From The Archives :
Late 2018 w/recent commentary to end
Recently I’d spoken about this to my Uncle, and having seen him made a point to have him witness and time it :
I insisted he time my nightly pushups. He insisted I go strict.
I got on my face, he counted down,3,2,1, and I started repping pushups.
The first 15-20 at a moderate pace to make sure I was locked in on a good strict chest to floor “bar path”.
I then picked up the pace, until hitting a lactic acid wall after 51…the time 30 seconds and change ie under 31 seconds.
(Through the set I floated a tad high to a degree, chest still within an inch.)
At 55 reps in :
“Time?”
“A bit past 30 to 51”
“I’m at 55”
I continue grinding to 60 reps. My uncle had stopped the timer at my pausing at the lactic acid wall.
“How long do you think it’d taken me to 60?”
“No more than 45 seconds”
“Now do you believe I’ve got past 100 in a minute”
(This was done at ~260lb and out of condition for perspective.)
The kicker is by trying to keep strict, I started off not going as fast as possible. I lost rep speed in those first 15-20 reps, and I haven’t purposely done high rep fast pushups in years.
This is out of condition! But it’s after a decade of regular pushups.
(I believe years ago I got as high as 112 or 113 in 60 seconds…that would pass on an Army PT test.)
When doing pushups high rep against a clock you want to go as fast as possible cramming as many in as you can before you hit a wall.
At 18 my old JROTC instructor timed me doing a set where he was staggered that my first 30 or 40 reps were done at a 2 per second pace.
Eventually I could hold that pace for most of the minute, the chest and triceps having developed a resistance to lactic acid buildup.
It’s more sprint than slog, but over time will morph into a 60 second sprint.
A funny story :
At 19 I was sitting there in the recruiters office, and this kid (23/24yo, ranger contract, had played d1 college hockey) was bragging about his final PFT score in basic/infantry school/osut, how he’d hit 70 something pushups, and had one of the highest pushup scores.
I off hand went “I can beat that in under a minute.”
“No offense dude, but you’re kinda pudgy, there’s no way.”
I pulled my wallet out, counted off 10,15,16, the $17 I had on me, and with total confidence “match it”.
You can sense the hesitation in him, smell it, see it in his body language. He looks…uncomfortable.
The cadre of recruiters is excitable like a gaggle of teenage girls and starting to place bets.
“I would, but you seem too confident. I’ll take your word.”
I was disappointed. I’d have made $17 and shocked the shit out of everyone present had I not acted clearly showing the total confidence I had.
(At the time I’d hit ~90 in a minute at any given time.)
Another time I mad dashed to the Army PFT Ace score of 70 whatever just to show a buddy despite never training full range that I could still got the ace standard in less than half the allotted time.
(2015, 95%+ of my reps were super short range of motion. I’ll discuss that another time.)
Recent Commentary :
Over the years I’ve usually done my reps in a somewhat narrow grip, though at present with my nearly 270lb leverages a little wider makes the reps super fast and effortless.
Pushups have a million variations, vanilla will bring you far, but more can help.
Persistence & Tenacity