mma your post sounds like one of those viagra spam ads "The SECRET to pushups! Just send $700 to anonymous_conman@moremoney.com"

With pushups its kind of horses for courses - do what you want, it's all good. But don't bounce at the bottom, that loses you some of the benefit. Pushups should be slow and controlled, maybe 4 seconds down and 2 up.

In defense of the original poster, proper bench press or proper push up form should involve the upper back, bouncing can be beneficial but only if you extend past the floor, a good example of what many boxers do is pushup with three chairs one for the feet one for each hand you go as low as possible and bounce lower at the bottom 10 times on the 10th you bounce up, another exercise is to drop to the floor from 3 chairs catch yourself at the bottom of the pushup motion on the floor then bounce ub with maximum acceleration and catch yourself on the two chairs as you bounce up.

I'm not at all getting defensive. I'm just sharing my experience. Alot of people seem to be posting on this board about "How can I do more pushups" etc, and the only real advice people seem to be giving is "just do them." Well that doesn't seem to be very helpful advice, or what other posters were asking for, so I thought I'd share my experience with modifying the form. You need to be able to do alot of pushups as a performance exercise and not just as a performance enhancing exercise if you're going to go into the military or take a P.T. test or something along those lines. As for bouncing, you need to bounce if you're going to do ballistic pushups (pushups where you jump up and clap your hands together), which train for speed and explosiveness. Also I asked you guys to try it and tell me if it worked for you guys too or if it was just me. Obviously no one really cares and are only here to make snap judgments, so i'll assume that it was just me. As for pushups, I can do 160 in supersets up to 30 on one arm, and I'm only about 165lbs. Different things work for different people, so I was just wondering if this worked for anyone else.

I don't have experience using your technique for pushups but I know from experience and coaching that it is considered proper form for bench press.

Hmmm well one of the most effective exercises for the whole body is the push-up; While the muscles used to move the body relative to the pivot point is basically your arms no matter where you put them (there are some exceptions ) we must remember newtons third law of physics which is: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". For the chest to work and consequently the arms to work, the the counters must also be working which is the back muscles. These can be used to better co-ordinate the arms and be more efficient with your muscles, and at the same time get other muscles to be used to keep your form and alignment correct. When a push is done perfectly, every muscle should be in play, from your ass to your abs.

You want to know the secret to doing pushups? It's doing pushups, end of story. Dont short change yourself by making them easier,(Except in the case of one-armers which is another story).

Just do 'em, but...

1. Do them slowly so the inertia and momentum of your body don't assist you. At least two seconds to lower yourself and two seconds to raise yourself back up.
2. Touch your chest to the floor.
3. Vary the spacing of your hands. I'm told that with your hands close together, your arm muscles do more work.
4. Once you get up past 20 pushups, on some days put barbell plates on your back.

I know I have a long way to go, from three sets of 8 pushups each with 50 pounds of barbell plates. (I weigh about 150.)

Unrelated useful hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr

Slow is good but so is explosive. Explosive push ups, not to mention clapping ones, are a great training tool. These would be known as Plyometrics.

Slow is good if you are working body weight exercises for development of muscle and endurance, though you will get more benefit from working with actual weights. Plyometric or explosive push ups help to develop "power". Here is some details should you be interested.

Plyometrics