. We made a deal. Second (and perhaps more importantly) as much as I can never condone such a statement of telling women to get off their knees (I’ve spent most of my life saying just the opposite) I do agree with the point you are making. Crossfit women are strong women and I know they can do those push-ups (yeah jillian and becky, I’m talking to you)!
April 7th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Silly Jason. Bar talk on Friday nights never translates into actual action. If it did, all of O’Joe’s would be members at CFW, Becky would be a professional dancer, and Jen would be the mayor of Watertown!
Sat at 9 am — now, that has a chance of happening.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:57 am
@ Jason.. Just about anything you you ask a girl to do on her knees.. a fit girl can do in a squat lol
April 7th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Um, okay . . . and back to our “G”-rated conversation!
April 7th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Lis- I was talking about painting baseboards and cleaning out the bottom cabinets in the kitchen.. shheeesshhhh
April 7th, 2010 at 10:28 am
This Sundays StrongChick gig, who’s in and what food or drink can you bring?????
April 7th, 2010 at 10:58 am
I’m in for Sunday and I’ll bring some beer. Talk to Becky about any food as I’m more than happy with hot dogs and beer.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:12 am
I’m in. I’ll bring hot dogs, rolls, mustard/catsup etc.
April 7th, 2010 at 11:16 am
We will bring some fruit! As well as beer!
April 7th, 2010 at 11:29 am
We’ll bring meat. Steak-ish.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Salad is my specialty.
April 7th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
I’m in. Not sure what to bring, aside from my carisma,beauty and hint of sexism
April 7th, 2010 at 1:11 pm
Love you, Rockstar!
April 7th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Yeah food!
April 7th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Maybe an “h”
And did you really mean sexism? Or sexy?
April 7th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Thought I was missing something there…
April 7th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
lol..
Lis= instant spell check…
i’m out- gotta go to VT for my Godson’s b-day bash! 7 yr olds party hard! lol
April 7th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
It’s a baaaaaad habit of mine. I was tortured as a child with endless games of Scrabble and wordplay. I suppose this explains a lot.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
OMG LIS!!!!!!!! I JUST OPENED THE NEWSLETTER- TYPO FOUND!!!!
April 8th, 2010 at 1:04 am
It’s 2am and I can’t sleep but I’m not sweatin’ the typo. Barry and Becky are the proud parents of our little newsletter and he’s beautiful no matter what you say, Auntie K.
April 8th, 2010 at 8:10 am
lol… Ha! you shoulda called me, I’m always up !!! lol
Becky n Barry r my lil Homies no matter what!!
April 8th, 2010 at 10:03 am
This is pure genius. Thank you. And you’re 100% right: I’m 5’4″, but when I rememeber I can do all my pushups on my toes, I strut like I’m 5’10″.
April 8th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Thanks for the post. I started doing “real” pushups and pullups w/o a band a few weeks ago and I feel unstoppable! I think not having a “crutch” is forcing me to take on challenges that I wouldn’t have before. There’s no WOD that I fear anymore. I’ve got this new “get er done” attitude. And as a result, I’m seeing lots of PRs and my name on the leaderboard… I love it!
April 8th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I have seen some start to hit their thighs off the ground at the bottom of the push-up. When asked, they said it was to have full range of motion. I can see the idea of keeping the body in a straight line, but there is no need for a fit person to bounce thighs or even touch anything other then the chest at the bottom. (Hands and toes are generally okay
I’d like to see at least 20 with upper arms to parallel before focusing on chest to the deck, much like get a chin over the bar before C2B pullups.
Thoughts?
April 9th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the talking to…..I needed that! no more knees for me!
April 9th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Damn, Lisbeth, you are meaaaaan and I love it. I am working on pushups now – in our box we use band assistance for pushups (bands hooked to pullup bar and wrapped under our chests). VERY helpful for improving. I have three unassisted strict and working on GTGing it.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
I’m an assistant coach, and this is my week to “run the show” at the box, so to speak. I’ve programmed with a gymnastics / body weight focus, and as part of that everyone w/out Rx pushups is required to scale pushups *without* knees. I’m hoping my athletes see the merit of this, and keep on doing it in the future! This is one of your best, and most important articles, thanks so much Lis!