Press ups, press ups, press ups...help!

[Andy6001]

Hi,

I'm sure this topic has been covered numerous times on these forums but I'm looking for some specific advice on how to increase the number of press ups that I can currently do (max).

I have been following the suggested circuit on the RM website for about 3-4 weeks now (which I do 4/5 times a week) and everything is steadily improving...except my press ups.

In the time it's taken to improve my pull-ups from 3 to 7 and sit ups from 25 to 45, my max pressups has increased from 19 to only 22. (I managed 22 after two weeks and have seen no further improvement since).

Can anyone suggest what exercises I might need to incorporate into my programme to start increasing my press ups? My current routine already includes tricep dips.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks,

Andy

[Steve14]

do the push ups slowly, let your chest slowly drop to floor the on each rep.

I got from 20 to 45 in a few weeks doing my reps like that 6*10 slow push ups 4 times a week

[Andy6001]

ok, thanks. I'll give it a try.

Should I rest until I'm nearlly fully recovered between sets? Or put say, a 90 or 60 second rest between each?

[Steve14]

yes rest 60 or 90 seconds or whatever suits you

[Downrange]

Hi, a friend has recently started trainint at ctc and another just passed his prmc. I am joining up after uni and needed to improve my press ups, so they suggested the 100 press up programme. Which actually works which got me from 10 to doing 80 in 2 minutes. Hope that helps.

[Andy6001]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking more like 2 months, so 2 minutes sounds great.

[Hyperlithe]

I think he meant that he can now do 80 in 2 minutes, as opposed to 10 - pretty sure it took longer than that to make the improvement!

[Andy6001]

Ah I see, I thought he was being sarcastic. It all makes sense now!

[Downrange]

Yeah sorry i wasn't clear on that, i meant i can now do 80 in a timed two minutes. Like when your tested on your prmc. Took about a month of following the plan.

[ofens]

One thing I've found useful for this type of thing.
Do your max amount 10 times a day, spread out across the day.
For example, a set before and a set after each meal, then another two sets in the evening (one right before bed).
(Assuming you eat four meals a day!)

Doing this trains the body to getting used to doing that amount in one go, and in time that becomes easier. Then you can add more to each set.
I did this with pull ups, 10 sets of eight a day soon became 10 sets of twelve.

You would have to account for your other training, as you could over-work muscles if you are doing this as well as other press up type work. So bear that in mind.
Just my suggestion, there's loads on here so try searching. BTW almost everyone asks this in their first post on this site