Press Up Plateau

[FozzyNumber4]

My usual routine of 3 sets of press ups and increasing the number of reps each week, doesn't seem to be working anymore. Over the last two weeks, I've struggled to reach the target I met three weeks ago!

I was thinking of completing the same number of total reps over a greater number of sets, i.e. 10 sets of 6 rather than 3 sets of 20.

I was wondering what had worked for anyone else?

Cheers.

[Chris1983]

I have been having the same problem!

I think someone suggested doing your normal reps in the morning and then doing 10 - 15 press ups as often as you get the chance in the day. So maybe try and do 15 press ups every hour each day for a couple of weeks.

[gkayesem]

Try pyramid circuits. 20 push ups, then 15, 10, 5, 10, 15, 20 and repeat, etc, etc. Always works for me.

[GemmaLS]

Reaching a plateau means your body has adapted to your training regime. The only way out is to change you routine - the pyramids sound like a good idea.

Also, what about doing bench presses to compliment your press-ups work?

[rc]

I was chatting to a strength and conditioning coach on the net the other night, I asked him a similar question. He said by increasing your maximum strength by weight training or adding weight in a pack and doing the exercise would help. The reasoning behind it is that although the amount of press ups you can do depends on muscle endurance, increasing your one rep max as a direct effect on muscle endurance. just an example - if you can do say 1 press up with say 50 kg on your back you could probably do 2 with 90 percent of the weight, 3 with 80 percent ect those weren't the exact figures he gave but, it will hopefully give you an idea on what I mean, I personally haven't tried it yet but I just thought I'd pass on what he said - it sounds like a good idea to me though.

Rich.

[FozzyNumber4]

Thanks everybody.

Unfortuantely I can't do anything with "every hour" in it as I don't think it would go down well in the office!

The pyramids and weights sound like something that I can try though. I'll give them a go.

Thanks again for the tips.

[GGHT]

Also, what about doing bench presses to compliment your press-ups work?

Yes it can help, but make sure they're high rep, 20 plus and with little resting time between sets (45 seconds max).

I look a right weakling with little weight on each side but most of the lads in the gym I go to know the score lol.
I was told to make the negative take 2 seconds and make the "upwards" phase fairly explosive.

[gkayesem]

A couple of my friends have a good press up routine.

What you do is, bench press a substantial weight like 60% of your max about 10 times, and as soon as you have finished get down and do as many press ups as you probably can. Believe me it works, although you will have to have a bit of muscle already to get any real benefit from it.

Just dont do it all the time, or your triceps will die. Best to do it a couple of times a week and at the end of your gym period.

The best thing about it is that it more all less works the entire chest. Another mate of mine could not do it because hes built like a brick shit house. Although hes huge - I mean f@#k huge - he cant do one press up (mostly because his chest is reaches out further than his arms).

In other words - if you havent got muslce. Dont do it. If you have too much muscle, you cant do it. It is a good one for power, endurance and strength.

In case you are wondering - no I dont do it myself. Broken wrist you see -done while completing the above.

[Konassin]

The only routine i ever found that increased my press up numbers quickly and consistantly was this one.

Saturday: Do as many press ups as you can in a single set. Remember this number.

Monday - Friday: Do half your maximum reps 3 times a day. I usually did them just before every meal.

It's really quick and won't make you really sweaty, so you don't need to shower, and it's very easy to incorporate into you normal routine. You should notice an increase of a few reps every saturday.