A new pushup test!

Pherekydes

Try this one:

as many pushups as you can
rest 60 seconds
as many pushups as you can
rest 60 seconds
as many pushups as you can

The third set is savage.

My numbers: 43, 31, 18. But that's over a year ago.

aoa321

When you say "rest" do you mean sit down and watch the telly? or do some other light exercise ... like stretches?

p.pete

I've got loads of episodes of the Angelus on video - should be perfect for timing the breaks etc

Pherekydes

aoa321 wrote:

When you say "rest" do you mean sit down and watch the telly? or do some other light exercise ... like stretches?

Sorry, should have been more specific.

For the 60 seconds rest (which should be strict) you should run 400m, watch the telly, stretch your pecs, do more pushups, do 120 sit ups.

What do you think you're going to do after doing pushups to exhaustion?

Lie down, do nothing! (Lightly stretch the affected areas).

You can also use this method on any other (favourite) exercises. Guaranteed to generate large amounts of lactic acid (or your money back).

p.pete

Slow coach wrote:

Guaranteed to generate large amounts of lactic acid (or your money back).

Hope this doesn't come across as sarcastic, I'm genuinely interested - is there an advantage to lots of lactic acid?

Pherekydes

I'll dig the atricle out wot I saw it in, get back to you tomorrow.

mayordenis

p.pete wrote:

Hope this doesn't come across as sarcastic, I'm genuinely interested - is there an advantage to lots of lactic acid?

no there is no advantage at all . . . just means your going to get loads of cramps fun fun fun

Healio

suffer more lactic acid in turn makes you able to do more before it kicks in, i.e makes you stronger.

aoa321

Slow coach wrote:

Sorry, should have been more specific.

For the 60 seconds rest (which should be strict) you should run 400m, watch the telly, stretch your pecs, do more pushups, do 120 sit ups.

What do you think you're going to do after doing pushups to exhaustion?

Well I'm sorry I asked now !!!

Pherekydes

Found the article. It's by Frank Horwill, who is one of the most expert and respected British athletics' coaches. The system is called MFS (muscle fatigue saturation), and he prefers it to traditional methods of cct trg. In traditional mthods everybody does the same exercises for the same duration, e.g. 30 secs of pushups, followed by 30 secs of sit ups, etc. The disadvantage is that some people are too unfit to do 30 secs of push ups non-stop, while others would find this too easy.

MFS starts off with just one exercise a day!

Day one - Pushups
Day two - Sit ups
3 - Squats
4 - chins

Etc, etc. The point being to pick seven exercises that target different parts of the body, with emphasis being on one's weaknesses.

exercise to your limit
rest 60 seconds
exercise to your limit
rest 60 seconds
exercise to your limit

Week two you do two exercises per day, i.e. each exercise twice per week
Week three you do three exercises per day and so on. No matter what your starting point is, you will improve, in some cases massively. At the end of a seven week cycle you can test the various exercises, or try to establish PBs running, take an easy week, and restart the cycle with different exercises.

If certain exercises get too easy (e.g. one leg squats) then add extra resistance.

The point about the lactic acid comment is that when your muscles experience lactic acid, they develop the ability to neutralise it to a certain degree. The ph of the blood actually rises. It's called buffering. It enables your muscles to deal with lactic acid better. But it takes time, and a lot of painful training sessions.

Transform

Constantly producing lactic acid is NOT a good idea as it serves no purpose other than it can be used as fuel.
People who wish to train at the right level should train sometimes above lactate levels and other times below it then again somethimes at lactate levels
For weights this means (for experienced trainers i.e. at least one year of regular weights) - train at different weights and rep ranges e.g. 4-6 reps for 4-5sets, 6-10reps 3 sets, 15-20 reps for 1-2 sets.

If people want a stronger and bigger chest then push-ups will work up to a point - building to lots of pushups will just make you better at pushups - producing lactic acid does NOT mean you will get stronger. Yes it may leave you bigger but it is temporaryas iits just ncreased blod flow and carbohydrate storage in the muscle - i.e. the 'pump' you feel after high rep sets. On low reps you will most likely never get much of a pump and hence little lactic acid production

Hope this helps

Pherekydes

Transform wrote:

Constantly producing lactic acid is NOT a good idea as it serves no purpose other than it can be used as fuel.

It depends on your aims, as you said. If you're a 400/800m runner, then you need to handle lactic acid satisfactorily. The best training is the one which will produce the best results at your particular sport. And this usually happens to be the particular sport itself. Athletes have traditionally excelled at body-weight exercises because they improve local muscular endurance without increasing muscle mass too much. Of course, if your game is body building, or just looking good, you might want to bulk up with weights. It depends on what you're after.

This is why when you're deciding a program the first thing you write down are your objectives.

Cheers all.