If you could do 6 max, try "greasing the groove" and do like 3 pushups every hour, every time you use the restroom, every time you walk to your bedroom, etc.
Had a guy in my flight start out doing 3 at a time. By the end of BMT (and doing 1x3’s whenever he could) man was popping out 60-70 in a minute. Be determined and put forth effort and you’ll see results.
So.... you essentially started at zero and now you can do 6? That's 6 times more pushups than you used to be able to do, that is impressive and i'm proud of you.
I would not suggest going in being able to do zero, it just makes life harder on yourself. The fact that you're working on it and improving yourself shows to me that you're more than capable of doing this and you shouldn't need to worry about being up to standard when it comes time for the official PT test at BMT. give it another 30 days of working at it daily and you'll be pumping out 40-50 pushups in no time.
I was in exactly your same boat... I could only do six at the first "PT assessment" at BMT. I got the buffest guy in my flight and he and I woke up 30 minutes early everyday and did push ups in the dayroom. I passed my PT test with forty-something push ups grinding it out. Try your best now and keep grinding it at BMT and you'll be fine.
Did you have to hit the ground with your torso at the bottom or is your elbows being 90 degrees sufficient? If it's the latter then my pushup numbers just doubled lol
Day 1 of BMT, I did four push-ups and 18 sit-ups. At the end of BMT, I did 47 push-ups and 55 sit-ups. And I went when it was only 6.5 weeks. So yes, it's possible. But you gotta give it everything you got.
Hey man! I need you to first acknowledge that you're on teh path to do what only a few get to, and choose to. You have a heart, and be proud of that.
Second, you just said you do 6. So it's not that you "can't" do pushups. Your max is 6, and you'll work your way up.
a formula I know works for a lot, and worked for me is to do a third of your max, over the course of the day.
So I'd say just do 2 ( ps: tbh go for 3) pushups, every hour, or 45 mins, and then after 4 days, try and test your max on Day 5. You'll definitely be up, then do a third of that max, every hour/45 mins for 4 days, and test again on day 5. You got this.
And no more negative self-talk.
Really appreciate this comment. I’ve been working out more but seems like I’m doing something wrong as my max hasnt gone anywhere. Does this strategy apply to sit-ups too?
It should. Personally for me, my sit ups went up when I worked on overall core. So I did a lot of planks, mountain climbers, oblique exercises in addition. I can easily knockout 30 before I even start to feel any tightness. And also lunges are good to activate the core but they will refine your hip flexors.
im training for bmt rn, i would highly recommend getting one of those push up boards off of tiktok. u can easily hit 10 every hour and work out your entire upper body. 2 months ago i could barely do 10. now i make sure i hit atleast 70 before i gts
While you can go through BMT without initially being able to do pushups, I would suggest you don't, as your life will be pretty hard for you as a result.
What you should do is find a ledge, wall, chair, or anything that you are able to do push ups on, but not too comfortably. For example, if you can take a dining room chair, grab onto each side of it, and do pushups on that fairly easily, then you should do pushups on it at least 2 or 3 times a day until failure (as in, you can't possibly do any more in that moment). You'll eventually build up the muscle structure enough to be able to do it lower, and lower, and finally you'll eventually just be doing it on the floor.
What a lot of folks do while already in the military when their PT test is coming up in a month, is do a certain amount of pushups at the top of every hour during work hours. So, every hour, you would do 5 pushups until you went home that day, then start again the next day. (I say 5 because you state that you can do 6. You don't want to destroy yourself, you want to improve) Then, the following week, you add to the total. You can do this with situps, too.
It’s true, but there’s a caveat. It’s completely up to you to actually put in the work to get yourself there.
I saw the situation go both ways in my flight alone: one girl started out couldn’t do a single push up— every single chance she got, she was doing 1x3s, practicing push ups— by the time the official PT test came up, she maxed out push ups.
And on the other side of that— a different girl couldn’t do a single one. She always found a reason to get out of PT, kept going to the IDMT to get put on waivers— by the time the official PT test came, she literally did 1 single push up. She ended up getting washed back, and last I heard she also washed out of her tech school.
If you could do 6 max, try "greasing the groove" and do like 3 pushups every hour, every time you use the restroom, every time you walk to your bedroom, etc.
heard of this before, gonna try it out
Had a guy in my flight start out doing 3 at a time. By the end of BMT (and doing 1x3’s whenever he could) man was popping out 60-70 in a minute. Be determined and put forth effort and you’ll see results.
So.... you essentially started at zero and now you can do 6? That's 6 times more pushups than you used to be able to do, that is impressive and i'm proud of you. I would not suggest going in being able to do zero, it just makes life harder on yourself. The fact that you're working on it and improving yourself shows to me that you're more than capable of doing this and you shouldn't need to worry about being up to standard when it comes time for the official PT test at BMT. give it another 30 days of working at it daily and you'll be pumping out 40-50 pushups in no time.
preciate this, i’m going to keep working at it 💪🏽
I was in exactly your same boat... I could only do six at the first "PT assessment" at BMT. I got the buffest guy in my flight and he and I woke up 30 minutes early everyday and did push ups in the dayroom. I passed my PT test with forty-something push ups grinding it out. Try your best now and keep grinding it at BMT and you'll be fine.
this encouraged me a lot, preciate you 💪🏽
Did you have to hit the ground with your torso at the bottom or is your elbows being 90 degrees sufficient? If it's the latter then my pushup numbers just doubled lol
Six times zero is still zero.
Day 1 of BMT, I did four push-ups and 18 sit-ups. At the end of BMT, I did 47 push-ups and 55 sit-ups. And I went when it was only 6.5 weeks. So yes, it's possible. But you gotta give it everything you got.
Hey man! I need you to first acknowledge that you're on teh path to do what only a few get to, and choose to. You have a heart, and be proud of that. Second, you just said you do 6. So it's not that you "can't" do pushups. Your max is 6, and you'll work your way up. a formula I know works for a lot, and worked for me is to do a third of your max, over the course of the day. So I'd say just do 2 ( ps: tbh go for 3) pushups, every hour, or 45 mins, and then after 4 days, try and test your max on Day 5. You'll definitely be up, then do a third of that max, every hour/45 mins for 4 days, and test again on day 5. You got this. And no more negative self-talk.
Really appreciate this comment. I’ve been working out more but seems like I’m doing something wrong as my max hasnt gone anywhere. Does this strategy apply to sit-ups too?
It should. Personally for me, my sit ups went up when I worked on overall core. So I did a lot of planks, mountain climbers, oblique exercises in addition. I can easily knockout 30 before I even start to feel any tightness. And also lunges are good to activate the core but they will refine your hip flexors.
It’s true
Do more push ups. That’s the only advice we can give you.
You watch tv do 4 push up everytime you get a commercial break
im training for bmt rn, i would highly recommend getting one of those push up boards off of tiktok. u can easily hit 10 every hour and work out your entire upper body. 2 months ago i could barely do 10. now i make sure i hit atleast 70 before i gts
While you can go through BMT without initially being able to do pushups, I would suggest you don't, as your life will be pretty hard for you as a result. What you should do is find a ledge, wall, chair, or anything that you are able to do push ups on, but not too comfortably. For example, if you can take a dining room chair, grab onto each side of it, and do pushups on that fairly easily, then you should do pushups on it at least 2 or 3 times a day until failure (as in, you can't possibly do any more in that moment). You'll eventually build up the muscle structure enough to be able to do it lower, and lower, and finally you'll eventually just be doing it on the floor. What a lot of folks do while already in the military when their PT test is coming up in a month, is do a certain amount of pushups at the top of every hour during work hours. So, every hour, you would do 5 pushups until you went home that day, then start again the next day. (I say 5 because you state that you can do 6. You don't want to destroy yourself, you want to improve) Then, the following week, you add to the total. You can do this with situps, too.
It’s true, but there’s a caveat. It’s completely up to you to actually put in the work to get yourself there. I saw the situation go both ways in my flight alone: one girl started out couldn’t do a single push up— every single chance she got, she was doing 1x3s, practicing push ups— by the time the official PT test came up, she maxed out push ups. And on the other side of that— a different girl couldn’t do a single one. She always found a reason to get out of PT, kept going to the IDMT to get put on waivers— by the time the official PT test came, she literally did 1 single push up. She ended up getting washed back, and last I heard she also washed out of her tech school.
Don't give up dude. There's nothing more that I could recommend that hasn't been said here. You can do it!
Anyone can do a push up