You're probably doing them wrong. Honestly, most people are. They drop to the floor, crank out twenty shaky reps with their elbows flared out like a dying bird, and wonder why their chest feels fine but their shoulders are screaming. If you want to know how to get better at pushups fast, you have to stop thinking about them as just a "chest exercise." They’re a moving plank. They’re a full-body expression of tension.
I've seen guys who can bench 315 pounds struggle to do fifty clean, chest-to-floor pushups. It’s embarrassing, really. But it’s also fixable.
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The "Greasing the Groove" Secret
Strength is a skill. Pavel Tsatsouline, a legendary strength coach, popularized a concept called "Greasing the Groove" (GtG). It’s basically the fastest way to skyrocket your numbers without burning out. Instead of doing one massive workout where you collapse at the end, you do sub-maximal sets throughout the day.
Let's say your max is 20 reps. You might do 10 reps every hour, five or six times a day. You never reach failure. Your nervous system just gets really, really good at the movement pattern. It's like practicing a guitar scale. You don't play until your fingers bleed once a week; you play for ten minutes every day. By the end of the week, you’ve done 350 reps of perfect form instead of 60 reps of garbage form in a single gym session.
Your Form is Killing Your Progress
If your elbows are at a 90-degree angle to your body, stop. Just stop. You’re shredding your rotator cuffs. Professional trainers like Jeff Cavaliere from Athlean-X often point out that tucking your elbows to about a 45-degree angle is safer and actually engages the triceps and chest more effectively.
Tighten your gut
A pushup is a plank that moves. If your hips are sagging toward the floor, you're leaking power. You've got to squeeze your glutes. Hard. Like you're trying to hold a quarter between your cheeks. This stabilizes the pelvis and ensures the force you generate actually moves your body upward instead of just bowing your spine.
Hand placement matters more than you think
Most people put their hands too high up, near their shoulders. Try pulling them back toward your ribs. When you descend, your forearms should remain relatively vertical. This creates a stronger "pillar" of support. Also, screw your hands into the floor. Imagine you’re trying to tear a piece of paper between your palms by rotating them outward. This "external rotation" stabilizes the shoulder joint instantly.
Why You Shouldn't Chase Failure Every Time
There is a massive misconception in the fitness world that if you don't "feel the burn," you aren't growing. That’s total nonsense for neurologically-based strength gains. When you go to absolute failure, your form breaks down. Your brain starts recording those "bad" reps as the standard.
To get better at pushups fast, you need high-quality volume.
- Day 1: 5 sets of 50% of your max.
- Day 2: 3 sets of 70% of your max.
- Day 3: 10 sets of 30% of your max (speed work).
- Day 4: Rest. Totally. Don't even think about a floor.
Varying the intensity keeps the central nervous system (CNS) from frying while still forcing the muscle fibers to adapt to different types of stress.
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The Role of Accessory Movements
You can’t just do pushups to get better at pushups. Well, you can, but you'll hit a plateau faster than a brick wall. You need to strengthen the supporting cast.
The Triceps: These are the lockout kings. If you struggle at the top of the movement, your triceps are weak. Dips or overhead extensions help here.
The Serratus Anterior: This is that "boxer’s muscle" on your ribs. It holds your shoulder blade against your rib cage. If it’s weak, your shoulder blades will "wing" out, making the pushup unstable. Planks where you push your upper back toward the ceiling (scapular pushups) are gold for this.
The Core: Again, if you can't hold a solid plank for 60 seconds, your pushup will always be sloppy.
Mechanical Advantage and Regression
Don't be too proud to use your knees or an incline. If you can't do 10 perfect floor pushups, do them against a bench or a kitchen counter. This is called mechanical advantage. By changing the angle, you reduce the percentage of your body weight you're lifting.
A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that even small changes in hand elevation significantly alter the load on the upper body. Start high, get the reps in, and gradually lower the surface until you're on the floor. It’s better to do 15 perfect incline reps than 3 "worming" reps on the ground.
The Psychological Component
Pushups are boring. Let’s be real. Doing the same movement over and over is a mental grind. To stay engaged, change the tempo. Try the "2-2-2" rule: two seconds down, a two-second pause at the bottom (the hardest part), and two seconds to explode up.
Pausing at the bottom eliminates the "stretch reflex"—that little bounce most people use to cheat the rep. It forces the muscles to generate force from a dead stop. It’s humbling. You might only be able to do half as many, but those reps are worth triple.
Recovery: The Forgotten Variable
You don't get stronger while you're working out. You get stronger while you're sleeping. If you’re trying to increase your pushup count but only sleeping five hours a night, you’re spinning your wheels.
Hydration also plays a weirdly large role. Connective tissue—the stuff that keeps your elbows from clicking—is mostly water and collagen. If you're dehydrated, your joints will feel "sticky" and stiff, making every rep feel heavier than it actually is. Drink your water. Eat your protein. It’s basic, but it’s why people fail.
Tracking Progress Beyond the Number
Stop just counting reps. Start timing how long it takes to do 50. Or see how many you can do in a single breath (don't pass out, though). This variety in metrics keeps you from hitting the "mental wall" where you feel like you aren't improving just because your max rep count stayed at 30 for a week.
Sometimes, "better" means "faster." Sometimes it means "with less rest."
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Actionable Steps for the Next 14 Days
To actually see results, you need a plan that isn't just "do some pushups when I remember." Follow this structure to jumpstart your progress immediately.
- Test your true max today. Go until you cannot do one more rep with perfect form. If your hips sag or your head ducks, the set is over. Record this number.
- Implement the 50% Rule. For the next three days, perform five sets of 50% of your max spread throughout the day. If your max was 20, do 10 reps in the morning, 10 at lunch, 10 mid-afternoon, 10 before dinner, and 10 before bed.
- Focus on the "Negative." On the fourth day, do 3 sets of 5 reps where you take a full 5 seconds to lower yourself to the floor. Explode up. This eccentric loading builds muscle density fast.
- Add "Plank Finishers." After every pushup session, hold a hard-style plank (squeezing everything) for 30 seconds. This reinforces the "moving plank" mentality.
- Re-test on Day 14. Take Day 13 completely off. On Day 14, warm up and go for a new max. Most people see a 15-25% increase in just these two weeks because of neurological adaptation.
Consistent, high-quality movement beats occasional high-intensity struggle every single time. Stop treating the floor like an enemy and start treating it like a tool. Correct the elbow flare, squeeze your glutes, and embrace the sub-maximal volume. That is the only way to truly master the movement.