Currently I'm 5'6-5'7 about 151lbs. I've joined the Navy to be a Seal. I don't leave until June, so i have sometime to get into better shape. Seal training is very demanding, so it's important for me to have a very good stamina building workout routine. I'm in decent shape now. I can do 60 push ups at any given time, but want to increase this number to 100. (Same as sit ups) I can do about 15 pull ups and would like to increase that number as well.

So, i guess my goal here is to get lean and do high reps. Currently, I'm eating a little less than i normally do, because I'm trying to cut body fat. I do cardio 3 times a week, but i train with HIIT. I don't do more than 15mins on the treadmill. My theory is to make cardio short and intense so i don't burn any muscle i may gain, although still lose body fat.

Currently, my routine is:

Monday-Chest/Back/HIIT
Tuesday-Legs/Biceps (Squats, deads, hypers, leg machines, etc)
Wednesday-Shoulders/lats (Pull ups, lat pulldowns, dumbbell press, military press) Abs
Thursday-HIIT cardio. No more than 20mins.
Friday-Chest/triceps/Abs
Saturday-HIIT cardio. No more than 20mins. Abs

Now, i used to do squats and deadlifts again on Friday, but i find that I'm still tired from Tuesday. My chest never gets sore, so it seems effective for me to train it 2x a week? Does this make sense? Also, is it ok to train chest 2x a week, but only train back one time a week? I figure it's good to train Chest and back about the same each week, maybe I'm wrong?

Also, i lift heavier on Mondays chest day. Maybe 10 reps with heavy weight. On Fridays i do chest, but light weight very high reps for endurance. I'll do 3 sets of 105lbs until failure. The two other chest exercise i perform are done the same way. (Lightweight, high reps) When i say high reps, I get up to about 30. So, 3 sets of 25-30 reps.

What do you guys think about 3 sets to failure for chest? I figure it's good, because I'm trying to balance it out by lifting heavier for chest on Mondays. This way i can keep strength and possibly gain some and at the same time gain endurance.

Basically, i do high reps on bench to increase my push ups. This way my body is used to going for a longer period of time. Some of you might say just do push ups, but i feel benching works different muscles that are necessary for growth. Like i said, i want lower body fat and good endurance. Gaining strength would be nice, but i doubt it will happen with eating below maintenance.

Thanks and i appreciate it!

I think that doing chest twice a week is fine. I workout all my body parts m-w with thursday off and Friday is do whatever I feel like focusing on (chest, bicep, shoulder) whatever I feel like needs improving.

With that said, doing 3 sets of 25-30 reps is not ideal man. Just push heavy and max out at 15 rep at most but I'd suggest going only 12 if you really want to rep. That many rep is just not pratical man. When i am done with my chest routine, I can barely do a push-up or not even be able to do one. My body is drained but I do not exceed more thatn 10 reps unless I am messing around to see how many I can press at 135 lbs after I am done (about 30ish) but that is done once every blue moon.

Keep the weight heavy and you can do tons of push-ups as you develop more muscle. Best way to develop muscle is going heavy weight not reps.

In this case tic I'd actually think that perhaps high reps isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you're training for SEALS then muscular endurance and lactic tolerance is going to be just as important as pure strength.

True, you develop more muscle lifting heavy, but lose endurance. I've noticed that i do less push ups when i get stronger, but lift more weight. Before i started lifting i could do 77 push ups in 1 minute and now i can do 62. I run out of steam quicker, yet i am stronger...My idea with the reps is that it will keep stamina going...

Maybe you should start with the seal fitness conditions and kinda work backwards from there. I imagine their workouts are on the web and you can gauge your fitness on those. No need to start doing sprint training for example if in the seals you are required to do a mile in x minutes. Start practising on what you will be tested on.

If i was you i would do an upper/lower or a push/pull split. The navy is about functional strength and these kind of splits are much better for that kind of thing.

You do high reps on bench to increase your push ups. That's just plain wrong.

If your goal is to increase push ups you train for that. How do you train to increase your push ups? Well, I think that by forcing yourself to do more push ups or faster push ups.

Ways to do this.

Explosive push ups (common for Seal Training)
One arm push ups
elevated foot push ups (force a % of your own weight into the push up)
One leg push ups

Work on your core (abdominal stabilization for time) Example

Plank, Side Plank, Level changing Plank, one leg plank

You weight 151lbs and you are training with 105lbs. The math doesn't make sense. You are training to be weaker. Yeah you increase your muscle endurance to lift 105lbs but you decrease the ability of your muscles to lift your body more efficiently because you don't weight 105 pounds.

Why don't you train to lift 150 to failure.
People than can lift 200lbs for 10 reps are able to lift 40 times 100lbs.
You get it?

Train to lift fast, explosive and stronger with heavy weights (less than 10 reps on free weights).

You want to do 100 push ups in 1 minute then try to do 100 push ups and write down your time and then try to decrease it by doing push ups faster. You can also try to do 150 push ups as fast as you can and you will be able to do 100 push ups easier and faster.

Also Bench press is very different from doing push ups. The load on bench press depends on the bar only. The load on push ups depends on your body, base of support, core stabilization, balance and functionality of your total control of your bodyweight.

Using bench press to increase your push ups only works for people who can't do 1 to 5 push ups because they are too weak for their body weight, still the best way to increase the number of push ups is by doing push ups in more advance ways. Faster, Stronger, Explosive.

What are your goals? Write them down and make your program to achieve them.

Think about this: A sprinter trains to be faster, a power lifter trains to do one rep with a higher weight in almost every training session.


What are you training for?
Are you using a bodybuilding routine to increase total body performance?
Ask yourself the right questions and you will find the right answers

Rick_CSCS
Secrets to Gain Muscle

YES... you ARE doing chest too many times per week. The bigger the muscle group the longer the recovery time should be.

I used to work my chest 2x a week hoping it would grow... then I started doing it only once per week with proper intensity and the results were dramatic.

And as mentioned above, if you want to do MORE pushups, then you need to train and DO more pushups.

In Japanese they have a word called Kaizen. It means constant improvement. So in simplest terms, every time you train you pushups, increase your rep count by 1 or two. Eventually you will blow right past 100.

Remember, small ordinary actions taken over a long enough period of time produce extra-ordinary results.

Hope that helps,
Cheers!

- Sahil M

Wow, very good reply's. I finally found a forum with people that know what they are talking about. Thanks for all the great advice.

I never even thought to myself that i was lifting 105lbs which is less than i weigh. I always figured when i did push ups it was only about 80lbs i was actually lifting, because they are so much easier. I can't even lifting 105lbs as many times as i do push ups...Which is why the concept of doing 105lbs a lot would increase endurance and strength for push ups. But, i understand what your saying. Wanna do more push ups, do push ups, etc...

Here are my goals.

I want body fat to be about 8% before i leave. (I want abs to show)
I want to be able to do 100 push ups at any given time.
I want to do 25 pull ups at any given time
More endurance for running, although I'm pretty good on that.

I sprint, because i feel it's more of a workout and when i start to jog at lets say 6.5 mph it's a joke...For some reason sprinting for a short period of time makes jogging easier...(not sure why)

I understand visible abs are merely losing the bell fat. Which is why i want to achieve 8%, or lower if possible. But, any lower than 6% seems irrational and not necessarily healthy...

So, with the goals i listed, what do you suggest? Continue to lift heavy, but add push ups randomly throughout the day? (I already do pull ups, so these should increase)

Yeah ur on the right track.

I do bench 3 times a week on M W F and all iv seen is just pure good results. I guess its different for everybody.

Try and do all the variations(there is like a thousand lol) of push ups including normal ones. And just do them, and then do them some more. Thats how ur gonna get to 100

Sprint(interval) running is the best way to loose body fat, maybe look into resistance interval training for that extra push that will make u wanna throw up lol But still maybe once a week go out and run a mile or two so you can keep your body accustom to being able to run long distances

Thanks.

So, what do you guys think about this?

Personally, i do not like doing bench press. I never feel it in my chest and it's awkward for me. (I don't know why) But, i do like doing dumbbell flat press or incline. (I use 40lbs in each hand) How about i ditch the bench press and do chest 2x a week. I'll do pushups, incline flys, and dumbbell flat press on chest days. (3 sets of each) Monday will be chest/back and friday will be chest/tricep. Or, should i move tricep day?

I'll do HIIT cardio 2x a week and one day a week i'll jog for 30mins...

Tuesday will be legs/biceps. Wednesday will be shoulders/lats. So, i'll be lifting 4 days a week and running a total of three. (2 HIIT sessions and one jog)

With all this being said, i'm eating at a deficit to lose b/f.

With this program, does it seem plausible to reach my goals? (Low b/f, a lot of pushups, good looking abs, good running shape)

I'm lifting, because i don't want to just look really scrawny either. I want to have some muscle, you know? This way, if I'm at a low b/f at least i will have toned my muscles a bit...

A client of mine had the exact same problem as you mentioned above. He wasn't feeling it in his chest. After seeing him do the exercise in person, I noticed his biomechanics was off.

When you press, the middle of the bar should make a straight line right down to the middle of your chest.

Too low and you will be working your triceps, too high and you'll again be working more triceps and shoulders.

You should be able to FLEX your chest while doing the bench press.

Try it out and report back. With the appropriate weight you SHOULD feel it in your chest now.

Well, I would train the same amount of days that the program you are preparing for in the Navy. So if SEAL training is 5days/week, then do that amount of days only. THat is to start... so give yourself the same amount of rest that you will have in the Navy.

Second... HIIT is not just 20 minutes, there are 'types' of interval training at that intensity. What you need to do is break up the total distance you are going to run into 3 and 4 intervals: if your run is 4 miles - then break up the intervals into (4) - One mile runs... then run that mile at 100%, and then rest to full recovery, and then repeat that mile at 100%, etc. until the total distance is reached. That is a better method and will def. keep your endurance.

Third -- to do more push ups.. you should do both benching AND push ups.. One day of training do heavy reps on the bench and then try to do a large quantity of pushups, the other day go for your body weight on the bar and do 100 reps in as few sets as possible. Then try to complete the 100 reps in following sessions in fewer sets.

Fourth - pull ups are a beast of their own... I train them now... for a high number.. so I train my weaknesses in them -- right now it is my biceps... it used to be my grip. Train the weakest part of them - forearms, or bi's, or lats...

This will get you where you are trying to go.

Since you aren't very heavy I think you might honestly get more out of just doing 3 FBW a week. Focusing heavy on pushups and pullups.
Cardio on days in between.

Just my take

If you're trying to get down to really low BF you're going to need to have a proper diet. It's by far more important than your routine.