diff --git a/include/aare/ClusterFinder.hpp b/include/aare/ClusterFinder.hpp
index a98114d..8bd77cc 100644
--- a/include/aare/ClusterFinder.hpp
+++ b/include/aare/ClusterFinder.hpp
@@ -121,7 +121,8 @@ class ClusterFinder {
                 } else if (total > c3 * m_nSigma * rms) {
                     // pass
                 } else {
-                    m_pedestal.push(iy, ix, frame(iy, ix));
+                    // m_pedestal.push(iy, ix, frame(iy, ix));
+                    m_pedestal.push_fast(iy, ix, frame(iy, ix));
                     continue; // It was a pedestal value nothing to store
                 }
 
diff --git a/include/aare/Pedestal.hpp b/include/aare/Pedestal.hpp
index bb2ea2c..bda94f2 100644
--- a/include/aare/Pedestal.hpp
+++ b/include/aare/Pedestal.hpp
@@ -98,7 +98,9 @@ template <typename SUM_TYPE = double> class Pedestal {
         m_sum2(row, col) = 0;
         m_cur_samples(row, col) = 0;
     }
-    // frame level operations
+    
+
+
     template <typename T> void push(NDView<T, 2> frame) {
         assert(frame.size() == m_rows * m_cols);
 
@@ -113,12 +115,32 @@ template <typename SUM_TYPE = double> class Pedestal {
                 push<T>(row, col, frame(row, col));
             }
         }
-
-        // // TODO: test the effect of #pragma omp parallel for
-        // for (uint32_t index = 0; index < m_rows * m_cols; index++) {
-        //     push<T>(index / m_cols, index % m_cols, frame(index));
-        // }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Push but don't update the cached mean. Speeds up the process
+     * when intitializing the pedestal.
+     * 
+     */
+    template <typename T> void push_no_update(NDView<T, 2> frame) {
+        assert(frame.size() == m_rows * m_cols);
+
+        // TODO! move away from m_rows, m_cols
+        if (frame.shape() != std::array<int64_t, 2>{m_rows, m_cols}) {
+            throw std::runtime_error(
+                "Frame shape does not match pedestal shape");
+        }
+
+        for (size_t row = 0; row < m_rows; row++) {
+            for (size_t col = 0; col < m_cols; col++) {
+                push_no_update<T>(row, col, frame(row, col));
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+
+
+
     template <typename T> void push(Frame &frame) {
         assert(frame.rows() == static_cast<size_t>(m_rows) &&
                frame.cols() == static_cast<size_t>(m_cols));
@@ -150,5 +172,36 @@ template <typename SUM_TYPE = double> class Pedestal {
         m_mean(row, col) = m_sum(row, col) / m_cur_samples(row, col);
     }
 
+    template <typename T>
+    void push_no_update(const uint32_t row, const uint32_t col, const T val_) {
+        SUM_TYPE val = static_cast<SUM_TYPE>(val_);
+        if (m_cur_samples(row, col) < m_samples) {
+            m_sum(row, col) += val;
+            m_sum2(row, col) += val * val;
+            m_cur_samples(row, col)++;
+        } else {
+            m_sum(row, col) += val - m_sum(row, col) / m_cur_samples(row, col);
+            m_sum2(row, col) += val * val - m_sum2(row, col) / m_cur_samples(row, col);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @brief Update the mean of the pedestal. This is used after having done
+     * push_no_update. It is not necessary to call this function after push.
+     */
+    void update_mean(){
+        m_mean = m_sum / m_cur_samples;
+    }
+
+    template<typename T>
+    void push_fast(const uint32_t row, const uint32_t col, const T val_){
+        //Assume we reached the steady state where all pixels have
+        //m_samples samples
+        SUM_TYPE val = static_cast<SUM_TYPE>(val_);
+        m_sum(row, col) += val - m_sum(row, col) / m_samples;
+        m_sum2(row, col) += val * val - m_sum2(row, col) / m_samples;
+        m_mean(row, col) = m_sum(row, col) / m_samples;
+    }
+
 };
 } // namespace aare
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/python/src/pedestal.hpp b/python/src/pedestal.hpp
index 4d5d043..77148dc 100644
--- a/python/src/pedestal.hpp
+++ b/python/src/pedestal.hpp
@@ -43,5 +43,10 @@ template <typename SUM_TYPE> void define_pedestal_bindings(py::module &m, const
         .def("push", [](Pedestal<SUM_TYPE> &pedestal, py::array_t<uint16_t> &f) {
             auto v = make_view_2d(f);
             pedestal.push(v);
-        });
+        })
+        .def("push_no_update", [](Pedestal<SUM_TYPE> &pedestal, py::array_t<uint16_t, py::array::c_style> &f) {
+            auto v = make_view_2d(f);
+            pedestal.push_no_update(v);
+        }, py::arg().noconvert())
+        .def("update_mean", &Pedestal<SUM_TYPE>::update_mean);
 }
\ No newline at end of file