No such thing as a Mens Push up!

For years I would automatically go on my knees when doing Push Ups. I thought this was just what us girls did and I wasn't confident in my upper body strength. I had tried toe push ups in the past but I would often collapse when lifting up from the push up. For some reason I thought men did push ups on their toes and women on their knees. Where I got this crazy idea from I don't know but I never thought about it until I started Hiit workouts.

I set myself a goal to be doing toe push ups within a month. At the start it was difficult, but I really think one exercise helped me immensely to get to a full push up in a fairly short timeframe. To build your upper body strength try using a table or steady fence. Having this extra height, rather than starting vertically on the ground really helps to build your endurance and strength in the upper body. The lower the object, the more difficult the push up. I started with the pushing up on a table, and then went to a tea chest that was approx half a metre in height. Eventually I was pushing up on the ground and now I always do toe press ups. Each month try and pick an exercise that you want to improve at - do you substitute any exercises because you 'think' you can't do them?  It’s amazing how quickly you build up endurance if you simply start pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. For anyone out there that 'automatically' falls to their knees come press up time give my suggestions above a go or always aim to include as many toe push ups as you can before you go to your knees. That extra push up each time really does count! All the best, Han x