What's the difference between a kneeling push up and a regular push up?

[Anonymous]

I understand the physical difference - one is on your knees and one is not. But what's the difference fitness wise?

I am doing this workout and it gives me daily exercises and some days it has me doing kneeling push ups and some days it has me doing standard push ups.

Do kneeling push ups target a muscle group differently than standard ones?

[genericname85]

you say you understand the physical difference but your question tells me, you don´t.

basic lever principle says: the force needed to lift a lever is the distance from the pivot point times the weight.

lets call the length of the way from the pivot point (the point where you´re touching the ground) A and the weight B. to calculate the effective energy needed to move the weight you simply calculate A x B

now the distance from you knees to your hands (which is equivalent to A1 in this case) is shorter than the distance from your feet to your hands (A2).

now since in this very basic calculation A x B, you can easily see that A1 x B would equal to a smaller number than A2 x B. Meaning for A2 you need more energy to lift the same weight (cause B stays the same) ignoring the additional weight of your legs that you´d now have to lift too.

tl;dr: more energy is needed in order to do a regular pushup and the kneeling version is easier.

in the context of your particular training regiment it can be sensible to combine less exhausting exercises with more exhausting exercises.

[Josht11]

Knee pushups are gonna reduce the weight that you have to push back on I don't see how they would target different groups, your core and arms are going to be worked more on regular pushups and more effort is needed.

How many knee pushups did they put in the routine because if it's like 30,50,70 etc then I think they're putting because you can do more of them so the number will be higher because people that aren't fit can't do like 50 regular pushups in a row especially women (no offense that's just a fact).

[Asker]

I mean... I AM fit...

[Josht11]

Yeah but can you do 50 regular pushups in a row because if you can then don't do knee push-ups ever.

[Asker]

No lol but I can do 40. Not quite up to 50 yet lol

[Josht11]

Well then this plan you've got is shit if it includes knee pushups my 50 year old mom could do about 100 of them.

[Asker]

The other stuff it has me doing are pretty intense. It's just the push ups that I'm questioning.

[Josht11]

Well I'm confused because if you can do 40 pushups in a row you could do knee pushups for about an hour so unless this plan has you doing them for hours then just do regular pushups instead.

[Asker]

lol okay

[SammyGurl]

I read where the modified push-up targets the upper body while the regular push-up targets upper body, abs and thigh muscles.

Prove it to yourself, do as , any of one kind as possible to the point of slight soreness, once you've recovered do the same with the other. You should defiantly be able to identify which type targets which muscle groups.

[pascal_climbs]

Regular requires more muscle strength. The targeted muscle groups depend on the way you put your hands and arms. Triangle for optimal triceps, wide for optimal shoulder, chest and back

[broadsword]

I can't answer fully is I've not seen the rest of the work out. I suspect the kneeling ones come before or after a more intense work out so it aiding you and your core to cope better.
A full body push up / press up. Is hard as you have more weight to lift and the pivot point is further away so more energy is required to lift your self.
The key to good full length push ups is core control. Hold and concentrate on keeping your back straight. Nothing but your nose tip should touch the ground.
Slow controlled good push ups are amazing but far far harder to achieve.
By taking your hands outside the line of your shoulders you will increase the effort required to lift. Another is to elevate your feet onto books or a step.
This means the rest position is a lot more difficult to hold flat as its level the core is working much harder. Plus the actual push up is far more difficult due to going inverted at the low point.

[Lynx122]

Kneeling pushups are a lot easier that's the difference. There's a lot of different ways to do pushups that I've seen. After regular pushups you can move your hands close together and then down towards your hips, those are really hard. Or you can do ones with your legs higher up those are also harder because then more of the weight is on the arms. Kneeling pushups are the easiest ones because you're lifting even less weight.

[ATPPC]

No kneeling pushups are simply easier.

The harder you push yourself the better. Your workout probably suggests the easier variation simply not to demotivate people following it. e. g. if you can't do a standard pushup and that's all it suggests you would probably throw that workout out the window

[THE_Godfather]

I read you can do 40 knee pushups in a row. I'd switch to regular pushups. When yo start to fatigue then go to knee pushups.
Harder is always better.

[Asker]

I can do 40 regular push ups

[THE_Godfather]

Great. That's a lot. Move your hands around. Close grip, further apart, finger tip.

[Transigence]

With your knees down you have more of a mechanical advantage, making the work easier.

You can do regular push-ups to failure, then put your knees down, and finish burning out to failure (again) with a lighter load.

[Likes2drive]

Yeah your stomach muscles, if your on your knees I can't imagine that could be very hard when your not even lifting your whole body or using your stomach much

[Asker]

So do kneeling ones focus more on your arms?

[bryon]

With a kneeling ouch up it changes the pivot point , thus you aren't pressing as much weight

[AdamThomas]

Kneeling pushups are lot easier than regular pushups, that's the only difference.

[Anonymous]

Push ups increase upper while kneeling increases ass strength!
Try pull ups, they're way better.

[daremetwo]

A regular push up requires more effort to do.

[Asker]

Well, yeah, but why do you think the fitness routine would have me not putting forth as much effort in my push ups every time I do them?

[daremetwo]

I'm not sure I do remember back in high school some girls couldn't do a regular push up so they did the knee ones. You can always up it if you want.

[Walls_and_Doors]

Gravitational pull.