strength gains

mili5726

How long does it take before you start noticing improvement in your upper body strength for a woman? I do boxing three times a week and we always start out the class doing 15 reps of five different types of push ups, so we do about 75, then we rest and do another set of 10 which is about 50. I constantly seem to struggle with the pushup part. I have been doing the class for about three months now, and I am anxious to get off my knees and start doing real pushups but the strength just does not seem to be there yet. I also train my upper body with weights about twice a week, along with my boxing classes.

TR0berts

I also train my upper body with weights about twice a week, along with my boxing classes.

How, exactly, are you training upper body? Specifically, what exercises and rep ranges are you using?

mili5726

I workout the whole upper body twice a week. I do chest presses, flys, dumbbell rows, triceps extension, dumbbell curl, dumbbell hammercurls, assisted pull ups and assisted dips. I usually do around three reps of 8-10 each, and boxing three days a week, which requires lots of upper body with all the heavy bag work.

__RANDY__

I workout the whole upper body twice a week. I do chest presses, flys, dumbbell rows, triceps extension, dumbbell curl, dumbbell hammercurls, assisted pull ups and assisted dips. I usually do around three reps of 8-10 each, and boxing three days a week, which requires lots of upper body with all the heavy bag work.

that's a lot of stuff. I don't see bench press though.

TR0berts

OK - that doesn't sound too bad. And the chest presses and triceps work should definitely help your push-up. Three things come to mind.

1) Are you eating enough to fuel all your workouts? Your diary is closed, so it's difficult to see how much fuel you're getting.
2) Are you struggling for the last rep on your workouts, and have you been able to increase the weight for each one? To see gains, you really need to progress/improve.
3) Maybe - at least for chest press - move to 3 or 5 sets of 5 reps, instead of 3x8 or 3x10. This is more in line with the idea of increasing strength, whereas 8-10 reps is more for building bigger muscles, but not necessarily strength. Again, you'll want to use heavier weight for each workout - just 5 pounds, if you can manage it. Also, start out at a lighter weight than you can handle at first, so that you can get used to the idea of progressive loading. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but it works.

Then again, if you're doing pushups before each boxing workout, too, then you may simply end up overtraining those muscles. I'd try to go with the third note above first, though. It may take a couple of months, but you'll get there.

mili5726

No I haven't started doing bench presses yet. Should I start? Do you think it will help me with my upper body strength gains?

jackaroo21

You cant just lift and expect strength gains. You got to increase your weights each time. Linear progression.