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Is it a good idea to do really a lot of push-ups? I'm currently doing 70-80 in one series, but after long training I'm hoping to do much much more. Of course every exercise is good for muscles and helps to train endurance etc.

But wouldn't doing a really big number of push-ups (say, 1000 and more) have some side-effects? Wouldn't it be too much for the joints, for example? Or wouldn't the tendons in forearms be in danger?

I want to be strong and fit, but it first I don't want to hurt myself so I want to be cautious when it comes to intensive training.

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    You should note that this is a follow up to this question and point out what you further want to know. Are you doing other exercises than push ups?
    – Baarn
    Jan 10, 2013 at 20:35
  • If you "want to be strong and fit", you need to do more than "a lot of push-ups".
    – user4963
    Jan 11, 2013 at 12:58

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No danger for the muscles, joints or ligaments really. If you are used to walking and spend several hours taking a walk outside with a friend will that be bad for your body?

Doing a lot of push-ups will just develop endurance, if that's what you want then go for it. Last time I checked the world record for non-stop push-ups was 10,507 and was set by Minoru Yoshida. Now that would be abusing it a little bit too much but still if you have progressed slowly to that point your body would be able to adequately handle it.

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  • If someone has forced 10k push-ups than 1k can't be against human physiology ;)
    – Danubian Sailor
    Jan 10, 2013 at 21:01
  • I wouldn't say no danger... push ups are a common source for wrist pain, so doing an excessive amount of push ups can increase the likely-hood or speed up the process of getting wrist pain. To that end, doing knuckle push ups on a heavily padded surface would be far better for decreasing chance of injury.
    – Moses
    Jan 11, 2013 at 0:30
  • @Moses: Bein able to perform 1k pushups implies that you already have done a lot of training, where your all the relevant joints probably have been strengthened as well.
    – zero-divisor
    Jan 11, 2013 at 7:44
  • Zero-divisor, thank you! I was about to say the same thing. Moses, the only times that I would get wrist pain from push-ups would be 1) when I skipped warming them up or 2) if I haven't done them in quite a while. And then I would switch to knuckle push ups, like you said that really spares the wrists!
    – Arthlete
    Jan 11, 2013 at 7:52

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