You Don't Have to Get On the Ground to Do Pushups

They work just as well seated, standing, or lying down.

What matters is that the muscle is moving towards contraction (shortening) -- or relaxation (lengthening). That is all a muscle does -- either contract, or relax, and it is not the effort, or the resistance -- that causes this movement, but knowing the positions where the attachments of the muscles -- either move closer together or farther apart.

Appropriately enough, the muscle in its most contracted position, are in its strongest position -- and releases the most energy (work), moving from the relaxed position to its its fully contracted position -- which most people are not fully aware where it is, even if they've been lifetime exercisers or athletes, because most activities and events, do not require a maximal effort of this sort.

And then if one examines any other sustained activities, they are often just that one movement, repeated many times, as long as possible -- such as running, walking, bicycling, swimming, etc. In such events, one can choose to increase the speed and therefore explosiveness, while recognizing as they do so, that that pace is not sustainable for long. However, the major difference in any event, is not whether one runs a mile or 50 yards, but whether one can run at all, or not -- even for a single movement (repetition).

That is by far, the greatest difference in capacities and abilities between one individual and another -- the difference between zero and one. If you can do one, properly, perfectly, than 50 or 500 is a fairly simple matter.

Many people will be surprised that they cannot even do 10 repetitions of a "pushup" from a comfortably seated or lying position -- because their muscles are not "conditioned" to perform such a movement, and not that they don't have the muscles to do so -- or that those muscles are not strong enough to overcome one's own bodyweight. And that is the lack of conditioning most people have -- and not the lack of muscle or (present) ability to do so.

So for those trying to get into a more desirable shape, the thing they would wish to do, is to perform those movements that expressly and simply do that -- shape their body mass into the form they wish to assume, because all the random activities and movements, are not going to accomplish that -- specifically, directly, immediately, which is what I think they would want, if they were not so convinced that such a thing was impossible -- and instead, they have to raise their heartbeats to distressing levels, burn as many calories as possible, work up a sweat, and all those other reservations and objections they may have -- all those things indicating no understanding of the process in the power of direct, intelligent action to accomplish.

But nowhere is the indoctrination (forced beliefs) so powerful, than in what we have called "physical education" -- even to defeat one's own purposes and native intelligence.