A question about shred and push ups

[Leakinglikeacolander]

I am thinking about doing the 30 day shred so had a look at the exercises. Apparently 20 push ups or so level 1, well I can't do 1 so what do I do instead which would still allow me to progress to next levels without 'cheating' by leaving them out.

Do them on your knees?

I can do about 5 before my arms give way doing it on my knees, I suppose I'll just have to persevere and do some extra jumping jacks or some such.

I do about 5 from knees slowly while she and her insane crew of women do more.
As long as you're working to your limits and not cheating and resting it will be better than nothing.

watch out for form in the jumping jacks etc. Despite her saying however fat we are we can jump, it's actually 4x your weight on each jump driving through your knees. I found it too injury-provoking til I was fitter.

OP, you can do push ups against a wall, then with hands on a table, bench. stair - gradually lower the thing your hands are on, getting closer to the ground. I found it easier to progress like this than from my knees.

It gets easier. I’ve had various phases of doing the shred and one of the times I went from only being able to do them on my knees to eventually being able to do proper ones. Just do what you can at first and build up.

Thanks all, I shall try the wall ones with the knee ones and take it from there.
I feel so sluggish and unfit I'll probably have dropped dead through shock by Tuesday.

When I first did the shred in 2012 the idea I’d ever be able to do a full push up was insane to me.

I just used to rip out as many as I could on my knees. As Saint Jillian says: you don’t have to be as fast as us, you don’t have to do as many as us; just do not stop.

FWIW I can now do full military style press ups and I attribute it in a large part to Jillian’s influence over the years :)

Do box push ups so your on all fours with a flat back knees under hips, wrists under shoulders and push up like that. As you get stronger move your knees further back taking more of your body weight on your arms.

I started off struggling with the knee push ups. By the end of the 30 days i could manage a few full push ups. You will improve, that's the point :)

Well I must say you are all very inspiring.
I think I have peri menopausal blues, my energy is so lacking I can't envisage feeling fit any time soon.
I will however give it my best shot.💪

Leaking, go for it! You’ll swear a lot, learn that sweat in the eyes really stings; want to give up on day 3 when you ache in muscles you never knew existed and you’ll definitely want to kill Jillian and co — but you will amazing at the end.

*feel amazing!

I have also found that wearing wraps while doing pushups, mountain climbers, etc. that rely on using your arms to support your weight helpful. Because it reinforces the wrist and that is where my arms tend to want to drop me, so maybe trying out gloves or wraps would help. I use wraps because I do boxing and so already own wraps.

Beyond that though just do as many as you can and then build up. Doing some is better than none. And when she says you don't have to do as many, etc. just don't stop. You can try to do 3 or 4, fall for 5-10 seconds then get up and try to do a few more.

Start in plank; lower all the way down to your tummy; peel back off the floor into plank. Another alternative!