What is the best way for you to increase your push ups?

Push ups are hard! I hear people say all the time that they cannot get better at them.

Below are some methods that will help you pump out more quality reps and feel great about it. They are listed starting with most aggressive to most conservative.

1. Going to failure. Make no doubt about it. This option works and works well. You will increase the amount of push ups you can do. You will see an increase in numbers every workout or every other workout. The workout is simple, do three sets, each one to failure. That’s it. Rest between each set, just enough to catch your breath. Record the numbers, try to beat catch up to them or beat them next time. Expect the numbers to drop off drastically from with each set. Do this 3 times a week, every 48 hours. Warning! This is hard on your body. It’s hard on your muscles, joints, cardiovascular system, nerves and hormonal system. People in late teens to early twenties are the most capable of handling this stress. If you are older, younger or not a in great shape, your best bet is to avoid this type of training. And yes, do a few short sets to warm up.
2. Simple ladder. This one is very simple. Do one rep, rest for few seconds, than do two reps, rest and do three. Keep going, till failure is approached by few reps, but don’t go to failure. If you want to combine with horizontal rows, this makes a great superset. Every week add another set. So if you final set was 8 reps in week one, add another set, which would be 9 reps for week two. After a month, add another ladder after few minutes break. After two months begin to shorten your rest time, while continuing to increase the number of sets.
3. Jagged Ladder. This approach is for those people who have sensitive muscles and joints and want to make sure everything is well warmed up to minimize the chance of injury. Similar to a regular ladder, Jagged Ladder comes back to the start after each increase. It looks like this. 1,1,2,1,2,3,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5. Everything else is the same as the Simple Ladder. Increase sets slowly, with time add another ladder. If you want to keep your muscles balanced, add horizontal rows to the mix.