Is it Bad to do Pushups Everyday?
Chances are you’ve seen the latest trend of doing 100 pushups everyday, but before you jump on the daily pushup challenge bandwagon you might have a few questions.
What will happen if you do pushups everyday?
Is it safe to do pushups everyday?
How many pushups should you do everyday?
So before you start you get down on the floor and start huffing and puffing everyday for the next month, I have some answers for you.
What are the Benefits of doing Pushups Everyday?
When you start doing this exercise everyday you can expect to see some changes in your body. The main ones include:
1. Pushups Everyday increase Muscle Size and Strength
Generally people consider to be just a chest exercise but this can’t be further from the truth. The pushup is a full body workout, training everything from the chest, shoulders and arms to the back, abs and legs.
By doing pushups everyday, you’ll get all the benefits of chest workouts, in addition to a full body workout. So you can expect all of your muscles to become bigger and stronger as the days go by.
2. Pushups Everyday Boosts Metabolism
Doing pushups everyday, like any other physical activity, will result in increased calorie burning throughout the day. You can expect to burn calories during the exercise, as well as afterwards when your body is recovering from the resistance training.
The increased muscle on your body that you’re going to get from all those pushups is going to need to be fed a ton of calories. This increases the calorie burning effect you’re going to get from the exercise. So doing pushups everyday can help you on your fat loss journey.
3. Pushups Everyday Improves Cardiovascular Health
You’ll find that pushups get your heart racing and the blood pumping throughout your body. This daily activity will help your heart grow stronger and reduce the incidence of heart disease.
Additionally, pushups strengthen the chest muscles. These muscles assist in breathing, so when you do pushups it will help you breathe easier during intense exercise.
4. Pushups Everyday Improves your Physical Appearance
All the muscle you’re going to build from doing pushups is sure to improve your appearance. Your chest, arm and shoulder muscles will get bigger and more defined.
For the ladies, pushups can strengthen the chest muscles which help support the breasts and prevent them from sagging.
Overall, pushups strengthen the muscles around the shoulder joint which can help improve your posture.
5. Gives you a Challenge
Deciding to do pushups everyday can give you a reason to challenge yourself and take your fitness to the next level. By making such a commitment, you can make yourself more accountable to your actions. Therefore it can make you more likely to do some sort of physical activity everyday.
What are the Disadvantages of doing Pushups Everyday?
There are also some bad effects of doing pushups everyday, but these can be avoided if you know how.
1. Pushups Everyday can cause Wrist Pain
This is the first problem you’re likely to encounter as the traditional pushup often has you apply force through your wrists with your hands cocked backwards. This can be a very uncomfortable position, which is bearable for short periods of time. However, if you consistently put your hands in this position, the wrist pain will become more prominent.
You can easily avoid this by doing your pushups with your wrist in a neutral position such as by doing knuckle pushups or by using a pushup handle. Warming up your wrists before doing the exercise can also help prevent this pain.
2. Pushups Everyday can lead to Muscle Imbalances
The pushup normally works the muscles responsible for pushing at the shoulder joint. These include the chest muscles, pectoralis major and minor, and the anterior deltoid. By consistently training these muscles, they will grow stronger and pull the the shoulder forwards, especially if you don’t do any other pushup variations.
This leads to a slouched posture. The muscle imbalances can also increase the risk of injuries occurring.
An easy way to avoid this from happening is by also training the muscles responsible for pulling at the shoulder joint such as the back muscles, mainly the latissimus dorsi and the trapezius muscles. This will maintain the balance of muscle development at the shoulder joint and prevent any injury from occuring.
3. Pushups Everyday can Reduce Muscle Growth
Yes I know I said doing pushups everyday can lead to muscle growth and I stand by that statement, but that’s if you do things right. If you do things wrong, however, you’ll end up reducing your muscle gains in the long term. This all comes down to recovery.
If you do a pushup workout today and you’re so tired tomorrow that you’re unable to workout well, then you won’t be able to stimulate muscle growth. This fatigue will continue on to the day after that and will accumulate over time your training performance will plateau leading to suboptimal gains.
You can only train as hard as you can recover, so in order to maximize the effects of your training you need to prioritize recovery. This is where sleep and diet play a role in your fitness journey.
Another thing to consider if you want to do pushups on consecutive days is to make sure your pushup workout today is not so taxing on your body that you are able to recover for tomorrow’s workout.
Is it Safe to do Pushups Everyday?
There are risks but, like I said, they are easily avoidable. As long as you are following a sensible workout program, you are warming up properly and you are using proper form, you should not see any harmful effects from doing pushups consistently.
Should you do Pushups Everyday?
It depends on your goals, recovery and how it fits in with your workout routine. If your goal is to simply do the workout challenge, then by all means do it. However, if doing pushups daily is going to interfere with your current training program and your goals then I won’t recommend them.
How many Pushups should you do Everyday?
How many pushups you should do everyday depends on your level of training and your ability to recover. The simple answer is that it depends. If you’re a beginner you should aim lower.
However, if you’re an experienced athlete then you should challenge yourself with a higher number of repetitions daily, as long as you are able to recover and it doesn’t interfere with your future workouts.
How to do Pushups Everyday?
So you’re still determined to do this pushup challenge. That’s okay, so here are some tips for you to make it through:
1. Start Small
Don’t start with 100 reps right off the bat. Chances are you can’t even do 100 pushups in one go, and chances are, that even if you can, you won’t be able to recover to do it again tomorrow.
Start with 10 or 20 reps or even start with an easier variation like incline pushups. That way you’ll be able to recover to do it again tomorrow. Eventually, as your body gets accustomed to the exercise, you can gradually increase the number of reps and intensity of the exercise.
2. Lower the Intensity
Don’t push yourself to failure and don’t try doing hard pushup variations. You don’t want to annihilate the muscle if you’re going to be working it again tomorrow.
I know you’ll want to go hard so you make as much gains as possible. But you’ll need to think about the gains you’ll make on the long term if you’re able to maintain consistency with your training.
3. Sleep
Sleep is when our body recovers and recovery is key to the success of your pushup challenge. Aim for at least 8 hours of sleep every night.
4. Eat
The food you eat is going to fuel your recovery. This doesn’t mean you have to be in a caloric surplus and get in the way of your fat loss. However, the food you are eating must be nutritious enough to make sure you have the energy to recover and workout consistently.
5. Train Sensibly
Training the same muscle everyday will lead to muscle imbalances. This can lead to injuries and it also doesn’t look as good as a balanced physique. Include other exercises in your workout routine to avoid these muscle imbalances.
Vary the pushup variations you’re doing. If you do a pike pushup today it will mainly work your shoulders. So your chest will be fresh tomorrow to do normal pushups. That way you can continue to perform your pushup workouts everyday without jeopardizing recovery or causing injury.
There are benefits and disadvantages of doing pushups everyday, but if you follow these tips you’re sure to get only the best out of it.
References:
Masataka Majima, Emiko Horii, Hiroshi Matsuki, Hitoshi Hirata, Eiichi Genda, Load Transmission Through the Wrist in the Extended Position, The Journal of Hand Surgery, Volume 33, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 182-188, ISSN 0363-5023
Kellmann, M. (2010). Preventing overtraining in athletes in high-intensity sports and stress/recovery monitoring. Scandinavian Journal Of Medicine & Science In Sports, 20, 95-102. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01192.x
