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since i hit a wall around 30 pressups, i physically could not do anymore, and i was like this for about 2 months, i just wouldn't get any better, until my mate had told me to try doing this(i do 5 sets of how ever many reps i can physically do, 2 days on, 1 day off...with my training program)...



..



..repeat

and now a month later i can hammer out over 60 pressups easily, it might not work all people but it worked for me, and i know some people on here would say "you dont need to do weights", but some people are different

no flames please.

Thanks for that mate, I had the same problem. As soon as I hit 30-35 I would have to have a rest. I will start that exercise and see if it makes any difference, again thanks.

P.S how many reps do you do?

Wato.

The best way to improve pressups is by doing them... continuously

Don't agree JC, everyone is different. Some people cannot get to the basic level of muscle fitness you need to start gaining from doing pressup circuits without some other form of training. Some people have one weak muscle group (ie triceps) which prevents them from making serious gains from pressup training. Basically, if it works for you, it's probably a good thing.

Had rather the same problem when I started Cosmo (never had strong arms, but really strong chest...go figure). My pressups were clearly building bicep bulk, but the number I could do just didnt improve. I then added some tricep exercises, like yours above except using my bodyweight. Now I can really notice the difference in tricep bulk as well, and pressups numbers are gradually improving.

Remember that it is actually the triceps, not biceps, which do most of the work in the hardest part of pressups, ie the up part!

thast quite good what your saying sarastro. so basically, if your not imroving on your press ups and get to around 30, then just cant do anymore, it might be because one of your muscles is not built enough? so just add a new excersise that will deal with it.

i think that when you start getting quite abit of muscle on you, you cant just continusly bang out press ups through out the day, for me that doesnt work. i just do em once a day. a couple months ago i could do 25 at most. then someone on here said just do em once a day, and each time try to do one more. now i can do over 90, but still, when i get to 30, everyone after than is a killer.

oh, btw, if you do press ups royal marine style, does that work your triceps more. i used to do em civi way and noticed my arms were nicely built, but now i notice my triceps are bigger, and biceps not so impressive.?

Yeh the marine way focuses on your triceps more, instead of spreading the load over other muscles like the normal way.

mitch1985 wrote: oh, btw, if you do press ups royal marine style, does that work your triceps more. i used to do em civi way and noticed my arms were nicely built, but now i notice my triceps are bigger, and biceps not so impressive.?

Roger that, I definately notice my triceps swelling more and feeling more tired during / right after circuits doing marine style pressups. Going to have to work in some normal pressups as well to keep things even I think (since I'm applying Army).

As for the rest of what I said about muscle groups, I know that is what happened for me, and seems to be the same for Cosmo. Doesn't mean it applies to everyone having trouble with pressups though Also there is a difference between adding muscle bulk and being able to do many repetitions.

Roger that, I definately notice my triceps swelling more and feeling more tired during / right after circuits doing marine style pressups. Going to have to work in some normal pressups as well to keep things even I think (since I'm applying Army).

I thought that as well and ive actually found from doing a to the death set of each style two days in a row i can do 47 decent form army pushups as opposed to 34 decent form marine press ups, i might have some chest bulk naturally but i wouldnt worry about it too much anyway if your arms can take all that strain then your chest isnt needed so much anyway

hey lads,
if you don't have any weights like i do then doing a commando press-up will improve both tri-biceps muscles just like the above picture very quickly

Do both the normal way and the marine way if you aint sure.

i cant really say how many reps i do, i just do as many as i can without counting, but i stop after i physically cant do anymore in each set - well past the burning feeling on the muscle.

@ wato, just do as many reps as you can in each set, try and keep going through the burning feeling but make sure you can do atleast 15 reps for your first set, remember you are going for endurance and not size

the next day, if you do the workout hard enough, the back of your arms will be pulling like a bitch, yey

good luck.

I can manage just over 40 straight out and that's all out, 50 straight would be nice. Im going to start holding the position with good form (back straight, on balls of feet) for 2 minutes.

Im also doing variations like clap ones and narrow/wide arm.

GGHT wrote:I can manage just over 40 straight out and that's all out, 50 straight would be nice. Im going to start holding the position with good form (back straight, on balls of feet) for 2 minutes.

Im also doing variations like clap ones and narrow/wide arm.

Holding the position I can do 50, maybe if pushed to the limit, above that.

Could have a go at Plyometrics Training which should improve your speed & strength =Power.

Every 3rd pressups you do, either do a clapsy pressup or just push urself off the ground as hard as you can. Though this method is knackering if you can bang out a load of these you will be able to bang out loads of standard pressups.

* Only the jump up or clapsy pressup is counted as 1 rep. so if you can bang out 50 you'l be able to bang out plenty of standard pressups.

that helps because depending on the type of pressup your doing (hands close/elbows in/elbows out/hands apart) the load is distributed between the chest and triceps muscle groups differently.

doing triceps extensions will without a doubt increase the number of pushups you can do because the extensions will isolate the muscle group.

stronger triceps will take some of the strain off a pressup so the chest lasts longer.

or something like that