Pushups are good. Along with other exercises. The military has been building bodies with calisthenics for years. But. I have never considered myself to be particularly strong, even tho I dug ditches and worked in oil derricks in my younger days. But I have always been able to do a lot of pushups. As a freshman in high school I set a school record (for my age), did 100 pushups with a 3/4 inch plywood cutout strapped to my chest, waist, thighs, and ankles (to make sure I kept my body straight), touching my chest to the floor for every one. Yet I couldn't lift all that much weight in my neighbors garage gym...