I used to work out alot. But had to quit due to an injury, tnedonitis, and the nature of my work. I'm in construction (drywall to be specific), and my job alone is very hard on the body.

I'd like to be able to still work out to some degree, and thought push ups would be a good low impact workout. As well as being easy on my joints.

Was wondering if anybody here knew of a good routine for push ups.


Do you need to do cycles? Can you work out everyday, or would it be better to hit it hard one day and rest another?

A friend of mine said he used to do 500 push ups a day when he was younger and in prison, and that did the trick for him.

Is there a better way?

how many pushups should a healthy guy be able to do in a row?

Take a look at this site:

[url]www.trainforstrength.com[/url]

Some really good bodyweight routines there.

i do 3 sets of 20 as a warmup to my chest and arms day.  every other day i work out i do 50 in the morning along w/ ~300 situps (situps and pushups are just a great way to jumpstart your body in the morning).

i feel that i'm fairly healthy, but i doubt i could do more than 100 pushups in a row.

.....Great link!, I do not know about you guys, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses. In keeping w/MrShamus's thread, you say elsewhere you drywall and sometimes the physical activity level is low, for you, you make sure others are doing it right?IIRC.......Bang 'em out whenever you can !! VARY YOUR STYLE ALSO, incline=Hands on a chair feet on the floor,decline=Feet on chair hands on floor,flat,[b]SuperSLoow,FuriouslyFast[/b] thats my advice, I been doing them + lifting for a 3ish decades.HAVE FUN!

Ah, the push-up.  How well I've come to know that time-honored exercise.


Here's the scoop:

Push-ups area great beginner/intermediate exercise for the chest, triceps, anterior deltiods, and lower back.

The key to push-ups is good form.

Keep your head up.  Hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width.  Your back should be riggid and remain straight througout the movement.  Go down until your chest nearly touches the floor and up until your elbows nearly lock out.  Keep your chest "poked out", shoulders back.

A good workout:

-Regular pushups- 3 sets to failure.
-close-hand pushups(thumbs touching)-2 sets to failure
-wide arm push-ups- 2 sets to failure

"to failure" means push until you can't go any longer with good form.

A good "standard" to use is the Army's.  A male in his 20's should be able to do 42 pushups in 2 minutes, being able to rest in the up position.

When you feel the need to increase intensity, put your feet on a chair and do push-ups.

Also, push-ups may be easier than Bench press, but your body still needs time to recover.

Every other day is more than enough. Everyday is to much.

A good rule of thumb: if you are sore, don't workout that bodypart.

Now, in the long term, only doing pushups will lead to uneven develpoment.  The antagonist to the pushup is the pull-up or row.  Doing pullups as much as your push-ups will equalize your upper-body muscle develpoment.  Just as the pushup works your chest, the pull-up works your lats.  Push-up hits the triceps, pull-up hits the bicep, etc., etc.

For a beginner, those are the two most vital, compound exercises.  And, they can be done at home w/ a pull-up bar and a clean floor for push-ups.

Add sit-ups/crunches and a running routine and you have a real basic but effective fitness regimine based off the military system.

-Good luck

A good antagonist chest/back body weight routine is the welcomed and oft time dreaded UBDs. Upper Body Developers. The military guys are sure to have fond memories of this one.

Max set of pull-ups (palms out) directly to a max set of push ups. Do three sets - wide grip, regular shoulder width grip and narrow grip. Go max effort and you'll know you've done something.

Ive been doing the SEAL based workout for some time now. I originally started with this:

10 tricep (diamond pushups)
7 situps
10 normal pushups
7 situps
10 wide pushups
7 situps
at a 2 minute pace per set

X20 sets = 600 pushups, 420 situps in 40 minutes

Now upped to 15 pushups, and 10 situps per variation. Comes out to around 900 pushups per workout. You can modify that "super set" philosophy to work to whatever your goal is (mine was 1000 pushups in an hour) - I started small, and moved up as I felt ready.

I never thought I could do it, but between the myoplex shakes, and 3 months of doing it 2-3 times a week, its become commonplace. The situps eventually get to be a point to catch your breath, at least for me they are, the pushups still can get rough if I havent eaten enough a certain day.

These days I enjoy it...I took a week off from it, and I feel horrible...about to do it again right now ;)

Music helps motivate too.

I do sit ups and push ups every morning:

4 X 100 push ups = 400 push ups

and around 225 sit ups non stop.

I recommend you do as many as you can at least
3 or 4 times a week.