I hope this message finds all of you well, and some of you with your gyms opening up. I'll be brief with my thoughts on the matter (despite no one asking)- should we have quarantined? Looks like yes in some cities. Should it have lasted this long? No. Is it beyond unreasonable for the government to force small businesses to close for this amount of time with little to no assistance? Yes. It goes against the basic principles of liberty.
I digress. Whether you've been training at home or haven't done a damn thing, it's never too late to start. I put my long standing friend and client Ryan on this push up program. Now, mind you, it ended up being 8 weeks but it could have been 6, or 12 for that matter.
This program is not perfect. These are push ups. When done with proper technique, there's almost no way to program them improperly- a benefit of bodyweight movements- just go until everything is burning.
However, this worked well for him. He got back to the gym on week 9 and hit 85% - 315- for a single as smooth as a newborn's behind. I was impressed. He was excited. Champagne bottles were popped on the way out to celebrate.
Here's his gorgeous bench...
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxsYK1GR__Q&feature=youtu.be]
And the program...
| Week | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| 1 | BW Push ups - normal tempo | 8 | 20 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - red mini band around back | 8 | 3 | 60 sec |
| 2 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - normal tempo | 9 | 20 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - red mini band around back | 10 | 3 | 60 sec | |
| 3 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - normal tempo | 10 | 20 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - red mini band around back | 12 | 3 | 60 sec | |
| 4 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - normal tempo | 11 | 20 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - red mini band around back | 12 | 4 | 60 sec | |
| 5 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - normal tempo | 12 | 20 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - red mini band around back | 12 | 5 | 60 sec | |
| 6 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - temp 5:5:0 | 5 | 10 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - monster mini band around back | 8 | 5 | 60 sec | |
| 7 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - 5:5:0 | 6 | 10 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - monster mini band around back | 10 | 5 | 60 sec | |
| 8 | Day A | Sets | Reps | Rest | Day B | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| BW Push ups - 5:5:0 | 7 | 10 | 60 sec | Dynamic Push ups - monster mini band around back | 12 | 5 | 60 sec | |
Notes: We started at 8x20 on week 1 day a because Ryan has been doing push ups as part of his programming, on and off, for the past 6 months or so. I knew this would be an RPE 7-8 for him. When we worked up to 12x20, those sucked for him. Point being - start light.
If you don't have a mini band, elevate your feet to make Day B a little more difficult.
Tempo 5:5:0 means - 5 second eccentric/lowering, 5 second pause at the bottom, and 0 or up as fast as you can under control.
