Adding endurance work to routine?

[Evilllamas]

Hi

I'v been doing BTGB exercise for a while now, and am progressing well- I'v noticed a huge increase in `pushing` strength in particular, however my push up numbers have plummeted- I used to be able to do 50 or more, now 30 is a challenge.

Is it worth adding some more endurance based work in to my routine (perhaps 2 sets of push ups till failure, same goes for pull ups at the end of my routine), or as I improve at the static holds (currently tuck planche is quite hard for me- I have some strength imbalances between pulling and pushing, the former being considerably stronger) will I improve at push ups anyway- Coach wrote about a push up competition between his athletes once I believe in which they performed impressive numbers, without actually doing standard push ups regularly.

Thanks

[Vincent Stoyas]

I know what you mean, I've been progressing well through the push up chain, but I also wanted to be able to do like 50-75 push ups, just in case I ever have to show off.

3-4 days a week I'd just do like near max of push ups a few times through out the morning (I work out late afternoon/night). GTG style, you don't want to get tired from it. I increased my push ups from 35 to 60 in just a couple weeks.

[Coach Sommer]

I've been doing BTGB exercise for a while now, and am progressing well- I'v noticed a huge increase in `pushing` strength in particular, however my push up numbers have plummeted- I used to be able to do 50 or more, now 30 is a challenge.

Simply add a set of higher rep pushups as a finisher to your workout.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Joshua Naterman]

I've been doing BTGB exercise for a while now, and am progressing well- I'v noticed a huge increase in `pushing` strength in particular, however my push up numbers have plummeted- I used to be able to do 50 or more, now 30 is a challenge.

Simply add a set of higher rep pushups as a finisher to your workout.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Bazinga!

That's the ticket. When you are focusing exclusively on strength work, you will lose the metabolic adaptations that allowed you to perform tons of push ups. Fortunately, they come back quite quickly.

Doing exactly what Coach says and doing higher rep push ups to failure (this failure bit is my addition) for one set at the end of each workout is a perfect way to get back what you had.

In 8 weeks or less you'll be doing as many or more push ups as you used to, and it will probably feel much easier.

[Evilllamas]

Thanks for the answer, I look forward to high push up numbers again!

[Joshua Naterman]

Let us know how it goes. Endurance work tends to require regular practice to maintain, so every other day is a good schedule to keep. 4x per week like the WOD schedule is also great.

[Paradox]

What if someone would want to not just to get their pushup numbers back up again, but really develop a very high level of strength endurance with simultaneous maximal strength development?

I'm referring to the realm of things like 50 pullups, 150 HSPU, 400 pushups etc.. I'm talking Coach Mako Sakamoto style, man 8) . But, with the addition of being able to progress maximal strength and achieve things like full planche, one arm chin ups, and such. What then?

Would you still recommend just adding in a set of higher reps to failure, or is different programming required?

[Joshua Naterman]

You have to realize that there was rest between those reps, and that some of what you're talking about (50 pull ups, 150 HSPU) is a very long term goal. You're talking about a lot of years.

You'll have to have pretty high maximal strength to be able to do that, so I always suggest you focus a bit more on that first by a) building the tissues up with a volume-oriented approach to the movement you want to master and b) controlling the overall workout volume so that you can actually eat enough food to recover from this stuff.