At the mixed martial arts gym I used to train in, in Manchester, we were told do 50 press-ups and 50 ‘Hindu’ press-ups every day, no matter what. (They actually also told us to do the ‘Randy’ workout each day too, which I’ll write about later.)  On my first day I was out of shape and just about squeezed out 30 reps.  Here is the simple but effective advice I was given to increase the number of press-ups, and inevitably build bigger arms and a more defined chest.  This works for just about everybody. It worked for me, and it will work for you. You don’t need an expensive gym membership or gimmicky equipment – you just need this simple strategy.

THE PRESS-UP GAME

Do as many press-ups as you can. When your muscles start to feel like they’re about to reach failure take a pause but do not allow your knees to touch the floor. If they do, you’ve lost the game. Keep all your body weight on your two hands and two feet. To relieve a little pressure from your arms during the pause you can do this: Keep your arms and legs straight, stay in the general press-up position and stick your bottom upwards, so your body forms an inverted ‘V’. Pause like this for a few seconds, and you’ll have enough energy to go for a few more reps. During the pause, pick a number – usually 5 or 10 – and go for that number of reps. When you reach that number, pause again, and so on.

You can pause for as long as you like, whenever you like, as long as you don’t put your knees down.

THE GAME PLAN

Using this technique I managed to go from 30 press-ups to 50 in one day.  Each day, I would then continue doing 50 press-ups, and I simply decreased the amount of time I needed to ‘pause’ in between press-ups. After a couple of weeks, if not less, I could do 50 press-ups straight with no rest in just over a minute.

If you want to increase your press-ups even further, simply follow the same strategy, and add 2-3 reps to the number you did the day before. Alternatively, you can go from 50 to 60 in one go, by adding more pauses. Once you have done 60, you can work on reducing the number and length of the pauses.

If you can’t do 10 press-ups, you’ll need to start with raised press-ups, where your hands are each on a chair and your feet are on the floor. Alternatively you can do wimp press-ups, where your knees and hands are on the floor, instead of your feet. If that’s the case, train everyday in your bedroom for two weeks, before you start the proper press-up training plan.