How Can I Build a Muscle?

Training
1

Hey guys!

I am really hoping to get serious answers here and someone can help me… I am female, 16 years old and I want to build muscle (mass) with the goal to do some PUSH UPS because I can not do any of them.

My boyfriend and I made a bet… At the end of the year I need to do about 20 push ups (of course it will be great if I can even do more). However the problem is that I do not have any muscle (mass) - I am serious, I can not even defend myself in a physical and proper way… - So, can anyone help me reaching that goal? I know this bet seem to be a weird reason to build muscle (mass) and I am really sorry for bothering you guys here but I really want to do some push ups and to feel strong and confident. Does anyone have tips or suggestions how I can build muscle (mass)?

I would be really grateful if someone can give me some of his/her ideas or share his/her experiences, thanks in advance!

2

Really simple program would help you alot especially if you can get into a gym. If you can get into a gym I’d suggest a 4x week. Upper/Lower

Day 1- Upper- 20 mins warmups
Knee Push Ups: shoot for 5x5
Lat Pulldown: 3x10
Incline DB Press: 3x10
DB Row: 3x10
Push Up Position: 3 sets of max time with flat back. Will work on core and stability.

Day 2- Lower- 20 mins Warmups
Squat: Start with body weight squats till you can do about 4x20 then start using weights.
Back Extensions: 3x10-20
Lunges: 3x 10-20 per leg
Face Pulls: 3x 20
Ab Movement: 3 x 10-20

Day 3- More or less repeat the day 1 until you can get at least 5x5 all the way to ground and then full lockout. Once this can be done we can start with simple progression of Standard Pull Ups.

Day 4- Pretty much the same

THIS IS EXTREMELY BARE BONES. If I was actually working with you I would change up some stuff but with not really knowing much about you other than your age and lack of mass not alot to really go off. Also once you get close to challenge you can start experimenting with different grip widths and what not to really make the movement slightly easier. But, in my personal opinion if you eat well not bulk but, well to recover and gives it hell there is ZERO reason you can not do at least 20 push ups by the end of the year.

3

I would go with goblet squats instead of body squats.

Why? Very simple- the DB act as a counterbalance and actually make it easier to do the squats. Especially if you’re inflexible and not good with balance. I found myself doing goblet squats like a champ but falling over backwards a lot with body squats back when my flexibility and balance with the squat sucked.

Lastly, keep in mind that, as long as you start with easy movements and progressively increase the difficulty, you WILL improve. Just gotta be patient.

4

Wait, so your main goal is to gain mass or do 20 push ups?

If it’s push-ups, the frequency method might work:
If your max knee push-up count is 10, then you do a set of 8, spread throughout the day 4-5x.
As you get stronger, you progress to full push-ups and add in reps (not going to exhaustion, just getting a good set it).
Throw in a full 1 min. plank (hold the top position of the push-up) 1x/day, and you should be set.

This will all to help reinforce the movement pattern and get you better at push ups. Though, it won’t do much to add mass after a month or two.

5

@reed, @magick, @1 Man Island, thank you guys for your advice!!! I really appreciate it!

6

Promise to tell us when you get to doing 100 push-ups and completely wowing your bf by being substantially stronger than him.

=)

7

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
Wait, so your main goal is to gain mass or do 20 push ups?

If it’s push-ups, the frequency method might work:
If your max knee push-up count is 10, then you do a set of 8, spread throughout the day 4-5x.
As you get stronger, you progress to full push-ups and add in reps (not going to exhaustion, just getting a good set it).
Throw in a full 1 min. plank (hold the top position of the push-up) 1x/day, and you should be set.

This will all to help reinforce the movement pattern and get you better at push ups. Though, it won’t do much to add mass after a month or two.[/quote]

I’ve tried doing this before. Or, more accurately, Pavel Tsatsouline’s “greasing the groove” method.

It made doing push-ups within the limit of my strength significantly easier, but it never made me capable of doing more push-ups. I had to actually get my bench-press higher to allow that.

I know a lot of people have had success with the greasing the groove method though, so I suppose it is up to the person in how much they improve.

8

I’ve done it with pull-ups a bit with moderate success (never went fully in on it).

I figured if she can’t even do one push-up, it might not be a bad route (and could even be implemented with Reed’s program).

Heck, there’s some folks out there (Tate, I think), that say you shouldn’t even bench until you can do 40 pushups or something like that. Either way, I don’t think it would hurt (in terms of strength, recovery, or even time… given the weak strength).

9

If we’re going to talk about pushups only… I see this as a few different problems.

  1. you need to be able to do a pushup

There’s a few things you can do, and you should probably do a bit of all of them.

First idea: Work on doing a pushup with your feet on the ground, but your arms raised off the ground: so put your hands on a coffee table, on a couch, whatever. You want to start with something you can do a few pushups against, and over time, you want to get closer and closer to the ground. Today you might be able to do 5 pushups with your hands on a countertop. Next week, you might be able to do 5 pushups with your hands on the ends of a couch. The following week, on the seat of the couch. Eventually, work your way down to the floor.

Second idea: Work on holding a good solid plank position. This is pretty much just the top of the pushup position. You should be able to have your arms straight, and keep your body straight for a minute or more.

Third idea: once you can hold the plank, is to work on slowly lowering yourself to the ground. Keep your back and legs straight, but see how far down you can lower yourself before your arms give out. Repeat this for a few times.

  1. you need to be able to do several pushups

With this, give yourself a target number, so 20 pushups. Your goal is to get 20 pushups over the course of the day. You can use as long of breaks between them as you need, but just get them all in by the end of the day.

Do this with whatever type of pushup you can do right now. If you can do knee pushups, do those. If you can do pushups against the edge of a couch, do those.

I’d work on getting up to doing 50, every other day.

  1. you need to be able to do several pushups in a single set

This sort of comes along with the last one. So let’s say you’re now able to get 20 pushups through the day. You do two here, three there, but eventually hit 20.

Now you try to get more pushups in each chunk. So instead of doing 2 pushups at a time, 10 times a day, work to doing 3 pushups, 7 times a day. Then work up to doing 4 pushups at a time. Then 5. And eventually you can work up to doing all 20 at once.

Both of the last two can be done with whatever kind of pushup you can do… so just find some variation that you’re able to do right now and start working on improving your numbers. Eventually you can work up to doing “real” pushups like that.

10

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
I figured if she can’t even do one push-up, it might not be a bad route (and could even be implemented with Reed’s program).[/quote]

Oh for sure. It shouldn’t do all that hard on your body. That’s the beauty of such programs.

And, afaik, generally the more activity you do, the better. Especially when you’re not looking to build elite strength anyhow.

11

@lorez, thank you for taking your time to write these ideas!!
@magick , Sure I will!
Now I am going to work hard to do these push ups!! I would be great if I can even do more,
Hope you guys will still be helpful if I need help or have questions, thanks a lot to you all!!!

12

[quote]unicorn wrote:
I am female, 16 years old and I want to build muscle (mass) with the goal to do some PUSH UPS because I can not do any of them.[/quote]
Sorry to ask, and don’t be embarrassed, but what’s your height, weight, and general shape? Ha, I’ll be the jerk to say it: if you’re on the skinnier side that’s one thing, but if you’re a bit heavier, then following a very, very basic, not extreme fat loss nutrition plan will also help with eventually getting all the push-ups since you’ll basically have less weight to move around. :wink:

Also, you don’t really have to have a lot of muscle in order to do push-ups. A lot of people who are really good at bodyweight exercises (push-ups, pull-ups, one-legged squats) don’t tend to look super big and muscular.

I’ve gotten a lot of good results starting with push-ups at a lower rep range, and gradually increasing as you get stronger. I’d start with something like this plan, alternating each workout for a total of three workouts per week:

Workout A
Push-up 4x2-4
Bodyweight Squat 2x12-15
Horizontal Row 2x12-15
Bodyweight Alternating Lunge 2x12-15 per leg
Plank 2x15-count
Burpee/squat thrust 2x15

Workout B
Bodyweight Squat 2x12-15
Push-up 3x3-5
Bodyweight Alternating Lunge 2x12-15 per leg
Horizontal Row 2x12-15
Plank 2x15-count
Burpee/squat thrust 2x15

On the push-ups, I’m really against doing them from the knees. The body positioning is very different from the full exercise and it’s much easier to cheat by just bending at the waist. Instead, like Rez suggested, put your hands up on a bench or some steps and still keep a straight line from your neck to your ankles. As you get stronger, lower the height of your hands until you’re doing full push-ups form the floor.

Another thing that will help, that a lot of people don’t pay attention to, is where you place your feet. Having them closer together will be more challenging, so instead of having your feet right next to each other with heels touching, keep them at least about shoulder-width apart or even a little wider to start.

This is a good video for basic technique. Just ignore the last part about the TRX straps. Those are wayyy more difficult than we need to deal with. And remember my note about the foot width. In the video, her feet are really close, but you can start with them wider.

13

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Sorry to ask, and don’t be embarrassed, but what’s your height, weight, and general shape?
[/quote]

My height: 62 inches, my weight: 108 lbs and I am not quite sure about my general shape…

I think I will go with your Workout B!
Today I tried to do some push ups, however it was quite hard that is why I will put my hands on a bench to do them! Thank you a lot!!!