STEW SMITH CONCEPTS PT Progression Series: #1 — The Pyramid • STEW SMITH • JUL Y 23, 2013 • AIR FORCE FITNESS • 0 Everyday someone asks about improving in fitness tests. Many people have i ssues ith not !ust performing on an entry level fitness test "!oin militarypoli$efire%but also progressing in a manner that ill enable them to perform ell at &oot 'amp or Poli$e and (ire ) $ademies. *ere is an email fr om a $on$erned student ho is prep aring to !oin the military in the ne+t year: Stew, How do I get bet ter at pullups, pushups, and situps? I know I should do more of them but how do I arrange workouts so I am going to see progress frequently (weekly / every other week)?This is a great ,uestion be$ause e all have to start somehere and then e progress into being PT animals eventually . The good nes is that you have a year to train but you need to start no. - am going to make my ne+t several arti$les fo$us on the PT Progression Method. -t all starts i th building a foundation and then advan$es in the folloing or kout arrangements.
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The Super Set is also $onsidered a (oundation 8orkout similar to the PT Pyramid here
the goal is to in$rease the eekly total volume of your repetitions in pullups pushups
situps in order to get better at taking $alistheni$ fitness tests. *aving a solid foundation by
using both the PT Pyramid and the Super Set ill enable you to build your mus$ular
enduran$e by in$reasing your daily volume in smaller subma+ rep sets. Eventually youmay fail at these predetermined number of these sets but that is fine. Deep pushing and
resort to knee pushups for pushups $run$hes for situps or fle+ed arm hang for pullups for
the last fe remaining sets of the program.
) super set is nothing more than a $ir$uit but made ith a set number of repetitions and a
range of sets for you to shoot for in the orkout. (or instan$e to a$e the pullups pushups
situps test you $an make a super set like this:
Repeat &'(&) time$
Pullups — 04 of your ma+ reps "so if you $an do 14 pullups — only do 0 per set%
Pushups 14F10 "if your $urrent ma+ is at least 34 do roughly /0 of ma+ per set%
Situps 14 — but fo$us on your goal pa$e. ;o 14 situps in 10 se$onds if you ant a total
s$ore of G4 situps in / minutes.
29 =EST — 7our rest is resting mus$le groups by doing other e+er$ises
)nother option:
Repeat )(&' time$
pushups 14
situps 14
ide pushups 14$run$hes 14
tri$ep pushups 14
plank pose 54 se$onds
Pullups — 04 of your $urrent ma+ reps test s$ore
)dd a ne progressionH )dd running in ea$h set by running anyhere from 144 yards or a
13 mile. 'onsider it ?resting ith running@. This ay you $an ork on the ability to
transition from the PT to running portions of the test hi$h is a big issue for many P(T
takers and makes running more $hallenging if all the blood is trapped in the upper body
before you start the run the 1.0 / or 5 mile timed runs.
9nly do the Super Set every other day at the most. 7ou $an do the PT Pyramid Super Set
and the Ma+ =ep 8orkout PT Progressions all on$e a eek if you ish. &>T you only
ant to ork ith this higher level of volume in the upperbody e+er$ises of pullups
pushups situps every 9T*E= day. ;o not do them on ba$k to ba$k to ba$k days like
many people mistakenly do. Eventually you ill see negative results if you do daily PT
orkouts of the same mus$le group.
)nytime you are doing 144 pullups /44 pushups 544 reps of abdominal e+er$ises —
$onsider that an >PPE= &9;7 day that you need 3G hours to fully re$over before yourepeat that orkout.
pyramid in$rease. Eventually 1F141 pyramid ill be easy to do. -t maybe time to push
that to ne levels and go for a 1/F10 high pyramid.
Wed * PT Super Set — Deep orking the volume so you get your goal reps for the day
!ust as you have been doing for the past several eeks. Start adding harder ?rest@
elements into the super set $ir$uit. Jet some ideas from 'ir$uit Training arti$le.Saturday * Max Rep PT — - re$ommend taking a PT day off before trying this 144/44
544 rep orkout in as fe sets as possible for best results. This is very similar to the
Murph done by 'rossfit gyms but instead of doing 544 s,uats repla$e ith an e+er$ise you
ill be tested on like situps. (o$us on ma+ing out the pullups moving straight to the / min
pushups and situp sets ithout rest other than a sip of ater if you need to hydrate.
+ptiona, Pro#re$$ion$ to thi$ Max Rep PT:
#ry doing the workout with a weight vest
.dd in running a /- mile ea0h set at your goal mile pa$e you ant for the timed run. (or
e+ample if you ant a K minute 1.0 mile run you need to run a K4 se$ond ,uarter mile.
-oa,: See ho fe sets you $an do this 144/44544 orkout. The best - have ever seen
is three sets. Most advan$ed PTers $an do this in the 3F0 range. -f it takes more that 14
sets stop at ten and live to fight another day.
U,timate pro#re$$ion: -f you are ki$king everybodyLs butt in this orkout and $omplete it
in three sets keep doing and see ho many reps you $an get in (-<E sets. The re$ord in
our Spe$ 9ps training group as 1G0 pullups 344 pushups 344 situps in (-<E sets. -n
more than 10 years of doing this orkout - have only seen three guys do this many reps in
five sets hi$h as the time most of the other guys did 144/44 544 reps respe$tively.
"&y the 8ay — these are 292D-PP-2J P>>PS — Military grade pullups 927.%
Part "our o" the PT Pro#re$$ion Serie$ is about adding the final segment of most fitness
tests into the $alistheni$s orkouts — =>22-2J. earning to run at your goal pa$e is
$riti$al for optimal performan$e and you must pra$ti$e it so often that it a$tually be$omes
?mus$le memory@ hen you run. 7ou should be able to transition from the the PT se$tion
into the running test easily and kno by the ay you are breathing singing your arms
striding ho fast you are going. This takes pra$ti$e though.
7ou $an make a pyramid out of this one or make it one tough super set but ea$h ?rest@
period in beteen sets is a run of a variety of distan$es. These type of orkouts not only
help your body learn ho to transition from PT e+er$ises to running but $an also help you
in simulating other e+er$ise events like obsta$le $ourses $ombat $onditioning $ourses and
other !ob related $hallenges.
*ere is an alltime favorite that $an progress into a orkout even the toughest people
$annot finish. - $all this the 9bsta$le 'ourse Simulation 8orkout Progression but itLs goalis to help you ith the P(T e+er$ises. This is best if using an outdoor pullup bar and an
area to run a short distan$e. *ere is ho it orks: "29 =EST 8orkout%
Set:#1: ;o 1 pullup — run 5434m —do / pushups 5 situps — run ba$k to pullup bars
Set #/: / pullups —run 5434m—3 pushups 6 situps — run ba$k to pullup bars
Deep moving forard up the pyramid to set #14: 14 pullups run 5434m — /4 pushups 54
situps
2o here is here it is up to you and your fitness level. 7ou $an return and go ba$k don
the pyramid $ompleting the 144/44544 total repetition $hallenge 9= try a ne
progression.
+ne Way Pyramid to !': Deep going up and see here you fail. -f you $ontinue moving
up the pyramid there is no need to return don the pyramid. The goal if you keep going
past level 14 is to see if you $an keep moving and go to level /4. This is a total repetition
orkout of /14 pullups 3/4 pushups 634 situps. - ould re$ommend turning some of
these situp sets into plank pose here ea$h se$ond at plank pose "up pushup position after
pushups% $ounts as 1 rep of situps.
Super Set .ith Runnin#: )nother option is to do a sub ma+ Super Set ith running longer distan$es at your goal pa$e. (or instan$e if you are fairly advan$ed try:
Set 5: 5 pullups 6 pushups K situpsSet 3: 3 pullups G pushups 1/ situps
Set 0: 0 pullups 14 pushups 10 situps
=>2 1 M-EStart pyramid on Set 6 — $ontinue to Set 14.
=un 1 mile
'ontinue pyramid on set 11 F10
=un 1 mile
9ptional to finish pyramid at 16F/4 or return in reverse order.
arder Pro#re$$ion$: 2o add more diffi$ult e+er$ises to the PT Pyramid. 8ork your
ay up a pullup pyramid to /4 but add a short run of 3404m "meters% and make this pla$e
the lo$ation for your burpees G $ount pushups push presses kettlebell sings et$. Make
them a 1:1 ratio of ho many pullups you do. =emember if you go from 1 to /4 sets in a
pyramid that is /14 reps of pullups and any other e+er$ises you sele$t. ;onLt forget your
situps and plank poses as they make great ?rest@ e+er$ises hen needing an a$tive rest.
ere i$ .here it #et$ harder . >se the first 0 sets as a armup run. )fter set#0 you $an
no longer run from pullup bar to PT area. 7ou no have to pi$k another method to travel.
Some great ideas are: fireman $arry farmer alk lunges bear $rals lo $ralsoverhead $arry of eight heel barro ra$e $rab alk or tire flips. This is your time to
get $reative but make sure it is something you ill see again in your training future.