Lets talk push-ups

[sicklyscot]

So I've read a lot about push-ups and thier effectiveness. THe only thing I have not read is whether or not you should do them everyday, every other day....etc.

More specifically I guess, can you do push-ups everyday? Will you see any gains? Or should you only do it on chest days?

[maverick]

If you are doing them for growth, do them after your chest is already exhausted from other exercises to make them a challenging exercise. If you can do more than 15 or so, you're probably not gonna get much growth out of them. Only do them when you work chest.

If you are trying to increase the amount of pushups you can do, do them every day if you want. Just don't go to failure.

[KaiserSose]

I wonder why they have been emphasized so much in the army. When I go around campus I always see the ROTC guys doing them and because of this they have in a way become the universal measure of strength. However, I don't see why this is true, because I feel they are more about endurance as pure strength.

[.V.]

They are strength and endurance...more endurance than strength. The reason the military stresses them so much is endurance is the most important for a soldier. What does it matter if they are huge hulks who can lift tons of weight when they can't run from here to there. Or if their shoulders, back and arms aren't able to pull them up something. They have to be able to run, jump, climb, crawl - sometimes all day and all night without food or water. That's why pullups, pushups, and running are so important to the ROTC guys.

[steve2000]

if you are looking to be able to up your push-up count then do them on mon/wed/fri like this;

week 1:
mon - 3 sets of 20
wed - 2 sets of 30
fri - 3 sets of 20

week 2:
mon - 3 sets of 25
wed - 2 sets of 35
fri - 3 sets of 25

week 3:
mon - 3 sets of 30
wed - 2 sets of 35
fri - 3 sets of 30

you might need to adjust them if you are already inshape with higher numbers, but this should give you a general idea on how to progressively increase the number of push ups you can do. you can do a similar style for pull-ups and squats.

[Maxgain]

They are more for strength and endurance than muscle gains. Pushups can actually cause compression of muscle fibres to give a smaller appearance

[heavyliftn]

Don't waste your time with pushups everyday... I used to do multiple sets of pushups when I was younger and could only do 50-60 for the longest time, since then I have only lifted very heavy weights now I can get 90-100 pushups with ease.