Pushups are great for building your upper body and improving your body strength and stamina. Most people know that if you want to do more pushups then you have to do pushups more often.
However, if you only do pushups then you will progress but it can take a long time before you can see satisfying results.
The good news is there are training methods that can shorten the time it takes to get better at pushups.
In this article, you will read everything you need to know in order to do more pushups and how to get better at pushups.
Let’s begin.
How to get better at pushups
To get better at pushups, you have to first change the way you do pushups. Then you need to include more pushup variations and other exercises in your workout routine to improve the overall strength of those muscle groups that are engaged while doing pushups.
Following this for some weeks will increase the number of normal pushups you can do and it will become easier than earlier to do pushups.
Here’s how you can get better at doing pushups.
Include more pushup variations to increase your body strength
If you want to do more pushups then you have to increase your body strength and train those muscle groups that are engaged while performing a pushup.
So if you can do 15-20 pushups in one go then to be able to do 50 pushups you need to do other pushup variations along with normal pushups.
Performing different pushup types will help you to train a wide range of muscle groups and over time it will automatically improve your muscle strength and you can do a lot more pushups than earlier.
Along with normal pushups you have to do incline and decline pushups if you want to get better at pushups.
Here’s a video that will show you how to do incline pushups the right way.
Incline pushups are great to improve your shoulder strength, core strength and your elbow joint strength. These are the body parts that are mainly used to do pushups. Improving the strength of these body parts will help you to increase the number of pushups you can do.
You should know that while doing incline pushups your total body weight is not applied to your shoulder and hands. Some of your body weight also get transferred onto your legs thus you will be able to do more incline pushups than normal pushups.
Doing more incline pushups is a great way to train your body to hold up for a long duration when you finally want to do normal pushups.
After you have completed incline pushups, you have to do decline pushups to further strengthen your shoulder and hand, muscle groups.
The fact is – unlike incline pushups in decline pushups more of your body weight pressure is applied over to your shoulder and hands thus you will do fewer decline pushups than incline pushups.
As you get used to tolerating more pressure over your shoulder and hands after doing decline pushups if you began to do normal pushups then you will feel your body become lightweight than before.
It happens because to do decline pushups you have to apply more force.
Here’s a video on how to do decline pushups.
To get better at doing pushups, you have to do all three pushup variations. First, you need to do incline pushups then decline pushups and at last normal pushups.
Here’s a workout plan you should follow if you want to get better at doing pushups and want to increase the number of pushups you can do in one go.
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Incline pushups | Until failure | 3 |
| Decline pushups | Until failure | 2 |
| Normal pushups | Until failure | 2 |
Related: Are pushups everyday overtraining?
Exercises you need to do if you want to do more pushups
If you want to do more pushups, then along with different pushup types you have to do some exercises that will improve your overall body strength and especially those muscle groups that are engaged while doing a pushup.
First, it is crucial to improve your core strength. To maintain the correct posture while doing pushups you need a strong core that can hold your body straight for the time you are doing pushups.
As you want to do more pushups you need to spend more time in a pushup position with a straight back that’s why you must do exercises to improve your core strength.
The best exercise to improve your core strength is planks.
You need to do 3-4 sets of planks and in each set, you need to be in plank position for 30-40 seconds.
Also, you can modify your plank position so that you get maximum benefits from it. Instead of doing planks with folded arms, you need to keep your arms straight.
So to do a modified plank you need to go to the pushup position and keep your arms and back straight. And stay in that position for how long you can.
The second exercise you need to do to get better at pushups is pushup hold.
To do this exercise you need to be in a pushup position and slowly lower your body. Halfway to lower your body on the floor – you need to hold that position for 10 seconds then slowly lower your body and while getting up you have to go upwards normally as you go when doing normal pushups.
Repeat this movement 5-10 times and do 2 sets of this to increase the strength of all those muscle groups that are engaged while doing pushups.
Key takeaways:
- Do 3-4 sets of planks.
- In each plank set, stay in the plank position for 30-40 seconds and keep your arms straight while doing planks.
- The second exercise is a halfway pushup hold.
- Do this exercise 5-10 times for 2 sets.
Related: Benefits of pushups in the morning.
How to get better at pushups for beginners
As a beginner, if you want to improve the number of pushups you can do in one go then you have to try to do multiple sets of pushups. In each pushup set, you need to try to cross your limits and try hard to complete one or two more pushups. So, every time you do pushups you need to do pushups until failure.
Along with regular pushups you need to do wall pushups in order to get better at pushups.
Doing wall pushups will help you to get used to the pushups movements and improve your shoulder and arm strength. Practice doing 1-2 sets of wall pushups until failure for some weeks and you will see gradually you are getting better at doing pushups.
Also, as you have read earlier you need to do some other exercises to improve your overall body strength and especially those muscle groups that are engaged while doing pushups.
So you need to do wall pushups, planks and incline and decline pushups.
Here’s a pushup workout plan you should follow to increase the number of pushups you can do.
| Exercise | Reps | Sets |
|---|---|---|
| Wall pushups | Until failure | 2-3 |
| Planks | 30-40 seconds | 3-4 |
| Incline pushups | Until failure | 2 |
| Decline pushups | Until failure | 2 |
| Normal pushups | Until failure | 1-2 |
| Halfway pushup hold | 5-10 | 2 |
Related: Pushup routine for beginners.
How to get better at pushups fast
To see major improvements in the number of pushups you can do it can take up to 45 days. But there are ways you can shorten this period and it can vary from person to person.
The best way to get better at pushups fast is to do multiple sets of pushups and in each pushup set, do pushups until failure.
Along with normal pushups you have to do incline and decline pushups if you want to get better at pushups fast.
Secondly, you need to do some other exercises that strengthen all those muscle groups that are used while doing a pushup.
You have already read the types of exercises you need to do in the earlier section in detail. Here’s a recap.
- You need to do 3-4 sets of planks.
- Do halfway pushups holds.
- Do 5-10 reps and do 2 sets.
- Do wall pushups if you are a beginner and can do below 10 pushups in one go.
How to get better at pushups in a week
To get better at pushups in a week you need to first understand that that’s a short amount of time to see any substantial increase in the number of pushups you can do in one go.
You can get better at pushups in a week if you do all the exercises I have already mentioned before in this article. But the real fact is even if you do all the above exercises you can increase the number of pushups you can do by 5-10 more pushups.
It takes time to get better at doing pushups. But if you follow all the tips above then you can see good results and improve the number of pushups you can do after 45 days.
Conclusion
How to get better at pushups? The answer is you need to do multiple variations of pushups. Namely, you need to do incline and decline pushups and regular pushups.
If you are a beginner, then along with the above three pushup variations you need to do wall pushups to increase the number of pushups you can do.
Lastly, do planks with straight arms and pushup hold in the midway to strengthen all the muscle groups that are engaged while doing pushups.
If you train as mentioned in the article for 4-5 days a week then you will see substantial improvement in the number of pushups you can do in one go after 40-45 days.
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