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Throughout my life, I have always struggled with pushups. When I was about 12 years old, I noticed that all of the other boys could do them and I couldn't. My coach at the time had me do pushups against a tree and then a picnic table until I could do my first one.
FYI, I just want to do calesthenics and forget about weights.
I started off being able to do 17 pushups and was then able to get up to about 25. I have been doing pushups every day.
I find that the number of pushups that I can do seems to peak at around 17 pushups every other day. I have to stop a second to get to 21, and then stop again to get to 25. I do them to complete exhaustion.
I take GNC Mega Men Active Supplements and also Whey Protein.
I have always had this problem where I cannot improve on the amount of pushups that I do. The amount of situps that I can do keeps going up as I do them every day.
PUshups aren't the only option for strengthening your core and arms. Also, you could slow it all down, if you aren't already. Calisthenics are usually done in rhythm, to a steady brisk tempo. That isn't necessary, it's only one possible way of doing it. Try mixing it up too.
Try planks. You lay down flat on the mat. Slide your arms so your elbows are down around your upper ribcage, hands clasped in front of you. Lift your body, keeping your toes on the ground and your legs straight (but knees NOT locked). Keeping your torso as straight as possible without falling back to the mat, hold that position for a count of 30. Lower yourself back down. Then lift up again. One goal for this would be to get the count up to 2 minutes.
Another one is weighted wall sits. You don't need barbells, just a couple of low-weight dumbbells. Or big, unopened soup cans. Just 2-5 pounds per hand, it's to help your balance, not give you muscle.
Stand with your back against a flat wall, feet around 2 feet away from the wall and parted from each other by around a foot. Slide down, until you look like you're "sitting" on a chair that isn't there, with the wall being the back of the "chair." You'll feel this in your thighs big-time, your abdominals, and your butt. While you're pressing against that wall, lift the cans up slowly over your head, then bring down to your hips. Then reposition your hold on the cans and lower them down to the side of your legs. Do this for a count of 30. Goal: Be able to do this for 2 minutes.
Bird-dogs:
Stomach-down. Knees on the floor. Elbows on the floor. Grab a small weight (or can of tomato paste) in one hand. Resting behind the opposite knee, place that big soup can. Now slowly lift the can-arm and raise your *bent* can-leg, so you're balancing on one hand and the opposite knee. Lower, and repeat 15 times. Switch hands/legs and do it again. Do this slowly - when your arm and leg are lifted up to the peak height, pause for just a 2-count before lowering.
This will strengthen your glutes, your chest, abdominals, lower back, and improve your balance.
There is no reason why you should feel the need to do _any_ pushups, if your body doesn't like them. Not everyone can do them, and people who can do pushups, often can't do something else that other people can do. I can't do any chin-ups, but I can do a cartwheel and a handstand.
There are many variations on push ups re: angle, stance, width that can be tried to see which one or ones work best for you.
There are better ways to go about it than "everyday." Performing the same exercises every day is not allowing your body/muscles to rest and grow, plus you need a variety of exercises in order to keep your body from "adapting" to the stress you are putting on it.
If you don't like push ups, then don't do them. If you want to get better at push ups then find out which style you like and work at that being sure to give your body rest from them. Just do push ups, say, twice a week, and do other exercises targeting different muscle groups on other days. Don't work out 2 days a week (in a row).
Figure out your goals and create a workout and meal plan to get there.
If I am understanding you correctly, you are only interested in improving the number of pushups you can do. In other words, you're not interested in overall strength, building muscle or improving athletic performance. I'm clarifying this because pushups have limited value if that is all you do. But if your goal is to simply improve the number of pushups you can do, and you don't want to use any equipment such as weight machines or free weights, then the way to meet your objective is to simply do more pushups.
One approach would be to set a daily goal for pushups. You could start with 50 or 100, etc. The goal is to do that many push-ups each day. You could spread them out doing the day or do sets of say 15 with a 2 minutes rest between sets or some combination. Try varying the speed with fast sets and slow sets. Try stopping in the down position and holding it for 30 seconds. You can also vary your hand placement with your hands close and hands wider than your shoulders. Make sure you do the push-ups with good form with you back straight and touching your chest to the floor.
Doing 100 pushups a day shouldn't tax your recovery but don't worry if you miss a day. The other comments about not exercising the same muscles on consecutive days don't apply here. Bodybuilders and powerlifters are doing a lot more sets and reps compared to what I am recommending.
If you stick with this program, you should have no trouble doing 50 pushups in a few months.
The GNC Mega Men Active Supplements and Whey Protein aren't going to make a difference. The whey protein is for bodybuilders who are looking to put on weight
Basically, it advocates doing 3 sets of pushups on each workout day with a bit of rest in between. Then increasing the total number day by day and week by week. There is an iPhone app also, which I have used and it will help you increase your total number of pushups, though I never really got to 100 in a day. I am similar in that I have never been able to bench much in High School gym weight training or otherwise, while I could always squat a good amount in comparison.
Pushups can definitely help with core strength, especially if you start to vary hand position as you do more, so I wouldn't say they a re waste, but certainly not a complete program.
You can also mix in planking, especially using a medicine ball to balance on which works your core as well.
go to the gym twice or three times a week for two/three months and get PUMPED. You should only focus on your arms, forearms, and wrists. Then, after this two month trial period is over, do some push-ups. You will probably be able to do about 50 or 60 push-ups non-stop. This is your max limit.
Then stop going to the gym and do 50 or 60 push-ups (your max) every week. Voila. Problem solved. To make them easier, count in repetitions of 10.
This is the only form of "working out" I do. It's simple, efficient, I can do them anywhere and anytime (but I maintain a strict 60 every Sunday routine), and takes less than one minute every week. I eat all the junk food I want, still maintain a slim figure with above-average upper body strength, and I never step foot in a gym.
"I take GNC Mega Men Active Supplements and also Whey Protein."
Why?
What is your body fat percent?
A couple of posters have given good advice. Push-ups are a volume based exercise, so the only way to do more, is to do more. There are many methods for doing this; 100 hundred push-up program, grease-the-groove, etc; find one you like and stick with it, do not bounce around every two weeks.
Also, is your diet in check? If you are starving yourself or you are not getting a caloric surplus enough to fuel strength gains, you are going to hit a plateau real quick in your program.
"The amount of situps that I can do keeps going up as I do them every day."
there are many different variations of pushups you can do, google them and try them out, you need to work the upper peck, the mids, and the lower peck they all require different methods of pushups. for upper deck do incline, for lower peck do decline, for mids hands at shoulders. also, put your hands are different locations.
go to the gym twice or three times a week for two/three months and get PUMPED. You should only focus on your arms, forearms, and wrists. Then, after this two month trial period is over, do some push-ups. You will probably be able to do about 50 or 60 push-ups non-stop. This is your max limit.
Then stop going to the gym and do 50 or 60 push-ups (your max) every week. Voila. Problem solved. To make them easier, count in repetitions of 10.
This is the only form of "working out" I do. It's simple, efficient, I can do them anywhere and anytime (but I maintain a strict 60 every Sunday routine), and takes less than one minute every week. I eat all the junk food I want, still maintain a slim figure with above-average upper body strength, and I never step foot in a gym.
I guess I have been doing it all wrong for the past 35 years. I didn't realize I could "go to the gym twice or three times a week for two/three months and get PUMPED." And to think I only had to focus on my arms, forearms, and wrists. I've been doing this all wrong with squats, deadlifts, power cleans, pull-ups, bench presses, etc.
Well, I'm off to the gym to start my two month trial period and get PUMPED. I can't wait to only have to do 50-60 pushups every week. With all the free time, I'll be able to start a hobby or maybe join a bowling league.
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