It's been calculated that the average push-up loads around 60% of your body weight onto your arms. If, e.g., I weigh around 100 kg, and can do 15 push-ups, should I be able to bench press 60 kg for around the same number of reps?
Other people have sort of bounced around your specific question, and I'll set it straight; Firstly, everybody is different. Genetics and body type are big players when it comes to endurance and/or heavy lifting. We all have different ratios of slow and fast twitch fibers, which may play a part in determining how much and how often a person can lift.Secondly, from a physics standpoint, torque = force x lever arm x sin()If your feet are the fulcrum, then your body is the lever arm, and the distance you are pushing away from the earth creates the angle (theta) for the sin. The force applied during a push-up is not uniform, whereas bench press is just straight up and down with no variation.With that said, from a personal perspective;The amount of push-ups I am capable of doing does not equate to bench press in the 60% ratio you are speaking of.I weigh in at 185, and can throw out about 60-70 well-formed push-ups in one sitting on a good, fresh day. 60% of my body weight is 111lbs.On chest days, I start by grabbinf 50lb dumbbells if I'm doing a press on a free standing bench, which is analogous to bench press (slightly more difficult considering they are hand weights, but this is 11lbs LESS than 60%, and it is a workout meant for lighter weight and more repetitions, anyways...similar to push-ups).I can say with 100% surety that there is no way I am gettin anywhere close to 60 reps...when fresh, possibly 40, but that is VERY optimistic.This is a single personal experience, however, and I encourage others to post and back up my assertion.
When someone says they can bench press 100 pounds, do they mean 100 pounds on each end of the bar (total 200) or is it 50 pounds each(total 100)?
It's the total weight. Most gyms use "Olympic" weights - the bar has an end that is 2" (actually 50mm) in diameter and the weights have a hole that matches that end. The official bar is 20kg (44 lbs), and 25kg with locking collars, though there are slightly different versions available for training.Weight plates vary as well - there are standards and color codes for competitive lifting, but a typical gym in the US/Canada will have 100lb, 45lb, 25lb, 10lb, 5lb and 2.5lb plates, or it could have metric weights in kg of 25/20/15/10/5/2.5/2/1kg steps.If I was wanting to set up at 100 lbs, it would be 45 lbs for the bar, 5lbs for "light" locking collars at my gym, and 25 lbs. each side.
Will doing push ups with a weight vest help me reach my goal of 50 push ups per set?
Hi,Yes,its the same method which i had used to reach my goal of 50 pushups.I was able to perform 30–40 pushups without weights and i saw many people doing it with weights so,i also started doing push ups with weights and i did 30 reps.And after 3–5 days i was able to perform 50 pushups.The logic is once you start doing harder things you can easily perform easy things.All the best!!!!!Thankyou.
How many times in a week should I train my chest in order for it to get bigger?
2 - 3 times per week is kind of the max, with 2 being the limit for most people. Muscle hypertrophy takes time, and overtraining the muscle you're trying to develop will do more harm than good. When I build a program, I usually rotate a focus group each week. My current program looks like this:Week 1:Monday - Chest & TricepsTuesday - LegsWednesday - Back & BicepsThursday - ShouldersSaturday - Chest & TricepsWeek 2:Monday - ShouldersTuesday - Back & BicepsWednesday - LegsThursday - Chest & TricepsSaturday - ShouldersWeek 3:Monday - Chest & TricepsTuesday - LegsWednesday - Back & BicepsThursday - ShouldersSaturday - LegsWeek 4: Monday - Chest & TricepsTuesday - LegsWednesday - Back & BicepsThursday - ShouldersSaturday - Back & BicepsThat's my 5 day, 4 week rotation that I go to when I'm focusing more on general fitness. Abdominals get done every day, along with 30 minutes cardio followed by 15 - 20 minutes of stretching, at the end of my workout. Muscle development is pretty rapid, with results being noticeable by friends, family and co-workers after a couple months. Endurance builds rapidly as well, and I usually manage to shave a few seconds off of my mile runs each rotation. If I start to get too big, I can decrease resistance and increase repetitions to shift focus. The average session is usually around 90 minutes, but can easily push to 2+ hours if I'm seeing good progression in my workouts. I usually stick to this for 3 to 8 months before changing to a 4 day program that looks something like this:Monday - Chest & TricepsTuesday - LegsWednesday - Back & BicepsThursday - Shoulders, Triceps & ChestAgain, cardio gets done every day, along with abdominals and stretching, at the end of every workout. The sessions tend to be a little shorter, but the resistance is higher as I'm usually focused on bulking out when on this program. That Thursday workout is brutal, and I usually have to hit the jacuzzi afterwards before I can even consider driving home. I'll do this for 4 - 6 weeks at a time, before going back to my other rotation.