What works for me is doing a bench press routine then during my "rest period". I normaly will do 30 during my rest but you will have to do what you are able. If you are able make sure you do incline, decline and flat bench this will isolate different parts of your chest muscles. Try working out with dumbells too. The only way you can improve your push ups is by doing push ups. Also if you only need to do 30-40 make sure that you can do 40-50 if you are only able to do 30 at a time you may not be able to reach that number the day of you test. The distance your hands are apart from each other will make a differance too. Improving your tricep strenght will help too. One more thing once you have worked you push up count up from 1 do your push ups till you reach muscle failure.

Thanks

that's helpful.

Hi rosie, here's a copy paste of a writeup on pushups I did last year... Hope it helps:

push-ups are one of the core body exercises which is awesome for establishing a well developed and balanced upper body. To do this timeless classic exercise you will require strength and endurance in your pectorials (chest), anterior deltoids (front of shoulders) and triceps (back of upper arm). This exercise can give you strength, endurance, and speed---depending on how you utilize the exercise.

You will also require strong abs and lower back to maintain proper form.


Using push-ups to determine your weak-spot

if you find that when you fatigue your back slumps the you require stronger lower back abs.
If you find that you can't start another push-up from the floor then your chest is the weak link.
If you find that you can't finish the top part of the movement, then your triceps are your weaked link.


The proper push-up

1. Lay on the floor, chest down, with your hands a little wider than shoulder width. Fingers pointed foreward.

2. Elbows must be fully extended. Toes on the floor, and legs together.

3. Back must be straight. Never curve your back!

4. Breathe out as you push off the floor so your arms are fully extended, rest for a half second and slowly move back down.

5. Your nose should touch the floor, or your chest should be around 4" off the floor in the rest position.

*remember to breathe! Inhale on your way down, exhale on your way up. Breathe deep and fill your lungs.

How many push-ups?

General belief among athletes is 200 push-ups per day.. However, this can be split throughout the day. You are considered in ok shape if you can do 10 push-ups. And in healthy shape if you can do 20 push-ups consecutively.

Variations of push-ups to target new muscle groups

this is my favorite part... Variations! There are so many ways to change up your push-ups.


Progressions

if you're new to pushups, you will have to work your way into them. Elevate your upper body to change the weight distributon to your feet. Using a flight of stairs is the easiest way to do this. Start on the 4th step for example, and do push-ups. When you can do 20 solid push-ups, you can move to the 3rd step up. Continue until you can do proper push-ups fully flat.

Once you are able to do this, you can begin elevating your feet so more weight is on your hands to continue the progressions. Keep in mind that if you dip deeper you will hit your upper back.


Weights

this is difficult to do alone, but with a friend to place a weight on your back. (between your shoulder blades---not on your lower back!). Alternately, you can use a backpack loaded with weights for your push-ups. (see? Bringing all those text-books home from school wasn't a waste of time afterall---now you have some weights for your push-ups!) if you have a little more cash to spare you can invest in a weight-vest with removable weights. Or utilize a sand-bag.


Delays

on your down motion, hold your body in the 'rest' position (with your nose touching the floor) for 3 seconds before beginning your next rep.


Tripod pushups

spread your feet apart and use 1 arm to do your push-ups. You will have to be fairly advanced to do this properly and maintain proper balance.


Claps

push up off the floor enough to bring your hands together and clap. You will need ample time to bring your hands back into position to be lowered again. This is very effective to develop that explosive power used for many athletes (such as boxers).


Fingertips

instead of using your whole hand, use only your fingertips for push-ups. This will help develop balance and symmetry.


Close-stance

instead of pushing your elbows out to the side on the down motion, keep your arms next to your torso. Your elbows will be facing the rear of your body (the direction of your feet). This is an extremely powerful isolation exercise to develop your triceps more than your chest.


Insides

keep your hands together and your feet around 1 foot apart. This will develop your triceps.


Prison push-ups

and i've left the best for last. By far my favorite and most challenging push-up routine. Even more fun if you're with a friend and competing... See who can make it further.

Use a deck of cards. Do the number of pushups that corresponds to the number on the card. Face cards (i.E. Queen, king, etc.) equal 10 push-ups. You will need a timer as you are only entitled to a 5 second break between cards. Aces entitles you to a one-minute break. Continue until you finish the deck. Amazing, but very challenging workout.

* variation. If you are trying this work out for the first time, rest up to 30 seconds between cards.

Justin

thanks very much for this useful post.

Rosie

I'm no professional, but I do alot of competitive sports and i've learned to take care of my body to work it out for training and practices, this is what I usually do:

for pushups, you should try to workout your back (shoulders), and triceps (ofcourse biceps), but try to focus on back muscles in the long rung, and triceps are really easy to obtain in a few weeks...

Triceps:
use a really light weight dumbell, (i personally use 15's), put the right knee flat on the bench, and the left on the other on the side standing straight up (so your butt sticks out, it'd probably feel more comfortable in the women's gym); then- with your right hand holding the dumbell, just lift up and do maybe reps of 10 in however many sets you feel comfortable. After that, shred them even more by doing a pull down.

Back:
lat pull down's would work really well for me, do lighter reps at first, but never do 80-90% of your max. "the row", or any type of rowing movement would work out your shoulders and your back. Pushpus work really well for my back too. For chest workouts, I normally do sets of pushups, and I bench maybe 60-70% of my weight with the increasing reps and sets.

Hope that helps, and good luck with your pushups! :]

Hi I have only just seen you message about push ups. You should check out this website Thestrengthbuilder.Com. I had to do 40 push ups for my high yellow belt in karate I worked with this board it is fantastic something that actually works this thing is no joke.

Hi,
best of luck in achieving your goal. there's some useful advice in the reply posts. Don't forget to balance everything up though. If you focus on one area of the body too intensely you might head down the injury path.

i used to be able to only do 20 pushups before i start to struggle, and after the 20th or so i really cant go on much anymore.

but now i've increased my limit to around 55 at a go.

try it this way. do 10, then 9, then 8, then 7 and so on till one. like they say: its all in the mind..

trust me this really works. when you're at the last one. (1) stay down with your whole body almost touching the ground and hold that position for 10 seconds.

just my 2 cents ;D