Today I did 50 Push-Ups in a row.
Finally. I have been working on getting up to 50 push-ups for several months.
In this brief article, I will share with you a reasonable and moderate Push Up Workout program for reaching 50 push-ups in a row.
I have done 50 + 30 + 25 and will do two more sets of 25 for 155 push ups.
Push Up Routine
How to Increase Your Push Ups
Why Push Ups?
You do not have to be a Marine to do push-ups, but the fact that every military in the world including the Marines does push-ups, should give you a good reason to do them for yourself.
Push-Ups require absolutely no equipment, just yourself and a floor.
A good form Push Up Routine will engage most of the muscles of your body, from head to toe, your core, abdominals, arms, back, shoulders and even your wrists.
Start with One Push Up
Even if you can do more than one push-up, especially if you are over 40 or 50 years old, I think that it is prudent to just start with one good form push-up for your push up routine.
If you have not done push-ups for a long time, you are going to be very sore if you start with 15 or 20 push-ups and I want you to do your push-ups every morning before you take your shower and have breakfast.
One reason that I want you to do your push ups in the morning, is that
1) you are lightest in the morning,
2) Knowing that you will be doing push ups in the morning will help you to not binge or eat too late the night before and
3) a Push Up Routine is a great way to start your day in a healthy way.
You will see that after doing push ups, you are not going to want to eat cake, you will want to eat real food, food that will get you back into shape, the best shape that you can be in.
That is why I recommend that you start with one very good form push up and go from there.
The Gradual Push Up Program
Every day, do your best to add one push up to your maximum number of push ups.
Over the course of the first 10 days, you should be able to get up to 10 push ups.
Once you get up to 10 push ups, you can add one more set of five, and in the following push-up progress chart, you will start to do multiple sets, it will look like this:
One Set of Push Ups
from 1 – 10 Push Ups = 10 max push-ups for the day
Two Sets of Push Ups
10 and 5 = 15 max push-ups for the day
15 and 6
20 and 7
25 and 10 = 35 max push-ups for the day
Three Sets of Push Ups
30 and 15 and 10 = 55 max push-ups for the day
35 and 20 and 15 = 70 max push-ups for the day
Four Sets of Push Ups
40 and 25 and 20 and 15 = 100 max push-ups for the day
45 and 25 and 25 and 15 = 110 max push-ups for the day
Five Sets of Push-Ups
50 and 30 and 25 and 25 and 25 = 155 push-ups for the day
How much rest in between sets of the Push Up Workout?
I think you need at least 5 minutes, especially if you are over 40 or 50.
However, you can take longer and do your sets throughout the day.
The earlier you finish though will give you more time to recover before your next sets the next day.
I know that some people recommend that you take a day of rest in between push up workout days to let your muscles totally recover, but so far my experience has been that I feel better and my body reacts better with consecutive days, of course, let your own body tell you how it is feeling.
Push Up Routine Diet
Let's make this real simple.
Eat real food.
For breakfast, after your push up routine and shower, you will be ready for some good hot food, especially in the winter.
Have a cup of hot old fashioned oatmeal, some eggs or a vegetarian burger.
If you are not a fan of oatmeal, you can have brown rice, quinoa or kasha.
You want to stay lower on the glycemic index when possible, there is no point in raising your sugar levels when you are trying to get into better shape.
If you want to be lean and toned, you need to eat quality food, that is the bottom line.
For snack, have some nuts and raisins, or yogurt, or an apple and almonds.
For lunch, have a bowl of black bean soup, or go for brown rice and chicken.
Have another snack of nuts when you get hungry or berries.
For dinner, a sweet potato and salmon with broccoli or spinach will round out a good day.
Even a glass of red wine will work fine if you are socializing or need to unwind.
Push Ups are too Hard?
That's right.
It is a good thing that push ups are hard.
Sure it is a lot easier to do curls or wrist curls or even leg raises.
You will get a lot more benefit from pushups which require you to use your entire body than you will from isolated exercises.
Push Up Motivation
How do you stay motivated?
Every one has their own reason, some for themselves, some for their significant other, or for their kids, or you just want to feel as good as possible.
For me, my motivation is a combination of all of the above, I want to feel as good as possible, I am grateful that I am even able to do any push-ups, let alone 50, and when I started my push up routine, I started with one!
That was a year and a half and 50 pounds ago.
Over the last year and a half, I have been able to reshape my body to looking pretty decent for a 56 year old man.
I want to keep improving and building, so for me there is not much room for error, I will keep doing my best to be healthy, for myself, for my significant other, for my children and grand children.
I have a goal of getting to 100 push-ups, I know that it is very rare, but it sounds like a good goal to me, so I will continue on the path of gradual improvement. It has been working so far!
Push Up Workout Comments and Results
Please share your comments and/or results doing a push up routine.
Rich is a certified personal trainer-AAPT and the author of 