Blonde will make you STRONG

[RED-DOG]

Advice please guys.

I do four sets of press-ups 3 times a week. I do each set until I max out then rest for 90 seconds before beginning the next.

If I rest for longer I can do more, and vice verca.

So my question is which is best, more rest and more press-ups or less rest, less press-ups?

TIA.

[kukushkin88]

I wanted to ask Matt about this. I'm currently doing better than ever with much longer breaks than I used to take, up to five minutes. 84 consecutive my current max. After a hundred by the end of August, I'll post a video if I get there.

[iRaise]

Advice please guys.

I do four sets of press-ups 3 times a week. I do each set until I max out then rest for 90 seconds before beginning the next.

If I rest for longer I can do more, and vice verca.

So my question is which is best, more rest and more press-ups or less rest, less press-ups?

TIA.

It's a great question. But the answer is, it depends.

Are you doing it for strength? To grow muscle? To do as many press ups in a minute? Rehab? KCAL burning? All have different answers.

For example if you wanted to do strength work, make it as hard as possible and rest as long as you need to complete the next set.

If you wanted to get bigger, it's irrelevant as low as you progressively overload (just do more next week than you did this week).

At some point intensity does matter, but more to do with you're gonna run out of time in the day.

My answer, do whatever you enjoy.

[iRaise]

I wanted to ask Matt about this. I'm currently doing better than ever with much longer breaks than I used to take, up to five minutes. 84 consecutive my current max. After a hundred by the end of August, I'll post a video if I get there.

Im a fan for rest as long as you need. Set rests times seem pretty irrelevant. Huge review has just been done on this last month. Science says it's more how much you do, as opposed to the time you do it in. Caveat being we are obviously time constrained to a point. I just rest til I think I can do it again. If I fail then I know I went back too quick.

[iRaise]

Fronties today.

3x3 85
2x3 90

Lunges 3x5 50kg. Tough to stay stable but getting much stronger with them.

Single leg, leg press 50kg. Absolutely hate it.

As going to diet from August. But not ready in the slightest. So just gonna carry on as I am. Added the walks back in to give me some leeway and it's kept me around 89/90 Don't want to get much above 90 so will monitor.

How's everyone doing?

[Marky147]

I can't even lunge, nevermind with 50kg

Not done anything bar stretching since I got back. Well, apart from eating, and try to get myself into a decent sleeping pattern again.

The heat doesn't help, that's for certain. It feels like Vegas, but muggier.

Got to sit in all day for Dell on Monday, so going Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri, and see how that works out.

[iRaise]

I can't even lunge, nevermind with 50kg

Not done anything bar stretching since I got back. Well, apart from eating, and try to get myself into a decent sleeping pattern again.

The heat doesn't help, that's for certain. It feels like Vegas, but muggier.

Got to sit in all day for Dell on Monday, so going Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri, and see how that works out.

When me and Rich were in Loughborough we say one of the girls there do 60 so I won't be shouting about my numbers yet.

Yeah walkin in with the heat has been tough.

Tough for days for you but sometimes has to be done.

I'm doing upper/lower/mobility/mobility/upper/lower.

Mobility being everything fro, stretching to skill work. With some gymnastics thrown in.

Been using the bands a lot lately too. Absolutely love them, but keeping tension is so hard. Really have to focus.

[kukushkin88]

I wanted to ask Matt about this. I'm currently doing better than ever with much longer breaks than I used to take, up to five minutes. 84 consecutive my current max. After a hundred by the end of August, I'll post a video if I get there.

Im a fan for rest as long as you need. Set rests times seem pretty irrelevant. Huge review has just been done on this last month. Science says it's more how much you do, as opposed to the time you do it in. Caveat being we are obviously time constrained to a point. I just rest til I think I can do it again. If I fail then I know I went back too quick.

Really appreciate having expert advice. I'll be back for more I'm sure, current thing is 40 and then until I fail on the second set and then 600 by whatever means on a Sunday (usually sets between 35 and 60). I'm a runner, so I'm super light for this thread but am very grateful for all the info, it's a great thread.

[iRaise]

I wanted to ask Matt about this. I'm currently doing better than ever with much longer breaks than I used to take, up to five minutes. 84 consecutive my current max. After a hundred by the end of August, I'll post a video if I get there.

Im a fan for rest as long as you need. Set rests times seem pretty irrelevant. Huge review has just been done on this last month. Science says it's more how much you do, as opposed to the time you do it in. Caveat being we are obviously time constrained to a point. I just rest til I think I can do it again. If I fail then I know I went back too quick.

Really appreciate having expert advice. I'll be back for more I'm sure, current thing is 40 and then until I fail on the second set and then 600 by whatever means on a Sunday (usually sets between 35 and 60). I'm a runner, so I'm super light for this thread but am very grateful for all the info, it's a great thread.

You're very welcome. I think they are great numbers for anyone!

I think max sets are interesting as there are a range of different techniques for progress, but any way you do it, you end up an absolute tonne of reps. So I guess again it just goes to what you enjoy the most.

Some people love going to failure some don't. I prefer to stop 1-2 reps before and recover for the next day. If I trained three times a week I might have a different view, maybe. But I don't think failure is a necissity.

[RED-DOG]

Advice please guys.

I do four sets of press-ups 3 times a week. I do each set until I max out then rest for 90 seconds before beginning the next.

If I rest for longer I can do more, and vice verca.

So my question is which is best, more rest and more press-ups or less rest, less press-ups?

TIA.

It's a great question. But the answer is, it depends.

Are you doing it for strength? To grow muscle? To do as many press ups in a minute? Rehab? KCAL burning? All have different answers.

A while ago, I noticed that as I got older I was losing upper body strength so I started doing a few exercises to try to stop the rot.

[EvilPie]

Interesting last page discussion about the press ups especially with the input from the master KKK. 600 on a Sunday is incredible!

My first goal was purely to hit 25k in a year so it was all about volume. With all my other training I found it difficult to find the time but managed to get a good routine going. My best routine for volume was 4 x 40 and then 1 x AMRAP with a 5 minute break between sets. This got me 200 per night and a peak week of about 800 which got me well ahead of schedule.

The thing I found was I got a bit stale and my body seemed to adapt to the exact quantity I was asking it to do on a regular basis. I could easily do 40 but 50 was almost impossible even as a one off.

When I could see that I was easily going to hit my 25k target I decided that I'd make a change. Even though hitting 25k is impressive it got be that it wasn't a challenge any more so I was just pounding out the reps for the sake of it. It was great getting to the stage where I knew I would make it but I definitely needed a change.

There's been some talk of 100 push ups so I've now made that my goal. I'm quite a way off it and it seems to be cardio that lets me down before the muscles. To rectify this I need to cut the breaks and up the work rate.

I'm now doing 4 sets of 25 quick reps in 25 seconds with a strict 1 minute break between sets. I know I have the timing about right because the final rep on set 4 is almost impossible. My plan is to keep cutting the break down a few seconds at a time until it's at 40 seconds and then switch to 3 x 33 with a minute break again. Once I get that break down to 40 seconds I'll switch to 2 x 50 with a minute and take it from there.

Once I've done my 100 I'm having a decent break whilst I do something else and then doing one set of AMRAP. I managed 55 tonight which is my best ever so really pleased with that. They aren't perfect reps at the moment as I'm recovering from a shoulder tweak but they were far from terrible. If KKK videos his then I guess I'll do mine as well.....

I'm expecting the T25 I'm doing to help with the cardio side of this as well. I should also lose a bit of weight so the combination of the two might help me hit 100 by the end of September when my T25 run comes to an end.
 

[EvilPie]

Advice please guys.

I do four sets of press-ups 3 times a week. I do each set until I max out then rest for 90 seconds before beginning the next.

If I rest for longer I can do more, and vice verca.

So my question is which is best, more rest and more press-ups or less rest, less press-ups?

TIA.

It's a great question. But the answer is, it depends.

Are you doing it for strength? To grow muscle? To do as many press ups in a minute? Rehab? KCAL burning? All have different answers.

A while ago, I noticed that as I got older I was losing upper body strength so I started doing a few exercises to try to stop the rot.

This is a great reason to do press ups and similar to the reason I got on to them. I noticed that my lower pecs weren't anywhere near as chunky as they used to be so wanted something to work my whole chest. There really isn't anything better in my opinion for overall chest development than the good old push up.

My advice Tom would be to continually mix it up. 4 sets 3 times a week will be good but where's it eventually leading? More individual reps in each set? Shorter breaks in between each set?

Perhaps you could do something different every night:
4 sets of as many as possible with a long break of say 5 minutes.
4 sets of 20 with a 60 second break.
4 sets of 10 really slow ones with a 2 second pause top and bottom so each set takes 40 seconds total.

Just a few ideas of what you might try.

Keeping posting on here with how you're getting on please. Would love to see your progress.

Have you tested your single set max? Any aspirations to hit 100? I know you started the 100 press up challenge on Blonde ages ago but like everyone else I assume you stopped when you realised it wasn't going to happen in 6 weeks as promised?

[RED-DOG]

Advice please guys.

I do four sets of press-ups 3 times a week. I do each set until I max out then rest for 90 seconds before beginning the next.

If I rest for longer I can do more, and vice verca.

So my question is which is best, more rest and more press-ups or less rest, less press-ups?

TIA.

It's a great question. But the answer is, it depends.

Are you doing it for strength? To grow muscle? To do as many press ups in a minute? Rehab? KCAL burning? All have different answers.

A while ago, I noticed that as I got older I was losing upper body strength so I started doing a few exercises to try to stop the rot.

This is a great reason to do press ups and similar to the reason I got on to them. I noticed that my lower pecs weren't anywhere near as chunky as they used to be so wanted something to work my whole chest. There really isn't anything better in my opinion for overall chest development than the good old push up.

My advice Tom would be to continually mix it up. 4 sets 3 times a week will be good but where's it eventually leading? More individual reps in each set? Shorter breaks in between each set?

Perhaps you could do something different every night:
4 sets of as many as possible with a long break of say 5 minutes.
4 sets of 20 with a 60 second break.
4 sets of 10 really slow ones with a 2 second pause top and bottom so each set takes 40 seconds total.

Just a few ideas of what you might try.

Keeping posting on here with how you're getting on please. Would love to see your progress.

Have you tested your single set max? Any aspirations to hit 100? I know you started the 100 press up challenge on Blonde ages ago but like everyone else I assume you stopped when you realised it wasn't going to happen in 6 weeks as promised?

I was shockingly bad when I first started a few months ago but I have improved a bit. Now I can do 40 for the first set and 3 more sets of 15 each with 90 seconds rest.

I asked the question because I've stopped improving, but the other day I had just finished my first set when the phone rang, I was only on the phone for 4 or 5 mins but when I did my second set I managed 25 instead of the usual 15.

To be honest I like the short rest period because that means my whole routine on what I call floor days takes less than half an hour, and truth to tell, I don't want to keep pushing and pushing until it becomes such a chore that get discouraged and stop trying. (that's what happened with the 100 push up thing).

I just want a sustainable routine but that said, I also want the best possible return for my time and effort invested.

[Marky147]

I can't even lunge, nevermind with 50kg

Not done anything bar stretching since I got back. Well, apart from eating, and try to get myself into a decent sleeping pattern again.

The heat doesn't help, that's for certain. It feels like Vegas, but muggier.

Got to sit in all day for Dell on Monday, so going Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri, and see how that works out.

When me and Rich were in Loughborough we say one of the girls there do 60 so I won't be shouting about my numbers yet.

Yeah walkin in with the heat has been tough.

Tough for days for you but sometimes has to be done.

I'm doing upper/lower/mobility/mobility/upper/lower.

Mobility being everything fro, stretching to skill work. With some gymnastics thrown in.

Been using the bands a lot lately too. Absolutely love them, but keeping tension is so hard. Really have to focus.

Definitely be glad when we're heading towards winter, as it's so much easier to warm up, than cool down.

I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine, as it fills an hour or so in the day, as well as the obvious other benefits.

I've seen a few guys using the bands when they bench, but never investigated any further.

[EvilPie]

I was shockingly bad when I first started a few months ago but I have improved a bit. Now I can do 40 for the first set and 3 more sets of 15 each with 90 seconds rest.

I asked the question because I've stopped improving, but the other day I had just finished my first set when the phone rang, I was only on the phone for 4 or 5 mins but when I did my second set I managed 25 instead of the usual 15.

To be honest I like the short rest period because that means my whole routine on what I call floor days takes less than half an hour, and truth to tell, I don't want to keep pushing and pushing until it becomes such a chore that get discouraged and stop trying. (that's what happened with the 100 push up thing).

I just want a sustainable routine but that said, I also want the best possible return for my time and effort invested.

You say that you've stopped improving but you also say you want a sustainable routine. Why do you need to improve if you want sustainable? I would imagine when you first started you had some sort of target and now you've hit it you're just sticking there.

That's absolutely fine if your target is to always do 40, 15, 15, 15. You won't improve if you never ask your body for more. Why would it offer more if it didn't need to?

I'd strongly suggest just changing things around a bit. Do me a favour and try this for your next floor session. (Note this is not a favour I'll be paying returning...)

Start of session do 4 sets of press ups.

20
20
20
20

Have a strict 60 second rest in between so that's a total of 80 press ups in less than 5 minutes. Stopping at 20 on your first set might seem strange as you know you can do another 20. Don't worry though, by the last set of 20 you'll be struggling and know it's working. If you feel set 3 was a bit close to failure then have an extra 30 seconds before set 4 just to be sure you can hit your 20 target.

Now do the remainder of your floor exercises.

Once you've finished everything go away and do something else for 10 minutes. Shower, make the dinner or whatever. Once you've completely recovered just imagine drill sergeant Red-Dog shouting "drop and give me forty!!" My cue for my final set to failure is when I sit down for dinner. I do my 4 x 25 before I make dinner. I then do my 1 x 50ish before I sit down to eat. If your other floor exercises don't exert much strain on your chest and shoulders you may be able to do your final big set immediately following that rather than needing a break. See how you feel and make a decision. The idea is that you're fully recovered and able to do as many as if it was your first set.

Just blast out one set of press ups to failure. I'd imagine it'll be about 40 so you're only talking an extra 40 seconds of your life. It won't be enough to wear you out or require another shower and when it's done it's all over for the day. You've increased your daily press up count from 85 to 120 without much additional effort and in slightly less time.

The problem with doing your big set first is you're exhausting the muscle to failure. It's then taking a long time to recover and 90 seconds perhaps isn't enough. You saw that with an extra couple of minutes you were able to do a lot more.

If you don't exhaust in the first place you won't need quite so much time to recover. You're so far from failure on set one that 30 seconds less rest and 5 more reps on set 2 should be achievable. It'll still be tough by set 4 though I promise.

Just so you know I came up with this routine through trial and error. It's the most efficient way for me to get a decent quantity out in the shortest possible time. If I do 40 on my first set I need 5 minutes before I can do my next set. If I do 25 I only need 60 seconds. You can keep mixing it up until you find what works best.

Try it for a few weeks and see how you go. I think you'll like it