Posted: 1/17/2017 9:35:26 PM EDT
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I am at a loss here. I have been working out, running, doing weights ect for a while now and my push ups just suck. I have been working on doing 50 a day in five or ten sets each throughout the day. I am generally good on the set of five but I get really weak towards the end of the ten in a row set. Ive read, researched and asked for opinions and am here looking for more insight.
Any suggestions as to ways to build strength to be able to complete more push ups? I know the more I do the better off I will be but I am seeing zero benefit doing what I am doing currently. I am stressing a bit as well because I start a PDs academy in mid March. Any suggestions would be helpful! I am 23, 5'10" 180lbs. |
| Have you checked to make sure that your form is correct? If you're lacking strength, you may want to work on the negatives to build up your strength. Basically, if you cant do a solid push up with your chest on the ground, start the push up with your arms fully straighten and hold like a plank and slowly come down to the ground in a controlled manner. Ive done the same with the friend that couldn't do 5 pull-ups. After a month he was doing 10-15 wide grip pull-ups (not chin-ups). |
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The biggest improvement I've seen to increasing push-ups is high rep sets. That grease the groove thing never did shit for my pull-ups or push-ups
Like 4-5 sets of 75% current max with as much rest as needed to complete the next set Another option Make sure you're doing plenty of rowing to off set all of the pushing |
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Higher reps less sets. Push-ups is a race. You are currently training your body to rest at 10. Yes. I realized I just had to go. One set of max reps, then at close to failure try to knock out some singles. If I try to break it up, I'm pretty much done. If I just knock them out as fast as they'll let me go, I'll get way more. |
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I am at a loss here. I have been working out, running, doing weights ect for a while now and my push ups just suck. I have been working on doing 50 a day in five or ten sets each throughout the day. I am generally good on the set of five but I get really weak towards the end of the ten in a row set. Ive read, researched and asked for opinions and am here looking for more insight. Any suggestions as to ways to build strength to be able to complete more push ups? I know the more I do the better off I will be but I am seeing zero benefit doing what I am doing currently. I am stressing a bit as well because I start a PDs academy in mid March. Any suggestions would be helpful! I am 23, 5'10" 180lbs. If you're having trouble doing 10 pushups, your problem is weakness, not endurance. When I was in uniform, I mainly stuck to swim/bike/run which don't build or maintain the strength necessary to do many pushups, but I always did max pushups on the semi-annual PRT. To get there, 4-4 weeks prior to the PRT, I would do 3 or 4 sets of bench, relatively heavy twice per week and then do a max set of pushups after finishing the bench. That's a minimalist way to increase your pushup numbers. I hit max pushups until I retired at 44 years old. You're young, so you could probably add a third day where you just did pushups in high rep sets in any number of variations - do as many as possible on the first set, take a short rest (<30 seconds) and repeat until you're smoked. Bottom line, if doing 10 pushups is hard, you need more strength. If getting to 75 or 80 is hard, you could work on endurance with high rep sets. You need to build strength first. |
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Thanks for the tips everyone. Ive corrected my posture a bit more and its helped some. I have been able to up my reps to 15 before Im just done. Ive been doing that every hour or so throughout the day. I can feel a different so its working. If you are hammering out a ton of pushups everyday you likely aren't giving your muscles enough time to rest recover and get stronger. |
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If you are hammering out a ton of pushups everyday you likely aren't giving your muscles enough time to rest recover and get stronger. I am doing 50+ a day in 5-15 in each set depending on how my shoulders are feeling. These are not all done at once but over the duration of the day. |
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I am doing 50+ a day in 5-15 in each set depending on how my shoulders are feeling. These are not all done at once but over the duration of the day. Muscles get stressed when you exercise. They get stronger and bigger through recovery. And food Exercise some different muscles every other day if you must exercise everyday |
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A couple of years ago, I had this bright idea that I wanted to do 100 PUs in a row. I didn't do anything fancy, like some of those PU programs tell you to do. What worked for me in making progress was doing one set to failure per day, sometimes twice a day - one in the morning and one at night. Each set, I tried to beat my last set, even if it was only by one rep. Occasional jumps of 3-5 reps were not uncommon. Within a span of 2 months, I went from 40 to 92 PUs. I never did hit 100. Near the end, I floated from 80 - 90 a set, and when I thought I was really floundering, I lost interest and stopped.
The guys that said it is a race, I think that is a good description. I think a lot of it was mindset, too. Get thru them fast and focus on the number you want to beat that day. |
| Another +1 for high reps less sets. There are exceptions, but generally speaking if you want to increase body weight resistance endurance then going to near failure on one, maybe two sets is the way to go. Also, since you mentioned it's for a PD be sure to read up on their exact testing protocol. Most places have a foam block or something you need to touch before coming back up for a rep to be counted. I would double check on that and make sure you're getting a full range of motion. I was always pretty good at blasting some huge push up numbers, and a buddy of mine was the same way. In the academy I smoked him on pushups even though he was much bigger and usually better at them just because he missed the damn block by like 1mm each time. Did 110 and only 70 counted or something like that. |
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When I was 39, I set a goal to do my age in pushups on my 40th birthday in one minute. I could already do 30-some-odd, so it wasn’t a problem. I’ve made this goal part of my general fitness routine and do it every year. You’d think it would get harder as the years pass, but it doesn’t. I’m going to turn 71 next week and I’ve been doing 88 to 89 pushups in a minute lately, being careful to maintain the standard military PT-test form. I did 91 a few weeks ago, but my form wasn’t the best.
Man, I can remember when I had to stop and rest after 30 pushups. Then it was 40, then 50, then 70 and so on. Now I just go, full speed to the end. I take a short rest and do another set, then do abs and triceps and then a 3rd set of pushups. My doctor has commented on the big veins in my arms and chest. The increased circulation has improved my endurance tremendously. I think the keys to my success are consistency and rest. Except for the two weeks a year when my wife and I go on vacation, I hit the USAF base gym three times per week. I have two “push” routines and two “pull” routines and I alternate between them, so I only do each routine every 9 or 10 days. This method avoids over-training and lets me get enough rest to insure recovery and growth. I can’t stress enough the importance of only doing this routine every 9 or 10 days. Over-training is a major enemy of progress. Guys think that more is better, but it’s not. |
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I can’t stress enough the importance of only doing this routine every 9 or 10 days. Over-training is a major enemy of progress. Guys think that more is better, but it’s not. First that's a pretty awesome achievement with the pushups. Second not overtraining was one of the tuffest lessons to learn. Outside of the muscle recovery aspect it's super easy to burn yourself out and turn back to a less healthy lifestyle. For most people much more than 3 days a week will be counterproductive in both regards. |