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I am posting these couple of tips that my personal trainer just gave me as the number of pushups has increased. See http://www.realjock.com/gayforums/230981/ for the thread on working up to 100 pushups.

1) This first tip is based on the prinicple that you see if you make a fist. It tightens all the muscle up your arm and into the shoulder, so now all those muscle work together more efficiently. So when the strain of the pushups is kicking in, dig your fingers into the floor. This will tighten the muscles up the arm and into the shoulder giving you more push.

2) As you grip your fingers into the floor, also twist your hands/plams into the floor, moving your palms inward and your fingers outward. This twists the arms, esp at the shoulders inward, tight to the body.

3) If you are just starting to do pushups and doing them on the floor is too difficult, try an alternate way to do pushups. Using the bar on the Smith machine at the gym can allow you to work your way down to the floor. This is how my PT worked my strength up.

http://www.realjock.com/article/107/

Thanks for the tips. Now, THIS is a topic worth discussing. I'll try this out and see what happens. Would like to hear from others who try it too.

Awesome-- trying to consistently hit sixty and will definitely give this a try in the morning. Thanks!

caslon I have a question. how many push ups are you doing now? I do 40 but I now I can go higher but I just think 40 is a good number.

metropolitan saidcaslon I have a question. how many push ups are you doing now? I do 40 but I now I can go higher but I just think 40 is a good number.

107 over 5 sets: 27 19 19 15 27

Week 3, Day 2, third column: http://hundredpushups.com/week3.html

I guess I put this in the wrong thread...

Ok, another pushup tip....and this one is the ULTIMATE TIP for me (why the hell my PT didnt tell me these tips all at once I dont know)

Here's the tip:

Put your weight on the heel of your palm (the "big" area down from your little finger just before you get to where the wrist flexes)

When you push up from this spot on your hand, all the force of the push is directed up the bones and muscles of the arm to the shoulders, so you get the most powerful push.

I tried it today and, my god, what a difference! And after the first set 27, I could feel it in my shoulder muscles. So I did get that total muscle functioning from my wrists to my shoulders.

So, I apparently have been misinterpreting how to do a pushup ever since I started doing push ups. I was always told to put my shoulders over my hands. I interpreted that to mean my weight over the palms and fingers of the hands.

If only someone had told me this sooner!