How Many Pushups Does It Take to Build Muscle?

THE PUSHUP IS the do-everything, no-gear exercise for the upper body—and maybe one of the best overall exercises you can do, period.

After all, it requires no equipment, so it can be performed anywhere. The pushup hammers your chest, shoulders, triceps, and (if you do it right) the core and glutes, too, making it a powerful, total-body exercise. And it’s an excellent indicator of muscular endurance and absolute strength (how strong you are for your body size), which is why it’s a key element of almost all standardized fitness tests.

If your motivations are more immediately results-focused, however, you might be looking to the bodyweight staple to build muscle. Some people wrongly assume that adding size without using weights is a fool’s errand—it’s not, for the record, as MH‘s Zero Gear Shred program proves. But you still might be skeptical, so it’s a valid question: How many pushups do you actually need to perform to start seeing noticeable results?

We’re glad you asked. Read on for the answer.

The Ideal Number of Pushups for Building Muscle

Every body is different, but for most guys, being able to complete 25 to 30 consecutive pushups with good form is the sweet spot for packing on lean mass, says Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. “But they definitely need to be done at tempo, going all the way down [chest to within an inch or two of the floor], holding for a second, going all the way up, and locking out for a second [during each rep],” he adds.

Once you can bang out three sets of 25 to 30 reps with good form (more on that shortly), you can think about loading weight by wearing a vest or having a partner put a plate on your back instead of ratcheting up the number of reps you do. “When I see somebody piling up 40, 50, 60 reps of pushups, it’s not because they’re proficient or building a ton of muscle,” says Samuel. “It’s because they’re cheapening a portion of the rep and not getting the max muscle-building stimulus.”

That stimulus, over time, will be how you build muscle. Samuel isn’t saying just one set will immediately result in muscle growth; sustained effort to continuously challenge your muscles will be what you want to achieve.

How to Do Pushups the Right Way

The number of pushup reps you do won’t be effective for building muscle if your form is sloppy. Here, Samuel walks through the right way to do pushup reps for maximal return.

• Start in a high plank position, with your palms flat on the floor, stacked directly below your shoulders.
• Squeeze your shoulders, glutes, and core to create full-body tension. Your spine should form a straight line, keeping your eyes on the floor to maintain a neutral spine.
• Bend your elbows to descend to the floor, stopping with your chest just above the ground. Your elbows should be at a 45 degree angle relative to the torso.
• Press back up off the floor, raising up to the top position with your elbows fully extended.

How to Grow Your Pushup Rep Count

Cranking out multiple sets of 25-plus pushups is a reasonable target for most seasoned exercisers, but what if you’re still relatively new to the weight room or have not trained pushups specifically, that might be a tall task.

If that’s you, don’t worry. Muscle growth comes from challenging your muscles with progressively more stimulus, so even if you can’t bang out 25-plus pushups, you can still achieve noticeable gains by performing multiple sets of as many as you can do with good form.

That last part is key. If your hips start to sag or you can’t get press back up from within a couple of inches of the floor without significant body English, your set is over. Poor quality reps are useless reps. They will also increase your risk of injury. Once you’re more experienced there will be techniques you can use to ratchet up the muscle building stimulus without perfect form throughout the movement (including eccentric-focused reps and pause reps), but until you can rep through 25 straight standard reps, focus on that goal first.

Rest assured that if you keep your form on point and weave the pushup into your training plan at least once (and preferably twice) per week, you’ll find yourself crushing 25-plus rep sets sooner than you think—and needing to find ways to increase the challenge without tacking on more reps. As mentioned above, throwing a weight plate on your back or wearing a weight vest is one option. Here are 14 more pushup variations to help you dial up the difficulty, shift the focus of your work, and fast-track your gains.

The Best Weighted Vests for Pushups

Need a weighted vest when it comes time to level up your pushups? Check out our favorites here.