a few months ago i started doing 20 press ups before i went to bed every day, with the odd day off. Then i built up to about 35 per day, but now i can only manage 20, i didnt take many days rest off so i tried 3 days off.Still stuck with the problem of only 20 though. And for the record i am using exactly the same press up technique as always aNY HELP WOULD BE GREAT THANKS
Good call on the days off, it could've been overtraining, and another good call on the checking your form, but if neither of those solves it, look at possible adaptation--consistency is good, but if you exercise the same way for a few months, your body will adapt. For further muscular hypertrophy, you have to switch up your exercises, shock the muscles back into growth. Something like plyometric pushups, perhaps (push off quickly, and clap at the top) or 10 sets of 12 with 60 seconds rest in between (although with that second you'd need more rest, maybe two days between each day on). Just a couple suggestions; the possibilities are endless, but the principle of switching it up every few months is a good one.
I'd agree with Grasshopper - variety is king. I've used the following variations in the past which have worked for me : Try holding the pressup position for say 30 seconds at the top, and doing 4-5 slow pressups, holding for another 30 seconds between each one(trust me - it is hard to start with). Build up until you can do 10 pressups with a minute between each. The benchpress works the same muscle groups, and you can increase the weights as you improve. Should probably stick to a weight that you can do 12-15 repetitions to build up a combination of strength and stamina.
Just a quick note, Doing exercise, just before going to bed isn't great either. Chances are your going to work your muscles then shut your body down blood slowing, muscles relaxing preparing for sleep. Plus if your tired chances of injury are much higher Studies show that between 5:30p.m. --7:30p.m is the optimal time to train the body, assuming shift work doesn't effect your sleep patterns. This is due to body temprature being at it's highest at the time of the day - thus muscles already warm. Next best time to train is between 07:00--09:00 in the morning Also studies show those who trained for 10 minutes in the morning as well as a workout in the evening showed improved results compared the those who only trained in the evening.
Tuney30, As everyone is saying you can try doing variations on the traditional press-up: Raise your feet onto a stool or chair. Widen the arms Narrow the width between the hands One hand forward one back (then reverse) Diamond press up Tiger pressups or try hindu or divebomber press-ups. All variations work the muscle groups in a slightly different way and also just simply stop you from getting really bored. The other thing that I would check out is trying the pyramid in order to increase your total number. I've found this very productive. Basically you do 1, rest, do 2, rest, do 3 rest.... and continue to the point where you are close to failure or your form degrades, rest, then work down again. When I started this I could get to 12 and then work down. Now I'm at about 20. Try it and see how you get on. If you really want to maximise the use of your time you can do stomach exercises in-between the sets of press-ups.
