Does more pushups = more strength?

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: TehMac
I'm into muscle building, simply put. Building biceps, triceps, pecs, etc.

Trying to tone down my stomach, make it a little less protruding. I weigh 165, am 6' now.



I don't have any dressing with salad. The Lasagna was a liberal estimate, probably every 2 weeks or so. It's hard to say.

Your diet could still be improved quite a bit, and if you want to lose fat, you would be best off tracking what you ate anyway.

I dont want to run myself into a skinny dude, I just want to turn it into muscle. Imo, situps are good for that, problem is, I don't have much time anymore.

if you don't eat right, you won't provide the necessary nutrients to do any of that. You need protein to recover (if all your doing is cardio and pushups/situps, you don't need a lot, just a good daily amount), and the other food groups to balance out energy and, well I'd just be talking out my ass if I continued. lol I do know you need to eat right so that nutrient levels and balanced and allow your body to maintain peak performance (or provide the key step to getting there), but how exactly each nutrient and food group act individually on your ability to better yourself, I don't know. I probably should take a food/health management course.

 

[Tylanner]

if your max reps are around 8-12 then yes

once you can max out at like 15-20+ push ups before being completely exhausted then you are just basically building endurance

 

[CStan]

My routine consists of close-hand push ups, clapping pushups, pull ups/chin ups on my door gym, and curls with some dumb bells. I also do leg lifts and sit ups. For cardio, I play basketball or jog. I don't really take it too seriously, but I feel and look pretty fit.

As for pushups increasing strength, my close-hand and clapping pushups definitely increased the strength of my chest. 1 day I might invest in a bench with some weights, but I really like exercises that use your own body weight.

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: Injury
Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle.

AFAIK, more pushups just equals a higher threshhold for doing more pushups.

I hope you're not serious.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Injury
Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle.

AFAIK, more pushups just equals a higher threshhold for doing more pushups.

I hope you're not serious.

You aren't going to build any serious amount of muscle by doing pushups unless you were malnourished to begin with. Even then, you would still have to be eating enough of the right foods to grow.

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: bladder23
By being able to do more pushups, does that equate into more strength?

In other words, does doing lots of pushups increase strength at all? or just muscle endurance?

Edit:

120 lbs
5'8
Can do 55 pushups consecutively

Have a gym membership. Need you guys to recommend me how to get triceps, biceps and abs. (Currently pushups, chinups, situps)

Go here, www.stewsmith.com, buy this, The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness and follow the workout routine. You will be in better shape than anyone at the gym.

That will get you lean, cut and in phenomenal shape, if you want a lot of muscle mass stick to weights.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: TehMac
I'm into muscle building, simply put. Building biceps, triceps, pecs, etc.

Trying to tone down my stomach, make it a little less protruding. I weigh 165, am 6' now.



I don't have any dressing with salad. The Lasagna was a liberal estimate, probably every 2 weeks or so. It's hard to say.

Your diet could still be improved quite a bit, and if you want to lose fat, you would be best off tracking what you ate anyway.

I dont want to run myself into a skinny dude, I just want to turn it into muscle. Imo, situps are good for that, problem is, I don't have much time anymore.

In order to stimulate muscle growth, you need to progressively lift heavier and heavier weights.

When I work out, I do 5 warm-up sets, then 3 "heavy" sets per muscle group. A "heavy" set is defined as one in which I will reach failure at or before 6 reps, but not before 4 reps. If I can do 7 reps, I increase the weight. If I can't do 4, I'm lifting too heavy. I usually do 3 different compound lifts like this per muscle group, with 3 "heavy" sets per lift.

After you begin stimulating your muscles properly, then you need to supply them with the building blocks to repair themselves and grow. The cornerstone is protein, followed by quality fats (i.e. not trans fat or saturated fat) and complex carbohydrates (i.e. brown rice and whole wheat and oats, not white rice, refined semolina pasta, simple sugars).

The usual metric for protein consumption is 1-2g of protein per pound of body weight. If you weigh 165 and begin a heavy lifting program, 200g of protein a day would suit you well. I'd recommend procuring a steady supply of Optimum Nutrition Pro Complex Gainer. I drink 2 of those shakes a day.

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Injury
Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle.

AFAIK, more pushups just equals a higher threshhold for doing more pushups.

I hope you're not serious.

You aren't going to build any serious amount of muscle by doing pushups unless you were malnourished to begin with. Even then, you would still have to be eating enough of the right foods to grow.

Well yea, you aren't going to get huge doing tons of pushups and no weights, but saying "Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle." is absolutely ridiculous. You will gain a lot of muscle and lose a lot of weight doing a good pushup, pullup, and situp routine, you will just be lean and cut, not bulky. Just because you can't bench 350 lbs doesn't mean that you don't have a ton of muscle, its just different.

Edit - to be clear, you have to do A LOT of pushups, pull ups, and sit ups. I'm not talking about just a couple sets of each.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Injury
Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle.

AFAIK, more pushups just equals a higher threshhold for doing more pushups.

I hope you're not serious.

You aren't going to build any serious amount of muscle by doing pushups unless you were malnourished to begin with. Even then, you would still have to be eating enough of the right foods to grow.

Well yea, you aren't going to get huge doing tons of pushups and no weights, but saying "Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle." is absolutely ridiculous. You will gain a lot of muscleand lose a lot of weight doing a good pushup, pullup, and situp routine, you will just be lean and cut, not bulky. Just because you can't bench 350 lbs doesn't mean that you don't have a ton of muscle, its just different.
Edit - to be clear, you have to do A LOT of pushups, pull ups, and sit ups. I'm not talking about just a couple sets of each.

Your bolded statements confuse me. First you agree with me that you aren't going to get "huge" doing pushups. Then you say you will gain "a lot" of muscle by doing just pushups, pullups, and situps.

Finally, you say that just because you can't bench 350 lbs. doesn't mean you don't have "a ton" of muscle, it's "just different".

I am confused by your post because you seem to use several vague and contradictory terms. I guess it all depends on what your idea of "huge" or "a ton" is. As I said before, gaining any muscle at all is more a function of your diet than anything else. Doing pushups does not build a "different type" of muscle than any other lift. Muscle is muscle. As I said before, you are going to have a hard time building any muscle at all if your workout only consists of pushups, situps, and pullups, even if you are eating enough.

A workout consisting only of pushups, pullups, and crunches might allow you to lose fat, but only because of the amount of calories burned. If you burn slightly more calories than you consume over a long period of time, then you will lose fat. Also, losing fat while retaining muscle results in increased definition, which can certainly make one appear more muscular, even if they didn't actually gain any muscle.

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: Injury
Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle.

AFAIK, more pushups just equals a higher threshhold for doing more pushups.

I hope you're not serious.

You aren't going to build any serious amount of muscle by doing pushups unless you were malnourished to begin with. Even then, you would still have to be eating enough of the right foods to grow.

Well yea, you aren't going to get huge doing tons of pushups and no weights, but saying "Pushups are more or less worthless in terms of losing weight/gaining muscle." is absolutely ridiculous. You will gain a lot of muscleand lose a lot of weight doing a good pushup, pullup, and situp routine, you will just be lean and cut, not bulky. Just because you can't bench 350 lbs doesn't mean that you don't have a ton of muscle, its just different.
Edit - to be clear, you have to do A LOT of pushups, pull ups, and sit ups. I'm not talking about just a couple sets of each.

Your bolded statements confuse me. First you agree with me that you aren't going to get "huge" doing pushups. Then you say you will gain "a lot" of muscle by doing just pushups, pullups, and situps.

Finally, you say that just because you can't bench 350 lbs. doesn't mean you don't have "a ton" of muscle, it's "just different".

I am confused by your post because you seem to use several vague and contradictory terms. I guess it all depends on what your idea of "huge" or "a ton" is. As I said before, gaining any muscle at all is more a function of your diet than anything else. Doing pushups does not build a "different type" of muscle than any other lift. Muscle is muscle. As I said before, you are going to have a hard time building any muscle at all if your workout only consists of pushups, situps, and pullups, even if you are eating enough.

A workout consisting only of pushups, pullups, and crunches might allow you to lose fat, but only because of the amount of calories burned. If you burn slightly more calories than you consume over a long period of time, then you will lose fat. Also, losing fat while retaining muscle results in increased definition, which can certainly make one appear more muscular, even if they didn't actually gain any muscle.

My point was, just because you aren't huge doesn't mean that you don't have a lot of muscle. Yes, pushups do build a different type of muscle than maxing out on a bench press. Push ups build fast twitch muscle fibers while heavy weights build slow twitch muscle fibers. You will build a lot of muscle using a good push up, pull up, sit up routine, you just won't look like a body builder.

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but are you saying that you won't gain a lot of muscle from doing heavy calisthenic routines? I don't think that special forces and SEALs use primarily calisthenics in their training to burn calories and increase definition....

I'm definitely not an expert here, but I used to be very big into calisthenics. I could do a lot more push ups than my friends that were into weights, but I couldn't bench for shit.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: JD50
I'm definitely not an expert here, but I used to be very big into calisthenics. I could do a lot more push ups than my friends that were into weights, but I couldn't bench for shit.

So what you are saying is that doing lots of pushups only gives you a higher threshold for doing more pushups?


MY point is that if you wake up in the morning and do even 100 pushups... even if it's everyday... you aren't going to notice a significant change in your physique unless you look over a longer timeline than if you did a full routine at the gym and ate foods that were beneficial to your goals.

 

[IamBusby]

But it's still going to both increase muscle and burn calories. To say it's almost worthless is clearly not true.

The fact that you can do more pushups the more you do prove you are increasing your muscle power. How else do you think you can do more after a few weeks of doing just pushups?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: LoKe
This is a funny thread. Pushups and situps are two of the greatest exercises you can do at home if you have no gym equipment. Now, that's not to say that you'll be ripped all over, but it will definitely help. Hell, even for cardio and building up your endurance, it's worth it.

herschel walker almost never went to the gym, he did thousands of pushups / situps every day.

he was a beast

 

[skace]

First off, anyone can come in here and say they do 50 pushups. Are you doing 50 correct pushups? How is your form? Do you go all the way to the floor? Do you keep your body straight? Do you bend? Do you take your time or do you rush through them as fast as you can? Do you do them at an incline? Have you tried?

I hate when 1 person says they do 50 pushups and then other people try and prescribe advice based on that.

Now, the other obvious thing is that you weigh 120 pounds, pushups are based around benching your weight, which is a good thing. But if you are tiny and don't have any fat or real muscle definition then it is going to be easy for you to get to a point where you can bench what you weigh. This doesn't mean pushups are going to do nothing for a 300 pound overweight man, who can most likely work several years off of pushups and still be gaining benefits. There are things you can do to make a pushup harder for your 120lb ass though. Like others say, use an incline, use weights, use proper form, do compound exercises that utilize pushups as part of the routine, use dumbbells during your pushup, etc. There are a million different pushup exercises because it is a really good base to work from.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I am working out 4 out of 7 days of the week now. I am feeling pretty good now, even though I haven't really lost a lot of weight, I was 169, and now I am 152 pounds, I think I am getting skinnier. (I am 5'9").

I think push ups are good. When I started at the beginning of the semester I could do like 8 and push myself to to do 10. Now I can do 30 (with good form), but after that I gotta take a rest to do anymore. I do kickboxing on tuesdays and thursdays which is a mix of things like pushups, pull ups, sit ups, and so forth, followed by some training in kickboxing, and at the end some cardio. On monday and weds I do either basketball, or racquetball which usually gets my heart rate going.



What I really want to try is this www.crossfit.com

Of course I would have to start off slowly but that would be my goals. Sadly, while I have motiviation, to work out, I am much more succesful with a partner, and no one wants to do any weight lifting or serious work outs with me...too busy or they just don't care.

 

[ahurtt]

To a point it will increase strength but then after that point you are simply gaining endurance. The only way to gain strength is to progressively keep lifting heavier weight.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: skace
First off, anyone can come in here and say they do 50 pushups. Are you doing 50 correct pushups? How is your form? Do you go all the way to the floor? Do you keep your body straight? Do you bend? Do you take your time or do you rush through them as fast as you can? Do you do them at an incline? Have you tried?

I hate when 1 person says they do 50 pushups and then other people try and prescribe advice based on that.

Now, the other obvious thing is that you weigh 120 pounds, pushups are based around benching your weight, which is a good thing. But if you are tiny and don't have any fat or real muscle definition then it is going to be easy for you to get to a point where you can bench what you weigh. This doesn't mean pushups are going to do nothing for a 300 pound overweight man, who can most likely work several years off of pushups and still be gaining benefits. There are things you can do to make a pushup harder for your 120lb ass though. Like others say, use an incline, use weights, use proper form, do compound exercises that utilize pushups as part of the routine, use dumbbells during your pushup, etc. There are a million different pushup exercises because it is a really good base to work from.

I can do right about 50 in 2 minutes for the APFT (army physical fitness test). Upper arms are supposed to be parallel with ground before you come back up, back straight and no dipping. Bad form will not count.
But that's because that tends to be half our PT.

 

[BAMAVOO]

Originally posted by: JD50

Originally posted by: bladder23
By being able to do more pushups, does that equate into more strength?

In other words, does doing lots of pushups increase strength at all? or just muscle endurance?

Edit:

120 lbs
5'8
Can do 55 pushups consecutively

Have a gym membership. Need you guys to recommend me how to get triceps, biceps and abs. (Currently pushups, chinups, situps)

Go here, www.stewsmith.com, buy this, The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness and follow the workout routine. You will be in better shape than anyone at the gym.

That will get you lean, cut and in phenomenal shape, if you want a lot of muscle mass stick to weights.

Does this really work? Have you done this and if so do you have pictures to back up your claim? Just wondering as I don't have time to hit the gym. My plans to go during lunch are not working, but if I could do it at home with little to no weights that would be great.

Thanks

 

[Josh123]

I'm at about 135lbs. and push-ups and crunches are all I really do. I usually kick my legs up on my bed so I'm at more of an incline. Another thing I do is grip dumbbells laying on the floor and do pushups that way. It's a lot harder for some reason.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: ahurtt
To a point it will increase strength but then after that point you are simply gaining endurance. The only way to gain strength is to progressively keep lifting heavier weight.

This is all anyone should have read regarding this topic. What's this about eatings lots of butter? Shens fool. Ahurtt hit it right on the head. When you are starting out, pushups are great because they are easy routine that doesn't take a trip to the gym, you feel the burn, and you are building muscle. But eventually you get used to your body weight. In fact if you are doing things correctly, you should be losing fat and gaining muscle which makes pushups even easier. After a few weeks of pushups you should eventually reach a point in your workout where it just isn't efficient to do all of those pushups to build muscle. Instead, heading to the gym and lifting heavier weight will be more beneficial.

In my opinion, mass is worthless without definition. Eventually pushups transfer from a muscle building workout to more of a cardio workout. When you start lifting heavier weights I feel like its important to do something with cardio in mind, yet something that uses your upper body. Pushups and situps are the answer.

 

[Deeko]

pushups are better than nothing....but you aren't going to add much mass with them. At 5'8", 120 pounds, you must be skinny as hell. When I went to college, I was practically a stick figure, and I was 5'6" 125. You have to lift weights, and properly, to add muscle. I started lifting my freshman year, and not really the right way...only put on a couple of pounds. When I started on a good lifting program, I started to actually gain weight, up to 160 now (still only 8% bf).

You have a gym membership, use it. Go to the gym, do bench, incline, flies, pullups, pulldowns, shoulder press, squats, deadlifts, curls, extensions, rows....haha, there's a lot of exercises to do. Also, don't do the same thing all the time, that's how your plateau....one day do 12-15 reps, another do 3-7. Switch which muscle groups you train together every couple of weeks, along with what exercises you do for that muscle. Also, eat a lot of lean, protein-rich food. Chicken is good.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: MrLee
Instead, heading to the gym and lifting heavier weight will be more beneficial.

Just an obvious note, you do not need to head to the gym to improve your workouts. There are plenty of ways to increase the difficulty of a pushup and there are plenty of other exercises that can be done w/ dumbbells from any location (home, gym or otherwise).

One handed dumbbell bench presses can be done off of a bed even (although benches aren't exactly expensive either). Even if you do enjoy going to the gym regularly, I would invest in a limited amount of equipment so that you can workout on days where your schedule may not meet up perfectly, maybe the weather is really bad or you just don't feel like going out.

Situps are the same way. You can keep doing the same situp 9000 times in a row, or you can make it more difficult, you can add weight, you can change the position and type of situp, you can do them off of a yoga ball for added difficulty. If you are still doing the same situp once it has become easy, it is as good as still curling 10 pounds. That does not mean the exercise sucks, it means your approach to the exercise sucks.

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: JD50
I'm definitely not an expert here, but I used to be very big into calisthenics. I could do a lot more push ups than my friends that were into weights, but I couldn't bench for shit.

So what you are saying is that doing lots of pushups only gives you a higher threshold for doing more pushups?


MY point is that if you wake up in the morning and do even 100 pushups... even if it's everyday... you aren't going to notice a significant change in your physique unless you look over a longer timeline than if you did a full routine at the gym and ate foods that were beneficial to your goals.

doing 100 push ups every morning won't do much for you. Spend the same amount of time doing push ups, situps, and pull ups as you do in the gym lifting and you will notice a significant change in your physique. I'm talking about a workout routine where you do 500 to 1000 push ups, double the amount of sit ups, and around 200 pull ups (a lot of those will probably be assisted).

 

[bladder23]

hey guys, I wanna update you guys on my situation

Currently 5'9, 150lb and have a solid routine in place

Seeing great gains and I'm no longer skinny.

success!

 

[0roo0roo]

it does. if you can manage to increase the number you can do in a set over time. course don't do it every day, your muscles need to recover and build.
do max set x, and then additional sets with less and less until you can do no more. try to increase the max set every other week or so.
of course you need other workouts to build the rest o fthe muscles.
there are many things you can do without going to the gym for a workout. just a few dumbells gives you plenty of options.