No progress in HeSPUs

[Warrior'sSuite]

I'm doing 8 exercises each one 2 times a week in my current workout, and one of those exercises are floor HSPU's (or HeSPU's - personally i don't like calling them like that) against the wall. I've been going at it for exactly 6 weeks, today i started week 7.

So far i have steadily progressed in each of the other exercises, meaning more reps and (i feel), better form. But the only one in which i have not progressed are these, the HSPU's. In fact i think i've even gotten worse, 1 or 2 reps less than when i started.

I don't know if 6 weeks is still a short time to expect some reasonable, or good, gains in hspu's. Is it? That's why i ask. But i don't understand this because i'm doing fine on all the others but this is the only one in which i have not progressed yet.

Should they be trained differently than other exercises? Or will it just take longer?

[Erik Sjolin]

There's a number of reasons it might not be progressing. Perhaps your form is bad and you're just not working the right muscles, maybe it's just tougher for you. All I can really share is experience, and maybe it will help along. Personally, I started working HeSPU's about one or two years before I even found the gymnastic bodies program, and everything else progressed faster than those did, despite the amount of time I spent with them. Had to restart them about three times because I couldn't get past a certain point, and even then, my form was horrible.

My advice? Take it as slow as it needs to be to make sure you have each progression absolutely, 100% mastered before you think about moving on, because this is one of those wonderful exercises that can really hurt you if you do them badly.

Good luck!

[Warrior'sSuite]

To be fair i think it's actually only been 2 weeks of the same with them, because i've changed the way i do the reps and the tempo of the reps twice since i started. When i started out i did the reps somewhat fast, maybe like 102 or something like that. After some weeks i did some reading and changed to doing all the reps slow and controlled, each one from 5-7s long. More like 6-7s long. And then like 2 weeks ago i switched to doing them all 302, 5s per rep. This goes for all the exercises. Even with these changed i've progressed on all the others.

So i think that it's only been 2 weeks i've been doing the HeSPU's with the same tempo, and i believe this will affect the number of reps you do. So since they are, i think, the hardest exercise im doing right now, it'll probably take longer. We'll see what happens.

[Lee-19]

There are a few 'tricks' you can use to promote progress. So for example do the following three sets.

1. Plyometric push ups with feet raised (only if your conditioned to plyometric work!!) although this is a different movement to HeSPU it will help. With this set you want to concentrate on accelerating your body with the power coming from the shoulders/chest/triceps areas. If you are not condititioned to plyometric work use some dumbells/weights and practice vertical pressing with the same principle of speed (so low-moderate weight).

2. Regular HeSPU so what you usually do.

3. For this one at the bottom of each press stop the movement for two seconds, to effectively prevent any stretch reflex from happening then press up. If this is too difficult start with full extension and lower to the bottom of the movement over a period of 20-30 seconds, rest and repeat.

Adding those two techniques will strengthen your vertical push but you need 4-5 days between training it. Unlike skill work (i.e. handstands) where you need more practice, strength work is the opposite where you need more recovery to allow your muscles to strengthen.

Hope this helps,

Lee.

[Julekman]

6 weeks meaning nothing, its just a butterfly touch on serious training period. You need time.