Press-up routine - what's best?

[Cool_as_fcuk]

Hey guys. I've got a pressup routine I've been doing for 16 days now. Basically this is how it's going to go:

1 day of 10 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
2 days of 20 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
3 days of 30 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
4 days of 40 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
5 days of 50 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
6 days of 60 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups. < on day 2 of this today.
7 days of 70 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups.
8 days of 80 pretty slow, 'all the way down' pressups...

...and it's going to continue on like that till I get to like 300 or something.

The question is - is it better to do them everyday or should I do one day on, then one day off?

Thanks for any advice

 

[Provider]

Hmmmmmm, I'm not sure theres much benefit of doing so many press ups. When I do press ups I do something like this: 4 sets of as many press ups I can do with not much of a break in between. Like a minute in between each set or something. And i'd do that every day or every second day. Just feel how much rest you need. If you're sore then take an extra days rest. Also, if you can do 50 press ups straight then they are getting a bit too easy for you. If you can do a lot you should look into doing more difficult press ups. Like if you put your hands closer together it should be harder or maybe do one handed press ups or hand-stand press ups or something like that!

 

[Cool_as_fcuk]

Hydromaxmm. thanks for the advice Provider. What I've been doing is like sets of 10, with each set of 10 having a '10 minute' time limit. ie: on the days I've got to do 60, I can't take more than an hour to do them. I was going to switch to sets of 20 and then possibly more after I got over the 100 mark.

So are pressups not really that good for bulking up?

I just want a kind of simple routine for increasing upper body strength and size (not ridiculously though).

thanks for the help

 

[Provider]

Well if you can do 20 press ups then they are getting to easy for you. If you want to bulk up you should be doing heavier weights and lower reps. Like weights where you can only do 6-10 reps. Press ups are quite good for building upper body strength but once you can do a lot then they aren't going to do much for you and you should maybe move on to doing bench press.

 

[prince Albert]

If its bodyweight exercises your looking for then dips,chins,handstand pushups are a few you could try,weighted dips are one of the best upper body exercises you can do for adding overall mass.

 

[Provider]

Yea dips are a great excersize. Dips, pull ups and press ups will give you some good upper body strength. You should check out these links:
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/mat2.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson8.htm

And if you search that site there are plenty more related articles.

 

[Cool_as_fcuk]

thanks for that guys, I will look into it later - going out now.

much appreciated

 

[pullups]

wait does press ups = push ups?

 

[Provider]

Yes. People in UK tend to say press ups and people in USA tend to say push ups, I've noticed.

 

[LambdaCalc]

A routine that works well for me every now and then, is to do a ten minute push up session:

1 minute do as many push ups as you can
1 minute rest
repeat

A stop watch comes in handy.

 

[Cool_as_fcuk]

Righty, here's the plan. Gonna stay with the routine I posted before, but I'm going to be doing one day on, one day off. Also I'm doing 10 dips (triceps) straight after each set of press ups. I can already feel that all important V coming into shape! I was just wondering, is there any exercises for the biceps other than pull-ups or weights? I don't have or plan on getting any equipment and I don't have anywhere good for pull-ups. Thanks for the help so far guys

 

[sikdogg]

Sorry to tell you that you won't ever get that V shape by just doing press-ups and dips. The V shape come from your lats and neither of those exercizes target the lats. You need to do differnt variations of pull-ups if you want a V shape.

 

[Cool_as_fcuk]

But surely if pressups work on the shoulders and chest then that's the v? Maybe I'm mistaken about the v, I thought it was having a wide chest and shoulders and a slim waist?

 

[sikdogg]

That will give you a T shape, and for the most part looks incomplete. Widening your lats will give you tapered look where you will look big on top which tapers down to your waist, so you get that V look.

 

[Cool_as_fcuk]

thanks sikdogg. Seems like I'll have to find a good place for chinups for those biceps and lats then.