Hey Jordan and Austin,
A job I’ve applied for requires that I perform a minimum of 30 repetitions of continuous, unbroken push ups. There is a running and a sit ups component which I’ve maxed out without issue in a live test but the push ups remain troublesome. I’m well above average in terms of cardiovascular standing compared to the general public (been active my whole life playing various sports, former D1 middle distance track athlete who runs, hikes, cycles, and ergs on the rower several times a week), but have really been struggling with these push ups. As an aside, I’m not of the opinion that the volume of my conditioning is interfering with my ability to make progress in my resistance training as I’ve been able to increase either reps or weight on barbell/dumbbell/machine movements with regularity. I’m getting ~400 minutes per week of moderate to high intensity exercise, sometimes more but rarely less.
At the start of my training specifically for this event, I was able to complete 26 push ups. 4 months later, I’m only able to do 28. I toyed with a few programming strategies in that timeframe but have basically done iterations of the following—bodyweight push ups with various grips between 3 and 5 times per week as my primary horizontal press via straight sets (I’m otherwise training as normal with free weights and machines for the other movement patterns) between 2 and 4 minutes, and performing 3-5 sets per session. I take my sets to rpe 10 but I feel like that minimally hinders my ability to recover (sometimes my chest is a little sore, most of the times it’s not) because hey, it’s push ups not a high bar back squat.
I’m 26 years old, 6’5, and weigh 198 pounds. I have a lean but athletic frame and have built a respectable amount of muscle considering my heavy endurance training background. I’ve been strength training with intelligent programming for the past 2 and a half years, using your templates, at first for SBD, then more for hypertrophy style of training, which is my current bias. I have no significant life stressors and sleep an average of 7 hours each night. I eat a health promoting diet with a sufficient amount of fiber and protein.
My question—how might you program for someone like myself to perform 40-45 push ups in 8-12 weeks time? Am I not doing enough volume? Might I be doing too much? Is going to rpe 10 hindering my ability to improve work capacity? Am I overthinking it all together? I don’t want to do GTG as I’m skeptical that it’ll work for my particular case, though I suppose I’d be willing to try. Thank you in advance!
Fritz,
Are you doing any resistance training right now? If so, what program are you doing? Also, are you benching and/or pressing? I’m not sure what I would have you do just yet, but I. would stop going to failure, that’s for sure.
-Jordan
Thanks for the reply Jordan. Noted on the push ups and avoiding failure. I am currently resistance training, yes. The last 6 weeks, including the push up training, have looked like this:
Monday:
BW Push ups: 4 sets of max reps (Most recent: 27,21,16,13)
Barbell RDL: 2 sets of 10 reps @ RPE 8
BW Chin ups: 3 sets @ RPE 9-10 (Generally around 11,8,7)
EZ Bar Skull Crushers: 2 sets of 12-20 @ RPE 10
Tuesday:
Dip Machine (seated): 3 sets of 12 @ RPE 10)
Back extensions: 2 sets of 12 @ RPE 8
Lat Pull Downs: 3 sets of 15 @ RPE 10
OHP Machine: 3 sets of 10 @ RPE 10
Seated calf raises: 3 sets of 15 @ RPE 10
Wednesday:
Diamond Push ups: 4 sets of max reps (Most recent: 22,15,12,10)
BW walking Lunges: 2 sets of 60 total reps (30 each leg)
Bodyweight pull ups superset with Standing Kettlebell OHP w 45 lbs: Pull ups 3 sets of RPE 9 / KB OHP 3 sets of RPE 9
Thursday:
DB Bench: 3 sets, 1 set of 9 @ RPE 9.5 w 70 in each hand, 2 sets of 11/10 w 65 in each hand
DB Split Squat: 2 sets of 12 @ RPE 8
EZ bar curls 2x12-20 @ RPE 10
Calf raises: 2 sets @ RPE 10
Friday:
Ring pull up: 3 sets @ RPE 9.5
BW Squat 3x35
Deficit push ups: 4 sets of max reps(Most recent 25,19,16,13)
Lu raises: 2x15,10
Saturday/Sunday: OFF
I’ve been tinkering with the exercise selection, heavily biasing it toward hypertrophy as well as movements that I straight up enjoy doing. I’m not a powerlifter but I enjoy lifting weights. My rationale is that push ups of various kinds as well as the seated dip machine allow me to train very close to failure and they give me a great pump without days worth of excess fatigue or soreness. I also like keeping my workouts short hence the 4 compound movements per day. I do like the contraction of the dumbbell bench press so I kept that but I haven’t been barbell bench pressing for the last several months for no reason other than the fact that I’m not super attached to it.
Fritz,
I think you should do our beginner template instead of the program you’re running right now. I do not think the program you’re doing right now is likely to improve strength or hypertrophy.
For push-up training, I would not do any of the variations or even really train it, since you can definitely do 30 push-ups right now. I’d consider some direct training/testing on GPP days later, but honestly- you just need to get stronger.
-Jordan
Thanks Jordan, much appreciated.
I do have a 2 follow up questions actually. Also, I realize I’m not a client of yours and you’ve already gone out of your way to help me with this, so if what I’m asking requires one-on-one style coaching, I apologize.
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What about the principle of specificity in reference to push ups? If my goal is to perform as many repetitions as possible in the bodyweight push up (40+ unbroken repetitions, in my case), wouldn’t it make sense for me to practice that task/tasks similar to it multiple times per week? I agree that I ought to gradually improve my vertical and horizontal pressing strength, but how likely or directly is this to benefit me in the context of an 8-12 week max push-up performance time frame?
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I have run the beginner template in the past and made some strength improvements, but moved on to the hypertrophy I template because I was stuck at the same weight for 3 weeks. Particularly now, I’d just be wary of the lower volume and frequency (relative to my current set up) only benching twice per week and pressing once per week. Is the insinuation with the recommendation to run the beginner template that I’ve been overdoing it with the volume and frequency? In theory, isn’t more practice with a movement pattern better than less for performance improvement purposes, assuming someone can adequately recover from it?
Fritz,
You’re not strong enough and haven’t been training long enough to require any sort of specialized training. Specializing is likely reducing your progress because you need a base of fitness to specialize from.
The volume on the BT is actually pretty close to hypertrophy I, but geared more towards strength gain, which is what you need. I’m not up for a full evaluation of your program from here, but I think the dose, formulation, and other elements of your current program are inappropriate for you.
If you’d like some more help on this, we do offer coaching and that may be helpful for you.
Understood. Thanks again for the feedback Jordan.