Of the millitary style pushups…
How many can you do in a row?
I`d be interested in hearing from anyone that can actually do 100 without stopping.
I can do forty on a good day before my arms start shaking. I can push that to fifty, but that`s about it.
A couple years ago I was in the 60-70 range, but then I hurt my back and I can’t really do any any more.
Well “I” can’t do more than 5 without puking and crying (being the spindly-armed girl that I am), but my husband does 125 at a shot, and 400 a day in 5 sets (obviously, the following sets are less).
Jack LaLane once did 1,063 in 23 minutes. With witnesses.
During my Army days I was able to do 80 for the PT test. My tip was to do at least 50 before stopping for a breather. Usually I could get to 70 before I got the “butt shakes”. The “butt shakes” were the sign that there were only 10 or 12 more push-ups possible.
When training it was not unusual to do 200 to 300 in sets of 20 or 30.
Due to all my Army fun I rarely do push-ups anymore. Imagine that, the Army took all the fun out of something.
stormchaser and I had a little contest not to long ago. I can do three.
I blame it all on having big boobs. They weigh a lot, darn it. Or maybe I am just a wimp.
I think it’s a sure bet that I couldn’t even hold the starting position, much less do a push up. Even when I was in the Navy and we were allowed to do the girly push ups, I could barely force myself to complete the minimum number.
No upper body strength.
I can do 80 now without stopping. When I was training everyday and eating mainly protein in college I could do 125 without stopping. Then again I weighed 190 in college and had a BMI of less than 2%. And I competed locally for weight lifting competitions.
Now I weigh 230…8 years later…but I cans till hold my own when it comes to pushups…
My wife can do 45 without flinching 
Grrrrrr
I was doing my 4:00 AM workout today and they were doing variations on push-ups. One guy did them on an angle…his toes balanced on a bench, and his head way lower to the ground. It looked brutal. I’d have puked for sure. The other ones that are fun to watch are knuckle push-ups. My husband can do them, but it looks like sheer torture.
Last time we tried this at the gym, I was good for 80 then got what someone earlier called “the butt shakes.” I managed to squeeze off 10 more, but wiped out. A workout partner was going strong at 127, but we told him to stop showing off.
Kalhoun Said
Yes, inclines are brutal, they’re meant to work the upper part of your pecs…I only do these when I am really amped to work out…and never at the gym…the floors are not very sanitary.
Plnnr said
I work out with a man who is like this. His arms are the size of tree-trunks and he walks like a neanderthal. Nicest guy in the world though, he’s a CT State Trooper. And we’ve become quite good friends in the past couple years. Sometimes he and his wife come over for dinner…one time he was doing pull-ups on my pull-up bar with one hand I noticed the stretch marks on the upper corners of his pecs…closest to the shoulder muscle…When asked about those he said, "In college I wasn’t exactly lifting 'naturally’…
I can’t imagine getting that big, then realising steroids were bad quitting and trying to keep up with what you could previously do…brutal.
Back when I was lifting weights daily (this was several years ago) I’d do handstand pushups with the soles of my feet against the wall (for balance) for warmups. Insanely macho, but pretty fun. I think I maxed out at 15–nothing too impressive.
Normal pushups…I was in the 40’s a few months ago until I gave them up in favor of karate lessons. Since then we’ve been doing a lot of knuckle pushups.
This scrawny computer geek can only do 35-40 pushups. On a good day, if I’m feeling well-rested and / or I’m trying to impress someone, I suppose I could maybe do 50. Maybe.
I’m trying to get better, but I’m not sure how to do that other than to just keep doing as many as I can do. (A month or so ago I could only do about 30, so I’ve made some progress.)
Like Philosphr’s State Trooper friend, my work out partner is uncommonly muscled and the most “freakish” part are his calves (a notoriously hard muscled to train). Not only can you distinctly see the striations, but the muscles themselves are just huge - they look like he’s got pineapples tucked under his skin. He, too, walks with that sort of rolling, waddling gait due to his size (he’s only about 5’8" tall, though). He freely admits to having used steroids in the past and even has a singlet that says “A better physique through chemistry”
Philosphr said his friend was very nice, as is mine - he’s also gay and when he opens his mouth he has a high-pitched, lilting voice that doesn’t match his physique at all. He’s a massuese by profession. His partner…that’s another story. All of the same physique, but on a 6’4" frame and a demeanor that says “I eat dump trucks for breakfast.”
Yeah, I can do 100 now… if I want to smash in my face and carpet burn my manboobs.
When I was a kid it was a different story. I started doing them pretty regularly at camp, the kind where you drop low, sway your weight over one hand and then the other, come back to the middle and lift up. T’was still going strong with them in college and reeled off 100+ counts several times during fraternity hazings.
Now though anything past 25 or 30 and I’m afraid blood is going to start squirting from my eyeballs.
I can do 210 in sets of 20 (well, and one set of 10). I can comfortably do about 50, and the most I ever did without stopping was 70. That was in a sort of bizarre gender-role competition thing at a tae kwon do class. Man, I hurt after that. But I’m a 5-foot, 100 pound teenage female. I beat a 5-9 twenty-something guy who has a LOT more muscle than I do.
Also, knuckle pushups aren’t that much harder. You need strong wrists and tough knuckles, though.
I know a guy who can drop, do about 150, take a minute or so to catch his breath, and continue warming up. He’s sort of scary, though.
I can do about 70 without stopping. I’ve been working to get to 100 for a while but I’ve been stuck at right around 70 for a while. After I hit around 50 as a max, it has been harder to increase the amount I can do. I’m probably 20% fat, though. I need to start going to the gym again. And what is about pushups that makes you have to crap?
No you didnt. Body fat? Sure. BMI? No.
(BMI is not measured in percentages)
[/nitpick, sorry]
I also have spindly little twig arms, and am really pretty lazy. 
When I was actively training in Tae Kwon Do, I could easily do 50-60, but I never pushed it to find my breaking point.
I also could do about a dozen one armed or clapping push ups at a time.
Now? Bwahahahahahaha!
It’s all about the power-weight ratio. Skinny people (like me) with more muscle can do the most. Even more so with chin-ups, obviously.
I’ll have to get back to you on how many I can do at once though, I don’t usually do them! Though I have been going to the gym now for 1 1/2 years lifting 4 times a week. Yay me! (It’s a big deal to me hehe).