Increasing pushups

[kombatmaster777]

For 2 years I have been trying new and different ways to increase
the amount of pushups I can do. Sadly, I never found how to
break my push up limit.

Currently I've been doing the Perfect Pushup routine and am on
day 11 out of 21. I don't know if that will help me break my limit
so I am asking you guys how you broke your pushup limit.

Please don't tell me to try new and different things because I already
have and I've searched for 30 minutes on this site to find the info
to answer my question.

Current limit- 25

My goal is 100 pushups. Please help me achieve that.

P.S. Sorry if I sound too desperate (or crazy lol), but its been
bugging me for 2 years and I really need help.


thanks for replying

-kombat

[slipthejab]

You should be able to break 25 fairly easily to be honest. But the trick is you just have to keep adding a few more every time you go at it. Seriously... add on more on your morning sets... so when you wake up do 26. Your mid day set.. do 26... your afternoon set... do 26... your night time set do 26.

Do that for several days and then add one more up you go to 27. And so on and so forth.

I suspect your barrier is mental and not physical.

On the other side of things... are you doing bench press work? I'd say the strength gains you'll make from solid bench press work will help you to up that number in short order.

Lots of other things will as well... all your core work. The less you have to think about holding your core tight because your core is up to scratch and doing it's job without you having to constantly think about it... then you'll be one step closer to knocking out the pectoral portion of the press up.

I mean really you can follow this logic a long ways... your upper back and back in general play a big part in a push up as stabilizers... so if you've neglected them... getting to 100 solid, good form push ups becomes a bit tougher. If your diet and your sleep aren't up to scratch then you obviously realize this all becomes tougher again.

I'd say if you have a program that you're working on now then stick with it and see what gains you get. Personally the way I run a lot of my students and my classes is that I am a drill instructor... people operate well out of fear in many cases... if someone isn't standing on their neck they get lazy and will slack... that's where I come in... to yell, cajole and threaten them into getting one more press up out. It's psychology... they know I can't just stomp their heads in during class... I know I cant just stomp their heads in during class... but that gets forgotten by them when you on them like a fly on doo doo yelling at the top of your lungs in your best North Carolina drill instructor accent about kicking their ass if they dont get one more out. :D

[Knight_Errant]

Try this: http://bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4981

[Fillythebish]

How I increased my pushups was with 2 techniques.

1. Without resting move between these different pushup techniques as quickly as you can...

5-10 pushups with hands in diamond shape directly below chest
5-10 with hands in normal position
5-10 with hands further forward and pointing out at angles
5-10 with hands in diamond shape just past the head so your head comes down just behind your hands
5-10 with knuckles on the floor either side of your torso with fingers facing inwards.

(I do 10,10,10,5,5)

2. Try holding your body just off the floor in pushup position for 8 seconds.
Then push up into an upside down V shape with legs and arms straight and bum in the air and hold for 8 seconds.
Then move down to an extended pushup position and lift left leg and right arm off the floor so they are straight in line with your back and hold for 8 seconds.
Then lift the right leg and left arm off the floor instead and hold for 8 seconds.
Then lower to just off the floor in pushup postion again and repeat whole sequence.

[Knight_Errant]

this thing has been floating around the internet for ages, but whether it works or not I can't really say as I haven't done it.
http://www.impulseadventure.com/weights/100push.html

[kombatmaster777]

hey knight_errant I saw that same website
ages ago and I have no idea if it works either.

They don't really go into detail on how to break your
pleateau's and why that workout outlined on that site
would work.

Any other suggestions (or sites)?

[Knight_Errant]

OK, well there's this: http://www.100pushups.info/index.htm I've done it and it does work, to a point. it's kind of like me just saying 'do some pushups' though.
Also, a few routines I've done in the past:
pyramid pushups. do 1, then wait 20 seconds, do 2, wait 20 seconds, do 3, up to say 10 or 12, then back down again. Keep the rests the same
Ladders. Basically just one half of a pyramid, the idea being to stop well before you hit failure enabling you to do lots of ladders and hence a large volume of pushups. On the same note there is
'greasing the groove'- do a set of pushups to a moderate number, i.e. one you can easily handle every hour. That's it. The idea is again to avoid going to failure.
No one method is best. Mix and match.

[kombatmaster777]

thanks kinght-errant!

I'll try that.


pce,

-kombat

[TMA]

I agree with slip, you should be able to increase your reps beyond 25 fairly easily. I dont know the details of the routine you are following but heres a suggestion.

Firstly dont train pushups everyday! 2-3 times is sufficient as it will give the muscles time to recover and build strength.

Next divide your total reps into sets, say 3. Then start off with say 3 sets of 20 reps. Next session, try and add one rep to each set so 3 sets of 21 reps. You will eventually reach a point where the last set you will struggle to reach the same number as the other two, but dont worry. The main thing is to increase the total number of reps per set.

Also if you want on the last set when you cant do any more full reps, use your knees instead of your feet for the press up position on the way up, but lower on when on your feet in the normal position, you are effectively doing forced reps this way, but you shouldnt really need this and best to save this for when you hit a plateau.

[shitosempei]

Interestingly , I was stuck at 44 push ups for a while. Then I had to back off on my training to move 11,000 lbs of crushed rock , and then I had to dig 10 1 yard holes. When I was recovered from that , my pushups had increased to 50! Not a big change , but it was a bit of a milestone for me , and I hadn't done any pushups for several weeks. So , I don't really know what the lesson is here , but I guess that cross training helps..... I've done some heavy dumbbell pressing since then , and will try again tonight or tomorrow , to see if I can managed to go past 50 . I really would like to be able to do 100. I must add that they are just standard flat palm strict form pushups. I can't seem to do much more than 30 on my knuckles....

[rumbavladi]

Bench presses my friend a year ago i struggled with 15 last night i ripped off 45 in 38 seconds ic ould have done more but i was at work lol but my one set limit is prbably 50 now. Ive been in the gym i lost 45 pounds and still working on it but the bench pressing has helped a lot!

[kombatmaster777]

Hey rumbavladi, I've been getting that answer
amoungst my friends too, but I hate using
equipment. I use free weights but thats
about it.

I perfer body weight training, especailly the
kind I have found on gymnasticbodies.com.

thanks for the help everybody.

pce,

-kombat

[rumbavladi]

free weights was exactly what i had in mind perhaps you can try some pushups with a partner leaning on your back as well to increase the amount of resistance anything you can do to make it harder to do will help and over time you'll increase the amount you can do also tricep exercises will help as the tricep is very much involved and is the first thing that fatigues so body weight dips will be beneficial.

[TheForbiddenOne]

Add one a day method. Let me explain.
Day one: one push up.
Day two: two push ups.
Day three: three push ups.


Hard to explain how this method works.
The fact that you were successfull the day before will give you confidence. Knowing that you can do say 50 then doing 51 will give you confidence tommorrow that you can do 51 but you will do 52, and so on.
...Day 365: 365 push ups....
Builds your brain muscles too!

Do this for the rest of your life.

[Hiroji]

Dips, weighted dips, weighted push ups and bench press have all helped me increase the numbers of bodyweight push ups i can bang out in one go.

[kombatmaster777]

Hey TheFOrbiddenOne, I tried that and I
always hit a pleateau.

thanks anyway though.

Hijori and rumbavladi I'll try that,
but recently I've come across a goldmine
of info that I'm gonna purchase at Barnes
and Nobles.

Pavel Tsatsouline, from what I hear, has some
great books.

The ones I'm interested in getting are:

Power to the People
The Naked Warrior
Bullet Proof Abs (maybe)
Enter the Kettelbell

I'm not sure about his book Beyond Bodybuilding which
I have no idea on the quality.

Sorry to go off topic, but I hear from many people that
these books are a must for building maximal strength
and endurance.

thanks again,

pce

kombat

[Knight_Errant]

Personally, I'd recommend not getting any more books for a while. I know I'm one to talk, but I don't think any book is a 'must' for improving athleticism. Pavel's stuff seems fairly sound, from the free stuff I have 'sampled', but I'm also vaguely annoyed by the idea of shelling out good money for what is supposed to be a minimal, working man's way of working out. You can learn a tremendous amount of different bodyweight exercises just on the internet, for example.

[kombatmaster777]

Well Kinght_Errant, I want to learn more about
my body and how it works when I'm training.

I've been going through Kung Fu blind for
the past 2 years. I mean before class we
do static stretches when (from what I hear)
you suspose to do dynamic stretches.

Lots of other things I didn't know like it being
"unnecessary" to train until failure to progress.

I don't want an easy path, but I want a smart one,
so for me, I believe that these books are a must.

thanks for the reply,

-kombat

[Knight_Errant]

Fair enough.

[Arnoo]

you could also do isolated strenght training for the muscles involed (being the chest, triceps and shoulders)

[Taijutsu_EX]

Hah! Increasing pushups? Increasing it day by day is wasting your time. Only in 3 months I can do 45 pushups without stopping. And in a day I can do 450 pushups.
The first way to increasing it is by increasing your muscles.
Go to the fitness centre ( the easiest way ), try the pushing-dumbell training.
Every week you should increasing the weight.
After at least 2 months, you must increasing your endurance.
Try to stand in your hands ( place your foot in the wall ).
Do it as long as you can! Do it everyday. As much as you can!
Nah, finally, try to do some pushups.
I believe, you can do more than 40 pushups after that.
Give it a try!

[shift]

Just aim to do more and more push ups every day or every other day.

Or you can aim for say 100 push ups everyday with rest on saturday and sunday for 4 weeks, doing as many sets as you need to complete them. In the second week you can aim for 150

[shitosempei]

Well , I finally got past 50 in a set.....51. The last 11 were brutal...

[Nuklz]

Just aim to do more and more push ups every day or every other day.

Or you can aim for say 100 push ups everyday with rest on saturday and sunday for 4 weeks, doing as many sets as you need to complete them. In the second week you can aim for 150

i have to agree, every other day just do 100 push ups. it may take 5 sets at first but if you have the will power to keep it up, you'll eventually do 100 push ups straight.

Also dont give up if results aren't evident as soon as you'd like.

[Ranzan]

when you do them do them till you absolutely cant do any more and do that every time worked for me great and is still working

[kombatmaster777]

Anyone know about Greasing the Groove first introduced by Pavel?
Well I'm using it and it's really helping me out.

[mai tai]

my method was join the army.....lots a push ups there

if thats to extreme...understand that you get good a something buy doing it.

how you trick your self into doing it is all up to you.

if it were me i would work with weights on one day a week.

bench like 3 sets of 5 reps fairly heavy......and cap off my workout with my 25 push ups.


latter in the week i would do my goal of 100.

start with25. stop when you cant go anymore.....rest breifly and knock out more...untill you hit 100.


last time i did this (training for a fitness test)
started out doing 50, 20,20,10

next week 70, 20, 5

next 80, 10, 10

next 85, 15

week after that took test...didnt get my hundy (98) but still you get the idea

[chof]

do push ups from different angles this way you build up your triceps, in close, fist to fist or variations, dips help, cat stretch push ups

[Nuklz]

Anyone know about Greasing the Groove first introduced by Pavel?
Well I'm using it and it's really helping me out.

What is this? Can you explain it to me?

[El-Guapo]

What is this? Can you explain it to me?

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/69/

[New Guy]

Go to the fitness centre ( the easiest way ), try the pushing-dumbell training.


That sounds interesting... does anyone know what "pushing dumbbell" is?

[mun3t]

Try to beat your limit once evrey week,

Stay below your limit and don't go higher, don't increase your reps to fast and maybe try some other variations of Push-Ups like those:


1. Wide-Gripth Push-Ups (Chest)
2.Triceps Push-Ups (Triceps, inner chest, shoulders)
3.Tiger Push-Ups (Wrist, Elbow, Biceps, Triceps and Shoulders)
4.Scap Push-Ups (Serratus Anterior)
5.Plyometric Push-Up (Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Abdominals)
6.One-Arm Push-Ups (Works the chest unilaterally)

[mun3t]

That sounds interesting... does anyone know what "pushing dumbbell" is?

Don't know, but maybe doing Push-Ups with dumbbells for exemple

Incline/Decline Push-Ups
They also targets the forearms, because you are using a dumbbell.

[kombatmaster777]

The answer in increasing push ups, as I have discovered, is increasing your maximal strength.

Perhaps the best way you can do this is by doing gymnastic bodyweight exercises.