Dull Men's Club

Here is my push-up story. I decided to commit myself to pushups several years ago. There wasn’t a gym that I could access and pushups were my best bet. I remember my first attempt, and I could barely do any. I think my personal high had been just shy of 20 and that was a struggle.

So, 3 times a week I committed myself to doing them. Also, I tried to do five equal sets. So, I started at like 10, but then with a rest in between each, tried to do 5 sets of 10. Well, over the course of two years, I got to a point where I was doing 120 pushups per set. 120 x 5 sets, so roughly 600 pushups per session. Eventually my living situation changed and I was able to go to a gym, so I tried other routines.

But, I wanted to say, if you want to get good at pushups, all you gotta do is stick with it. That said, I never noticed pushups to be the thing that made a very noticeable difference to my physique. It did help a bit, but I also just looked kinda the same as I had previously. It’s very possible to be able to do a lot of pushups, but also to not look jacked.

Do 10 tomorrow

9 good pushups is solid.

Redislocated my shoulder yesterday (past injury). Gonna try and do a few pushups every day to slowly build up strength

Do the 10th one even if you need to rest a bit first. Eventually you need to rest less, and then you won't need to rest at all, and then you'll be able to do more than 10.

Now that you know your maximum, do a couple of sets below your maximum. So do 7-8, rest 2 minutes, repeat for 2 sets. Then 3 to 5 sets later if you want.

This is for building your strength.

Remember there's a difference between testing strength and building strength. Going for as many as you can til you can't do any more is a test. Stopping 2-3 reps before for multiple sets will build your strength.

I'm going for 10 pullups in a row. My max is 7 right now. So I did 3 sets of 5 yesterday to build up strength.

You’re doing much better than I am - yesterday I bought a weight set. And I had the guy put it in my car

Men that's pretty good. Just increase by 1 per week.

One of the important things about working out is knowing which muscles you’re actually working out so that you can consciously focus on firing them off with force.

Pushups aren’t for your arms, at least not normal pushups. They work your triceps a bit, and a few of the stabilizer muscles in the forearms and shoulders. But, for the most part, push ups are about your chest. Squeezing your chest inwards should give you your upward momentum, not pushing away from the ground.

It’s also not quite enough to just have a straight back. You ever flex your stomach while looking at a mirror and it kind of auto-straightens your back? That’s the move you’re lookin for, tighten your abdominal muscles as best you can to make it so those are the muscles supporting your lower half, instead of pushing that weight onto your lower spinal column and shoulders

Playing with some kids, I kicked a soccer ball for the first time in years. I walked with a limp for days afterward. On the bright side, I can kick a soccer ball without issue now.

As a kid, you’d never had the opportunity to avoid a new activity for very long. Atrophy feels like the ultimate novelty of adulthood.

Give at least a day between strenuous exercises. I recently strained my arms and now i have to stop working out completely for 4-6 weeks

Yup, when I started working out, I only managed 7 on the first day. After a week I was doing 20, and now I'm up to 40. It's certainly been harder to increase from there, so I'm not sure if I can get to the One Punch Man regiment

I'm in the same boat bro. I can pan in miles and miles, but I've got all the upper body strength of a wet fart.

Keep going though bro. Today nine; legs tomorrow; ten on Tuesday. Same thing next week. Eleven, on Sunday, twelve on the following Tuesday.

If you want some advice that's more than "do more, bro" then check out Shaun T's Insanity or Focus T25. I loved those programmes and I developed arms and chest more than I ever did do half-arsing weights or resistance machines.

Nail it bro.

But can you still crack a beer with a bic lighter? Priorities....

Do 10 push ups a day but use your knees instead of your feet.
The next week use your feet but keep going until you can't do anymore push ups. (Remember your highest amount of push ups).
Week after that go back to using your knees but try to beat your highest amount from the previous week.

Etc etc and so on until you are at a level or amount that you are happy with. Using the knees puts less stress on everything, but especially your lower back. And makes things a bit easier whilst also strengthening the arms for the next week.

Or one day do normal push ups, and the next day use the knees. It's like a rest day without the rest, and it can help get the push up technique correct.
Good luck. Kept it up.