Exercise like a man! Do pullups from a tree, and pushups with a delightful tea candle below your chest! HOORAH! D8<

(For more intensity, use a lilac-scented candle to MAX YOUR PUMP!)

I never was all that big on them either. I've always favored [proper] crunches and squats, because they've always been a bit easier for me to see progress with.
I used to do push-ups the normal way (within a rep or two of failure for two or three sets with 1-2 minutes of rest, every other day) and it did little after the first week.

3 weeks ago, I started to take a third of my "reps to failure" rate, and do that many per set until I reach 100. Right now it's 5 pushups per set, for 20 sets. 7 times a week. (30 seconds of rest.) After two days, there was zero fatigue. I was as fresh as if I skipped a day, yet I was making significant increases.


Although I've been slacking lately. I'll go and exercise now that it's fresh in my mind 

Get a book called "convict conditioning" . Real  training, real wor, NO gear, just bodyweigh results.

Regardless of waht you can do now, start at step 1 for all exersises.

Best program i have seen in 30 years, except for boot. And most of that was bodyweight.

Draw the bow 1/3 of the way, hold for 10 seconds, 2/3s-10 seconds, full draw 10 seconds, let down in reverse, 2/3s, 1/3.  Repeat 10 times if possible.  If you can't get to full draw, as much as you can for 10 seconds.  Do this once a night for a week.  You should be able to get to full draw in about 3-5 days.  When you get to full draw, try to do two sets of 10.  When you can do it twice, you shouldn't have a problem shooting your bow.  If you want to go up in poundage, increase the number of sets.

You are right about the various exercises not working the muscles, the only exercise that duplicates drawing a bow is drawing a bow.  The various bands on the market are pretty much a bow, the bands flex instead of the limbs bending.

Oh I wasn't nearly that fast. To do all 250 took me about 10 minutes. So that's about 2-3 seconds per pushup. But I made sure that they were full pushups with as good form as possible.

I started just doing as many as I could with the goal of getting to 56 (which was one of the benchmarks I read in a book about the military). So everymorning before breakfast I did the pushups. This was in addition to my regular workout.  And then I just kept building. 56-60. 60 to 66. 66- 70. 70-75. And I wouldn't let myself lose pushups. Once I hit 60, that was my new minimum. Then I just picked the next interesting number and jumped. A lot of it is mental. Once I was at 200 and doing that for while then I jumped to 225.  It took a few months to build it up. And when I lost it it took me a couple to get back.

Now I don't do sets that long. Right now I'm doing sets of 25, with 10 sets of different types of pushups. Headstand pushups, diamond pushups, knuckle pushups, clapping pushups, burpees, 8 count body builders...etc. I wrote down the various types of pushups I know (also did research and got a couple of books from the library about bodyweight conditioning) and now I randomly select a mixture to pushup types and get to it. I need to start doing double sets some days, but I think I'm done with climbing that high in one set. 50 in a set is plenty for me. I've also been toying with bumping up to 12 sets. With sets it's much easier to add more.

There is a point at which it certainly becomes a matter of endurance strength rather than burst strength. And then you can get into the whole debate of slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers, aerobic vs anaerobic muscle action but I've read enough exercise guides from various eras that I really have no inclination to looking too deeply into those debates. They change every few years.

I would say that the type of training they engage in varies sport to sport. Boxers and MMA guys train for 3 or 5 minute rounds. Football players train for short intense bursts of energy followed by a recovery period. Soccer guys have to be able to run...forever basically 

It does tie back though. Everyone does some strength training and some aerobic conditioning and some endurance. I remember I went to my university's nominal fee body makeup test and was told what my fat percentage was and all those stats. And asked the guy if I was in good shape, if I was fit, and he said "well, what's fit?" and this is a guy who did training as his job. It all depends on what you're looking to do with your body.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties I used to be able to do 500 sit ups.  I'd do them every other day.  A nurse asked me how the heck I ever got up to that number.  It's like ps says.  At first I had to strain to get to 50.  By the time I hit 70 adding more reps became easy.  After 100 you can add like 20 or more each time.  Please don't ask how many sit ups I can do now.... 
   It is a shame how fast your muscles atrophy, especially when you get a bit older.  In that I've been slinging for almost three years my regular throwing, which I've totally ignored, has become beyond pathetic.