Pushups

BeanBoi45

BeanBoi45

USAFA ‘25 | USNA & USMA Appointee
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
36
Having a very hard time increasing my pushups. I’m a male. Any tips or advice?
 
Pushups! Not trying to be unresponsive, but doing pushups is the best way to improve. There are some good youtube videos to make sure your form if correct. Wake up - do pushups, do pushups throughout the day, do pushups before you go to bed.
 
Agree with above. I maxed mine by doing pushups every day and doing sets of 1/2 of my max for speed. Try some weighted tricep and bench press work at the gym as well, good luck to you.
 
Doing more pushups is obviously key, but for purposes of the CFA, you also have to figure out what is your best cadence over the two minutes. Is it to do 40 in the first minute, pause (piked) and eke out a few every 10 seconds? Is it to do 20, then pause, etc etc. If you figure out how you personally perform best, you'll be able to eke out a few more that will hopefully put you over the top.
 
NJDadofDSUSMA2024Hopeful said:
Doing more pushups is obviously key, but for purposes of the CFA, you also have to figure out what is your best cadence over the two minutes. Is it to do 40 in the first minute, pause (piked) and eke out a few every 10 seconds? Is it to do 20, then pause, etc etc. If you figure out how you personally perform best, you'll be able to eke out a few more that will hopefully put you over the top.
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Very good advice here. So many say max max max. But the CFA is a strategic event. See it as such. I have seen those who do 10 plus past the max on an event. That is wasted energy. And that costs the candidate in their overall.
The CFA is a chess game. Train and practice in real time. And make sure you strategically make decisions to ensure your best overall.
 
Rememher the muscle groups you are using for each event and how to work those groups. You can work core and the muscles will recover within 24 hours. For arms, shoulders, and back you should work them every other day. For running you should mix it up with workouts (running) 4 to 5 days out of 7.
Get on a regular routine as posted earlier and push yourself to increase numbers over time. Proper performance during practice will lead to proper performance on the CFA.
 
Doing push-ups is the best way to improve! Weight training is a good overall supplement, but doing mostly pushups will help you to improve.
Do different types of pushups ie: wide, regular, tricep(diamond), elevated, and release.
You can alternate the types and break them into sets of reps. Make a log to gauge your improvement. You can do as many as you can non stop. Then rest. Or do as many as you can while “resting” as needed, but only while planking, not on your knees.
It is also important to focus on form initially more than reps. Have someone video you while doing a set and then watch yourself. Make adjustments as necessary and continue with proper form.
You can do this in a one hour workout also practicing sit-ups etc...
You will be able to do hundreds of reps in that one hour workout before you know it!
 
I just want to reiterate, that it is worth trying different pacing approaches to the two minutes of pushups. By themselves when you are working out, but also in the order you take the CFA when you are practicing it. Some people will fare better doing 20-20-15-10 to get a really great 65. Other people could get that 65 by doing 40-10-10-5
You would be surprised how different people react to varying rest periods (resting while piked, hands and feet on the floor, butt in the air).
Find what works best for you.
 
Take a video of yourself doing your best pushups and compare your form to an instructional video for the CFA. This way, you'll be able to critique your own form, and perhaps get a better perspective on how to strategize your two minutes for the CFA. Analyze your strengths - are you able to do more over a long amount of time, or can you crank a lot out in a minute and run out of gas quickly?
 
One tip I highly recommend (and that many of my classmates and I use) is to do practice push-ups where you go down as low as you possibly can and then go up with full extension to where your arms are locked. Doing push-ups his way will initially be much harder and lower your push-up count, but you will develop those muscles much more effectively. Also, don't forget that for the CFA, you only need to break 90 degrees, so it should be much easier (and faster) to do those reps compared to your practice push-ups. I've found if you can do 40-50 solid reps, you should have no problem maxing with 75.
 
Remember that proper form will give you the most benefit the fastest. Emphasize doing solid reps. A good weekend (or weekday if you have virtual school or done mind being watched) is what I call "greasing the grave". Essentially, from the moment you wake up to an hour before bed, do 20 pushups every half hour. Do that maybe 2-3 times a week with other pushup variations and youll see numbers in no time.
 
Keep practicing push ups. The less you do push ups, the less push ups you will be able to do. I have noticed that if you stop doing push ups for more than two weeks, your push up max begins to gradually decrease. Same goes for pull ups.
 
beyond said:
www.hundredpushups.com

I start six weeks before the PRT every year and I crush the hell out of it for an old man.
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My last time stationed with the Marines my corpsmen and I decided to show off and all run the Marine PFT instead of the Navy PRT. I was 40 years old and passed. Barely. I can today still do push-ups, but the real problem is getting up off the floor.
 
Another suggestion that worked for me is to start bench pressing. Bench works a lot of the same muscles of push-ups (chest, shoulders, triceps) and it breaks up the monotony of just doing reps after reps.
 
Try Stew Smith's pushup plan. Basically, you take your max, multiply it by 4 and do that everyday. It doesn't have to be all at once, just over the course of the day. Do this for 10 days and rest for 3 days. For the 3 rest days, don't do any pushups or chest workouts, but you can do your normal workout.
 
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