Bodyweight Best way to increase push-up and pull-up numbers for Navy pst
- Thread starter MaxSum
- Start date
Adachi
Level 7 Valued Member
So I was faced with the army's new ACFT and when I was training for it, the leg tuck was my biggest foe. I could only kinda do one, starting out.
I did single reps on my gymnastic rings 3 to 5 reps, 3 to five days a week. For about 2 months.
Having only trained one rep at a time with relatively complete rest between attempts, on test day I scored six, much to everyone's surprise.
Train fresh.
I think one formula for higher reps is to practice in sets of 50% RM scattered throughout the day.
So if max pushups is 50 train doing sets of 25 throughout the day maybe 4 or 5 sets per day.
3 or 4 days a week.
Retest your max after 6 weeks of that, and adjust your training sets.
Torin
Level 6 Valued Member
I've thought this method detailed by @ShawnM sounded really interesting ever since I read it.
It is only about pushups, but I suppose it could be applied to other exercises too:
(Full disclosure: I haven't tried it yet)
It is only about pushups, but I suppose it could be applied to other exercises too:
Bodyweight - Showing pushups who's the boss (results using protocol on Twitter)
In a tweet (an X?) on July 5, @BeStrongFirst described a one-month pushup protocol and suggested posting our results on the StrongFirst Forum. Hopefully I am posting this thread (my first post) in the correct zone of the Forum. My results with the protocol were good: - at the start, my RM was...
www.strongfirst.com
(Full disclosure: I haven't tried it yet)
I have had good results in using plans from Stew Smith.
I have not seen good results using 1/2 of my rep max for lots of volume.
For pull-ups, I have really enjoyed the Fighter Pull-up Program.
The Fighter Pullup Program Revisited | StrongFirst
Here is a powerful Russian pullup program adaptable to any level of ability. The fighter pullup program can double or triple your pullups in one month.
www.strongfirst.com
How many pushups and pullups can you do at the moment? What numbers are you aiming for? When is your PFT?
mightstone2k
Level 6 Valued Member
Here is what I do for the Air Force (push-ups and sit-ups):
Training Day 0: test your RM with one set to failure
Training Day 1: do six sets OTM. The first five are 30% of your RM. The sixth is to failure.
Training Day 2: same as TD1, but your first five are TD1 reps +1.
Training Day 3: same as TD2, but your first five are TD2 reps +1.
Training Day 4: same as TD3, but your first five are TD3 reps +1.
Training Day 5: same as TD4, but your first five are TD4 reps +1.
This is a two-week cycle. I typically run two of these cycles in the month leading up to the test and it’s effective. I never max out, but my goal is not to max it. It’s to pass with at least 90 points so I don’t have to retest for a year (anything less than 90 means retesting in six months). The run is the most heavily weighted event for us.
Training Day 0: test your RM with one set to failure
Training Day 1: do six sets OTM. The first five are 30% of your RM. The sixth is to failure.
Training Day 2: same as TD1, but your first five are TD1 reps +1.
Training Day 3: same as TD2, but your first five are TD2 reps +1.
Training Day 4: same as TD3, but your first five are TD3 reps +1.
Training Day 5: same as TD4, but your first five are TD4 reps +1.
This is a two-week cycle. I typically run two of these cycles in the month leading up to the test and it’s effective. I never max out, but my goal is not to max it. It’s to pass with at least 90 points so I don’t have to retest for a year (anything less than 90 means retesting in six months). The run is the most heavily weighted event for us.
You can use this for pushups and pull-ups.
There's also this Pushup plan from last summer:
And FAQ's:
ShawnM
Level 9 Valued Member
To be honest this is a program from Mountain Athlete, Military Athlete back in the day. Not my program, something I adopted and still works for me. I don’t post the entire thing because I’m going to infringe on copyright issues. Buy the monthly subscription and you will get a ton of content.
Torin
Level 6 Valued Member
This looks very interesting.
MaxSum
First Post
Currently at 18 pull-ups, ~65 push-ups, ~95 sit-ups. Trying to get 25+ pull-ups, 90+ push-ups. I haven’t seen a recruiter because I want to get a contract to go to BUD/S and my scores aren’t good enough for that yet.
Given your already awesome numbers I'd do the dice roll plan posted above..
Bauer
Level 8 Valued Member
Apart from the good advice above, I would recommend this article by Al Ciampa, who has prepared a lot of folks for military tests and deployments.
He basically recommends something like easy running, Simple & Sinister + Power to the People (or Easy Strength), and then do some GTG peaking for your test.
Bauer
Level 8 Valued Member
And to answer your questions: Yes, Pavel has recommended this approach numerous times, also for max rep tests. In "Beyond Bodybuilding" there are some interesting sections on max pushup testing. For example, he recommends to do them rhythmically and with a relaxed negative -- and only to use high tension techniques toward the end of the test. (Of course, this makes sense, but is usually not mentionend in StrongFirst because the focus is mostly on heavier low-rep variations.) But given your numbers you will probably know more about that than I do
I would really check out Stew Smith. His entire gig is prepping people for BUDS.
What’s your swim time? Run time?
@MaxSum
Just to help guide your training… the second column is the minimum and the third column is the competitive. Find what you need to work on and hammer those while putting the rest in “maintenance.”
Just to help guide your training… the second column is the minimum and the third column is the competitive. Find what you need to work on and hammer those while putting the rest in “maintenance.”
| 500-yard swim | 12:30 | 8 minutes |
| Push-ups | 50 | 80-100 |
| Sit-ups | 50 | 80-100 |
| Pull-ups | 10 | 15-20 |
| 1.5-mile timed run | 10:30 | 9-10 minutes |
MaxSum
First Post
I am familiar with him and am currently doing the 50/50 swim workout he recommends 5-6 times a week. I haven’t tested my run or swim recently but I assume they are both around 10:00-10:30.