Hey Everyone, Pushups Question

[ejoyner]

Hey Everyone, I know that pushups is just pushing up 60% of your body weight approximately. I'm only able to get 12 though, and my physical test is in approximately three months.

I've been preparing for the last 3 months for this physical test (same week I took the written exam). Is there any exercises or tips anyone could recommend to me? I have currently been doing them on my knees and i'm trying to go slow when going down.

Thanks all, and God Bless all past, present, and future LEO's.

Evan.

[Strijder]

Do them normally, don't cheat with the knees. Do as many as you can each time you see a commercial break when watching TV, or at least 4 times a day. You'll see your numbers increase. You'll also want to watch your nutrition & diet.

[Upandatem]

The key to doing more pushups is....drum roll please....more pushups. Do different types too, triangle putting hands next to each other so that the forefingers and thumbs form a traingle), wide (hands far apart), feet raised, clap push-ups, fist pushups, etc. etc. Doing push-ups while pausing at the half-way point is a good one.

Also try the push-up clock. That's where you designate one direction as 12:00 and get a buddy to call out times eg. 03:00 and you rotate on your hands to that position and do a full push-up. That's always a fun one. ;)

Enjoy. :D

[Roger Dat]

Whenever you have down time do some pushups, even doing 5 or 7 an hour 5 or 6 times a day will build you up to the point where you can do more and more until you reach your goal

[ejoyner]

Thats what i'm trying to do, Pushups several times a day. I'm trying not to cheat. But right now it feels like my arms are about to fall off and im struggling to get one now! When i cant do a real one anymore im doing the ones on my knees, until i cant push myself up anymore.

Thanks alot guys!

Evan.

[Whitebear]

take a break for couple days.. is you overtrain its not good too you will get injured... stop for 2 days, do stretching and restart on sunday or monday

[JakeLock]

take a break for couple days.. is you overtrain its not good too you will get injured... stop for 2 days, do stretching and restart on sunday or monday

Agreed It's sounding like you're over-exerting youself currently.

Myself, I'm upt 62 in 1 Min, it takes work. Practice is the only way to get better at anything, basic training did wonders for my pushups, lol.

Another thing, the more weight you lose the easier it will be for you. It looks like you've made alot of progress, just keep at it!

[DPD Explorer]

My uncle who does alot of (tikwando)? and he told me to do push ups on my knuckles instead of palms, he said it increase's your hiting stength, maybe some dont agree with it but I think it helps, anyways good luck!

[JakeLock]

My uncle who does alot of (tikwando)? and he told me to do push ups on my knuckles instead of palms, he said it increase's your hiting stength, maybe some dont agree with it but I think it helps, anyways good luck!

I'm one of those people! Doing them on my knuckles did nothing for my punch and a whole lot for arthritis in my first two knuckles on both hands. Both knuckles are always achy and swollen...

I would rather do them on my palms because an open palm thump is just as effective as a punch and you don't run near the risk of breaking you hand.

Again, just my opinion, and there will be those who disagree with me.

[ejoyner]

Thanks alot fellas, I have worked so hard to get to this point from being at 311lbs 18 months ago. I worked it all off with hard work and a lifestyle change. I'll be darned if on November 27th when i go for my physical test I dont pass it because of the pushups, my arms will have to break in two before I give up that day!

Godbless you all.

Evan.

[636ninja]

I'm a female, so pushups were very difficult for me as my chest muscles were not developed well enough. I wasn't getting anywhere just trying to do pushups repeatedly, so finally I got with a personal trainer at my gym, and here's what we did:

- Lie on the floor on your back. He stood behind my head and threw a medicine ball down, which I had to catch at chest level and toss back up to him. After a few of those, if you do them right your chest and arm muscles will really start to burn.

- All kinds of chest exercises on the weight machines. I'm not a gym rat, so I won't even begin to try and explain what they were, as I haven't a clue (I let the personal trainer worry about all that :p ). We also did a LOT of back exercises like lat pull-downs, as well as biceps and triceps.

- We also went to the free weight room a lot and did pushups on the bar at the squat machine thingy (told you I don't know the terminology!) :D At first he left the bar fairly high, to where I could do 3 sets of 12. Then, week by week, he lowered the bar to where I would have to go lower and lower all the time. That really helped me a lot on my form, too - because when the bar was up higher and I could actually do a few pushups, I could concentrate on my form.

After a few weeks of hard work, I am now able to do pushups. Just don't do them every day. At first, my trainer had me rest 2 days between pushups, then I went to every other day as my muscles developed.

If I can do it, trust me, anyone can. The exercises I listed above really did work.

Keep up the hard work, and good luck!

[P01IC3M4N]

my arms will have to break in two before I give up that day!

that's the attitude to have. you'll do just fine.

http://www.superior.net/~mamason/pushup1.pdf
http://www.superior.net/~mamason/pushup2.pdf
http://www.superior.net/~mamason/pushup3.pdf
http://www.superior.net/~mamason/pushup4.pdf
http://www.superior.net/~mamason/pushup5.pdf

[JoetheGI]

3 months, NO problem. Plenty of time.

First, let's talk about push up technique...

The push up will stress different parts of your body more than others depending on the position of your hands.

With a narrow grip, you will stress your triceps more. Any grip where your hands are closer than shoulder width apart is narrow, and this will place greater emphasis on your tri's, and lesser emphassis on your chest, shoulders and lats.

At shoulder width, you will place a little less emphasis on your tri's, and more on your chest, shoulders and lats.

Wider than shoulder width, you place even less emphassis on your tri's, and this is exactly what you want. Why? Tri's are tiny in comparison to your chest and lats.

You want to condition the muscle groups that support the push up exercise, and while push ups alone WILL, you should incorporate other exercises to "liven" it up.

This is what I do, and I have no problem doing 60 push ups in a minute, and 80ish in 2.

Narrow grip push ups x 12 x 10 x 8
regular grip (shoulder width apart) x 12 x 10 x 8
Wide arm x 12 x 10 x 8

Tricep extension: 30 seconds x 3 sets

chin ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Behind the neck pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4

1 minute drill x 3 ( you do the max amount you can in one minute)

I incorporate an ab exercise in between each set of upper body exercises to give the muscle a chance to recover. Do this every other day and you will have NO problem meeting your goals.

Lastly, when you do your 1 minute drills, and your LEO test, use a wide grip. Remember, a wider grip puts more emphassis on the larger muscle groups, which means you will be able to do more. A narrow grip will burn out your tri's pretty fast, which means you will do less.

[nystangkid]

3 months, NO problem. Plenty of time.

First, let's talk about push up technique...

The push up will stress different parts of your body more than others depending on the position of your hands.

With a narrow grip, you will stress your triceps more. Any grip where your hands are closer than shoulder width apart is narrow, and this will place greater emphasis on your tri's, and lesser emphassis on your chest, shoulders and lats.

At shoulder width, you will place a little less emphasis on your tri's, and more on your chest, shoulders and lats.

Wider than shoulder width, you place even less emphassis on your tri's, and this is exactly what you want. Why? Tri's are tiny in comparison to your chest and lats.

You want to condition the muscle groups that support the push up exercise, and while push ups alone WILL, you should incorporate other exercises to "liven" it up.

This is what I do, and I have no problem doing 60 push ups in a minute, and 80ish in 2.

Narrow grip push ups x 12 x 10 x 8
regular grip (shoulder width apart) x 12 x 10 x 8
Wide arm x 12 x 10 x 8

Tricep extension: 30 seconds x 3 sets

chin ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Behind the neck pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4

1 minute drill x 3 ( you do the max amount you can in one minute)

I incorporate an ab exercise in between each set of upper body exercises to give the muscle a chance to recover. Do this every other day and you will have NO problem meeting your goals.

Lastly, when you do your 1 minute drills, and your LEO test, use a wide grip. Remember, a wider grip puts more emphassis on the larger muscle groups, which means you will be able to do more. A narrow grip will burn out your tri's pretty fast, which means you will do less.

great info man.

[ejoyner]

3 months, NO problem. Plenty of time.

First, let's talk about push up technique...

The push up will stress different parts of your body more than others depending on the position of your hands.

With a narrow grip, you will stress your triceps more. Any grip where your hands are closer than shoulder width apart is narrow, and this will place greater emphasis on your tri's, and lesser emphassis on your chest, shoulders and lats.

At shoulder width, you will place a little less emphasis on your tri's, and more on your chest, shoulders and lats.

Wider than shoulder width, you place even less emphassis on your tri's, and this is exactly what you want. Why? Tri's are tiny in comparison to your chest and lats.

You want to condition the muscle groups that support the push up exercise, and while push ups alone WILL, you should incorporate other exercises to "liven" it up.

This is what I do, and I have no problem doing 60 push ups in a minute, and 80ish in 2.

Narrow grip push ups x 12 x 10 x 8
regular grip (shoulder width apart) x 12 x 10 x 8
Wide arm x 12 x 10 x 8

Tricep extension: 30 seconds x 3 sets

chin ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4
Behind the neck pull ups x 6 x 5 x 4

1 minute drill x 3 ( you do the max amount you can in one minute)

I incorporate an ab exercise in between each set of upper body exercises to give the muscle a chance to recover. Do this every other day and you will have NO problem meeting your goals.

Lastly, when you do your 1 minute drills, and your LEO test, use a wide grip. Remember, a wider grip puts more emphassis on the larger muscle groups, which means you will be able to do more. A narrow grip will burn out your tri's pretty fast, which means you will do less.

Wow! Thanks for the help. The wider grip sure did help. I'm up to 14 real pushups. Need 21 to pass the PT, I know i will get it. Thanks so much my brothers and sister. God bless you all.

Evan.