Stop Doing 100 Pushups a Day - I’m Begging You!!

There are lots of 100 Pushups a Day Workouts available, but should you be doing them. That is the question that gets answered in today’s video. The attraction of a simple to follow, easy to remember exercise plan that has the ability to deliver bigger chest and arm gains is definitely something that cannot be denied. That said, is it the best use of your time?

To start, it’s important to realize just why 100 pushups a day is something that has been done and tried by many. Some perform this routine for 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or even an entire year. If there were no results to be had from doing it, it is hard to imagine that people would continue to spend their time doing it. But what if there were something better.

Here I’m going to show you something better than 100 pushups a day.

The first issue with making the number simply one hundred is that it will only match the ability levels of about 3 percent of those watching. In order for an exercise to be progressive, it should have the capacity to challenge the person that is doing it. Now, the benefits to this technique are almost wholly due to the dramatically increased volume of the pushup exercise that comes with doing them daily.

Over time, the sub maximal volume, done in much greater amounts, is enough to drive muscle adaptation and size gains in the chest, arms and shoulders. That said, not all increases in volume can do this. Many times, the excessive volume becomes simply junk volume. That is, an accumulation of reps that are so below your capability levels that they serve to do nothing to progress the muscles that you are trying to build and more often only cause irritation, inflammation and aggravation of the joints involved in the exercise.

No exception here with pushups.

People who engage in pushup routines that require daily pushups for more than 3 weeks will often times see a decrease in their muscle output and strength as well as development of poor posture from rounded shoulders. These are caused by the muscle imbalances that occur when focusing all of your efforts on chest development.

In my 22 Days to a Bigger Chest Routine, we not only propose plan involving pushups but important variations of the move that shift the focus more to your triceps or shoulders to offload some of the work being done by the chest. As always however, with the daily recommendation of doing face pulls you will be sure you have enough posterior chain training to counteract any postural issues that could come from an abundance of push ups.

Here, what is suggested is to not only perform your pushups in sets rather than as a firm fixed number of 100 but to shift that fixed number of reps to another exercise - the Superman Pressout - to avoid any of the imbalances that could come. So, with the fixed number of sets rather than pushups we are able to accommodate to a person’s ability level much better.

For example, someone that can do 60-75 reps of pushups in a given set is going to be far less challenged by a 100 pushups a day routine than someone who can only do 5-10 in a set. Here, we equalize the stress by having each person do 5 sets, 5 reps short of failure. It’s important to keep these sets short of all out muscle failure. This will help with the recovery from these workouts as the consecutive days start to pile up.

The next most important element however is that immediately following each of these 5 sets you will perform 20 reps of the Superman Pressout exercise shown. This will work the often overlooked and important muscles of the rotator cuff and rhomboids, helping to prevent postural shoulder rounding that could come from overworking the pecs.

You can perform these sets all at the same time or break them up over the course of the day. Just be sure to include the set of 20 reps of Superman Pressouts immediately following each of the sets to ensure that you get your 100 reps of that exercise in throughout the day.

Try this out and let me know how you do in the comments.

For more videos on how to build a bigger chest and pushup workouts that help you build a big chest at home, be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube via the link below. Remember to turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

[jazzabighits]

"stop doing 100 pushups a day"
Never started, way ahead of you dude

[kevinbbadd]

I always do 101 because my enemy was most likely doing 100

[someguy]

Do them every other day. This allows for recovery

You'll be fine. Just saved you 5+ minutes.

[DoggieDogd]

This is the first video where it finally clicked for me with five sets to failure. I always felt terrible i couldnt get to full sets and this has made me realize if i hit that sore mark and stop there, im building up instead of pushing myself to far. Subscribed!

[panosts]

As a man that ended up getting shoulder tendonitis because of the excessive volume and not training the minor muscles all I have to say it that Jeff is saving lives with videos like these

[chrisdebaun]

Im 73 - I do (including my normal daily 90 minute workout everyday) 100 pushups everyday - 4 sets at 25 reps per set... I feel great - been a gym rat since I was 32.

[TobiasELee]

Always love and appreciate your videos. You've helped me many times overcoming injuries. I'm 62 years old and pretty fit. But over the summer I was doing my usual P96 routine (pushups, pull ups, bands) - and was trying o increase my reps and weight and frequency. Things were going very well, until one day - they weren't. I suffered either an impingement or slight tear - whatever it was (I've been to the doctor and they say it was't rotator cuff) - it took me OUT! And since then (September of 2023) I have been struggling with getting both shoulders able to return to doing some kind of training. SO FRUSTRATING. All that to say, I was glad to hear you talk in this video about not getting injured as we push forward. This old (though fit) body of mine is reminding me of how I need to be more patient and careful with my routines. So I REALLY appreciated finding this cool little routine of yours (the 100 a day thing was beginning to sound good too me). Thanks AGAIN for a great one. MUCH Appreciated!

[timl]

I've been working out with weights since was 19, always beginning my workouts with 100 pushups to warm up. I continued that regimen for countless years with great results, now at age 72, I continue my workouts, but as i got older i finally eliminated that routine. I recently just wanted to see how many i could still do consecutively and got to fifty. But of course not keeping up with them it became more difficult.
Now going 5 days to the gym, twice a week enjoy doing 3 sets of 20 pull-ups instead and love doing them. Regularity has always been the key to staying in shape and keeping my strength up! And Never givee up! Tim

[DaKingisDead]

I can remember going to Boot Camp as a 17yr old and struggling to get 25 pushups...now all these years later I can do 50 flat out, but I still do sets of 20 or 25 until 100 just like when I was a kid. It's really been a complement to my training routine over the years and a great way to start the day.

[tmglizzy]

10 min push ups workout. Max out number. Break into 3. Regular, wide, then diamond push ups, each set you break max number into 3. 30 second rest after each each set. 1 min rest before switching push up stance. I promise you this was the best workout. I was doing 500-1000 a night but this always challenged me, got me bigger. Yes I was in jail

[etiennelouw]

I am aiming for 5 sets of 20 push ups a day, but with other exercises as well. For the last 6 years I did almost none, but 12 days ago I had to go over a 6 foot wall to help a hurt neighbor, adrenaline got me over fast, but getting back was when I realized that I had lost a lot of my strength. So I am now galvanized to become strong again, in 2 days my weights and protein powder will come and then I will be able to increase the amount of exercises I do. I retired at 63 and am 69 now.

[therealsolo]

Makes sense. I just started doing this and now i feel ive gain strength. And doing some shoulder workout right after

[equitium]

Great advice. I've reduced most my shoulder pain by dividing my reps up like this. When I push myself to the brink, my bad shoulder acts up. Took me years to learn this. I've also reduced most of my back pain by regularly doing superman presses. It took me 8 months to even be able to do 1 without pain following a disc rupture. I had to work on tight and weak hip flexors/psoas for weeks, but the stronger I get the more the pain goes away.

[athleanx]

*NOTIFICATION SQUAD GIVEAWAY* - Alright guys, I’m giving away a complete 30 Day Workout program to 100 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 100, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached! 

If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

[YOUTRAINFITNESS]

I agree that increasing the difficulty of the pushup is a great way to increase your reps: Especially, varying the hand-width position.

[azullove]

Much wiser approach, definitely leveled up my game. Blessings

[bike.ventures]

this routine (100 push-ups a day) took me from barely 10 sloppy push-ups to 22 good form shoulder width push-ups in 15days

[King-O-Hell]

One of my biggest regrets with lifting the last 20 years is all the different muscles I have missed in my lifting routines. I appreciate Jeff's encouragement to hit different areas with different variations.

[jasonrivera]

I’m a push up guy, can’t lie I was kinda biased of clicking this vid just cause of the title but actually seeing the whole thing I totally agree. Awsome vid awsome knowledge. Thank you my guy.

[Kornars]

Followed your advice and results are showing. Posture is improving too. Thank you so much!!!