Posted: 5/11/2005 5:20:50 PM EDT
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Hey y'all, I got a question for any of the fitness gurus who probably roam this forum. I know this sounds pathetic, and it is, but for a while I haven't been able to do more than 15-20 pushups. I've tried the slow (10 seconds up, 10 seconds down) method, different stances, etc. Even after a few weeks of this, I never saw improvement. Actually, I mostly saw a decrease. My arms are slightly longer than normal due to a condition, but even then I would think I could improve. It's starting to get on my nerves how I can't even get any better at this. Does anyone have any advice? \ |
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so max out at 20. when you try to do 21 and can't just stop where you are in the motion. hold it untill you can't anymore. then rest for a few minutes and try to do more. 3 sets of 20 is better than 20 anyway. that or put in the full metal jacket DVD.  "i bet if there was some pussy on the line you could pump out 21"
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I've got really long arms - makes push-ups hard for me. what helps is doing high # reps of them on your knees when you can't do any more on your feet. I'm also a fan of giving myself 'days off'. Switch it up too: 5 diamonds, 5 w/ the left hand out front, 5 w/ the right hand out front, 5 "swoops". |
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If you want to raise your amount of pushups, nothing compairs to simple strength training (bench press) You still need to do push ups to bring the level up but your only going so far without the strength. Once the strenght is there it takes alot less energy to do each of those push ups. |
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You know, its quite amasing that here I am an old guy way out of shape and can still pump out pushups. When I went into the service I was lucky to do five but after 8 weeks of doing pushups for as little as looking the wrong way, it sank in apparrently permanently. I think if Ft. Knox moved the length of my arms everytime I did a pushup, it would be located on the moon now. To me that's the key, you'll never get good at it once or twice a week in a gym but everyday and more than once a day. If you get into the rhoutine of everytime you do something stupid you knock out 20 pushups, it won't be long 50 wont' even matter. Tj |
| Is it your chest that is weak or do you feel it more in the triceps? In other words what is burning the most when you reach failure? If its your triceps you'll need to strengthen them first and your push ups will increase. Also try reducing the range of motion. It seems too add stress too my chest too do sets where I never go all the way down or up. Good luck. |
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I have had a hard time with pushups and bench presses. It took me about three months once to figure out that if I didn't do bench presses at least every other day, I could not make any progress. Doing them every third day only caused me to lose strength over time. Talk about frustration. Personal rule-of-thumb: if I want to make progress on any muscle group, I find that a minimum of 3 sets is needed every other day. If I want to keep that muscle for more than a week without working out, I need to do a minimum of 20 reps per set. However, it should be noted that doing pushups every day can also be detrimental. Muscles need time to repair, if that don't, they can't get stronger. The key is to find the balance between too often and not often enough. Nutrition is very important. When I didn't know better, sometimes I wouldn't eat after working out. Talk about shooting myself in the foot. Frequent cardio type exercises will also eat muscle if you are not eating right. |
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Do a set of...say, 10 standard pushups, followed immediately by a set of 10 wide-grip push-ups. Take a break for a minute or so, and repeat this 2 more times. You'll get that max up in no time! I can do this with sets of about 35 IIRC and have a max of a little over 50. Of all the things I've tried, that definately works the best. I agree with what was said about supplimenting it with weights. That couldn't hurt at all. But push-ups use endurance muscle, and this is really what you have to build, not strength muscle from weights. While extra strength will certainly help, it won't be enough. |