"Girl" Push-ups vs "Guy" Push-ups

As a trainer, one of the terms that bugs me the most is when someone calls a modified push-up a "girl" push-up.  Let me tell you firsthand there are A LOT of guys who cannot do a full push-up and must start at a modified push-up.  On the flip side, I know plenty of women who can do a full push-up (a.k.a "guy" push-up).  They are not happy when you call it a "girl" push-up and neither am I!! So what really is the strength difference between a modified push-up (performed on the knees) versus a full push-up (performed on the toes)?  Well I am going to highlight a study that looked at the strength difference.

In the study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research  "The effect of position on the percentage of body mass supported during traditional and modified push-up variants" by Suprak et.al, (2011), the authors looked at the amount of strength during the "up" phase (push up off of the ground) versus the "down" phase (lowering body back down towards ground) in both a modified and a full push-up.  The subjects were 28 highly strength-trained males.  Strength was measured as a percentage of body mass lifted.  In a nutshell, here are the results:

 

So in other words, if you weigh 150 pounds and you perform the modified push-up you would be lifting:

• ~80 pounds in the up phase and
• ~93 pounds in the down phase of the push-up.

 If you were to perform a full pushup you would be lifting:

• ~108 pounds in the up phase and
• ~113 pounds in the down phase of the push-up.

As you can see from the chart above you actually lift more of your body weight in the down phase of the push-up.  So if you are training your upper body for strength improvements, try holding the push-up in lowering phase.  

The next time you are talking about push-ups to your friends, be sure to call it either a full or modified push-up, not "girl" or "guy" push-ups.  Because you never know who you are talking to or who is around you when you joke about how easy "girl" push-ups are!!  I know some women who could probably kick your behind when it comes to full push-ups!