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Daily Push-Ups Build Strength

Do You Do Push-Ups Regularly?

April 15, 2010

I was hanging out with two of my serious runner friends, who each have many marathons under their respective belts. They were talking training, and I admitted that I hadn't done any cardio that day, but at least I did my two sets of push-ups. "Push-ups!" they exclaimed in unison, and then each went on to explain that she never does push-ups and made many excuses for avoiding this great exercise. But push-ups are my go-to move. Write a story, then knock out a set of push-ups. Easy-peasy strength building. What is your relationship to this great all-body exercise?

31 Comments

GummiBears 3 years 4 weeks

Never do them. I have no kind of upper body strength.

3 years 5 weeks

every other day at work i do 20 on the hour, every hour with exceptions for the first and last hour and lunch. so i get in at work at 7am and do my first set at 8am. i skip 11:00 and go to lunch, come back around noon, and resume at 1pm. it ends up being 6 sets of 20, and it adds up. if i need to, i go to my knees, but i make sure to do them all. also, i switch them up. i do diamonds, wide-arms, and staggered.

inlove23 3 years 5 weeks

60 a day! My lord! I do ten, 15 at my max. I can't do anymore =( I really want to do 20!

Spectra 3 years 5 weeks

I do them every day, too. I will say that the full-body ones are a lot more effective than the modified ones. The full body ones work your entire core and upper body and you get a fantastic workout. I do about 60 a day, working up to 100! I've also been doing JM 30-day Shred and I like the walking pushups she has on level 3.

lydialee_home 3 years 5 weeks

dunnonuttin - thanks for the tips. I will try that. :)

n00dledancer 3 years 5 weeks

i used to do them regularly, but i'm battling an RSI, so i've given up on them for now.

insanitypepper 3 years 5 weeks

Absolutely! I love my push ups. And I highly recommend the program on hundredpushups.com.

Advah 3 years 5 weeks

I started exercising a bit every day last week and realised I have NO upper body strength. It's been 5 days and I've just managed to do 3 push ups in a row, that's my max. I also have pretty bad posture from being at a desk all day, so I should probably do some daily (except I'm not even sure I'm doing them right!)

dunnonuttin 3 years 5 weeks

lydialee - They are really not that difficult to do. The key is to place your feet further apart... and of course your ground hand has to be further out as well, well further out than normal that is. That's the key to balancing. They can be done with the feet closer together but they are much more difficult.

GlowingMoon 3 years 5 weeks

Every day. And yes, I do the boy push-ups with good form.

SaraJeanQueen 3 years 5 weeks

No... but reading these comments, it's making me wonder if I should start doing them. Wow.

lydialee_home 3 years 5 weeks

I go to this Body Pump class, and we have push-up in the last 2 release. Love it! Besides the Body Pump class, I also do regular push-up on my own - Wide-hand, diamond, regular push-up ... and then vary it with slow up, quick down and vice versa. My daughter also do push-up with me at evening time. She goes to Gymnastics and have very good muscle on her arms. I should say that her push-up is very good form compare to some others that I see in the Gym. :) The only thing I wished I can do a one-hand push-up though, still working on it. dunnonuttin - I find it very hard to balance with just one hand.

newshoesrunner 3 years 5 weeks

I love push-ups. They make me feel so strong!

3 years 5 weeks

I like them in theory, and I know how awesome they are for toning, but I have serious issues with actually doing them. I have teeny little wrists (about 4 inches in circumference; thanks, genetics) and they just can't handle more than a few pushups before they really start hurting. I make up for it with other strength training, though, that doesn't put so much pressure there.

3 years 5 weeks

I hate pushups! My boyfriend loves them, and tries to get me turned onto them but it never works. I can tolerate them in fitness class but I just cannot force myself to do them on my own. I know she's hated here, but the Tracy Anderson arm routines are fun (and surprisingly hard!) so I do those every day

SFCA 3 years 5 weeks

I'm working on doing more push-ups. I usually end up finishing on my knees. I also bought a pull-up bar that hasn't gotten very much use....

3 years 5 weeks

love push-ups! they make me feel so strong. i've been doing Jillian's 3 D shred as well, and started changing it up a bit by working in Jillian's spider plank push-ups - they are killer!

tlsgirl 3 years 5 weeks

I've been doing the Jillian Michael's Shred DVD, so I think I do them almost every day now. Still hate them, though.

Sinnamon Jones 3 years 5 weeks

I Love push ups! When I was in college,I used to do about120 a day! 40 in the am, 40 in the afternoon and 40 before bed. It was great. Now that I'm 30, I can do about 15-20 in a set. I do all different variations, but my fav to do at the gym is a push up with a 45 lb plate on my back... It impresses the guys and keeps me super strong.

Susmita 3 years 5 weeks

I love the fact that I can DO push-ups at all, so I do 15 when I get home from work a few times a week. A Pilates instructor once told me that women should be able to do 45 pushups in their 20s, and then subtract 5 for each decade after that -- which means that I should be able to do 35 pushups, since I'm in my 40s. Well, that is probably not happening soon, but I have done 20! I also do side plank, which is probably as much a core exercise as an arm exercise.

imLissy 3 years 5 weeks

I love pushups :) they make me feel strong. I broke my record yesterday. I did 6 sets of 12 real pushups, two sets of 9 and a set of 8. I'm impressed by anon's 3 sets of 33. I hope I can get up to that level :)

3 years 5 weeks

Thanks to hundredpushups.com, I do 100 big-boy pushups a day on most days. It's usually 3 sets of 33, but I have managed 2 sets of 50 a time or two.

chloe bella 3 years 5 weeks

One of my new years resolutions this year was to start doing push ups more, and now I love them! I do them here and there throughout the day - while I'm waiting for my shower water to warm up, while I'm microwaving food, commercial breaks, etc. I'm still not great at them, but I've found that if you do them consistently it's easy to make progress.

equestriennechic 3 years 5 weeks

I'm right there with you, Fit, I do push-ups nearly every day! ESPECIALLY now since I'm currently in a cast with an ankle injury. :)

chequettex 3 years 5 weeks

I love push-ups, mostly because I feel like I'm good at them :) But I really should do them more often - use it or lose it, right? Maybe I will do some on my lunch break today...

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31 Comments

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