I'm interested in increasing my max push-ups

[USAWrestler]

I've done some searching on the net and on Sherdog and haven't come up with a really good program that I can do to increase my 1 set max amount of push-ups. Currently I'm able to do 84 straight. I would like to work up to and eventually pass the 200 mark. Any ideas/programs would be greatly appreciated.

[schubee88]

The best way to increase anything is just by doing that exercise. If you have been doing pushups out the ass already add some resistance and try to do the same number you usually do. Also try and do the reps with as much explosion as possible, this will help u push through the later reps when you are tiring because your body is already trained to give max effort on each and every rep. Hope this helps.

[Urban]

you could try density training. if your goal is 200, do 400 each session. you could start with 20 sets of 20 with one minute rests, if that's easy, next time (limit it to 2-3 sessions per week) try 16 sets of 25 with one minute rests, then 14 sets of 30 with 1 minute rests, then 12 sets of 35,
10 sets of 40,
9 sets of 45,
8 sets of 50,
8 sets of 55,
7 sets of 60,
6 sets of 70,
5 sets of 80,
5 sets of 90,
4 sets of 100,
then you could try for a set of 200, and if you don't make it do the remaining reps up to 400 in as few sets as possible, then next session shoot for 4 sets of 120,
3 sets of 150,
then try for 200 again. by this point you should definitely be able to get it.

Progress to the next "level" only when you have successfully completed the previous level with only 1 minute in between sets.

Personally I don't think doing 200 reps of pushups is really worthwhile, but if you want to get there, a plan like this should work, if you stall out for more than two weeks in a row (no progress at all), I reccomend starting the cycle over with a pushup variation (hindu pushups, one handed pushups, one handed hindu pushups, Diamond pushups, dive bomber pushups, etc.) then rotating back to normal pushups once you stall out on the variation.

[USAWrestler]

Thanks for the advice guys, pretty much what I was looking for. I just want to do it as a personal goal to kind of get myself into better shape, etc. I'll also be doing similar things with pull-ups, sit ups and the like. Thanks again.

[Urban]

Don't neglect your lower body. If you refuse to go the weight lifting route, learn to do pistols (one legged squats, check S&P for a tutorial thread) and gain proficiency in them too. I guarantee you will see greater results in your day to day performance from pistols than you will from pushups.

[Dustin Ashford]

when i was 16 i was in custody for some stupid shit. it was only for 30 days. we had to sit in our rooms for 2 hours a day they called it quiet time. i decided to do as many push ups as i could in those 2 hours every day. for the last week i was in there i could do 50 x 20 1000 push ups and still had time to lay down for 45 mins or so. my max was around 100 at a time.

[TGR74]

I looked up some stuff on this from another guy awhile back but don't recall the link.

The advice above is great.

The guy also recommended doing pushups throughout the day...every few hours do a max set till you hit your goal for the day instead of all at once. It trains the nuerons to do the exercise and let's you recover completely between max sets but still increases your endurance.

Also holding the pushup posistion at various angles for time helps to strengthen stabilizer muscles that may weaken before you arms do. When they weaken you lose your form and your arms have to pick up the extra weight.

Whole body fitness and extreme determination.

Conditioning is Discipline.

[TraJikMaJik]

One thing I notice about pushups is when I focus on a number, then the pushups get dramatically harder when I am getting closer to my goal. I think it is all a mental thing. What I try to do is not focus on my target number, but focus on my breathing, and just let the numbers come. Breathing is whats most important to me when getting high number pushups. I currently do about 125 pushup sets, and do 3 a night.

[Dogmeat]

Originally Posted by TraJikMaJik

One thing I notice about pushups is when I focus on a number, then the pushups get dramatically harder when I am getting closer to my goal.

Intresting. I used to get something similar in weight training too.

I got round it by tricking my mind into not counting. I'd set a timer and aim to do pushups (or whatever) for something like 30 seconds, but I'd recite something like the alphabet (starting at a random letter) or the months of the year so my mind wasn't subconciously counting and preparing to fail.

Weird, but it worked for me. Odd for other people though, hearing me mutter "march...april..may...june..." etc

[prestone kid]

I would come into work every moring and drop and do pushups to failure. I got to 124 once then I stopped trying. I would just got to failure every time.