Pushups soreness and plateauing

[Eriks]

Hello Rangers,

I have a question regarding pushups. I'm 6'4" and the pushups always come very slow to me. Im 185-190 pounds with a BF% around 8, so im fit, but not stocky or very muscular. I don't put on muscle quickly despite high protein diets lots of sleep and good exercise for the last 1.5 years. And this is okay, but I still want to improve even if its slowly. However, Ive been stuck around 50 pushups for a few months now. In those max out sets I can get 35-40 without stopping, then another 10-15 with breaks. I do them somewhere between normal and wide grip as Ive heard many guys say this is the best for distributing stress between muscle groups and getting a high max.

In my workouts the last half year or so when I really started focusing on pushups, Ive done pushup programs and weight training programs (alternating high weight and low reps with low weights and high reps). Recently I have gone to just pushup programs like the Ranger Silverback Program. I did a pushups workout the last two days (Ranger Silverbacks on Wednesday and then sets of 25 yesterday). My chest has some tightness and maybe a little soreness but not much. Same with my triceps and shoulders. My question is do I keep pushing it today or do I give it a rest until tomorrow? I have always heard that when weight lifting you should wait to fully recover before putting in a good workout again, but since pushups are a very high rep low stress exercise compared to weightlifting should I simply condition my body to do them everyday without fear of over training? Like I said, I never really get sore from pushups like I do weightlifting, but my muscles are more tense the next day, maybe with a very slight sensation of soreness. Thanks for reading this post.

[Ranger Bill]

At your height and with long arms, you have a longer range of motion in a push-up than shorter guys. So you have to move your body weight further in each rep, in effect you have to do more work to perform a push-up. The DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) you are experiencing is farily common and the result of changing to a new routine, either in the exercise itself, the form (wide/narrow grip), rep range, etc. Your body is doing something it's not used to and some people are more prone to DOMS than others. There is no shortage of varying opinions on whether it's best to wait until the muscle is no longer sore or not. Likewise, there is no shortage of experts and opinions on the best exercise programs, whether with body weight or weights. Personally, I exercise through DOMS and after a few subsequent work outs of the same exercise in the same rep range and form, it does not happen. Over-training is over-rated. You can do push-ups every day, unless you have shoulder or elbow problems.

Jumping between various push-up routines, like you are doing, will not allow you to measure performance improvement. Whatever routine you use, you should be consistent and stick to it. My opinion is that to get better at push-ups, you have to do push-ups and you should do push-ups just like the test, an all out set to failure. Then rest a minute and do another set to failure. Rest another minute and do a third set to failure. You may get 50 on the first set, 15 on the second and maybe five on third. But by being consistent in your routine, you should be able to at least get one more rep on at least one of the sets every time you do this. And you have to keep a written log of yur perfomance. That way you know how many reps you got in the previous workout and your target for the next workout. The only way you can truly measure performance improvement is by doing the same routine for a period of time and keeping a log.

[Eriks]

Ranger Bill,

Thank you for the advice. I will pick a routine and stick with it, as well as do pushups everday instead of alternating. I will report back when considerable progress has been made.

[Blacksrt4]

TWO MINUTE DRILLS!!!!!
Whenever I have a PT test coming up or a school coming up I just do two minute drills when I wake up before PT, at lunch, and before bed every day. This routine(s) is just an addition to whatever you may be doing already for PT. Also ensure you are doing pushups correctly that is a big killer, you can do 150 in two minutes but if they look like a ball of shit then you only did 28 or whatever. First focus on form and ensure they are perfect pushups then work on reps.

[Kilted Heathen]

The Walking Tens.

[The Holmchicken]

Dips are also a good way to target stabilizer muscles used in push ups. Ring or bar, doesn't matter. Since you said you're a hard gainer, look at increasing your caloric intake as well. High protein is good and all, but you need calories and fats too. You'll defintiely want to add muscle slowly in your case. A frame like yours can add lots of weight but if it's too fast or too much, your aerobic fitness is going to suffer. And there's really no point being jacked if you can't get to where you need to be. I'd also recomend crossfit as a starting point to break plateauing. It's a decent system, if somewhat unfocused.

[Oto-Man]

The Walking Tens.

Word!

By far the best pushup improvement exercise ever invented.

[McD]

The Walking Tens.

Word!

By far the best pushup improvement exercise ever invented.

Please define....

[Oto-Man]

word 

–noun 1. a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes blackʹbirdʹ from blackʹ birdʹ. Words are usually separated by spaces in writing, and are distinguished phonologically, as by accent, in many languages.
===
Word
1) well said
2)said in a agreement
3) can be used as a greeting, hey whats up
1..and 2...Yo u goin to that rocks tanite....word
3) word up
===
word
"Word" has no single meaning, but is used to convey a casual sense of affirmation, acknowledgement, agreement, or to indicate that something has impressed you favorably.

Its usage among young blacks has been parodied ad nauseam among clueless suburban whites.

"Come on, man, we're going to the store."
"Word."
=========

[Res]

"do one push up get up walk five feet, do 2 push ups, walk five feet back, 3 push ups...and continue this process until you reach ten. then take 15 seconds to breathe drink water and repeat the process until you reach 1 pushup again....so it should work like this 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10...rest...10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1... all in all its 110 pushups in about 5-8 minutes. great for beginners." I believe this is the walking tens, I google'd it.