There are many occasions during the day you can do pushups. As push-up is a bodyweight workout you don’t need any equipment to do pushups. And you can do it at home, outside or at the gym.
In this post, I’ll help you find out the best time to do push-ups in a day. Because everyone’s daily activities are different and their free time, I’ll explain all the factors you should look for before you decide when you should do pushups.
After that, I’ll talk about how you can find out your push-up routine.
Following a pushup routine is crucial to maintain consistency, improve the number of pushups you can do and to make sure your body is getting enough rest between two pushup sessions.
Let’s begin.
What is The Best Time of Day to do Push-ups and why?
Before you decide when to do push-ups there are few things you need to be aware of:-
First, if you want to do pushups after eating a meal you need to wait for some time. The amount of time you need to wait after eating will depend on the type of meal.
If you want to do pushups after drinking tea/coffee and some light food then you need to wait at least 10-20 minutes. If you eat a heavy breakfast you need to wait 45 -60 minutes. For full meal (lunch), you need to wait 3-4 hours.
Second, if you do pushups in an empty stomach in the morning, you shouldn’t do more than 2-3 sets of pushups. And if you have any kind of health problems that needs you to eat something before you do any type of physical activity, you need to eat something light if you want to do push up in the morning.
It will be best for you to consult your doctor once. Or you can do pushups at other times I’ll mention later in this article.
Best time to do pushups for students
For students, there are 4 best times to do pushups in a day.
According to your preference, you can pick one for a day.
If you wake up early and have some time in hand before you leave for your school/college you can do pushup after you wake up or after you have your tea/coffee.
If you want to do push up in the morning it’s best to do it before your bath or before you get ready to leave for your school/college.
For students who stay busy studying in the morning or have less time in the morning, you can do pushups during the afternoon at around 4-5 pm (before you go for playing any sports.) Or you can do pushups in the evening 1-2 hours before dinner.
Best time to do push-ups who have a day job
There are 3 best times for you to do push up.
For a person with an office job, it will be best for you to do pushups in the morning.
I have also written on how to exercise efficiently for busy professionals. If you are interested, you can check that post too.
In the morning your energy level remains in its pick. So, you should do pushups or a workout in the morning. If you want to do it right after waking up, you can start by doing some stretching. It will help you warm up your body and increase the number of pushups you can do.
And if you wake up early or leave for office at around 9 am, you can do pushup after your breakfast. Also, as I have mentioned earlier, don’t forget to wait 45-60 minutes after eating breakfast.
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Tip: Complete your breakfast early.
The third option for you is to do pushups in the evening or 1 hour before dinner. If you go to the gym or workout in the evening you can do pushups during this time.
Best time to do push-ups for someone who works from home
If you work from home or a business owner who doesn’t require to go office daily or have the flexibility to choose your work time; you have many occasions during a day to do pushups.
I also work from home, I have tried different times to do my workout. And in my experience I have found out – it’s best to work out or do pushups at around 11 am. Also, this is the perfect time for completing a full workout.
But if you only want to do pushups you can also do it in the morning. You can do pushups before breakfast or after breakfast. It will depend on your preferences.
If you go for – running in the morning, you can do some bodyweight exercises + push-ups at that time. Also, if you want you can do pushups in the afternoon/evening.
Among all the options – the best time for you to do pushups will be in the morning and at around 11 am.
How to Find your Push-up Routine
Following a pushup routine is very helpful when it comes to tracking your progress, increasing your stamina and number of pushups you can do and to ensure your muscles getting enough time to recover.
Along with a beginner-friendly pushup routine; below you will read about how to get started doing pushups as a beginner, doing pushup for the first time and what to do when you can’t do normal pushups.
After that, you will find – pushup routine for intermediate & advanced level.
Push-up routine for beginners
For most people when they first start to do pushups they can do 3-10 pushups at a time.
To create a pushup routine for yourself, first, you need to find out the number of pushups you can do. Then, for one week try to do pushups 2 days & take 1-day rest.
After 7-12 days try to do 4-7 more pushups than usual. Once you can do 15 pushups in one go… try to do 2-3 sets of pushups.
Let’s say you want to do 3 sets of push up. And in one go you can do 15 push-ups.
If you decide to do 2-3 sets – then in the first set do 10 pushups, in second set 5-7 pushups and in the third set – do pushups until failure.
Between each set, you can take 1-2 minutes rest. This method will help you build your stamina faster.
Also, in a week, one day do one set of pushups until failure. It will help you keep track of your progress.
What to do when you can’t do a normal push-up?
If you can’t do normal push-up don’t worry. You will get there. You just need some days of practice to build up your stamina and muscle strength.
First, you need to start with knee push-ups. After doing knee push-ups for 7-15 days you will be able to do normal pushups.
Along with knee pushups you can also do wall pushup to build your strength faster.
Note: If you have not done any physical exercises before; you need to go slow and give your body some time for the change.
Try to do 10-20 knee pushups for 3-4 days. After those days you’ll find the number of knee pushups you can do in one go.
Now, from 4th day onwards do 2-3 sets of knee pushups.
Let’s say, you can do 16 knee pushups. From 4th day in the first set do 12 pushups and in the second set do 8 knee pushups. If your body permits or you can do 8 knee pushups easily, then in the third set try to do knee pushups until failure.
Once you have done knee pushups for 10 days, try to increase the number of knee pushups in each set by 3-5. If you feel confident, you can try to do 1-2 normal pushups. During this time, one day try to do – one set of knee pushups until failure. You will be surprised to see your improvement.
Tip: It’s always recommended to do pushups 4-5 days in a week and rest 2-3 days. It’s best to do – pushup for 2 days and then take 1 day off.
It will help your muscles to repair themselves and you will build your muscle strength and volume faster. Also, there’s no harm in taking 2 days off instead of 1.
Everyone’s body reacts differently to exercises.
For some people, it takes longer to heal. So, listen to your body and go back to exercising when you think your muscles are healed from the previous workout session.
“For some people, it takes some time to build muscle strength initially.”
Now that you can do normal pushups. Every 6-10 days try to do 3-5 more pushups. Over time you will be able to do 15-25 normal pushups easily.
Remember, if you haven’t done pushups before then after day 1 or 2 you might feel your hand muscles are little stiff than usual.
If you find your hand muscles are stiff then don’t do pushups for the next 2-3 days. Once it gets healed, you can start doing pushups again. Doing some stretching exercises (for 2-3 minutes) before doing pushup can help you lower the stiffness. Also, it can help you warm up your body to do pushups.
Not applicable if you only do knee pushup and wall pushups.
If you are worried and want to experience less or no stiffness at all then do some stretching exercises before pushup targeting hand muscles, shoulder and your upper body.
Then, only do 4-6 pushup in a day for 5 days, with – 1-day gap in between pushup days. After 5 days you can increase the number of pushups. And can train 2 days and take 1-day rest.
Push-up routine for intermediate level
Once you can do 20-50 pushups in one go you are at the intermediate level.
If you are doing 2-3 sets of pushup then it’s recommended for you to do pushups 4 days in a week. Because you are doing more pushups. So, you need to increase the resting time.
Your weekly pushup routine may look like this – Day 1 pushup, day 2 rest, day 3 & 4 pushups, rest day 5, day 6 pushup, day 7 rest.
To increase your stamina and strength further you can try 2-4 variations of pushups. One of the best pushup variations is – feet elevated pushup. It will increase the tension on your hands, shoulder and good for building a wider chest.
Leave a comment below if you want a detailed post on best pushup variations.
Push-up routine for advanced level
Once you can do 50+ pushups in one go then you are at the advanced level.
To gain your muscle size you can do 3 sets of pushups.
In the first set do 35-40 pushups, in second set 25-30 pushups and in the third set, do pushups until failure.
You can do pushups for 3 days a week.
If you want to increase the muscle volume and build extra strength, you can try pushup with extra weight. You can use a backpack with some books for that extra weight.
Remember, you don’t need a lot of weight at first. Increase the weight gradually after 20-30 days. Start with 5 lbs (or 2.5 -3kgs) of extra weight.
If you decide to add weights you need to take 2 days of rest between two pushups session.
Frequently asked questions related to push-ups
Some might find it difficult to perform a normal pushup at first. To be able to do a regular pushup; first, you need to build your muscle strength. You can try other pushup variations like knee pushup and wall pushup. They are easy to do and help you build up your muscle strength and improve your stamina. After doing those variations for some days you will be able to do normal push-ups easily.
Doing pushup every day is not recommended. Because after you do pushups your muscles need time to recover itself. Doing pushup often is good for building strength, muscle mass and to tone your body. But you shouldn’t do pushup every day. Best is to do pushup 2 days and take 1-day rest or you can do pushup 3 days and take 1-2 days of rest.
The best way to increase the number of pushups you can do is to do pushup often or maintain consistency. It isn’t recommended to do pushup every day. But you can do pushup 3-4 days in a week. And take rest on other days. To be able to do more pushups, you can do 2-3 sets of pushups during a pushup session. This will help you build your stamina and will strengthen those muscles that engage while doing pushups. The key thing to increase the number of pushups you can do is to be consistent with your training, make sure your body is getting enough rest and you are following a healthy diet.
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