The Ultimate Pushup Program

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
1

Ok, when I finally found the site, instead of just posting it as a reply, I decided that it is so great that it deserves it’s own topic. The program can be found here:

Working towards 100+ Pushups

Most people will find that, especially in the beginning, the diamond partials are very hard.

Make sure you read the directions, and are doing “partials” properly. Remember, it’s from the BOTTOM to the MIDDLE, NOT the middle to the top.

I think some of you guys should try this, and let me know how it works for you. I have had nothing but incredible success with this program. Wow, I wish I got compensated for how much I push this guy’s program :slight_smile:

Let me know how it works for you.

Iron

2

10 weeks to 100 pushups?

OK Ironfist! Tell us the story - did it work for you? If so, I may be up for it. Anybody else wanna join the experiment?

At the moment I do 40 standard pushups on my knuckles (30 on a bad day) and as many mantis pushups as I can after. I was aiming for 50 but have plateaued for the moment.

PS A couple of weeks ago I met a little guy who can do over 100 one arm pushups on either arm. He said he can do 60 “no sweat” and actually went for the Guinness record but came second. He showed me 20 and they were good. I had him try a one arm pushup I was shown in class (but still can’t do) and he couldn’t even do one. Boy, did that make me feel better. :slight_smile: I guess next time I see him he’ll show me a 100 of the bloody things.

8-]

[This message was edited by David on 06-26-01 at 03:24 AM.]

3

EH?

Sorry, probably being dumb, but what is a xiphoid(thing I’m supposed to be touching with my thumbs in position#1)??? :confused:

4

“OK Ironfist! Tell us the story - did it work for you? If so, I may be up for it. Anybody else wanna join the experiment?”

Oh **** dude, hell yes it worked! Not only that, but my bench went up 15 pounds in the first 4 weeks (sounds like bullshit doesn’t it?). Not only that but it gives you a MAD pump in your chest and tris!

If you are incorporating this program into a weight lifting routine, let me know and I"ll tell you how to make the adjustments.

"Sorry, probably being dumb, but what is a xiphoid(thing I’m supposed to be touching with my thumbs in position#1)??? "

A xiphoid process is like where your rib cages meets in the front, in between your pecs

I think it would be cool is a lot of people here did the program and posted their results.

Iron

5

xiphoid process = sternum?

I don’t do weights, but 10wks (70 days) of doing this stuff will really upset my main schedule unless I go on a really healthy no beer stint.

I’m up for it if anyone else is. My housemate gets back from abroad today and he might be up for it too. He’s into fitness but not MA.

I’ve typed up the entire 10wks of pushups so I can just tick them off. I can post the spreadsheet here, I think.

The powers of Kung Fu never fail!
– Hong Kong Phooey

6

looks good.

does anyone have similar program for chin ups?

7

I hate to constantly hype Pavel, but everything that I’ve tried of his has worked 100%. He wrote an article for this month’s Muscle Media (can be found in GNC) that is suppoed to bring you up to 100 reps in a few weeks or so. You may want to take a look at it. BTW, he just came off a successful training for the US Marines.

To up your pull-ups, take a peak at these two articles and choose which approach wouldsuit you best:

http://www.cbass.com/Pavel’sLadders.htm

or

http://www.cbass.com/Synaptic.htm

I’ve done both approaches over the past year or so, and while I can’t tell you my max set because I haven’t done one in so long, I’m able to comfortably do 60+ full-range pulls over the course of a 30 minute wokrout that also includes intervals of push-ups, squats, and sprints.

8

“He wrote an article for this month’s Muscle Media (can be found in GNC) that is suppoed to bring you up to 100 reps in a few weeks or so.”

Everyone has been talking about this article. Can someone post it here for the rest of us? Thanks.

BTW, I don’t know about Pavel’s routine, but the one I posted will result in some hypertrophy and raw strength gain (evident on bench) as well as increased endurance (100 pushups).

Iron

9

how about pullups?

I tried Dr Charles Poliquin’s advice for those who can’t really do pull ups.
His program was basically 4 sets of 30 second negatives- I did this on back day, so about once a week. I tried this for over a month; probly somewhere around 3 months, and have never gotten squat.
Does Pavel have any recommendations for pullups?
I remember reading an interview with him where he wasn’t a big fan of negatives by themselves, because “it teaches you how to fail”.

I can do one pretty decent pullup at a time. I’m in the process of switching to a routine of doing 10 single reps, hoping they eventually get easier.

Any advice?

Thanks

.

10

Iron,

I might be getting it today, so I’ll post it when I can.

LD,

How often do you have access to a pull-up bar? I’d believe Pavel would recommend the approach from that second link I posted. He calls it “greasing the groove.” Basically, at random intervals during the day, crank out that one pull-up. Do this probably 3-5 times during the day for a few weeks and I guarantee that you’ll be cranking out a few more easy reps. You can even use a chair to give yourself some assistance and do a couple more reps. A key thing is to never go to failure or even on the nerve. (the on-set of failure)

I took this approach with one-legged squats. I could barely do one when I first started, so every hour and a half at work, I’d go into the storage room and do 3 assisted one-legged squats. At the end of the month, I could do three easy unassisted reps for multiple sets in a row, and I’ve taken off from there.

11

Well, as far as pullups go…

Here is some advice that is totally the opposite of what Pavel would say, but it has worked so well for me that I can’t not recommend it. Bascially, it’s a modified version of Arnold’s advice.

(This is for wide grip pullups for lats, palms away from you).

Do as many reps as you can at a time, until you get to 30 total. This may be 2 sets, or it may be 29 sets. I think it’s best to start doing this kind of pullup because it uses your biceps as well as your back (so you get some assistance). Once you can do 30, increase the total to 50.

Once you can do 5 sets of 10, you will be very good at both lat-pullups and standard bicep pullups (palms toward you, hands shoulder width apart). Plus, you will get some nice back development.

Using this routine in the past, I have done the following routine: (all wide grip lat-pullups)

10 x bodyweight
10 x bodyweight + 10lb plate
10 x bodyweight + 25lb plate
10 x bodyweight + 45lb plate
10 x bodyweight + 25lb plate
10 x bodyweight
little sets to failure
One minute rest inbetween each set there.

At that time I weighed around 155-160lbs, but you have to admit it’s still good :slight_smile: (sorry, i had to brag, because my back is my best bodypart)

But please please, if you do pullups of either kind, GO ALL THE WAY DOWN AND ALL THE WAY UP!!! I am so SICK of seeing people go half way down and then back up and call that one rep. Want to know why your pullups suck? It’s because you don’t do the bottom half of the range of motion!!!

Oops, got carried away there.

One more thing, pullups (especially with weight attached) are a sweet exercise because not only do you get superb upperbody development, but in the gym you look like such a stud since most people can’t do pullups at all!!! (so they’re good for your ego too!)

Hahahaha!!!

Iron

12

Iron,
how would you incorporate this pushup program into a weightlifting routine?
thanks, Azar

13

Pushup Program + weights

To incorporate it into a weightlifting routine, make the following changes.

Say one week is this schedule: (i made this one up)

On, off, on, on, off, off, on

Ok, so whenever you start, you would start with the first day, on. Say the next day, you go to the gym and work chest/tri’s/front deltoids (the pushup/benchpress muscles). If you are sore the next day from your weightlifting routine, you can’t do pushups (exercising when sore is bad). So, instead of skipping days, kind of “put the program on hold,” until the soreness wears off. Here is the same example:

Day 1: on (pushups)
Day 2: off, but you go to the gym and do a Chest/tri/front delt workout
Day 3: You’re a little sore, so even tho today is supposed to be a pushup day, you are sore, so you don’t do pushups this day (but you’re not skipping the “on” day, you’re just pushing it back until the soreness is gone).
Day 4: Soreness gone. Today you will do day 3’s pushups.
Day 5: Do pushups, (day 4 of the pushup routine)
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off
Day 8: On (today is actually the last day of the pushup program’s week, but since you had to push one day back, you are now finishing a day later).

That was a bad example, so I hope it made sense. Basically, for each “week” of the pushup program, it may actually take you LONGER than an actual week to do it, if you experience soreness from a weight workout. Here is the above example in linear form:

Here is what the pushup program says to do: On, off, on, on, off, off, on.

Here is what you actually do, incorporating the soreness from Day 3’s weight workout: On. off. rest because you’re sore. on. on. off. off. on.

You are not allowed to skip pushup workouts, only move them back until your weight lifting soreness goes away.

On weightlifting days, if you do pushups, do them AFTER you hit the weights. If you do the pushups before lifting weights, you will be too fatigued and your weight lifting routine will suffer.

Did I explain it well? I probably tried too hard and ended up making it confusing. Let me know if you still have questions.

(note: I’ve never combined this routine with Pavel’s PTP workout, so I can’t give firsthand experience with the two combined. When I used the pushup program I was on a purely bodybuilding program that involved working chest/tri’s/anterior delts once a week with weights)

Iron

14

Thanks

Ford Prefect-
now that I think about it, Pavel’s right. I used to have a pull up bar in my house, and used to try a rep or 2 anytime I went in or out of my room. It was the only time in my life I ever did more than 5. Unfortunately I broke it one day, playing Slam Dunk on it (fell on my ass too, still hurts thinking about it); plus we moved out of that house. I think I’m going to have to look into getting a pull up bar in my next apartment (I’m moving in a month or 2). Actually, have you seen those megastations- those metal behemoths that you can hang 2 heavy bags, a speed bag, and have a pull up bar on? Seriously considering getting one.

Ironman-
How much weight should I use? The max I can manage? How often should I do those pulldowns. Poliquin kind of disparaged using pulldowns to improve pull ups, saying the physics of the 2 movements was different enough not to translate well- but his idea didn’t work, so I’m willing to open my mind.

The reason I thought the 10 single reps would be a good idea, is that I could space them out through out my workout, and kind of do what Pavel recommended with the “greasing the groove” thing.

Thanks for the advice. i’m going to give it a shot next time I have back day.

15

gonna try to fit it in…

hopefully it won’t take up too much time to do the press-ups, pull-up idea is cool as I do some during my weight workout too, It’d also be good to see if it helps to improve my swimming at all.(seeing as both pretty much blast your back.)
Just want to get my hand positions right though.
#1 position is hands together(did you mean the solar plexus, or just in the middle of the rib-cage?)
#2 position is standard hands in line with shoulders?
#3 position only move hands out a further hands span?
I’ll start it as of Monday, so if ya could let me know if I’m on the right track with that.
The pull-ups I will do from week after(maybe :wink: )
Although I do prefer to do palms facing if I am working on press-ups as well.

Peace…

16

Iron,

I have no doubt that it works. I think most people that have lifted for a while would admit that there are numerous “correct” way to reach your goal. I just like Pavel’s advice because he gets the most of your body with the least amount of fatigue.

LD,

Sounds like a plan. I’ve never actually used one of those things, so I couldn’t comment on it. I kind of agree with Poliquin about the lat pull-downs. I prefer to just strap weight to my waist, but to each his own.

17

I must have mistyped something…

When I said “10 x bodyweight + 10lb plate” I meant I’m still doing pullups but I have a 10lb plate strapped to my waist.

I never do lat pulldowns on a machine. Those suck!!!

So, sorry for any confusion.

Iron

18

pushing & pulling

Ironfist, Ford Prefect,

Thanks to both of you for the links.

Always good to break up the old routine with something different.

Been having trouble with pushups and pullups lately, as I haven’t been making the time for them. New routines like these get me fired up again. :smiley:

Thanks. :slight_smile:

19

Hehehe! Ironfist, you scared me for a second! :wink:

20

I’m in. I’m gonna give this program a try.

-SevenStar©
Come not between the dragon and his wrath…