If you want to test the strength of your upper body and its stamina, you should do the push-up test. This test is universally recognized, and that’s why push-up are used in the armed forces. This includes the Navy, Army and Air Forces. It is also used by law enforcers, the police and firemen to test their physical fitness level.
By doing push-ups, you will build up strength in the upper part of your body and you will have better endurance. If you would like to pass your next fitness test, then you should be able to do more push-ups.
Here are a few tips on how to increase the number of push-ups:
- Review the Principles of Fitness Training
You have to understand the science behind how fitness works. There are six principles behind fitness training and you have to familiarize yourself with these principles in order to take full advantage of your workout sessions. By mastering these essential principles, you will learn how to exercise in a safe way, so that you don’t hurt yourself. You will make maximum use of your training sessions if you have a good grasp about progression, overload, and adaptation, among other principles.
- Improve Your Push-Up Form
Your push-up form should be flawless before you even start doing repetitions. If you are not in perfect form, then you need to start at the beginning again until you are in good shape. Keep practicing until you are good at it.
- Determine Baseline Repetitions
To get a baseline figure of how many repetitions you should do in each set, do push-ups continuously for two minutes. Once the two minutes are up, take the number of reps you have done and then divide by three. For each workout session that you have, do three sets of push-ups and for each set do the number of repetitions that you first established.
- Start With the Basics
When you are starting out, work out every other day. For instance, you can work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Start each work out session by warming up. You can warm up by jogging, cycling or skipping rope. You can then proceed to do your exercises. Do three sets of repetitions. You can then rest for half a minute before moving on to the next set. Add 2-3 repetitions after every week to each of your sets.
You need to test yourself every month. This is to help you establish your new baseline repetitions.
- Add Variety by Changing Your Hand Position
There are so many ways you can do a push-up. One of the things that you can do in order to diversify your sessions is to place your hand in different places when doing the push-ups. You can start your sessions by placing your hands as close to your body as possible. You can then widen your hand placement as you progress with the exercises.
- Add Variety by Changing Your Body Position
You can move your body into various positions, so you can add variety to your work out sessions. For instance, you can do your push-ups with your feet elevated. You can also try clapping your hands in between reps while doing push-ups. There are also stability ball pushups.
- Add Resistance to Your Push-Up
You can add more resistance when doing push-ups. There are various ways you can do this. For example, you can wear a weighted vest when you are working out. Alternatively, you can do push-ups while carrying a backpack filled with sand in it or water filled vests. Doing push-ups while having your feet elevated will increase resistance, and will make your motion range much harder. Finish with planks.
- Give Your Body Time to Recover
You need to give your body time to recover between your workouts. This means skipping a day of exercise. If you don’t take time to rest, you will eventually become fatigued. Over-exercising and pushing yourself to work out each and every day can have negative consequences. For instance, instead of growing stronger and having more stamina, you might end up becoming weaker.
Author : Lazar Angelov
@lazarangelov.academy
@lazarangelov.academy
born September 22, 1984 (Age: 33 years) in Sofia in the People's Republic of Bulgaria, is a male trainer and manikin, famous for his highly aesthetic and harmonious physique.Size: 1.8 m
Teaching: National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" (2006)
