Double Your Push-Ups

There are lots of great plans for increasing your push-up total. But a lot of them are no fun to do. If it involves too much thinking and too much failure, then it's not very appealing to me. You should be able to get better without killing yourself and your motivation.

Men's Health created a plan to double your push-up total in one month. I found it in their Total Fitness Guide 2009--it's a compilation of their magazine articles. There's a lot in there that is not helpful to us (because of their focus on bodybuilding and appearance). But doubling our push-ups is right up our alley.

Here's the plan.

Twice a week, pick two types of push-ups from the list below and do 2-3 sets of as many as you can. Change up the type of push-up each workout to strengthen your weak areas.

The Push-ups:

• Medicine Ball Archbishop (use three medicine balls. put your hands on two, do a push-up, move without putting your hands on the ground, do another.)
• Triple-Stop Push-up (stop halfway down for 2 secs, at the bottom for 2 secs, halfway up for 2 secs)
• Swiss-Ball Push-up Plus (push-up with hands on ball, push away from the ball at the top)
• Dumbbell Underhand Push-up (use dumbbells and face your palms away from you--works your biceps)
• Explosive Crossover Push-up (explode off the ground and to the side. move back and forth)
• Dumbbell Push-up Row (also called Renegade Rows--at the top, pull the dumbbell to your shoulder)

Search for these if you need more direction. There are lots of great sites and videos for these variations and more.

What I like about this plan is that it is only a 5 minute addition to your workout and adds variety each time.

Try it and let me know how it works for you.