How I'm Boosting My Push Up Count

If you're like me and you could barely do one push up not a short while ago, you're probably wondering how on earth you can go from 0 push ups to at least 10. Here's what I did (and what I'm still doing).  

1. Remember to start small.

My push up journey started with me pledging to myself that I'd do one push up. So I did and I left it there. And no, I didn't gain superhuman strength from just doing one push up. But what I did gain was momentum which was all I needed to start doing push ups more frequently. 

2. Add one push up to your count each time you do them.

Remember, we're about small, consistent gains rather than trying to make huge leaps in our progress. All of this comes down to starting small, building the habit and then incrementally improving our push up count. 

So all I did was this: Whenever I do my push ups (for me this is 3-4 times a week), I aim to do 1 more push up than what I did last time. It isn't much but it's a manageable goal and sometimes this is all you need: A small, achievable goal to accomplish and to motivate you to improve each time you exercise. 

3. Work down to easier progressions. 

This one has really turbo-charged my progress. Let's say you start with standard military-style push ups. Perhaps you do 10 or 11 and you've absolutely had it. Rather than stop exercising, what I like to do is "work down" to easier push up progressions. From here, I'll do push ups on my knees. This way, I'm effectively doubling the number of push ups I'm doing. 

So my schedule might look like this:

• Standard military-style push ups (x 10).
• Knee push-ups (x 10).
• Total: 20 push ups

Then of course I add one more to each batch of push ups next time I do them:

• Standard military-style push ups (x 11).
• Knee push-ups (x 11).
• Total: 22 push ups

So basically I'm improving my gains by 2 push ups each time as opposed to 1. While this might not seem like 'a lot', it all adds up over time. 

Imagine if you did this with 3 or 4 different push up progressions!! 

In Sum

Here are my three tips:

1. Remember to start small.
2. Add one push up to your count each time you do them.
3. Work down to easier progressions. 

Try this now and you'll fine yourself being far more motivated to do push ups and making far more progress in terms of your physical strength!