On carpet/lack thereof: ah, yeah, that makes sense, and I can see how slipping around would make it even more challenging. We have a bigger throw rug and I do it entirely on that, but I figure a yoga pad might work as well.

And yeah, the difference in average upper body strength between men and women is one of those things we don't tend to talk or think about much these days, but things like "do some push ups" tend to bring them into stark relief. To be fair, if I remember right, the dand was basically invented for male wrestlers, and the main reason I added it in was that I found the 5 rites a bit light on upper body training for what I wanted.

Given the movement/flexibility angle, I'm not sure if handicapped pushups (such as putting your hands higher than your feet, or going to your knees) would really work right.