Why can I do 6 pull ups but barley can do 20 push ups? Any tips to improve

[itsjustmerae]

I’m enlisting into the U.S. Marines and will be leaving for boot camp in September. My whole life I was a fat ass couch potato and got to 240 at 17 now 18 and weigh 197, been working out this entire time. I honestly been doing weight lifting for my dream goal of calisthenics because of my weight. Been exercising my ass off for the last few weeks and have improve my pull ups from 2 to 6 but my push ups have been stuck at 20. Other than my weight I’m eligible physically for boot camp because I can do more than 3 pull ups but extremely worried for how dog shit my push ups are. Right now I’m going to start focusing on my push ups, if there’s any tips any one can give I’ll be very grateful.

Edit: Sorry for not responding, I don’t use Reddit too much and made this post out of frustration when I was at the gym. Some more info about me I’m 5’9 I can do about 4 pull ups in perfect form and kinda mess up the rest. Main reason I want to do push ups is not to fuck up my team or whatever In boot camp. But thank you everyone for advice !

 

[dandyandy]

@itsjustmerae Hey, so I'll give you some different advice.. Boot camp will be comprised of a vast array of different humans, all on a broad spectrum of physical ability, and they will all become marines. They will not be impressed by anyone who can show up and complete 50 pushups. Or 100. or 200. In fact, the individuals who can complete all of the demands when they show up end up getting "treated" to extra training. "Oh lookey here, MeatBagh can already do all the pushups. I suppose he needs extra special training because he's sooooo strong." If you show up and do all the stupid bullshit as best you can, as quietly as you can, you WILL succeed. If this is mostly just you wanting to be as prepared as you can, everything everyone else is saying will certainly help. I'm just letting you know that they will make you stronger as long you show up and do your best. Nobody leaves because they were a couple pushups short, I promise. Good luck!!

 

[heekun2017]

@dandyandy best advice here my man.

 

[bigluke67]

@dandyandy Genuine ask, say there's like untrained fatter guys trying to enlist and it looks like the physical strain might actually be dangerous health wise but they have legit determination and are doing their best: would they pass?

 

[dandyandy]

@bigluke67 There are weight standards that have to be met prior to enlisting, but if any individual can show up under the weight limit, they will train you there. There are no day one fitness tests that will cause a ticket home. Like, literally most of the folks who show up to boot camp are untrained. If you don't quit, you will succeed. You may squirm and shout, but you as long as you keep getting up they'll keep training you.

I'll add: Everyone suffers in boot camp. That's the point. No amount of preparation will prevent physical and mental suffering. If you can 1,000 pushups, they'll make you do 1,100. If you can run a mile in 6 minutes, they'll scream at you to hurry up. That's the game.

 

[itsjustmerae]

@dandyandy Thank you, I’m just worried of holding back my team and stuff.

 

[johnbastion]

@itsjustmerae Is your form improving? Push ups are notoriously performed with shitty form with claims to do 50-60. If your form is improving (body alignment, getting closer to the ground, tempo, etc) then the 20 you’re doing now are much better and you’ve gained quite a bit. Just focus on doing more sets or reps and find a program that works for you.

 

[sarangapani]

@johnbastion This. 20 slow and controlled push-ups with perfect form are not easy by any means.

 

[dawn16]

@sarangapani Yup. I remember doing loads of pushups when I was younger but they were all with bad form. I would crank out 50 and be all impressed with myself. Now I do far less but slowly and with proper range of motion. Doing them properly is actually very hard.

 

[teey]

@johnbastion

Push ups are notoriously performed with shitty form with claims to do 50-60

This is actually a major topic that isn’t being addressed enough. People love being sticklers for form when it comes to pullups, but for some reason it’s OK to pad your pushups numbers with extremely fast half-rom reps.

Those numbers will drop severely when you tell them to do full-rom pushups with a normal tempo. In fact, there are people who can’t even do 1 diamond pushup, despite being able to 20-30 standard pushups - it’s clearly because they aren’t doing the bottom range of the movement.

 

[johnbastion]

@teey It’s funny because a bad form pull up can still be difficult, while a bad form push up is easy. I think you bring an interesting point because diamond push ups force the bottom part of the movement.

 

[keembo]

@teey I was yelled at throughout basic military training bc my pushup form was horrible (still is lol). When I got to tech school I dated a marine that constantly shit on the AF because we were bad at exercising. In class once he got disciplined and had to do 50 pushups... not one single pushup was done that day lol.

Tbf, the military especially places emphasis on doing exercises quickly rather than correctly. As long as OP can shit out the required amount of pushups with meh form, he'll probably do fine in bootcamp. Just can't look like he's struggling.

 

[itsjustmerae]

@johnbastion In perfect form I can do about 20-24. I just don’t want to be embarrassed

 

[sarangapani]

@itsjustmerae One word of warning since you sound very enthusiastic: Don’t overdo it. The last thing you want is an overuse injury. Take rest days, don’t work the same muscle group more than 2 or 3 times per week and don’t do more than ~6 working sets per muscle group and session. Take a de-loading week every few weeks.

Keep in mind that chest muscles are involved in pull-ups as well, so if you are doing pull-ups before (even if it’s the day before) your push-ups will suffer slightly.

 

[itsjustmerae]

@sarangapani I realized that now. Been working out 12 days with no rest days, feel stupid not resting but I just wanna get stronger.

 

[sarangapani]

@itsjustmerae I know that feeling. It’s really tempting to train too much, either because you are making progress (and feel hugely motivated) or because you lack progress (probably because you are already overtraining).

Training exactly the right amount is hard. I often have to remind myself that I won’t get weaker from one or two rest days.

 

[kjvbeliever87]

@itsjustmerae You can't do many push ups because you are heavy and push ups are kind of hard actually when you do them correctly. Your numbers will improve as the weight comes off.

 

[curiouschristian101]

@kjvbeliever87 We don't have his height so it's possible for 197 to be reasonable. I know at least for me it would be.

 

[stevenmcg2005]

@curiouschristian101 He said he's too heavy to join the Marines right now which means he's 5'10" or shorter. Also if weight was really the problem he wouldn't be able to do pull ups which require you to lift all of your body weight while pushups only lift like 70%. If the problem is holding the push up position that long he probably just needs to work on core by doing planks.

 

[curiouschristian101]

@stevenmcg2005 Fair enough