Calisthenics Protocols #97
How to do more pushups & chin-ups
Calisthenics provide a good measuring stick for general fitness due to the relative strength component required for proficiency. The number of pushups you can do is likely a better indicator of your health than BMI in my opinion. If you’re big, but can do pushups and chin-ups with ease, you’re better off than a bigger fella that can’t do a single rep of either.
You likely have:
Better Body Composition
Better Strength
Better Endurance
For maximal strength, endurance, or hypertrophy training calisthenics wouldn’t be my first pick. However, they’re a great supplement to heavy training or a staple in minimalist programs. I also like calisthenics for testing general fitness since they require less skill than a lift like a deadlift and most people at least have somewhat of an exposure to calisthenics.
“The rule is: the basics are the basics and you can't beat the basics.”
Charles Poliquin
Pushups
If you can’t do a single pushup with GOOD form, start here.
If you can’t do a pushup you’re either injured, too fat, too weak, or a combintion of the above. I’d work on making yourself less fat, less weak, and/or less injured. Meanwhile, supplement pushup variations until you get less fat weak and/or injured.
BTW, no judgement if you’re in this category, from my experience working with clients, many people just don’t get this kick in the pants and I don’t see how sugar coating it is going to help you.
1. Strength
Start with resistance training and body composition modification. Add in pressing movements like the bench press, overhead press, and tricep extension variations. Use primarily barbells & dumbbells in the 5 to 8 rep range to build your strength.
2. Body Recomposition
It’s no secret that just being smaller makes moving your body easier. Fat loss isn’t difficult, this article is going to oversimplify this process. If you’re struggling with fat loss, send me an email with specific questions (overloadstrengtraining@gmail.com).
Eat in a caloric deficit, keep your step count/activity high, and train hard. Get to an acceptable body fat percentage. For men, i’d get into the 15-20% range first and for females i’d get into the 20-25% range. From there you can always get leaner but this range makes repping pushups a hell of a lot easier.
Pushup Variations
Start with simple variations and progress to more complicated ones. The variations I recommend are the incline pushup, Pushup Negatives, and the accentuated negative pushup.
Incline Pushup
In my opinion, these are king. Use GOOD form. Start at a height that’s managebale for 10-15 reps with GOOD form. Hit 3-5 sets of 10-15 reps with one min rest, once you can hit 13-15 reps per set then lower the bar height. Eventually you get to the lowest setting, then go to the floor. Simple but effective.
Pushup Negatives
Lower yourself with control to the ground. Ideally, use a 10 second negative. If you can’t do 10 seconds do 8, if you can’t do 8 do 6, if you can’t do 6 do 4, if you can’t do 4 do 2. If you drop like a floppy fish and smash your face on the floor, do it from the knees. I would aim to perform 2-4 sets of 5 reps after your pushups.
Accentuated Negative Pushup
Lower yourself down slow! Then push yourself back up from the knees. If you can do the negatives for 3 sets of 5 with a 10 second negative, then move to these at the end of the workout instead.
If you can do 5-10 Pushups, start here.
Now it’s about building volume and the skill of pushups. This means HIGH QUALITY volume. I recommend starting with the protocol of hitting 3-5 sets of 10-15 but now do as many as you can from the floor, then the rest from an incline. Progressively move the incline down as you get closer to the 15 rep mark at a given height.
Continue with heavy strength training, weight loss, and the accentuated negatives.
If you can do 10+ Pushups, start here.
There are countless protocols but here are some I like:
Protocol A
Take your max pushups and multiply that by 2.5 X. Hit that many reps in as few sets as possible with 1 min rest between them. Ex: If your max is 16 pushups then 16 x 2.5 = 40 total reps.
You can perform a pyramid set: 12,10,8,6,4 (40 total reps)
You can flat load it: 10,10,10,10 (40 total reps)
Whatever works for you.
Protocol B
Perform 25-33% of your total reps every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. For example, if your max is 20 pushups, you can do 6 pushups every minute for 10 minutes for a total of 60 pushups. This won’t be a “max effort”, again the idea is to accumulate volume and frequency.
Perform these protocols 3-5x a week for best results.
Chin-ups
If you can’t do a single Chin-up with GOOD form, start here.
Stength training and body recomposition are your go tos. Again, you’re likely holding more body fat than you need and you’re weaker than you should be. Do movements like pulldowns, rows, and curls to strengthen the upper back and biceps.
ISO Hold
Hold your chin over the bar as long as possible. If you can’t do a hold with your chin over the bar for at least 5 seconds then use a band or just lose fat and gain strength until then.
Hold for as long as possible for a set. We’ll take 2.5X your hold time and now that’ll be your goal time in as few sets as possible with 1 min rest. EX: If you can hold for 10 seconds, your goal time is going to be 25 seconds. Perform however many ets it takes to each 25 seconds of total time.
Negatives
Negatives are preferable if you can do them. Aim for a 10 second negative, once you can do 3 sets of 5 with 10 seconds lowering then you can likely do a pull/chin-up. Progress to 10 second lowering if you can’t handle that long of a lowering. Shoot for 3 sets of 5 reps.
If you can do 1-4 Chin-ups, start here.
I would continue with 2-3 sets of negative only reps after some chin-up work. If you can do multiple reps i’d try something like 1-2 reps every minute on the minute for 10 minutes. If you can only handle a single rep, I would do reps with a band for 4-8 reps and then add negatives afterward.
If you can do 4+ Chin-ups, start here.
I would either use the Pavel Fighter Pullup Program or something similar to the pushup protocol.
Protocol A
Multiply your total max reps by 2.5X, perform in as few sets as possible with 1 min rest. EX: If you can do 6 chinups x 2.5 = 15 total reps. Perform 15 total reps in as few sets as possible with 1 min rest.
Programming Tips
The key is to use good form, strength is practice. Do reps frequently with high quality, no grinding reps allowed. Retest in 2-3 weeks if you’re novice. Once you’re more advanced you can progress to weighted variations. Weighted eccentrics are also an option, don’t underestimate the power of lowering some heavy chins! You can also use paralettes, rings, or plates to mess with mechanics, stability, or range of motion.
If you have any questions drop a comment below. Share this article with no explanation with an enemy, keep their mind occupied about your plans.
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