Bodyweight GTG Push ups for rep max

[Xene]

I am currently rereading The Naked Warrior and thought about using the GTG technique to increase my push ups max reps. Pavel writes about only doing a max of 5 reps for GTG movements and uses OAOL push ups for it. I am not interested in OAOL PUs but I would love to pump up my 'normal' push up max due to a upcoming push up test.

Did anybody have success with GTG for push ups? How did you program it? Training 6 days per week? Multiple sets of 50% RM distributed over the day? So if your rep max is 50 this means you do several sets of 25?

 

[Kev]

I am currently rereading The Naked Warrior and thought about using the GTG technique to increase my push ups max reps. Pavel writes about only doing a max of 5 reps for GTG movements and uses OAOL push ups for it. I am not interested in OAOL PUs but I would love to pump up my 'normal' push up max due to a upcoming push up test.

Did anybody have success with GTG for push ups? How did you program it? Training 6 days per week? Multiple sets of 50% RM distributed over the day? So if your rep max is 50 this means you do several sets of 25?

Someone already asked about this recently. Using only sets of 5 I cranked out 500 push-ups and my only rest was briefly jogging on the spot. I followed Iron Wolfs stuff. I even managed 1000 following one of his workouts. The closest thing to GTG I can think of is “Frequency method” pushed by Johnny Pain of Greyskull Barbell club/Strength Villain. His approach is test your push-ups before they turn to guff, take that number, half that number and then do multiple sets over the course of a day. One of his challenges was 200 straight push-ups and he said that once you are doing multiples of 75 you will be there or close. So that’s the kind of place you can end up being if every few days you add a couple of reps and keep hammering a tonne of sets over a day. Of course if you don’t have somewhere to just hit the deck every 5 minutes or so and crank out push-ups you have obviously realised the first problem with this approach. Apparently this is how prisoners do it and well, they have all the time in the world and a place they can constantly crank out push-ups.

 

[Matt604]

Strength in Numbers: A Case for Pushup Endurance Training | StrongFirst

With push-up endurance training I maintain absolute strength without having to train it on a regular basis. This keeps us strong without the risk of injury.

www.strongfirst.com

Sounds like the author was trying to do the same thing. Sounds like he never got over 75 reps or so, but (a) that's pretty good and (b) he got a lot of other benefits from the practice, which he outlines in the article.

 

[Bronius]

I am currently rereading The Naked Warrior and thought about using the GTG technique to increase my push ups max reps. Pavel writes about only doing a max of 5 reps for GTG movements and uses OAOL push ups for it. I am not interested in OAOL PUs but I would love to pump up my 'normal' push up max due to a upcoming push up test.

Did anybody have success with GTG for push ups? How did you program it? Training 6 days per week? Multiple sets of 50% RM distributed over the day? So if your rep max is 50 this means you do several sets of 25?

Hey, dont know if you have been subscribed strongfirst newsletter, but there was a 30 day program some time ago for pushups using the GTG approach and it worked for me and i believe for others very well. Cant remmember the exact numbers now, but I went from 40 pushups done before accumulating burn to 65 max in a few weeks. Last reps were performed in singles, but still strong.

 

[Xene]

Hey, dont know if you have been subscribed strongfirst newsletter, but there was a 30 day program some time ago for pushups using the GTG approach and it worked for me and i believe for others very well. Cant remmember the exact numbers now, but I went from 40 pushups done before accumulating burn to 65 max in a few weeks. Last reps were performed in singles, but still strong.

Can you find and repost this one?

 

[Steve Freides]

I am currently rereading The Naked Warrior and thought about using the GTG technique to increase my push ups max reps. Pavel writes about only doing a max of 5 reps for GTG movements and uses OAOL push ups for it. I am not interested in OAOL PUs but I would love to pump up my 'normal' push up max due to a upcoming push up test.

Did anybody have success with GTG for push ups? How did you program it? Training 6 days per week? Multiple sets of 50% RM distributed over the day? So if your rep max is 50 this means you do several sets of 25?

The standard formula for increasing reps is to use 50% of your max as your starting point. Repeating this story from memory so apologies if it's not 100% accurate: Pavel's father-in-law used GTG, starting with a 10 rep max and GTG'ing with sets of 4-6, to work up to a 20 rep max, gradually adjusting his GTG sets to stay in the ballpark of your rep max.

Begin a volume-oriented GTG carefully, 2-3 sets per day, and always take days off if you feel you're getting overtrained.

-S-

 

[Xene]

The standard formula for increasing reps is to use 50% of your max as your starting point. Repeating this story from memory so apologies if it's not 100% accurate: Pavel's father-in-law used GTG, starting with a 10 rep max and GTG'ing with sets of 4-6, to work up to a 20 rep max, gradually adjusting his GTG sets to stay in the ballpark of your rep max.

Begin a volume-oriented GTG carefully, 2-3 sets per day, and always take days off if you feel you're getting overtrained.

-S-

Thank you Steve!

 

[Karen Smith]

the important thing for GTG is to make sure you are picking 50% or RM and also the proper rest between each set. Make sure to not go to failure. On a side note: even if you are not interested in the OA or OAOL pushup, doing them at an elevation for reps will increase your regular pushup max pretty quickly as you learn much better tension and correct any asymmetries.

 

[Xene]

the important thing for GTG is to make sure you are picking 50% or RM and also the proper rest between each set. Make sure to not go to failure. On a side note: even if you are not interested in the OA or OAOL pushup, doing them at an elevation for reps will increase your regular pushup max pretty quickly as you learn much better tension and correct any asymmetries.

This is a very good input! Thank you as well.