Hi,
My first post, congratulations to the administrators, great great site.
I started a month ago doing push ups, I could not make even one. Now I can do somewhere around 15. A couple of weeks ago I started doing a KNEE push up program consisting on the following:

3 x 12 wide arms
3 x 12 knee on bench
3 x 12 close arms
All supposed to be done in 12 minutes.

Unfortunately I can’t complete the routine which is fine, but my concern is that I reach always the same point(no progress) somewhere about the middle of the exercise. First I was doing it every second day, then I give it one more day with same results. Now I’m going for 3 days rest and see if it works. Any suggestions? on how to improve or should I change the routine? My goal es to have bigger muscles but more on the ripped than on the bulky side.

Some of my data is:
37 male
168 pounds
18% body fat (estimated), basically on lower belly

Regards,

Johnny

Hey Johnny,

Welcome to Exercise Biology!

I know there are some crazy things you can do with your body weight, but there is only so much you can do with body weight exercises. Do you have a pull bar and a dip bar?

I would do a 2 days per week. Do push up, squats, and do some pull ups. Just doing pull up will only work your upper body pushing muscles. Though it is push ups, if you are failing at 6 reps, it feels like a heavy sets of bench press to your body. So you need more recovery days. If you want to do more days, just don’t go all out. Keep it easy or short 2-3 reps short of failure.

And eat clean. Diet is paramount when it comes to looking good.  How s your diet like?

Thanks Anoop for the prompt reply. First I see I did not mention I’m 5-10”. I don’t have a dip bar, I do have a pull up bar, but cant make a single one. I have access to a gym also, might try that. Will see If I improve doing the push ups with more days to recover. I have the impression that its going to work. I would say I’m on 2,000 or less calories per day, trying to get more to the protein side with foods and whey powder 20g (one or two) per day. I used to play racquetball a lot, but can’t do it right know because of a low back problem. That’s why I started doing push ups, to keep doing some activity, gain some strength and muscle.
Thanks again,

My goal is to be around 175 with a bf% around 10-12%

Here is an article bout low back pain that might help you: http://bretcontreras.com/2011/03/a-revolution-in-the-understanding-of-pain-and-treatment-of-chronic-pain/

Thanks, I read the article before,it is helpful.
I gave one more day of recovery and seemed to worked. I increased the amount of total pushups although not to many. After 2 days I still feel sore. Will try with 4 days of rest to see what happens. I don’t see much muscle size increase but I feel them toned, which I believe is a sign of growing?
Thanks again,
Johnny

I am not sure what you mean by toned.But if you are getting stronger, you are growing some muscle.

Hope you are working on your diet.Diet is the key if you want to look good.

I mean, by toned, they don’t look bigger but feel firmer. I’m on a calorie deficit, with higher % of proteins to prevent much muscle loss. My first goal is to drop somewhere around to 10% my body fat and then grow muscles on a surplus. I’m at 165 pounds now thinking on loosing about 5 more.

Yep. Just keep a food journal and a workout journal. You are doing good.Put a picture up and set a deadline and keep at it.