Pushups

[Rex]

Are you good at doing pushups?

With good form (or so I think) I can do 10 but I will get tired after that. I usually do them in sets of 10.

I've heard of people doing 50-100 in one set and I think that's insane.

How good are pushups for you as apposed to things like bench pressing? Is it something you usually do as a warm up or part of your regular work out?

I just did three sets of 10 and one set of 7. I don't think I can do any more.

 

[JetSetJake]

I would say I'm not particularly good at push-ups. Usually I do them each day, and I do 30 at a time. But only once lol. About 30 is the max I can do really, and I prefer to do them all at the same time rather than in sets because I read somewhere that it's good to just do as many as you can.

 

[JetSetJake]

Also, forgot to say that I don't go to a gym anymore, so push-ups are part of my somewhat limited home workout.

 

[treanir]

I should give them a try again... last time I tried every bone and joint started to hurt after five. But that was 40 pounds ago, so...

 

[D_Pipa]

i do 3 sets x failure.

e.g.

36
30
25

 

[KaraBulut]

How good are pushups for you as apposed to things like bench pressing? Is it something you usually do as a warm up or part of your regular work out?

Pushups are a good core-stability exercise since, when done correctly, you're working the muscles around your spine and your abs- as well as the muscles in your upper arms, chest and upper back.

Chest/bench press isolates the upper body and it doesn't require any work from your midsection and lower body. Presses are good for adding more bulk and strength to the upper body. Pushups give you more tone and strength but you won't develop bulk from them.

The nice thing about pushups is that you can do them anywhere and it's something you can do while watching TV or killing time.

You might try pushups on a stability ball. It doesn't matter how many you do or how long you do them. The point is to do them correctly which helps balance and core. The ability to do more reps will come in time.



And the more advanced versions (yes, they are hard to do):

 

[Eternaldarkness]

The Push UP Pro works wonder..

I'm sure you've all seen it. It rotates your palms as you push up and down.

Not only does it help your wrist and palms, giving something for you to hold onto, it also helps by its friction bottom. You can position it far apart (a good arm's length) to work on outer chest and put them close together side by side for inner chest. If you try to do this with your natural arms, it will break off!

Before this, I was able to do maybe 20- 25 and I'll break down crying. LOL.. I was able to do like 3 sets of 20 and that was it. My arms felt like it was falling off.

After I bought this, I noticed immediately I could do a set of 30, easilly.

So now, with the push up pro I do 30 reps, break 1 minute, 30 more, break 1 minute, one last 30.

Take a break from that for 10 minutes by working on my biceps curls and abdominal crunches.

Then after 10-15 minutes, I'll go back and repeat 2 sets of 30. Usually by the time I feel nerves around my forewarm feeling funky (numb) that is when I should stop immediately.

Anyway, you guys should all try this. Its definately worth it.

 

[Rex]

I'm using a website that trains you to do 100 pushups by having you do these weekly routines, three times a day.

 

[treanir]

^ Mind sharing the site?

 

[Rex]

^ Mind sharing the site?

http://hundredpushups.com/

I did 16 on the initial test and am past day 1.

 

[bostonboy20]

I was doing 30 in the morning and 30 right before bed and my arms were actually starting to look pretty good and I could feel my chest starting to get defined more then it's ever been...so I was happy...then I started slacking off unfortunately....now i'm trying to get back into it...but getting the flu has put a damper on that..lol

but yeah I usually can only get to 30 in one set...and at the "high point" of my routine I would do one set of 30...then 50 crunches then do another set of push ups to fail and then another set of crunches to fail and If I wasn't dead I would try for one more set till fail.

 

[treanir]

Yeah, the reason I can't do many is 'cause of my wrists - ten push-ups and the pain just gets too much. Need to find something for that... (I know the different techniques, just need to try them out)

 

[bostonboy20]

I have those "Perfect Pushup" things (the same thing that was posted above) I like them, but I actually can't do as many on them cause I feel like my wrists are gonna snap in half...and I'm not all that coordinated so twisting and going down is tough for me...lol

 

[KrisHawkXXX]

I try and try to do them but there is always tension in my lower back while doing it and its getting on my nerves. My back isn't arched or I dont think it is... I continue to feel stress in my lower back though.. why?

 

[Gruff01]

Does it matter how much push ups you do? i mean i can do 50-60 in one go and i usually try to do 2-3 times a day. By doing around 50-60ish would i notice a difference in my arms and chest quicker than just doing 2 sets of 30?

 

[KaraBulut]

Does it matter how much push ups you do? i mean i can do 50-60 in one go and i usually try to do 2-3 times a day. By doing around 50-60ish would i notice a difference in my arms and chest quicker than just doing 2 sets of 30?

It depends on how you're doing them. If you're doing them level, then you're developing strength and tone but not adding mass. It ultimately doesn't matter whether you do 150 or 3x50.... the outcome will be the same.

If you progressively increase the angle (and therefore, increase the weight), you will gain more mass.

 

[bounder]

Phew!!! I just did some of those decline pushups on the swiss ball. Those are legit!

 

[tallguy297]

Does it matter how much push ups you do? i mean i can do 50-60 in one go and i usually try to do 2-3 times a day. By doing around 50-60ish would i notice a difference in my arms and chest quicker than just doing 2 sets of 30?

To take Kara's advice even further...

Push ups like any exercise isolate a certain group of muscles - a very specific group.

If you pound yourself like crazy with one exercise and lots of reps 2 things will happen. Initially you will get some growth. Then you get adaptation... and that simply means no more growth just an increase in strength and endurance.

Most importantly though if you want to build your overall chest size then I would strongly recommend staying away from large numbers of reps in any one given style.

Speaking from experience, my mates and I went through a stage where we were trying to outdo each other and we were doing 3 sets of 50- 60 and all I got out of it were two massive lumps of muscle on my inner chest just below my clavicles that to this day I wish would even out but they are simply over developed and its almost impossible to get the rest of my chest to that size. The lesson - dont do it.

There are countless configurations of push ups... and you should use them all.

Narrow hand spacing - inner chest focus, delts triceps
- incline,
- decline
- flat

Shoulder width hand spacing - outer middle chest focus, delts triceps
- incline,
- decline
- flat

Wide hand spacing - outer chest focus, delts triceps
- incline
- decline
- flat

- All of the above using a Swiss ball - same area but additional focus on back and stabilizers like core

- One arm - all of the above plus focus on obliques, traps, core

It goes on and on... theres some great sites to check these things out on so have a poke around.

Variation is the key to growth... not just reps.

 

[Gruff01]

i don't have one of those balance balls. Can a chair be used instead?

got a bit confused with all the different types of pushups.

 

[KaraBulut]

i don't have one of those balance balls. Can a chair be used instead?

got a bit confused with all the different types of pushups.

A chair can be used instead, yes. The advantage of the ball is that it forces you to use muscles on your sides to stabilize. So, in addition to working your arms, back and chest, you're also working the core stabilizing muscles around your spine and abdomen.

The first few times you use it- it's a bitch. But as the muscles get trained and strengthen, it's actually kind of fun.

The balls are available in most sporting goods stores. Amazon also has them.