A friend, who is in her mid-30s, and whom I consider in terrific shape, mentioned pushups in her journal. I haven't done pushups in years. In my 30s, I used to be able to do 50 full-body pushups in a row (of course, I weighed a lot less then, too). I got curious.
She said that she had heard that a 30-year-old woman should be able to do 35, and you subtract 5 for each decade older. So I, in my 60s, should be able to do 20 (40s=30, 50s=25, 60s=20), right?
I dropped and did 20. First time in probably a decade or more. From the toes. Not quite with Marine-approved form - my middle (the heaviest part) tends to sag a bit, and I go flat to the floor between each, but I didn't pause between them and I was straight at the top of the lift. And I'll admit the last three were a bit difficult, but I'll bet within a week (if I kept it up), I could fix that.
She says she does them on her knees. So after finishing the first 20 from the toes, I immediately did another 20 from the knees (straight body, no butt-in-the-air), just to see if it was easier. Oddly enough, again the last three were a strain.
I really surprised myself. I'll bet it's those machines.
And now, of course, my lower back hurts. But my pecs don't.
2 comments:
Wow, that's awesome!
I don't know that I can do 20 pushups, which is something I definitely need to work on before I do orthopedics in a few months--I'm determined to hold my own with the boys!
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