View Full Version : Push Up advice
ChewyyCheezyy
04-04-10, 12:43 PM
Hey I am posting this question here because I feel the best advice would be given by Marines. Well my question is how can I increase my max push ups per set? I know its not part of the ist but being able to do lots of push ups can't hurt. Right now my recruiter has the pool doing about 2000 push ups and crunches a week (1000-1500 from thursday to tuesday and 500-1000 from tuesday to thursday) but it seems like my push endurance is getting smaller. Any advice? Please and thank you.
Endurance89
04-04-10, 12:47 PM
Give your body a break if you feel that you are losing endurance; you may have reached muscular fatigue and that is bad news. Take a couple days off, then start up again. Also make sure that you are getting enough water and sodium/salt in your diet. (That's a good rule of thumb for when you hit up MCRD, too).
As far as getting the numbers up, it's a matter of doing pushups, so it's a catch 22; you can't do more because you have done so much. Ironic, isn't it? Like I said, take a break and then start up again. For what it is worth, I got my push ups up by doing a Marine Corps push up (4 count) for every time I was killed while playing COD:MW2 multiplayer. :D
Good luck.
ChewyyCheezyy
04-04-10, 12:55 PM
Good advice ahah yah I do em when I get a chance and the thing is I can't take a break because my recruiter assigns push up homework every pt day nd I'm pushing every day to get it done.
SGT7477
04-04-10, 01:06 PM
Hey I am posting this question here because I feel the best advice would be given by Marines. Well my question is how can I increase my max push ups per set? I know its not part of the ist but being able to do lots of push ups can't hurt. Right now my recruiter has the pool doing about 2000 push ups and crunches a week (1000-1500 from thursday to tuesday and 500-1000 from tuesday to thursday) but it seems like my push endurance is getting smaller. Any advice? Please and thank you.
Give your body a rest, your body is in the breaking down period, Semper Fidelis.:flag:
Make sure your eating properly, and getting plenty of protein. Choose a day as your rest day. Everyone's body is different, but everyone needs time for their muscles to recover. Whenever you do pushups, or any strength training exercise, your tearing your muscles apart. If you don't give them time to heal, you won't get stronger. Your recruiter may be telling you that you need to push every day...w/e...if you want to get stronger you need to give your body a break.
They way I got better at pushups was to just find a number that I could do, but was difficult in every set. Lets just say 30. Whenever I had a chance during the day I would just knock out a set. Once I noticed that I wasn't struggling to do 30 any more, I would bump it up 5, and just continue. You could also do it per week, IE week one do sets of 30, take off Saturday and Sunday, and start doing sets of 35 the next week.
ChewyyCheezyy
04-04-10, 01:15 PM
Thanks everyone for the advice. I know it doesn't really matter but what's a good set amount to go into bootcamp with?
stein07
04-04-10, 01:40 PM
Make sure you are doing them correctly. Don't sacrifice doing a full push up just for getting a higher number of reps.
No matter how many you can do, the DI's will want more than that at boot. It's just another way to build upper body strength. The count isn't that important.
ChewyyCheezyy
04-04-10, 01:45 PM
That's what I assumed Stein. Thanks for clarifying.
Sgt Leprechaun
04-04-10, 06:57 PM
That's 'Cpl Stein' to you, please.
ChewyyCheezyy
04-04-10, 07:08 PM
Apologies I did not mean any dis respect. Won't happen again
Lisa 23
04-04-10, 07:10 PM
I'm sure if you use google, you'll get plenty of ideas on how to max your pushups.
Sgt Leprechaun
04-04-10, 07:27 PM
No problem, nothing personal, just "Those pesky rules" :)
If I were smarter, I could give you advice on your pushups....but I'm not a "PT" guru like some. Seems like what they are saying is good advice though.
Lisa 23
04-04-10, 10:26 PM
Some of these young men and women who come here looking for answers to their questions should try looking them up on the internet first. I would post the link to a site where he can get some tips, but the link is blocked from this site.
Then if they can't find what they are looking for, ask.
They should also try using the search bar here on Leatherneck before asking questions. That's what it's there for.