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As a woman it’s frustrating to follow fitness content online when it feels like it’s written for men. Similarly, it’s frustrating to try hard at a seemingly simple exercise like pushups and feel like you’re getting nowhere. Some influencers have proposed a solution to both problems: a change in hand placement for pushups, which better complements women’s anatomy. I’m not buying it. <\/p>\n
Look, I’ve been in fitness spaces (male-dominated and otherwise) for a long time and have developed a healthy skepticism about advice and products targeted just for women. Strengths, weaknesses, and body proportions vary greatly from person to person, and many of the reported differences between men’s and women’s fitness have nothing to do with gender. Rather, they can be tailored according to factors such as body size, muscle mass and training age. In short, I have more in common with other people \u2013 male or female \u2013 who share my body proportions, my strength background, or my training goals, than with the generalized \u201cfemale race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given this, I was skeptical about this particular pushup hack for women, but I figured I needed to give it a try before deciding. It’s definitely worth playing with different hand placements and deciding which one will work for you. But are there really any physical differences in the sense that women need<\/em> A different hand placement to do your best pushups? <\/p>\n I’ve been seeing this hack all over fitness social media. It is suggested that women should turn their arms slightly outward (some say 45 degrees) when doing pushups. This is usually explained in terms of the “carrying angle” \u2013 an angle of the elbow that differs between men and women. (More about what this means below.)<\/p>\n For example, see this video<\/u><\/a> From Kayla Lee, who describes herself as a women’s anatomy and biomechanics instructor. You’ll notice that there is no strong connection presented between anatomy and the pushup hack; She also points out that carrying angle is not a factor in the hand position we use for pushups, and the hand position she recommends has more to do with shoulder rotation. There is no gender-related reason given that has anything to do with shoulder rotation. <\/p>\n The video makes strong claims, but doesn’t connect them logically. In the caption, Lee mentions the angle of carry, then says, “Now let’s look at how pushups are typically trained,” and gives two standard pushup cues that are not related to hand placement at all. Then, the caption continues, when we “force women into the same template,” we injure their bodies and reduce training morale. <\/p>\n None of those points seemed to connect to me, and the more examples I found online of this hack being explained, the less any of them made sense. Why would the angle of carry affect your shoulder position or hand placement? Why is carrying angle the most important thing when choosing hand placement? Is the carrying angle even? He<\/em> Difference between men and women? I needed to go deeper.<\/p>\n All this Internet discussion about “carrying angle” reminded me uncomfortably of the kinds of norms use luxmaxers<\/u> Studying each other’s faces. I suspect that the focus on this term stems from a similar urge: the idea that there is something measurable that explains differences between groups of people, and that can provide a definitive answer to why you are having a harder time in life than others.<\/p>\n But if you read the anatomy papers in which carrying angle is discussed, you’ll see that it’s not exactly a revelation. When you stand with your arms at your sides and your palms facing forward, your forearm and upper arm do not form a straight line; Your forearm is bent slightly away from your body, and this is your carry angle. and this Is<\/em> Slightly higher on average in women than men. It is called the carry angle because, at one point, it was hypothesized that it helped women avoid touching their hips when carrying things. This idea didn’t work – The reason our arms don’t touch our hips when carrying groceries is because we intentionally keep our arms away from our bodies. <\/p>\n In fact, Kayla Lee throws a flash in the ring when discussing the carrying angle this paper<\/u><\/a> To support his claims. And it is in this paper where I found out the last fact: “It is the abduction at the shoulder (moving the arm away from the body), not the adduction angle, that keeps the swinging upper limbs away from the side of the pelvis during walking.” That paper also disagrees that carrying angle is determined by sex: “Carrying angle is greater in shorter individuals than in taller individuals. … Carrying angle is not a secondary sex characteristic.” <\/p>\n Remember when I said that many of the perceived differences between men and women come down to factors like body size rather than sex or gender? The carrying angle seems to be very similar to the famous one Q angle<\/a> femur: separate on average<\/em> Between men and women, but more linked to height than gender. Here is the conclusion One<\/u><\/a> Several papers have studied this question: “The slight difference in Q angle between men and women can be explained by the fact that men are taller.”<\/p>\n Two more things make me doubt this hack even more. One is that the take angle is only really noticeable when your arms are bent (palms facing up), and that’s not the arm position you use when doing pushups. When you turn your hand palm down \u2013 as you do to do a pushup \u2013 the angle of take is greatly reduced, and often disappears. <\/p>\n The second important problem is that even though women’s carrying angle is generally larger, there is still a problem Very<\/em> Of the overlap between men’s and women’s carrying angles. Here is a graph from a 2005 paper<\/u><\/a> Who measured the right and left hands of 1,275 people: <\/p>\n \n The left two columns have angles of men (right and left hands), and the other two are of women.<\/span> As you can see, the average carrying angle for women is slightly higher than that of men, but it is not the case that all men have lower angles and all women have higher angles. Rather, the male and female population Both<\/em> There is a range that includes equally high and low carrying angles. If “standard” pushup advice only applied to the average man, there would be a lot of men And<\/em> Women who won’t fit in. <\/p>\n This begs the question, what is “standard” pushup advice anyway? The way I was taught to do pushups, and the way I recommend others do it, is to find a hand position that feels comfortable and strong. This will be different for everyone, and I think most trainers already know this. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do you think so far? To give real advice I learned, I reached out to Diana Jordan, a physical therapist and weightlifting coach. pittsburgh fitness project<\/u><\/a>. They confirmed that carrying angle is a real thing, and the average carrying angle varies between men and women. Then he said this: <\/p>\n “There are many other potential physiological variations that can play a role in choosing a comfortable pushup position such as chest and shoulder width, the ratio of your humerus (upper arm bone) to your forearm, strength of pecs vs. triceps, and shoulder mobility vs. stability. In my opinion, choosing a specific pushup is based on a certain type of angle that occurs between the sexes (and note, there is also overlap between men and women in the amount of around 10 degrees of angle) Seems silly.”<\/p>\n So maybe you’ll do better pushups by angling your hands a little, but maybe not! Social media is full of women trying pushup hacks for women and finding that it doesn’t help – but sometimes, it does. I’ve tried the hack, and there’s a simple reason I won’t use it for my pushups: It’s not particularly comfortable for me. Having my fingers a little further forward has made me stronger.<\/p>\n In short, instead of looking for answers in gender-based advice, we all need to find body positions that work for us. Jordan recommends choosing your exercise positions or variations based on factors such as what feels most comfortable, what lets you reach a full range of motion, what makes you feel more stable, and, most importantly, what you like. <\/p>\n I keep seeing this kind of gendered exercise advice all over social media, and often it minimizes the complexity that Jordan talked about with the assumption that one particular hack will meet every woman’s needs. As a coach, I’ve talked to people about finding the right foot position for squats \u2013 I’ve had them try wide, narrow, legs straight, legs angled, and figure out what works for them. Personally, I perform best with a narrow stance and a slight angle of my feet, but there are people online who will tell you that women should sit with wide, toes turned out. This is absolutely not true.<\/p>\n there are so<\/em> There are so many different exercises in the world, and so many ways to do each of them that we can all find several variations that work for us. To bring it back to pushups, let’s not forget that there are all kinds of handstand variations: diamond pushups, wide-grip pushups, tricep pushups, plancha pushups. Locking yourself into only one situation means ignoring all the diversity that is out there. Diversity benefits you!<\/p>\n When I see an influencer arguing that I need to use “women’s” technology, I feel as if I’ve walked into a store filled with clothes of every shape and size and style, only to be taken aside by someone who tells me that none of these options are for me, and that I can only wear a specific, one-size-fits-all dress for women. I think so, even though I know most strength training material is geared toward men, and there’s less research done on women than men – that fact doesn’t mean we need to dismiss everything we know about training, especially if we’re eliminating scientific understanding and replacing it with pseudoscience or just vibes. <\/p>\n “It’s hard,” says Jordan, “because the criticism against the lack of research that includes women and the criticism against institutions meant for men is very hot right now (and I understand that!) … (but) abundant research has shown that women and men respond similarly to resistance and aerobic training.” <\/p>\n If we really want to ensure that more women can benefit from strength training, the answer lies not in small changes in exercise technique, but in recognizing much larger changes. social and societal barriers<\/u><\/a>. Jordan says: “Messages like ‘You should only do pushups this way’ or ‘You should rest specific weeks in your menstrual cycle’ perpetuate the idea of \u200b\u200bwoman’s fragility and also increase barriers to (starting to exercise).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nWhy are women being told to change the position of their hands while doing pushups?<\/h2>\n
What does “carrying angle” really mean?<\/h2>\n
Why You Don’t Really Need the “Women’s” Pushup Hack<\/h2>\n
\n Credit: Beth Skwarecki<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat Women Really Need to Do for Better Pushups<\/h2>\n
The Problem With Women’s Exercise Hacks<\/h2>\n