Push ups .... I'm stuck!

I desperately need help!

I've been stuck on push ups since I started ... All my other movements are progressing but I just can't master push ups. I can do the first 2-3 sets at 15 but not the last sets.

I wonder if I need to try a different approach?

Perhaps try a microcyle.  Instead of jumping right into 4x15r or 5x15r, try increasing it by 1 rep per set each week.

 

e.g.  Week 1 4x13r, Week 2 4x14r, Week 3 4x15r.

I find Cirenehoc's approach works well when I get stuck. Sometimes the body just takes a long time to adapt to some exercises. 

Auhsojmucols said it best - some of us are particularly resistant to adapting to push-ups, and have had to take an even less aggressive approach to ramping up the volume (i.e. 1 extra rep per week). Here's a recent thread:

 

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/13551-always-failing-on-week-11/#entry132761

Thanks guys.

I was thinking of doing extra sets on alternate days, but I'm concerned it will leave me too sore ... especially since I do crossfit workouts 4-5 times a week.

I will try some mini cycles.

For how many time has you been doing PU? Just curious.

You can try breaking the increases into smaller increments.

 

What are you currently doing when you fail the last two sets ? 

I'm currently doing 15 15 10-15 7 6. When I fail I stop the set.

I've been working on them for 6 months.

I get close ... But after the deload I have to start all over again.

I will try the smaller increments ... Maybe 5x12 5x13 etc

Jacqui Collins said:

I will try the smaller increments ... Maybe 5x12 5x13 etc

 

You could even try 5x10. If it's easy you'll be fresh and excited to improve a little in your next workout.

what if you did crossfit only 2 to 3 times a week. That could be your answer. Pushups are a slow process for me. 6 months also here. I have taken the eric approach here the last 2 months.

Jacqui Collins said:

Thanks guys.

I was thinking of doing extra sets on alternate days, but I'm concerned it will leave me too sore ... especially since I do crossfit workouts 4-5 times a week.

I will try some mini cycles.

There's your problem: you're doing too much. Do less cross-fit, or drop it entirely. You can't progress much if you're overloading your recovery abilities.

Joshua Slocum said:

There's your problem: you're doing too much. Do less cross-fit, or drop it entirely. You can't progress much if you're overloading your recovery abilities.

Totally totally agree with this. I didn't realise of this in Jacqui's post. It has been when I drop Weightlifting, Rock Climbing and Martial Arts when I've started to see results in my training. Very good point. SAID principle matters more than we think.

I am confident that recovery is not my issue ... I'm progressing well on all the other elements ... And I won't drop my cf training (because I love cf).

The issue is that push ups (and dips too) are in a plane of movement where I am weak. Also my muscles are predominantly type 2B ... Which makes endurance challenging at times.

Over the years that I have exercised with Jacqui she has always struggled with pressing movements. It doesn't seem to be a general recovery issue as the other movements are improving well.

Her push ups have still improved really well but she does lack the strength endurance to get the high reps. I think the approach of adding one rep a time would work well.

Try greasing the groove with them. Although its a bit more of a novel movement, it really helped me with PPP. I took them out of my main workouts, and just did about 3-6 PPP (not fatiguing) randomly several times throughout the day, nearly every day. Within two weeks I noticed a huge improvement, from 5x6-8 to near mastery.

Art Vandelay said:

Try greasing the groove with them. Although its a bit more of a novel movement, it really helped me with PPP. I took them out of my main workouts, and just did about 3-6 PPP (not fatiguing) randomly several times throughout the day, nearly every day. Within two weeks I noticed a huge improvement, from 5x6-8 to near mastery.

Thanks Chris. I was wondering if GTG would help with these. I will try this out with my PPP.

good to there, that im not alone with the problem in hbp 2

I will try to do them daily if possible...without fatigue. Maybe the muscles need more time to learn how to work good in this movement.

William said:

good to there, that im not alone with the problem in hbp 2

I will try to do them daily if possible...without fatigue. Maybe the muscles need more time to learn how to work good in this movement.

This works really well for me too, but I find that trying to do it with more than one movement doesn't work at all. Your mileage may vary of course

Jacqui Collins said:

I'm currently doing 15 15 10-15 7 6. When I fail I stop the set.

I've been working on them for 6 months.

I get close ... But after the deload I have to start all over again.

I will try the smaller increments ... Maybe 5x12 5x13 etc

Please update this thread with your progress, and if you change your approach (scale back, or GTG). I'm certain there are many others stuck that will be curios to know (myself included). I did read a post somewhere that it's recommended not to engage in too many "grinding reps."  Maybe changing that pattern is worth a try- at least in my case. Good luck!

I will update my progress ... This week I stepped back to 5x10 ... They were ok ... Next week I will increase to 5x11

I have tried the opposite approach fore these. After getting tired of always failing on the last few reps I desided to push the endurance envelope by trying to do 5x18 reps. In the beginning I only managed two full sets but now I'm back to where I can do 5 sets. Im still losing the tempo on the last reps but now its the last reps of 5x18. I think that I'll be ready to try mastery soon. Doing the RC PE2 after 5x18 pushups is hell though.

You might want to try putting RC first. The muscle pump from pulling will help with the pushing.

 

 

^{Side note. Ravn, thecolin et al - you are banned from engaging with this thread :-)}

Jvenna ... Wow 5x18 ... That sounds hard !

Let me know if it works

I'm also stuck at push-ups. Don't seem to be able to add any more reps at all. What I will experiment with this cycle is:

 

1. I swap order of ropeclimb an push-ups so I get more time to recover from the planche work. (FL, PL, RC, HBP).

 

2. I will do pushups against a bench that is about 20 cm lower than the one I did mastery for PE1 against. When I can master that I will use an even lower bench (maybe 20 cm high) as a final intermediate before doing them on the floor again. My hopes is that this will give me more volume and time to focus on techique.

Not sure #1 will work, Tomas, it looks like you're just postponing the pain.

You'll be able to prove mastery, but  then the next progression is PPP, where you basically are doing planche lean AND pushups at the same time.