You can obviously do a lot of reps, kudos to that. You’re definitely not in bad shape. I think there are some things you can do to make your workout smarter and more efficient (I assume this takes you a few hours to complete).
-You seem to be doing a crazy number of reps which implies the intensity is so low that you’re probably not getting much in the way of strength or hypertrophy.
-The sequencing of the movements goes from easiest to hardest. On top of that, it looks like you’re doing some pretty high volumes even on the harder variations. Considering they’re all basically the same basic movement pattern, that suggests the early exercises are basically doing nothing if they are having no impact on your later movements.
-You say you want to build endurance, but what does that mean to you? Being able to do a lot of push-ups? If that’s the case, just do regular push-ups for as many total reps as you can. Or do traditional cardio instead.
First, I’d narrow down to 2-3 horizontal pushing movements (as opposed to the 5 or 6 you have). For example, instead of doing ring push-ups and weighted push-ups, why not do weighted ring push-ups? Upping the intensity will do a lot more for your strength than endless reps.
Second, replace some of those other push-up variations with other pushing movements. I know you said you do pike push-ups, but you could probably easily do elevated pike push-ups or wall handstand push-ups. Dips would be another excellent exercise to be included; I’m sure you could do those on the rings. Maybe some triceps extensions on the rings too.
Those are my main takeaways; maybe you have your own reasons and motivations for doing the things the way you’re doing it and that’s fine. Enjoying your workout is more important than some random internet stranger declaring it “optimal.” Good luck mate!
@Haru
First of all, thank you so much for the long explanation!
Yea, for about a month and a half I’ve been doing the 100 push-ups as fast as possible every day. I think this workout today took me around 45-50min to complete.
My general goal is to get strong while being able to complete high amounts of reps. My general stamina/cardio is pretty good because I play volleyball and also go running/swimming around 3 times a week.
I think I’m gonna start implementing harder variations like you recommended, which sounds pretty smart to me because I can focus more on fewer variations which should make me stronger for those specific variations (I hope I got that right).
Sorry that I can’t go over all of your points, I’m kinda busy rn, but yea, thank you so much for the advice!
It would be beneficial to find a push exercise that puts you within a lower volume range to stimulate more of a strength result. As someone already said, 3-4 sets of an exercise that challenges you within the 8-10 rep range (adjustable to your preference). After doing those strength exercises, you can start doing more endurance-focused exercises on whatever you want.
Basically
High-intensity/Low-volume and challenging strength-focused exercise
Vance said:
If you wanna build strength, weighted push-ups aren’t the way man, do dips.
Yea, I do dips on another day usually as I like to variate between general push workouts and dividing even further sometimes, but thanks for the feedback I really appreciate it!
How many times a week are you doing this workout?
It seems a lot of volume, but don’t feel tired or fatigued at the end of the workout. You’ve got to go.
Would recommend to train skill first and then do exercises, it also depends on your goals.
@Blake
This specific workout maybe once a week; however, I do the timed 100 push-ups every day. Sometimes I like to split my push days into a day of push-ups and then a day of skill practicing and dips. The thing you said about doing skills first sounds logical; I’ll implement that into my workouts, thanks for the advice!
If your main goal is more about increasing endurance than strength, this workout plan isn’t bad. Two advice for you:
Start with harder exercise (low reps) and go down to easier one (more reps).
Reduce rest time. If you can go over 50 reps, it would be much better if you end on 50 (or even 30-40) and do more sets with lower rest time between them.
Casually for maybe 3-4 years, started when I was 13 I think, but seriously training calisthenics for around a year now.
Honestly, this isn’t a great workout because you’re only training one muscle group and you’re neglecting the opposing muscles. You would probably see far better strength gains by incorporating some pull-ups or weights. Doing a ton of push-ups is just gonna stress your joints, and you’re gonna be 40 with arthritis.
@Grayden
I usually do push-pull-leg splits so I do pull day the day after push day usually, idk if that’s what you meant tho, anyways thx for the feedback.
True said: @Grayden
I usually do push-pull-leg splits so I do pull day the day after push day usually, idk if that’s what you meant tho, anyways thx for the feedback.
You do way too many reps for strength training - you should put way more weight on/choose a way more difficult progression of push-up, so you can only do 8 reps for 3-4 sets.
Seriously, you don’t train for strength at all at this moment; only endurance.
True said: @Zeke
Do you think doing wall-assisted handstand push-ups maybe combined with pike push-ups would do the job? Thanks for the help btw.
It’s dogmatic and unsupported by science to confidently assert to a stranger (based on the limited info in your post) that only lower-rep work builds strength. But I think your routine seems like an insanely high amount of volume that may be bad for joint health long-term. I bet you would get the same/similar hypertrophy, strength, and endurance with a third of the work, and I would take the advice above more for the sake of being able to lift long-term without injury rather than because I think you’ll get radically better short-term strength improvements that way.
