Pushups are one of the best bodyweight exercises to build your upper body. Especially if you want to build your lower chest then you should add incline pushups to your workout routine.
The best thing about incline pushups is – it’s not that harder than traditional pushups. So, it’s a good pushup variation for beginners and intermediate levels.
But how many incline push ups should I do?
To give you some idea – beginners should try to do 6-8 incline pushups per set, for the intermediate level 18-22 incline pushups per set and for the advanced level 30-45 incline pushups per set. If you do multiple sets of incline pushups then after your first set you should try to do the equal or 2-5 less incline pushups you did in the previous set.
In this article, you will read in detail about how many incline pushups should I do as per my fitness level, how many sets and reps of incline pushups to do and a few important things you should know to get the best results from doing incline pushups.
How many incline pushups should I do from beginners to advanced level?
In this section, you will read in detail about how many incline pushups you should do a day for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels. Plus number of reps you should try to do per set.
Doing incline pushups is good for building your lower chest but also engages muscles in the chest, arms, shoulders and core.
How many incline push ups should I do as a beginner?
As a beginner, you should try to do 2-3 sets of incline pushups. But if you are doing other pushup variations like traditional pushups or wall pushups you can do incline pushups for 2 sets.
In a week if you are doing pushups for 4-5 days, you should do incline pushups for 2 days and do 2 sets of incline pushups and do 1 set of other pushup variations. For the other days do incline pushups for 1 set and do other push-up variations for the rest of the sets.
To do more pushups as a beginner you can do a short warm-up before your pushup workout.
In your first set, you should try to do 6-8 incline pushups. After each set, you can take 40-60 seconds rest. In the second set try to do 5-7 incline pushups and in the third set do 4-6 incline pushups.
So, as a beginner, you should do 15-21 incline pushups a day.
How many incline push-ups should I do a day for the intermediate level
If you are at the intermediate level then you should do 3-4 sets of incline pushups if you are only doing incline pushups. But if you want to do other pushup variations along with incline pushups you could do 2-3 sets of incline pushups and 1-2 sets of other pushup variations like diamond pushups, traditional pushups and decline push ups.
For the intermediate level, you should do close to 18-22 incline pushups in your first set. On the second set, you can do 14-16 incline pushups. And for the third and fourth set, you can do 10-12 incline pushups.
So, someone in the intermediate level can do 52 -62 incline push ups a day.
How many incline pushups to do per day for the advanced level
For the advanced level, it’s recommended to do 4-5 sets of pushups to get better results from pushups. You could do 2-3 sets of incline pushups and 1-2 sets of other pushup variations in a pushup workout session.
As you will be doing pushups in large numbers it’s recommended that you do some stretches before pushups and warm up to increase your performance plus to avoid workout injuries.
For the advanced level in your first set, you should try to do 30-45 incline pushups. In the second set 28-35 repetitions of incline pushups. In the third set 20-25 incline pushups. And for the fourth and fifth set do 12-15 incline pushups.
So, someone in the advanced level can do 100-135 incline pushups a day.
A better way to find out how many reps of incline push ups you should do per set
As you have read earlier in the article about how many incline pushups you should do per set for your fitness level, you should use these numbers for reference or to have some idea about how many incline pushups you should do.
To get the best results in each pushup set you should try to do pushups until failure or to that point after which you can’t do any more pushups with the proper form. This will help you get the best results in terms of toning your upper body and building muscle by doing pushups.
You can try to do as many incline pushups as you could do in your first set. From the next set onwards try to do 1-3 fewer pushups than your first set if you are at the beginner and intermediate level. But if you are at the advanced level then you could do 4-5 less pushups than the highest number of pushups you did in your previous set.
How many sets of incline push-ups should I do?
For beginners, it’s recommended to do 2-3 sets of incline pushups in a pushup workout session.
For the intermediate level 3-4 sets of incline pushups.
And for the advanced level, 4 sets of incline pushups are recommended but you could also do 5 sets if you have more stamina or muscle strength.
You should know that for any pushup variation doing 2-3 sets of one pushup type is ideal. If you want to do more sets then you should do other pushup types.
If you do pushups for 4-5 days a week you can focus on doing one pushup type for 2-3 sets and for the rest of the sets do other pushup variations. For example – if you want to do 4 sets of pushups do 2 sets of incline pushups, 1 set of decline pushups and 1 set of regular pushups. On other days you can do 2 sets of regular pushups, 1 set of decline pushups and 1 set of incline pushups.
Doing multiple pushup variations on different days will help you to train multiple muscle groups and is best for improving the overall shape of your body.
Is it okay to do incline push-ups every day?
If you are doing less than 15-20 incline pushups in total then you could do incline pushups every day for some weeks. But it’s better to have some rest days because doing pushups every day in large numbers can increase the chances of overtraining.
For beginners and intermediate level, it’s best to do pushups for 4-5 days. And for the advanced level, it’s better to do pushups for 3-4 days and take rest on other days. After doing pushups for 2-3 days you should take one rest day.
How many days a week should I do incline push-ups?
You could do incline pushups 2-3 days a week. If you are doing pushups for 4-5 days a week you can do incline pushups and decline pushups for 2-3 days a week to build your upper and lower chest.
For other days you should do other pushup variations like – diamond pushups, pike pushups, traditional pushups, wide grip pushups etc.