[jimmaswell]

I tried for quite a while to do the "100 pushups" program but I could never get past 7 pushups. They can be a deceptively very difficult thing to get right.

For one, you find it takes great concentration and continuous form checks not to do things that route 100% of the exercise through your shoulders instead of chest. Your elbows will want to flare out all the way, because our body just prefers shoulders for some reason and really really doesn't want the chest to be exercised, and pretty soon you'll have a shoulder impingement. At this point you have to give up on the exercise for a while to not inflame it further and make the injury permanent. Even trying my hardest to do the form perfectly I start feeling something in my shoulder eventually.

Besides the form, I just found them very hard to progress on compared to other exercises. For half a year or so a few years ago, I did them all the time wherever I was to pass the time, usually to failure. But I just never found that point where I could keep going and going like most people reach easily. When I started my form was wrong and I think I could get to 8 but once I corrected the form I never got that far. The number just rose to 6 or 7 and wouldn't budge. I tracked all my calories and macros - I was only very slightly below maintenance while making sure I had at least 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, every day. Here's the log from when I tried the 100 pushups program at the end:

Failed week 1 and had to redo it 1 time, failed week 2 4 times and had to go back to week 1, passed week 1, failed week 2 and gave up.

I got an optional free testosterone test recently out of curiosity. It was only 326 which is in "reference" but the consensus online seems to be that this is too low for 30 and men tend to feel much better at a level of 500+. So I'm strongly considering starting TRT and trying again, maybe with a generous calorie surplus this time to make sure there are no possible obstacles? Not sure what else I could do to move past such a plateau. I hit a similar one in the bench press too.

[AYBABTME]

Start with using your knees as a pivot instead of your feet. Then work up the count while keeping the form. It shouldn't take too long (maybe a month) if you keep it steady and soon enough you'll be doing normal push ups (starting back at a low count). You'll be surprised how quickly you can go from 5 to 10, 15, 25, 50 push ups simply by accepting your daily limits and doing them again nonetheless.

[WithinReason]

Do multiple sets. Do N pushups every minute for 10 minutes. If you can't do all the sets, decrease N. If the last set is easy, increase N. If you just do 1 set of 6 and call it a day you won't improve. At the start your N will be around 3.

[The_President]

This is good advice. Incorporate creatine during training and avoiding sugar, alcohol, and bread helps massively.

[giardini]

Avoid bread? No whole wheat PB&J sandwiches?8-((

[The_President]

Stuff like that makes a good Saturday Snack. Cleaner is better

[tayo42]

I thought your test levels can vary a lot? one test isnt enough to determine if your low or not?

[nradov]

Right a single point test is meaningless unless it's way out of the reference range. Values can fluctuate based on time of day, recent physical activity, stress level, and other factors.

[pengaru]

Dude you're being way too hard on yourself and fixating on the wrong thing (form) as a self-imposed barrier to progress.

I'm guessing you're overweight if you're under 10 pushups. Just do what you can, do them daily, forget the form, the key at this point is to develop the habit of routine and the self-discipline to stick to doing the physical and annoying thing on a daily basis.

Beyond that focus on nutrition so your weight is reeled in, the pushups become easy when your weight is normal.