I’ve recently started doing pushups. I like the fact that it works lots of upper body muscles at the same time, plus it’s just a great challenge even though I’m a heavier person.

My question is… how can I do more? I am doing them about every third day on average. I can’t do many… about 1.5 sets with 12 per set. Is there anyway I can work other parts of my arms/back/shoulder/chest seperately so I can do more pushups overall over time. Or do I keep doing what I’m doing and just except that fact that it’s going to time to do more reps?

Thanks a lot for your help! 

Do you do modified ("girlie") push-ups on your knees or the real ones on your toes. I can’t do them on my toes yet - I tried last week.
I don’t have to do push-ups in my program, but I do do the bench/chest press. I am able to do more (modified) push-ups than I used to. Before I could only do a few sets of maybe 10 - now I can do at least 15 at a time. If you have access to weights you could work at a more manageable weight so you could get more sets in and build strength that way. Since January I have almost doubled the weight I can bench press (40 to 75 lbs).

Another way to modify push-ups are to do them against a wall or on a (stable) bench to decrease the % of body weight you are lifting, so you can do more reps and sets.

Hope that is helpful.

thanks for the advice. I do the girlie pushups and can now only manage about a set and a half. Although I may not be giving myself enough rest time in between sets. I did a set of 16, then another 10, then another 10 after 5 minutes or so. I don’t want to do them along the wall, as I’m sort of in competition with my boyfriend. He’s naturally stronger than me in the upper body region… but not for long! 

CycleChic,

I think the easiest answer to your question “how do I do more push-ups?” is… “do more push-ups!  Slowly!”

Seriously, though.  If you add just 1 more push-up every time you do your workout (and really, it’s not that hard to add just one more) and you’re doing it twice a week, then by the end of the year you’ll have added 100 push-ups to your routine.  Not bad!

Cheers,
Julie