first time here but need some advice. I am 19 year old male and have a police physical test in roughly 40 days. For this test I need to get 34 push ups (hopefully more) in one go, now I can currently push out 22 comfortable. My question is what routine I could use to improve to be able comfortably reach as close to this requirement as possible in this time, and for me the gym is not a option due to where I live and other commitments. Thanks guys
2 Answers
You could try a variation of Pavel's greasing the groove technique.
The idea is that multiple times throughout the day, do a set of half you maximum reps, so if your current maximum is 22, then several times a day, drop and knock out 11 reps.
At the end of a couple of weeks, test your max and see if you've improved.
This works very well for strength, and is usually used for things like pull ups. I'll admit, I don't know how well it'll work with higher rep (above 10) stuff, but it's probably worth a go.
answered Aug 2, 2017 at 14:26
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I have never seen any really confirmation that this works. Also, what's 'several' - 3, 5, 10?– VSOCommented Aug 3, 2017 at 22:41
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1@VSO It worked for me with pull ups. I get that several is a very unscientific measure, but the way it worked for me was every time I walked into my kitchen (I was working from home at the time), I'd do a set. I don't know how many I did throughout the day, but probably more than 10 given the amount of water I drink. I've also seen it work for a friend of mine who got her first full pull up by doing negatives every time she walked into her living room. As I mentioned though, I've never tried it with higher rep stuff, and you do need to do higher reps in order to maintain the strength gains Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 8:04
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Interesting. My main problem with Pavel's stuff is that it's generally done on hard exercises - pull ups (for those who can barely do any), HSPUs, etc. It seems bad to do without warming up.– VSOCommented Aug 4, 2017 at 12:59
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@VSO I did worry about that, but I think that's the idea of only doing half your max reps. You're not pushing yourself to exhaustion, so you should finish the set still fresh. It's essentially doing what you'd normally do in a warm up, but multiple times throughout the day in order to improve the CNS and muscle activation along particular muscular movement pathways. So you drill a movement a lot without tiring yourself out and you become more efficient at it, and the movement gets easier :) Commented Aug 4, 2017 at 13:06
There are two ways I'd attack this.
1) Make the push-ups easier.
You're not able to get 34 push-ups on the floor right now, so elevate your body to a point you are. There are two ways to do this.
First, elevate the upper body using e.g. a couch, bar, countertop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-ecJQXf1ps
Second, make the push-ups partial reps by placing something under the chest: 
Source: b-reddy.org push-up progression example.
What you can do from there is pick a height where you can get 34 reps. Try to increase that number to 40 reps over a week or two. Alright, now decrease the height ~6 inches where you're back to 34 reps and repeat, until you're on the floor. This way the body gets some work in the rep range you're trying to attain, and you're not always working to failure by being on the floor. That quickly gets arduous. It's best to leave a rep or two in the tank.
Note if you're using something like a countertop, you obviously can't decrease the height of it. But you can increase the height of your feet by standing on something. Think of making the body more and more parallel to the floor.
If using something under your chest, you could simply start with three books, then work to two, one, floor.
2) Make the push-ups harder.
If you were trying to bench press 100 pounds as many times as possible, you'd prefer to have a 400 pound maximum than only a 150 pound. The 100 pound rep test only occurs at 25% of the 400 pound lifters maximum, whereas the 150 lb lifter has to do a rep test at 66% of their max.
There are a variety of ways of doing this. If you have no gym, you can still do push-ups with a backpack on, adding weight in the bag. You could elevate your feet, you could do clap push-ups: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LLzmRMRDA
In the first video linked you can see the push-ups are actually sliding in and out. That's much harder on the chest.
Programming
With preparing for a bodyweight test people inevitably end up doing the activity every single day. That gives no days for recovery. Three to four days per week, with a day off in between each workout, is a better route.
Example week:
Monday: Easier push-ups, entire body elevated. 3-4 sets of 30-40 reps.
Wednesday: Harder push-ups. 6-8 sets of 6-8 reps.
Friday: Easier push-ups, body on floor but partial reps. 3-4 sets of 30-40 reps.
Sunday: Practice session. As Many Reps As Possible with regular floor push-ups. 1-2 sets.
Tuesday: Start the schedule over, trying to improve each session's numbers from the previous week.
This way about once a week you're gauging your improvement.
(If looking for justification on the rep ranges, 40-70 reps, 60-80% of max, is what works best for strength. Study and discussion, such as how more is not only not better, but can be detrimental.)
Elephant In The Room
Finally, don't underestimate the importance of being lean. If worried about losing muscle, when in doubt it's better to err on the side of being lighter than heavier. Events revolving around moving one's bodyweight, particularly in an endurance manner, always lend themselves to being lighter. Gymnasts, cyclists, good runners who run more than 400 meters, they're always light.
