If you can’t do a pushup (or many of them), you’re likely wasting your time (or setting yourself up for injury) by trying to bench press your way to a better body.

Pushups aren’t sexy or impressive. But, when you spend a lot of time with some incredibly fit people and you discover something very quickly: You don’t have to lift a ton of weight to be considered strong.

Some of the most incredible feats of strength don’t even include any weight at all. (Whereas others certainly do; no matter what you think of powerlifting, watching someone move 700 or 800 pounds is simply amazing.)

If you can perform a lot of pushups and all of their different variations, then you can go a long way towards building upper body strength, muscle, and definition.

Why Pushups Are So Good For You

Years ago, I worked with Martin Rooney on a pushup test. If you don’t know Martin, he’s one of the best coaches in the world and has worked with endless pro athletes and Olympians. Every time I train with Martin, it feels like I would hit a new PR.

In addition to being a great coach, Martin would create challenges designed to make you stronger and fitter. One of those was a 3-minute pushup challenge.

The challenge was built to help you do more pushups, but there was one flaw: It required a level of strength and endurance that limited who could use the challenge as a way to get better.

Most people I know can’t do pushups for more than a minute, let alone 3 minutes.

The challenge was still brilliant because it opened your eyes to the importance of relative body strength.

All too often we base strength on an arbitrary amount of weight you can move, when — in reality — how well you can move your own body is one of the best ways to assess fitness levels and build strength. Not to mention, bodyweight tests can help clean up issues with your form that can cause injuries once you add additional weight.

All too often we base strength on an arbitrary amount of weight you can move, when — in reality — how well you can move your own body is one of the best ways to assess fitness levels and build strength.

When you have relative body strength, you are in control of your body and can move well, whether you’re pushing, pulling, squatting, or picking something up off the ground. It’s why bodyweight movements like pushups and pullups can be a great initial test of strength, and even challenging for those who have been training for many years.

Doing more pushups has lots of upsides. But, figuring out the right program to build strength and endurance is where most people struggle. It’s time to change that.

How To Do More Pushups: The Assessment

As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed.”

If you want to do more pushups, you need to figure out if you need to build strength, endurance, or both. Your path to more pushups starts with a simple 1-minute assessment and then includes a program to help guide your improvement.

The test below is one I’ve done for years with clients, and it works incredibly well for helping you become better with bodyweight exercises. (You can do similar variations with other exercises.) I’ve used different variations of this test as an assessment to determine baseline strength.

Step 1: Set a timer for 1-minute and then start performing pushups until the time is up.

Step 2: Record the number of reps you performed.

Pushup Rule #1

For a rep to count, you must go all the way down (chest 2 inches above the floor), pause, and you must lock out your elbows at the top.

Also, you can’t let your hips sag or allow your knees to touch the floor. [In other words, your body should form a straight line from your ankles to your shoulders.]

Pushup Rule #2:

You can rest whenever you want, but the clock must keep running

Before You Begin: Pushup Test Tips

You have 2 options that will help you perform your best on the pushup test:

Option 1: Perform pushups at a rapid pace and do as many as you can until you hit failure and can’t do more.

Option 2: Pace yourself and take mini breaks every 10-15 seconds, doing what you can to avoid failure and complete as many as possible.

In the initial test, Rooney recommended a 15-second break once you started to slow down. This was necessary with a 3-minute running clock. But with only one-minute, this assessment is a little different.

If you’re a beginner and not as strong, resting every 10-15 seconds will be beneficial to you because fatigue will catch up quickly.

If you’ve been training, you might be able to maintain a consistent pace for 30 to 45 seconds. In that case, stop 1 to 2 reps shy of failure, rest 5-10 seconds, and then do as many as possible until the time is up.

Grading Your Pushup Performance

The following scores are based on the averages of my online coaching clients. [Note: women tend to have scores that are 5-10 pushups less than the scores shown below.]

Below average: less than 15 pushups (Remember the rules above, for a legit rep it’s impossible to go any faster than 1 rep per second with the pause at the bottom and lockout at the top.)

Average: 20 pushups

Good: 30 to 35 pushups

Excellent: 40-45 pushups

Extraordinary: 45-50 pushups. If you’ve completed more than 50 pushups, you cheated. You need to pause at the bottom and top of the movement, so every rep should take a minimum of 1-2 seconds.

How to Become Better at Pushups

If your pushup score is lower than you’d like, there’s a quick fix that will help make your upper body more powerful and explosive.

Follow this pushup protocol, trying to perform each rep as fast as possible, and after 8 workouts take the test again and see how you improved.

Week 1 (two workouts): Perform 10 sets of 8 repetitions of pushups. Rest two minutes between sets. If you can’t do 8 pushups, rest as needed following the same strategy used in the test.

Week 2 (two workouts): Complete 8 sets of 10 repetitions with 1 minute of rest between sets.

Week 3 (two workouts): Perform 6 sets of 15 repetitions with 1 minute of rest between sets.

Week 4 (two workouts): Do 4 sets of 20 repetitions with two minutes of rest between sets.

Take 5 days off from pushups, and then take the test again and see how you did.

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READ MORE: 

How to Build the Perfect Bodyweight Workout

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

The Truth About the 7-Minute Workout

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post The Fastest Way to Do More Pushups appeared first on Born Fitness.

But then I started having clients who had limited equipment. That forced me to learn how to manipulate bodyweight workouts and design training programs that were more challenging. The more workouts I created, the more I realized that bodyweight training could do some incredible things for just about anyone. 

I’ve met a lot of fit people in my life. And if there’s one common thread among all the incredibly talented, muscular, and lean people I’ve met, it’s that there’s no one way to build your body. And in the case of BJ Gaddour, there’s proof that you don’t need an ounce of equipment to do build an incredible body.

A recent study showed that a 10-minute workout had the same post-workout metabolic boost as a 30-minute workout

That’s why I had Gaddour, author of Your Body is a Barbell, share some of his tricks of the trade to building the perfect bodyweight workout. Learn, apply, and then give it a try. You might be surprised by it’s difficulty and effectiveness.  -AB

The World’s Most Efficient Bodyweight Plan

While most people can find 30 to 60 minutes to train a couple times per week, there will be days where things get so busy you’ll only have 10 minutes to spare. Well, 10 minutes is way better than nothing.

In fact, a recent study showed that a 10-minute workout had the same post-workout metabolic boost as a 30-minute workout, though the 30-minute workout burned more total calories during the session due to the higher exercise volume. The key with a shorter workout is intensity. You really have to push yourself outside of your comfort zone with such a low total exercise volume and take little to no rest between exercises. This is the exact mentality that makes so many of my bodyweight programs incredibly effective.

Get ready for a quick and effective home workout that you can crank out in just 8 minutes.

Building the Perfect Bodyweight Workout

The Plan: Alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest for each exercise in the following circuit using the bodyweight 8 exercises that collectively work your whole body from head to toe:

Exercise 1: Hip Thrust Variation

Exercise 2: Pushup Variation

Exercise 3: Deep Squat Variation (watch 35 ways to squat on 2 legs at the link)

Exercise 4: Row Variation

Exercise 5: Hip-Hinge Variation

Exercise 6: Handstand Pushup Variation

Exercise 7: Single-Leg Squat Variation (see the top 37 single-leg squat variations)

Exercise 8: Pullup Variation

Making it Work: Perform as many quality reps as you can with perfect form and technique within each 50-second work period. If it’s an isometric exercise, simply hold the position for as long as you can.

If you need to rest or pause at any point during a given work period, please do so. Your goal is to eventually be able to continuously work for the full 50 seconds without stopping.

Bonus Tips

• For all unilateral exercises, be sure to switch sides at the halfway mark so you perform 25 seconds of work on each side.
• You should be able to perform at least 10 total reps (5 per side for a unilateral movement) within each 50-second work period. If you’re consistently getting fewer than 10 total reps, make the exercise easier by using one of the microregressions within each exercise level.
• If you’re consistently getting more than 10 total reps, make the exercise harder by using one of microprogressions within each exercise level. You can also feel free to mix and match between other variations of a given exercise level, if you’d like.
• If you’re using plyometric exercises like Squat Jumps, Vertical Jumps, Plyo Pushups, or Plyo Rows, pause for 4 to 5 seconds in the top or bottom position (depending on the move) between explosive reps to emphasize quality over quantity. You can also alternate between 10 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest three times to fill the full minute.
• You can make this workout easier by using a 45–15 or 40–20 interval timeline instead. Make it harder by making it a complex where you perform 60 seconds of work for each move with no rest between moves.
• The great thing about bodyweight training is that it requires little to no equipment so you can do it anytime, anywhere. The exceptions to the rule are with rows and pull-ups which require something sturdy and stable to hold onto.
• Rows and Pull-ups work your pulling muscles and the entire backside of your body and are key to both maintaining structural balance in your body and achieving optimal posture. In other words, you can’t skip these moves if you want to maximize results and minimize injuries. Too much pushing and not enough pulling will make you look more like Quasimodo and less like an athlete.

What if you have absolutely no equipment?

If there’s a will, there’s a way. In fact, here are 9 ways to master pulling exercises without added equipment.

READ MORE: 

The Truth About the 7-Minute Workout

The Abs Workout: How to Transform Your Midsection

How to Fix Your Posture

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

The post How to Build the Perfect Bodyweight Workout appeared first on Born Fitness.