How many push-ups can you do if you dropped down right now?

[fraidycat]

I just did 61 but I had to change up my hand position at 45. I usually do 40 or 50 a couple times a day.

[machotime]

I can do about 90 or so,..... it helps that ive been in the military for 5 years. I do push ups every day at the gym, and before I go to bed.

[yrrej]

What does this have to do with boxing?

[Banderivets]

You guys are either lying or you are all beasts

I've been doing sports all my life to this day, used to hang around military bases in the old country and always was involved in some form of martial arts.


But I still cant run for ****

[RAESAAD]

Probably 50 not many more.

[Red_Menace]

are you guys doin pushups with your elbows at your sides, or are your elbows pointing away from your body?

I do 3 kinds:

1) hands spread apart so my arms are bent at 90 degrees when I'm lowered ... you know, the standard

2) hands under my shoulders with my arms parallel to my body

3) hands positioned under my chest with thumbs and index fingers touching to form a triangle and elbows perpendicular to my body

I'm not fitness buff, it's just something I do on the days I'm not swimming, along with some other little at-home type exercises. I usually do 10 of each and then try to repeat, but I don't make it to the second set of #3. I've been doing them for a long time, but for some reason, I hit a peak and have never been able to pass it. Any suggestions? I do them about every second day and swim on the days in between. I do breast stroke and crawl/freestyle when I swim. Is it possible I'm overdoing it on the arm workout?

[butterfly1964]

Awwwwwwwww, my arms hurt. but I just managed to do 72 just now.

Aaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

[fraidycat]

I've been doing them for a long time, but for some reason, I hit a peak and have never been able to pass it. Any suggestions? I do them about every second day and swim on the days in between. I do breast stroke and crawl/freestyle when I swim. Is it possible I'm overdoing it on the arm workout?

Pushups don't work your arms much. It's mainly your pec major and your tricep.

Four recommendations I can think of of the top of my head:

1.) Stretch your chest, shoulders, and back. All the time.

2.) Varying your grip is good. However, also try to concentrate on using different muscles with the same grip/stance. I can shift the focus of my pushup from my triceps, to my pecs, to my anterior delts / lats / serratus. Having these three muscle groups developmentally balanced will help your endurance on this exercise.

3.)Do pushups until you hit failure; that is, you are pushing as hard as you can and you can't do another. When you see "electric purple Cheetos" in your vision and you can't get more than halfway up, you're at a good stopping point. Go a couple of weeks not counting how many you can do; just go until you run out of steam every time. After a couple of weeks, count them again. You'll be surprised how many you've added.

4.) Super-slow reps will help develop the smaller, stabilizing muscles in your chest and shoulder girdle -- among them, the pectoralis minor, serratus, and rotator cuff. This is the fastest and most effective way to build a big bench press and/or increase your number of pushups. (It works for squats and deadlifts, too -- almost any compound lifting exercise. If you're going to try this on a weighted exercise, use 40-50% of your max.)

Instructions are for pushups, but you'll get the idea:

Breathe out at the top of the pushup (arms extended.)

Breathe in on the way down. Use a 10-count to go down; it should take you 10-12 seconds.

Touch your chest to the floor but keep tension on your arms so you're just barely touching the floor. Do not rest your chest on the floor.

Use a 5-count to come up, breathing out slowly and in a controlled manner.

Repeat until you hit your physical pain threshhold. I'm good for about six of these.

Don't worry about getting big. This not a mass-building exercise; it's a stabilizing exercise. The more weight you can stabilize, the more you can lift. The more endurance you have in your stabilizing muscles, the more pushups you can do.

EDIT: Don't do super-slow reps more than once every 4 workouts, as the strain would not be good for your joints and connective tissue. I used to do a week of them, pretty much on every exercise, every 6-8 weeks. I'd say to do them instead of your regular pushups every 4-5 workouts, or when you hit a "plateau."

Good luck.

[El Sniper]

In the army we have physical fitness tests. you have two minutes to do aleast 40 to get 60 points and 75 gets you a 100 points. But they are picky about which ones count you have to lock your elbows out on the way up and make the back of your arms flat with your back. Sit ups its 50 for 60 points and 80 for a hundred points. I'm in the mid 20s age group which kinda sucks cause I have to do less then someone younger to pass but have to do more to max my score.

I get on an extended scale on occasion. The first time I busted out a 331. This last time I did 120 push-ups, 101 sit-ups and 11:38 on the run. They are too lazy to tell me my extended score and I don't know how to find out from here. olivert, do you know how the extended points go? If so, could you tell me my score? I would aprecciate it.

[Red_Menace]

Thanks for the pointers, fraidycat. I'm not looking for bulk from exercises. If anything, I'd rather be more thin and defined. I just don't like it when I'm doing exercises and don't show signs of improvement over time, because that usually means I'm doing something wrong. I'll definitely start doing some real slow reps once every 4 or 5 workouts.