Push Up Help!!

[Bhorse93]

Female here, 26, 5'10 and 190 pounds (not sure that matters in this case)

I need to learn push ups...in the next 8 weeks. I've read it's possible to master them within 2 months and I literally need to for basic training for the corrections academy I'm going into. I am just wondering if anyone can offer any tips/advice on how to master them and at least be able to do 15-17. That's my goal. I know it doens't seem like a lot, but as is, I can barely do ONE!

I've been doing them on my knees or against a wall or counter every other day or so. Is there anything else I can do to help?

Thank you for any advice!

[backinthegymbro]

If you have access to a gym, you can try barbell bench press (with a spotter), dumbbell bench press, tricep exercises like (assisted) dips, tricep push downs etc.
The stronger your whole upper body gets (including shoulders, forearms etc), the easier push ups will become.

Also practice your push up form.

[NearlyBigAngus]

Female here, 26, 5'10 and 190 pounds (not sure that matters in this case)

I need to learn push ups...in the next 8 weeks. I've read it's possible to master them within 2 months and I literally need to for basic training for the corrections academy I'm going into. I am just wondering if anyone can offer any tips/advice on how to master them and at least be able to do 15-17. That's my goal. I know it doens't seem like a lot, but as is, I can barely do ONE!

I've been doing them on my knees or against a wall or counter every other day or so. Is there anything else I can do to help?

Thank you for any advice!

Make sure your core, glutes and legs are tight while you do them - planks are good for helping to develop this.

[Bhorse93]

If you have access to a gym, you can try barbell bench press (with a spotter), dumbbell bench press, tricep exercises like (assisted) dips, tricep push downs etc.
The stronger your whole upper body gets (including shoulders, forearms etc), the easier push ups will become.

Also practice your push up form.

Thank you for the tips! I appreciate it (:

[Bhorse93]

Make sure your core, glutes and legs are tight while you do them - planks are good for helping to develop this.

Thanks

[JustTheDad]

At 26, with your goal of getting close to 15 or 20, I think you can do them more than every other day, depending on how many sets you're doing of the knee push ups. You can also do planks and negatives after you do your knee push ups. or do negatives at an angle at the foot of your bed. That will work your core and your triceps.
Loosing a few pounds will also help, obviously, although that may not be practical in 2 months.

[Bhorse93]

At 26, with your goal of getting close to 15 or 20, I think you can do them more than every other day, depending on how many sets you're doing of the knee push ups. You can also do planks and negatives after you do your knee push ups. or do negatives at an angle at the foot of your bed. That will work your core and your triceps.
Loosing a few pounds will also help, obviously, although that may not be practical in 2 months.

Well for my physical I need to be able to do 17 in 1 minute..Which to me seems insane, but I know some of you guys do like 100x that lol. I'm just really weak with upper body strength. I am also working on fat loss as well. If I don't pass, it's not a big deal, I just reapply. But it's a 5-6 month process so I'm trying to train hard to accomplish it.

What are negatives? I've never heard of that before.

[Garage Rat]

Not much to add the above post^^^ covered what i was going to suggests.
Planks for sure.
The pushup is basically a moving plank, you must keep tension throughout the body or you'll loose strength.
Practice your push ups throughout the day if you can instead of one training session.
Work ladder reps to build up your volume say maybe 1x 2x 3x 4x 5x and start over.
This way you done burn yourself out on multiple same rep sets.
Good luck.

[backinthegymbro]

What are negatives? I've never heard of that before.

Negatives is the part where you come down with the push up (lowering your chest)
So you can just start in a push up position with the arms stretched, slowly let yourself go down until the chest hits the floor.
And then simply get up (instead of pushing yourself up which would be a full rep) and repeat the process.

[Bhorse93]

Negatives is the part where you come down with the push up (lowering your chest)
So you can just start in a push up position with the arms stretched, slowly let yourself go down until the chest hits the floor.
And then simply get up (instead of pushing yourself up which would be a full rep) and repeat the process.

That sounds like it might be a good way to start. Thanks!

[JustTheDad]

Sorry I wasn't clear. Thanks Backinthegymbro for explaining it.
Maybe I should also have been clearer about what I was trying to suggest with the foot of your bed. It was just an idea on how you could do an angled negative. Between a floor push up and a wall push up angle, although any strong stable surface could work. Don't use anything that feels dangerous....
You're going to have to figure out what angle you can do push ups and negatives at.
Let us know how it goes and we'll be your cheer squad as you progress.

[BenMcLeodNZ]

Are you sure this is the job for you if you are that weak?

[manishyadav1979]

Try Machine Press to gain some strength thereafter graduate to body weight training.

[gbullock32]

Corrections Officer checking in, you in CA? If so... I wouldn't stress too much on the PT, it's pretty easy. Some push ups, bit of medicine ball crossfit stuff and some machines. Been close to 5 years since I went to the academy but we only did PT once per week, sometimes skipping a week since we had other stuff to cover; if you can half assedly jog about 200 yards and do maybe 10 decent push ups you were good enough... And if not... well, somehow you'd still pass.

The only 'hard' part was the PT course we had to do during the hiring process then again at the end; run, up/down stairs, then 3 short distances while holding weights while being timed. The last part (weighted run) is what took most people the longest.

Also, this is actually effective: https://hundredpushups.com/