How many pushups can you do?

But I am proud of that one. I can do about five 'girlie' ones, but that's probably considered cheating. This is a great topic for skaters since we focus so much on our leg muscles, and some skaters even pride themselves on as little upper body mass as possible. I imagine having good upper body tone would help you avoid certain injuries during a face-plant. How far down is one supposed to dip to call it a proper push-up?

There's a reason the military loves pushups... They one of those "perfect" exercises. They're simple, you can do them anywhere, and most of all -- they work a bunch of different muscles all at the same time. Sadly, I've always been terrible at them! I've neglected developing any significant upper-body strength for years. My trainer has been forcing me to do them though -- as well as pullups and other assorted torturous exercises. Today, we did a particularly difficult exercise, that I first attempted last week. Basically, start with 10 pushups, then do 10 squat-jumps (squat, then jump). Then 9 pushups and 9 squat-jumps, then 8 & 8, 7 & 7... Last week, he had me go all the way down to 1 & 1, but I had to start "cheating" pretty early on -- sometime during the "7" set I think. (Cheating meaning I have to do them on my knees instead of my toes.) Today, I made it through 5 & 5 without cheating and he had me stop there, although I think I probably could have made it all the way through 1 & 1 today. One difference was that today, we did them closer to the beginning of the workout and my arms weren't as tired. A little later, he had my do pushups while gripping two dumbbells, then between each pushup I had to bring one of the dumbbells up in a "rowing" motion to my side. Then another pushup, and row on the other side. I think I did 12-14 pushups (and the rows in between) before my arms gave out and I had to "cheat" on the last 6 or 8... Pullups are really challenging for me right now, and I can't do more than one or two without assistance. There's an assisted-pullup machine at the gym where the more weight you put on it, the easier the pullups are. Maybe one day I'll be able to crank out a set without any assistance, but I think that's still a ways off. Oh - and as far as how far down to go on a pushup, I'm with Tim -- kiss the floor. (Not literally of course!) But I'll usually tap the floor with my forehead (lightly) or my nose if I'm doing them at home on thicker carpet. So how many pushups are *you* cranking out these days, Dave? - SM -

I normally do 20 as part of my skate warmup (when I bother to warm up), so I imagine I could crank out five more if I had to win a bet. I really do seem to skate better afterwards, though.