How Many Pushups Should A Beginner Do To See Results?
The best part about being a beginner at anything is the rapid initial success. When it comes to strength training, your first months will be a glorious ride filled with constant improvement and significant strength gains. If you are just getting started with strength training, the first upper body exercise you need to master is the push-up.
Mastering the push-up is no easy task. Strict, slow, and controlled push-ups are hard, and that is why they are such a great way to see an immediate improvement in your upper-body strength. But before you drop and give me twenty, please ease into it.
How do you warm up for push-ups?
Push-ups are a serious exercise, respect that. You don't want to hurt your wrists, shoulders, or elbows, trying to better yourself. Remember gym class? Shoulder circles, wrist circles, and anything else that gets your arms moving is a great idea when preparing to do a push-up.
Also, before doing a push-up on the ground, it can be beneficial to practice on a wall; it is an easy warm-up and a great way to dial in on your pushing mechanics.
From the wall, try a lower surface, your desk or a bench makes an excellent platform for your next progression. Always keep your elbows under your shoulders like the woman pictured above.
Once you are comfortable with how to do desk push-ups or assisted push-ups it is time to move to the floor, the real deal.
It is always better to do easier push-ups with good form than harder push-ups with poor mechanics. If you get too tired to continue doing regular push-ups, drop to your knees and finish the set. If you are already on your knees, put your hands on any raised platform.
How many push-ups should you do to see results?
An excellent place to start with any upper body strength training exercise is three sets of eight repetitions. However, I would adjust that based on how challenging the push-up is for you. Pick a variation that you can complete at least three sets of eight repetitions and work your way up to three sets of twelve with that same variation. Once you can do that, add a set and drop the repetitions back to eight.
EXAMPLE
Day 1: 3x8
Day 3: 3x9
Day 5: 3x10
Day 7: 3x11
Day 9: 3x12
Day 11: 4x8
Day 13: 4x9
Day 15: 4x10
Day 17: 4x11
Day 19: 4x12
Day 21: 5x8
Day 23: 5x9
Day 25: 5x10
...Continue until you can do 9x12
This type of progression focuses on slowly increasing the total number of push-ups done per day. These workouts can be done every day or every other, but to make consistent improvement, make sure to rest when you are sore and take the days off that you need.
As a beginner at strength training, if you focus your initial efforts on a push-up progression, in two months, you will see massive results. Give it a try, you'll be happy with the increased definition, muscle size, and strength.
After a month of this though, you may find that regular push-ups become a little dull.
TRY THESE VARIATIONS TO KEEP IT INTERESTING
Tricep push-ups
Tricep push-ups, as you may have gathered from the name, really challenge your triceps. They are a great way to increase the definition in your arms:
Spiderman push-ups
Spiderman Push-ups are a challenging core and coordination exercise:
If you can add in these more advanced variations with ease, it might be time to graduate to the weight room, you’ve earned it. Remember with everything strength-related, start slow and build your way up. No matter what shape you are in, you can see major results from push-ups!
What results will you see from push-ups?
More developed pecs
Broader shoulders
More developed biceps and triceps
Stronger core
More developed upper back
The best products for training push-ups
The best part of the push-up is that it does not require any equipment. You don’t need anything to start doing push-ups. However, if you are planning on progressing past a basic push-up, here are a few products I’d recommend.
TRX: A TRX is a great at-home fitness tool that helps you train the antagonist(opposite) muscles of the push-up. As the push-up is all about, well, pushing. The TRX is all about pulling.
Parallettes: These definitely aren’t necessary. They are for training advanced calisthenic movements. Although they can allow you to rapidly progress your push-ups and upper body strength. Parallettes are great for training your shoulders, triceps, and core.
Push-up handles: A surprising number of people have wrist issues, and have trouble holding themselves in the push-up position. These handles simply help take the stress off your wrist while training push-ups.
Pull-up bar: If you are already capable of doing a pull-up, skip the TRX and grab a pull-up bar, it is the perfect exercise to complement push-ups. A favorite workout of mine is 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups as fast as possible. It is tough but you will see major results from pull-ups in conjunction with push-ups!
