Doing push-ups is one of the simplest, yet most effective bodyweight exercises out there. Requiring no equipment beyond your own body weight, push-ups work numerous muscle groups at once to build upper body strength. Best of all, you can do them just about anywhere!
Commit to performing 50 push-ups every day, and you may be surprised by the changes you see in your physical fitness and health. Whether your goal is bigger muscles, improved athletic performance, or better overall wellbeing, making push-ups part of your daily routine can get you there.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the wide-ranging effects that doing 50 push-ups a day can have. We’ll look at the many muscular and cardiovascular benefits, recovery considerations, proper form pointers, and more. Let’s get started!
Muscles Worked
First, let’s look at exactly which muscle groups push-ups target:
-
Chest – Push-ups primarily target your pectoralis major and minor chest muscles. These muscles are crucial for pushing strength.
-
Shoulders – Your anterior deltoids, side delts and other shoulder muscles are heavily activated to stabilize your upper body. Stronger shoulders aid athleticism.
-
Triceps – Your triceps do significant work, driving your arms to straighten against resistance on each rep. Bigger triceps means bigger arms!
-
Core – Throughout the movement, your core must engage to keep your body straight and rigid from head to toe. A solid core helps transfer power.
So in short, push-ups hit all the major muscle groups of your upper body while also recruiting your abs and lower back as stabilizers. No wonder push-ups are a staple exercise recommended by trainers and coaches!
Muscle Growth from Push-Up Stimulus
Now that we know which muscle groups push-ups target, let’s talk about why doing 50 reps daily can lead to increased muscular size and strength over time.
Whenever you resistance train, you create small microtears in your muscle fibers. Your body then repairs these tears by fusing the damaged fibers together with new protein strands, resulting in thicker, stronger muscle tissue.
This process of progressive tissue overload and rebuilding is what drives muscle hypertrophy and strength gains when working out. Research shows that moderate to high rep bodyweight training (like push-ups) can stimulate muscle growth comparable to weight training (source).
Committing to 50 push-ups daily provides enough volume to spur your upper body muscles to adapt and grow bigger. Just be sure not to overdo it, or you risk overtraining which we’ll discuss later. But 50 reps is a reasonable goal for most beginners.
Over time, all that chest, shoulder and arms pushing work will sculpt a more defined, muscular physique up top!
Transfer to Athletic Performance
Building a stronger, more muscular upper body from push-ups has carryover to improving performance in other areas too.
Think about sports like football, basketball, or boxing where explosive pushing power is so important. As you increase your pushing-specific strength in the gym doing push-ups, you can apply more force on the field when running, throwing, tacking, punching or jumping.
In fact, research on athletes finds a direct correlation between maximal push-up performance and power output in explosive movements like vertical jumps.
So by sticking with 50 daily push-ups, you amplify your athleticism…even in sports where push-ups themselves aren’t directly involved. Your totals in the gym make you more powerful on the field.
Cardiovascular Benefits
Thus far, we’ve focused on the strength and muscle building benefits of doing 50 push-ups daily. But we can’t overlook the endurance enhancing effects too.
Any exercise you can sustain for 1-3 minutes straight inherently provides cardiovascular training effects (source). With enough practice, hitting 50 consecutive push-ups takes most people into that timeframe.
Therefore, regularly doing higher repetition push-up work will enhance your heart health markers like VO2 max, blood vessel elasticity, and lung capacity. Your stamina for any aerobic sport will improve after a few weeks of consistent training.
But with cardiovascular exercise also comes an increased need for quality nutrition and rest which brings us to our next section…
Recovery Considerations
While doing 50 push-ups daily has fantastic benefits, your body also needs adequate recovery to recharge. Muscle protein synthesis and tissue repair occur most rapidly in the 24-48 hours after each workout (source).
So while you could theoretically do push-ups every single day, it’s wise to take 1-2 rest days a week from intense training. On off days, you can do light activity like walking to enhance blood flow.
Diet also matters hugely. Make sure you eat sufficient protein (0.5-1 gram per pound of body weight daily) to rebuild muscle damaged by your push-up workouts. Carbs refuel your energy stores. Healthy fats aid hormone production. Don’t undermine your push-up progress by eating poorly!
Proper Push-Up Form
Before diving into dedicated push-up training programs, let’s review proper form so you get the most from each rep:
- Keep your core and glutes tight to keep your body straight as a plank.
- Descend until your chest lightly touches the ground. Head/neck should stay neutral.
- Push back up through your chest, shoulders and triceps until arms fully straighten.
- Avoid sagging hips, flaring elbows, or rounding shoulders/head forward.
- Breathe out descending, breathe in ascending. Don’t hold breath!
Keep these form cues in mind as fatigue sets in. Quality reps always trump quantity reps! Now let’s look at some push-up programming…
Sample 50 Rep Push-Up Workouts
Here are three 50 rep push-up workout ideas ranging from beginner to hardcore:
Beginner
5×10 Standard Push-Ups
60-90 sec. rest between sets
Intermediate
50 Total Reps As:
25 Standard Push-Ups
15 Close Grip Push-Ups
10 Wide Grip Push-Ups
Minimal rest between variations
Advanced
5×10 Standard Push-Ups
5×10 Push-Ups w/ Hands Elevated
5×10 Plyo Clap Push-Ups
60-90 sec. rest between each superset
Program your push-up workouts to align with your current strength and fitness levels. Challenge yourself progressively over time. Just avoid excess fatigue that compromises form. Quality over quantity!
Scaling Push-Up Difficulty
Standard push-ups with hands and feet on the floor provide moderate challenge for most folks. However, we can make push-ups harder or easier in a few key ways:
Easier Versions:
- Wall Push-Ups
- Incline Push-Ups (hands on step/box)
- Knee Push-Ups
- Negative Push-Ups (use knees to lower slowly)
Harder Versions:
- Narrow-Stance Push-Ups
- Single-Leg Push-Ups
- Push-Ups w/ Feet Elevated
- Clapping Push-Ups
- Weighted Push-Ups (vest, chains, plate on back)
Select the variation that lets you achieve 50 total reps with good form. Progress to more challenging versions over time as your strength builds. There’s no one-size-fits-all with push-ups!
What Changes Can You Expect?
If you stick with the push-up program consistently for 4-6 weeks, here’s a preview of the kinds of fitness improvements you may see:
- 15-20%+ gains in chest, shoulders and triceps strength
- Increased muscle size and definition in the pecs and arms
- 5-10% drop in body fat percentage
- Greater explosive power and athleticism
- Enhanced cardiovascular endurance
- Better posture and joint integrity
- Boosts in energy, confidence and resilience!
Transforming your physique with 50 daily push-ups is a realistic goal if you put in the work. Just be patient and trust the progressive overload process!
Is Doing Push-Ups Every Day Too Much?
You might be wondering…can doing push-ups 7 days per week lead to overtraining? It’s a fair question. The answer depends mostly on your workout programming and recovery habits.
As a general rule, novice and early intermediate trainees can tolerate higher training frequencies. So beginners would likely handle 50 daily push-ups just fine, especially if scaling intensity appropriately.
However, once you advance beyond daily sets of 100-200 reps, fatigue may necessitate greater recovery time. Listen to your body! Stubborn joint pains or constant muscle soreness suggest overtraining.
When that happens, take an extra rest day or two per week. Also try alternating between push-ups and other complementary exercises like rows, overhead presses and biceps work.
The key is managing volume and fatigue over time. Novices can push hard daily. Veterans sometimes need more downtime. Find the sweet spot for you!
Modifying for Injuries
Lastly, it’s possible even disciplined push-up training could lead to some overuse pain in your wrists, elbows or shoulders. Repetitive pressing is demanding on joints.
If any nagging pains arise, take a break from standard push-ups until symptoms resolve. In the interim, experiment with variations that alter wrist and shoulder positioning to find a pain-free movement pattern.
Common form tweaks include:
- Fist push-ups
- Push-ups on parallettes
- Incline push-ups to reduce shoulder strain
- Push-ups with wrist wraps or braces if helpful
Addressing injuries early on can prevent more serious issues down the road. So listen to your body and don’t gut out joint pain!
Commit to 50 Reps Daily!
Committing to 50 push-ups per day may seem daunting initially. But stick with it, and you’re guaranteed to see muscle development, strength gains and endurance benefits in a matter of weeks!
Push-ups work wonders because they train numerous muscle groups at once. By driving blood flow and spurring tissue growth across your chest, shoulders, arms and core, push-ups catalyze total body fitness.
Just be sure to program your workouts sensibly, fuel your body sufficiently, and allow enough recovery time. Do those three things, and hitting 50 reps daily will transform your physique in no time!