Can you get ripped doing push ups

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prism

Senior member
Oct 23, 2004
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you can make your muscles only so big without drugs. genetics plays most of the role. derrik rose for example is known to not even lift weights that much, hes just built that way.

you can tone your muscles up and make them puffier, but if you want to gain any real size you either need to do steroids or start lifting weights when youre 15 and dont ever stop. ever. the military even claims by age 25 your body has built all the muscle mass it ever will... so start young

I sincerely hope this is all sarcasm on your part. If so, make it more apparent so the new people don't take you too seriously. If you're not being sarcastic, do yourself a favor and read. Something. Anything.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
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Depends on genetics more than anything, look at ex football player Herschel Walker, he claims to have never lifted a weight in his life. All he does is push ups & Sit ups. Of course he's a generic freak, but this is how he looks at 48 years old.


hw_101110.jpg


And if you are to believe what he says, he says he doesn't ever eat red meat, most nights he has a little fresh poultry with a salad and little soup. That could be anywhere from 400 to 1,200 calories depending on dressing used, and whether or not the soup is cream or broth based. But if you are only eating one meal it doesn’t matter.

he eats 1 meal a day, with very little protein and he looks like that. So he's proof nothing but push ups and sits up can make you shredded as hell :D
How do you get big biceps doing situps and pushups? And what about the trapezius muscles?
 

QueBert

Lifer
Jan 6, 2002
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How do you get big biceps doing situps and pushups? And what about the trapezius muscles?

I don't know, you do 5,000 push ups a day? I take him for his word because he seems like an honest dude, and he has no reason to lie about not lifting weights. I'd say genetically he's that 1 in a million except to every rule. Old school friends have said in interviews he had muscles before he even started working out.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
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I don't know, you do 5,000 push ups a day? I take him for his word because he seems like an honest dude, and he has no reason to lie about not lifting weights. I'd say genetically he's that 1 in a million except to every rule. Old school friends have said in interviews he had muscles before he even started working out.
Do 5000 pushups and see how tired your biceps are after that. Go on, do it.
 

iluvdeal

Golden Member
Nov 22, 1999
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I don't know, you do 5,000 push ups a day? I take him for his word because he seems like an honest dude, and he has no reason to lie about not lifting weights.

He also still runs 4.35 40 yard dash still, sleep 4 hours a night, eats one meal a day, has multiple personalities, played Russian roulette with himself 6 times.... The guy is a pathological liar if you haven't figured it out already.
 

elitejp

Golden Member
Jan 2, 2010
1,080
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now back to the OP...YOU will not look like this dude by just doing push ups. YOU will have a very hard time looking like this dude by just working out. YOU will have to get your workout routine, eating habits and every other aspect of your personal life in perfect tune to start to look like this guy. Im not saying this to be mean but for normal people this is what it takes to look like somebody like that.
 

Saint Nick

Lifer
Jan 21, 2005
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It would help greatly to start weight lifting in your mid to late teens. I wish that I would have known more about it back then. Now Im' playing catch up.
 

momeNt

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2011
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He also still runs 4.35 40 yard dash still, sleep 4 hours a night, eats one meal a day, has multiple personalities, played Russian roulette with himself 6 times.... The guy is a pathological liar if you haven't figured it out already.

someone is jelly
 

tedrodai

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2006
1,014
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It would help greatly to start weight lifting in your mid to late teens. I wish that I would have known more about it back then. Now Im' playing catch up.

Well, yeah it helps to start as soon as you're able, but don't use that as an excuse. You can start at any time and get ripped. It takes years of dedication regardless.
 

Mr. Pedantic

Diamond Member
Feb 14, 2010
5,039
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now back to the OP...YOU will not look like this dude by just doing push ups. YOU will have a very hard time looking like this dude by just working out. YOU will have to get your workout routine, eating habits and every other aspect of your personal life in perfect tune to start to look like this guy. Im not saying this to be mean but for normal people this is what it takes to look like somebody like that.
If you can find anyone who can look like that doing only pushups and situps, I give you props. Otherwise, what you said is true for everyone.
 

Capt Caveman

Lifer
Jan 30, 2005
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now back to the OP...YOU will not look like this dude by just doing push ups. YOU will have a very hard time looking like this dude by just working out. YOU will have to get your workout routine, eating habits and every other aspect of your personal life in perfect tune to start to look like this guy. Im not saying this to be mean but for normal people this is what it takes to look like somebody like that.

You've been trolled. Notice how the OP hasn't come back to post in this thread. Take a look at all of his other threads.

What a bunch of maroons...
 

surfsatwerk

Lifer
Mar 6, 2008
10,110
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You've been trolled. Notice how the OP hasn't come back to post in this thread. Take a look at all of his other threads.

What a bunch of maroons...
Every time I read your posts there's a disconnect between how Capt Caveman talks and what you write that I find very disturbing on a gut level.
 

momeNt

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2011
9,297
352
126
You've been trolled. Notice how the OP hasn't come back to post in this thread. Take a look at all of his other threads.

What a bunch of maroons...

I don't know how much trolling was really done in this thread though. Nobody invested enough time to really get trolled. Same as those fresh prince of bel-air trolls. I'm almost positive that the people reading it spent less time than they did writing it, so who really got trolled?
 

RapidSnail

Diamond Member
Apr 28, 2006
4,258
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FWIW, I say with extreme confidence that Herschel Walker eats more than 1200 calories a day and sleeps more than 5 hours a night and does more than only pushups and situps to maintain his physique and stamina levels. Based on the image posted earlier, he's also probably using or has used performance enhancing drugs, likely HGH/IGF-1 and testosterone or other synthetic analogues of endogenous hormones.

Of course he's still gifted genetically and an amazing athlete, but let's not pretend that he can thwart thermodynamics and make better gains then virtually every natural athlete ever while eating near the level of an anorexic, teenage girl and resting about as much as a typical "frat bro" during pledge.

This is the problem with public perception of advanced athletes. They fail to realize the complexity and intensity of training and buy into what is more or less a publicity stunt to increase the mystique surrounding the athlete's "god-like" attributes.
 

Ed Abbott

Junior Member
Aug 20, 2016
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Here is the fact of push ups. I am Military. Doing push ups in a routine will indeed rip your body. You need to switch up your hand location on sets, and work different parts of your upper body, but you have to be consistent and push yourself every day. I started out after my injuries in the ARMY, with 100 a day, then 150, 200 and moved 3 days later to 300, then moved to 410 4 days later and now I do 500 a day. I have been at this for 3 weeks... I have burned so much fat already, and I look like I work out in a gym. Granted I have always been a big guy, but I haven't touch a weight in years. Now, 3 weeks into this and I look amazing already. My wife is amazed, my kids, and everyone that sees me gets that look in their eyes, of... Oh shit this is one big son of a bitch. My dentist, said to me yesterday, Man, you are just huge, you could kick my ass easily. This is a VA Dentist, younger then me, and fresh out of the Military. I just saw him 2 weeks ago and he said with in those two weeks, I look completely different. So, I have gained muscle mass, toned up and burned those fat deposits that men get in our upper body. All in 3 weeks. Spreading out the Push Ups over the course of the day in sets of 30, never less than 30 but sometimes 40. So can you get big, ripped and amaze yourself and others by doing just push ups? Yes, too easy but really hard. It works. Just be careful listening to fitness guys, they tend to think GYM, GYM, GYM always. Take it from a 45 year old who is in better shape then most 25 year olds by only doing Push Ups... you can do it.
 

TallBill

Lifer
Apr 29, 2001
46,044
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I am military the vast majority of the military is low body fat and skinny. Sure, "ripped" if you wanna call it that, but typically skinny.
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,929
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Absolutely you can get ripped if you cut carbs and control kcals. You may not get as big as weights, but you'll still look good up to the standard of women. Too big and it's a turnoff for a lot of them.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
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You could probably get pretty big doing one armed pushups. On vacation this July I found myself with no easy way to get a good chest workout, so I got by with a combination of regular and one armed pushups on that day. It took a little effort, but I think I ended up with nearly as good of a workout as I would have gotten with free weights.
 

shaolinmilk

Junior Member
Aug 23, 2016
2
0
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You will definitely lose fat and gain lean muscle. You absolutely cannot gain a considerable amount of size unless you're already big. The muscle needs to be pushed to it's limit so it can grow. When you do pushups, it's a repetitive motion that eventually becomes more cardio than anything.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
19
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You guys are all smoking drugs

You clearly haven't explored body weight exercises. There's lots of ways to increase the resistance to the point that you can build muscle reliably. One armed push-ups, pistol squats, various kinds of pull-ups, rings, etc. obviously you're still limiting yourself in some ways, but I wouldn't write it off entirely either.
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,929
142
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You clearly haven't explored body weight exercises. There's lots of ways to increase the resistance to the point that you can build muscle reliably. One armed push-ups, pistol squats, various kinds of pull-ups, rings, etc. obviously you're still limiting yourself in some ways, but I wouldn't write it off entirely either.
Yep, totally agree with SlitheryDee. Most normal people don't need weights, there are a ton of exercises that are hard as nails for the average and even above average person regarding strength. Some examples:

I'd try bodyweight first and then when you think you've done all of the variations then advance to weights. And by variations you can do things like isometric holds, wall holds, shoulder press walk outs and walk ins etc:

There's just a ton of variations you can do to really increase not only explosiveness and time under tension. Will weights get you results faster? Maybe. But you can still do it without them if you know what you're doing relative to the body part you want to grow.