How to Build Up to 50 Push Ups in a Row? (Rules & Workouts For 50+ Push Ups)

It’s possible to run a training regimen that involves a 3-day week consisting of weighted push ups, a bench press, and standard push ups. The objective is to augment the weight on the weighted activities while progressively increasing repetitions on the traditional push ups week by week. Adhering to this plan and based on your initial fitness level, you could potentially accomplish 50 consecutive push ups in a time span of 4-8 weeks.

The 50+ Plus Push Up “Rules”

Okay, before I help you build up to 50 push ups in a row I’m going to make some assumptions.

For ease’ sake, let’s call these the “rules”.

Firstly, I’m going to assume that you have a fair level of fitness, strength, and muscular development already.

So, you’re already able to perform push ups with relative ease.

Let’s say that you can easily hit double figures, and perhaps you’re even able to crank out 20-25 push ups in a row.

So, if you’re completely new to push ups, or still struggling to hit your first rep, then this guide isn’t for you.

However, if you’re already performing push ups, but want to take things to the next level, I’ve got you covered.

What follows are three different workouts aimed at getting you to 50 push ups in a row within 4-8 weeks.

Obviously, how quickly you progress depends on your starting point.

So, if you’re currently hitting failure at 11 push ups, you’ll probably take longer than someone performing 30 reps.

Additionally, only one of the workouts is completely push up based, whereas the others also focus on building strength in the upper body as well.

Incorporate a 3-Day Push Week

The first set of workouts incorporate three push sessions during the week.

These workouts are totally geared at getting you to 50 push ups in a row.

So, if you typically train regularly during the week, these workouts will be in addition to those.

However, it’s a good idea to scale back on your main training while you attempt to build up to 50 push ups.

The reason for this is that you have to figure in rest and recovery, which is extremely important regardless of what you’re training for.

Your first workout of the week is weighted push ups.

The best way to achieve this is with a weighted vest.

But, if you don’t have access to a weighted vest then you’ll need to perform push ups with a weight plate on your back.

Perform 4-5 sets of weighted push ups at around 50% of your regular push up max reps.

So, if you can currently crank out 20 regular push ups then do 4-5 sets of 10 reps with a weighted vest.

Workout two for the week is the bench press.

You should perform 4-5 sets of 8-10 reps.

The final workout of the week requires you to do 3-4 sets of regular push ups for 15-20 reps.

With all the workouts you should rest between sets for as long as is required.

So, if you need to rest 4-5 minutes to perform the same number of reps then so be it.

Your aim is to increase the weight of weighted push ups and bench press each week, whereas you’ll want to increase reps for the regular push up workout.

So, let’s say that you’re doing weighted push ups with a 10kg weighted vest on week one for 10 reps each set.

In week two you’ll want to increase this to 12.5kg, week 3 to 15kg, week 4 to 17.5kg, all while maintaining your sets of 10 reps.

The exact same goes for the bench press and aim to increase the weight by 2.5-5kg per week.

When it comes to the regular push ups you should look to increase your sets by 2-5 reps each week.

Don’t worry, some weeks are going to be harder than others, and you may see no progression whatsoever.

However, as long as you’re progressing in some way over the course of a month then you’re heading in the right direction.

4-Day Weights and Push Ups

The second set of workouts are far more focused on building muscle and strength in the upper body.

Plus, you’ll also be performing 50 push ups twice per week in 5 sets with decreasing rest time between sets each subsequent week.

Now, initially the two weight-training workouts may seem somewhat strange as you aren’t actually working the main push up muscles.

Your first workout of the week will involve four supersets of close-grip bench press and wide-grip lat pulldowns.

The aim here is to strengthen the triceps and lats.

I guess it’s obvious that the triceps are involved in push ups, and often they can be the limiting factor in how many reps you can perform.

However, you’ve probably never considered training the lats in order to increase push ups.

With that being said, the lats play an important supporting role during push ups, so a well-developed, strong and muscular upper back will certainly help.

You’ll want to perform each superset with decreasing reps and increasing weight.

So, aim for 12 reps, 10 reps, 8 reps, and 6 reps, while adding weight each set.

The second workout focuses more on the shoulders, lats, and biceps.

You’ll be doing exactly the same thing in terms of reps and sets, but supersetting the barbell overhead press and hammer-grip chin ups.

The other two workouts during the week will involve doing 5 sets of 10 reps of regular push ups.

In week one you should rest 30 seconds between each set.

Then every week thereafter reduce your rest time by 5 seconds between sets.

So, week two you’ll be resting 25 seconds between sets, week three 20 seconds between sets, and so on.

While building up your overall upper body strength and increasing your push up endurance it should only be a matter of weeks before you hit 50 push ups in a row.

6-Day Push Up Week

The third and final set of workouts focus solely on push ups.

However, you’ll be training 6 days a week.

With that being said, these are short and sharp workouts aimed at increasing strength and endurance.

For three alternate days of the week, so say Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you’ll be performing one workout.

Then on another three days of the week, say Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, you’ll be performing a different push workout.

Sunday will always be a complete rest day.

So, the first workout involves performing numerous push ups as quickly as possible.

Take your max rep push ups and aim for five times that number.

Therefore, if you can currently perform 20 push ups till failure, you’re looking to hit 100 push ups in this workout.

You simply have to get to 100 reps as quickly as possible, resting when necessary.

This will be your Monday, Wednesday, and Friday workout.

Each week thereafter you should add 10 reps to the initial number of push ups, e.g 110 in week 2, 120 in week 3, etc.

On the other 3 days a week you’re going to be performing push ups throughout the day.

Basically, you’re going to do as many push ups as you can in two sets, and do this for a total of 5 times a day.

So, you could potentially perform push ups at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm.

You must perform your maximum number of push ups and then rest for 60 seconds.

Then perform a second set of max rep push ups.

Obviously, you’re unlikely to get as many push ups in the second set.

However, you’ll want to see that your max set of push ups are increasing each week, so at least you know you’re moving in the right direction.

And eventually you’ll hit the 50 in a row mark.

Final Thoughts

So, these are the 3 main workouts that will help you build up to 50 push ups in a row.

The main aim of all the workouts is to increase upper body strength, while also increasing your push up endurance.

Depending on your starting point you should be able to achieve 50 push ups in a row within 4-8 weeks.

As I’ve mentioned, if you regularly exercise already you may be better off scaling back your workouts slightly to incorporate one of these new workouts.

Remember, that rest and recovery is part of getting stronger and more muscular.

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