Best Progression for Increasing Reps on a Single Exercise with no Assist Work

[the_winding_way]

So with the lockdowns going and minimal equipment I have a fairly limited selection of strength exercises available to me.

What's an effective approach/progression to increase the number of reps I can perform on an exercise in a single set, without using any assistance exercises?

So for instance I want to get my handstand wall pushups up to 10 reps when I'm currenly maxed at 5. Or for pistol squats, etc.

Set/rep scheme? Negatives? Just bang out singles til I die?

EDIT: I'm talking about exercises you can only do 1-6 reps for, so the 'strength' range.

 

[thugpoet]

Greace the groove is great for this.

Change your rep scheme. For example stuck at 3x3 try 5x5 with less weight and try to up the weight that way.

Deload. Sometimes you need to take a step back to take two forward.

 

[spdrew2143]

Greace the groove is great for this.

Change your rep scheme. For example stuck at 3x3 try 5x5 with less weight and try to up the weight that way.

Deload. Sometimes you need to take a step back to take two forward.

Grease the groove? I do that all the time, but what does that have to do with strength training?

 

[the_winding_way]

Greace the groove is great for this.

Change your rep scheme. For example stuck at 3x3 try 5x5 with less weight and try to up the weight that way.

Deload. Sometimes you need to take a step back to take two forward.

The conditions are that you can only work with the exercise that you're trying to improve, no assistance work. No gym equipment, so no opportunity to add/remove weight. Otherwise I would just be doing bar work and not bodyweight work.

I'm stuck at 5x5 on handstand pushups - what's next? 6x5 ? Or 4x6? Etc.

But yeah I like grease the groove, I should do that.

 

[wufabufa]

Take a look at Convict Conditioning, Never Gymless, or Overcoming Gravity if you're in need of inspiration for workouts low on equipment.......or just use google and youtube as there are endless sources of information that will fit you needs.

 

[thugpoet]

Grease the groove? I do that all the time, but what does that have to do with strength training?

There are two components to all technical ablities.

Lifting weights is a technical skill just like anything else. Greace the groove is essentially practicing the skill portion of an exercise. The better you are at the skill the better you are able to recruit the muscles.

 

[thugpoet]

The conditions are that you can only work with the exercise that you're trying to improve, no assistance work. No gym equipment, so no opportunity to add/remove weight. Otherwise I would just be doing bar work and not bodyweight work.

I'm stuck at 5x5 on handstand pushups - what's next? 6x5 ? Or 4x6? Etc.

But yeah I like grease the groove, I should do that.

Ahh I see. I've. Been doing a bodyweight circuit as well was stuck for a while trying to increase my pull ups.

I put one extra rep on the last set instead of the first one. So instead of 5x5 it was 4x5 1x6. Next workout 3x5 2x6 etc.

 

[aus101]

If you want to get better at handstand push-ups and are stuck at 5 reps do multiple sets of 3 and or perform static hold handstands (so stay in the hand stand position) for 30 seconds after your sets. Increase duration once you can handle your usual set of 5 plus 30 seconds.

 

[the_winding_way]

Ahh I see. I've. Been doing a bodyweight circuit as well was stuck for a while trying to increase my pull ups.

I put one extra rep on the last set instead of the first one. So instead of 5x5 it was 4x5 1x6. Next workout 3x5 2x6 etc.

Why the last? Isn't there more chance of failure?

 

[the_winding_way]

Take a look at Convict Conditioning, Never Gymless, or Overcoming Gravity if you're in need of inspiration for workouts low on equipment.......or just use google and youtube as there are endless sources of information that will fit you needs.

I'm not for a lack of exercises/programs, I guess more generally the question is how to get better at an exercise that's in your pure strength range, through only practicing that specific exercise.

Let's say for instance you find a rock you can deadlift for only a few reps but you want to increase the number of reps you can do...in a world without barbells, where you can't progressively overload the weight you lift to help you achieve said goal.

But on a side note - you recommend Overcoming Gravity? I saw it on kindle a while ago and was intrigued, but there was no sample material to check out.

 

[the_winding_way]

If you want to get better at handstand push-ups and are stuck at 5 reps do multiple sets of 3 and or perform static hold handstands (so stay in the hand stand position) for 30 seconds after your sets. Increase duration once you can handle your usual set of 5 plus 30 seconds.

Thank you, gonna try this for sure. So go for volume by sets rather than squeezing reps out.

 

[wufabufa]

I'm not for a lack of exercises/programs, I guess more generally the question is how to get better at an exercise that's in your pure strength range, through only practicing that specific exercise.

Let's say for instance you find a rock you can deadlift for only a few reps but you want to increase the number of reps you can do...in a world without barbells, where you can't progressively overload the weight you lift to help you achieve said goal.

But on a side note - you recommend Overcoming Gravity? I saw it on kindle a while ago and was intrigued, but there was no sample material to check out.

Progressive overload is progressive overload. More reps, more sets, lest rest between sets, and increased frequency will all cause your body to make adaptations. The question is; are you able to perform more work than the last time you performed that movement? No? You aren't getting stronger. Yes? Good job you're getting stronger!

Let's say your regular deadlift with that rock has you doing 20 plus reps for endlessaendless sets and you're getting bored. Time to move on to other variations of that lift with less mechanical advantage where that same weight presents a challenge again. Stiff legged deads, single leg deads, Romanian deadlifts, deficit deads etc etc. In this instance beggars can't be choose and compromise will still yield gains.

As for your handstand push-ups problem you've still got a lot of reps left on the tank so rep goals are good for that. Also consider increasing the ROM on the movement. Paralettes are easy as piss to make or you can find two stable objects(books, bricks, pavers, scrap wood) of the same thickness and place them under your hands, that will make the lift much more difficult. I guess that could be considered "equipment" but it's normal shit that everyone has laying around the house. The further your head has to descend to the ground, the harder it's going to be to come back up.

 

[thugpoet]

Why the last? Isn't there more chance of failure?

I tried front first but it would gas me so i couldn't reach my target numbers of reps for the rest of my workout.

 

[DoomPatrol]

So with the lockdowns going and minimal equipment I have a fairly limited selection of strength exercises available to me.

What's an effective approach/progression to increase the number of reps I can perform on an exercise in a single set, without using any assistance exercises?

So for instance I want to get my handstand wall pushups up to 10 reps when I'm currenly maxed at 5. Or for pistol squats, etc.

Set/rep scheme? Negatives? Just bang out singles til I die?

EDIT: I'm talking about exercises you can only do 1-6 reps for, so the 'strength' range.

You'll want to do multiple sessions a week and change up the rep schemes.

So one day you might do several maximal sets with 30 seconds of rest between each one.

Another day you might do a ladder scheme doing a single rep. Then two. Then three. Ect. Then back down.

Then another day you'll want to do like ten sets of 20% of your max.

That's what I did to get my pullups from 12 reps to 30.

 

[the_winding_way]

Progressive overload is progressive overload. More reps, more sets, lest rest between sets, and increased frequency will all cause your body to make adaptations. The question is; are you able to perform more work than the last time you performed that movement? No? You aren't getting stronger. Yes? Good job you're getting stronger!

Let's say your regular deadlift with that rock has you doing 20 plus reps for endlessaendless sets and you're getting bored. Time to move on to other variations of that lift with less mechanical advantage where that same weight presents a challenge again. Stiff legged deads, single leg deads, Romanian deadlifts, deficit deads etc etc. In this instance beggars can't be choose and compromise will still yield gains.

As for your handstand push-ups problem you've still got a lot of reps left on the tank so rep goals are good for that. Also consider increasing the ROM on the movement. Paralettes are easy as piss to make or you can find two stable objects(books, bricks, pavers, scrap wood) of the same thickness and place them under your hands, that will make the lift much more difficult. I guess that could be considered "equipment" but it's normal shit that everyone has laying around the house. The further your head has to descend to the ground, the harder it's going to be to come back up.

I'm in the low rep range for HS pushups trying to get them up there but I get what you're saying.

 

[the_winding_way]

I tried front first but it would gas me so i couldn't reach my target numbers of reps for the rest of my workout.

Guessing you have a good long rest before the last set?

 

[the_winding_way]

You'll want to do multiple sessions a week and change up the rep schemes.

So one day you might do several maximal sets with 30 seconds of rest between each one.

Another day you might do a ladder scheme doing a single rep. Then two. Then three. Ect. Then back down.

Then another day you'll want to do like ten sets of 20% of your max.

That's what I did to get my pullups from 12 reps to 30.

Is that 12 to 30 pullups using no assist exercises to get there?

 

[DoomPatrol]

Is that 12 to 30 pullups using no assist exercises to get there?

Pretty much. Took me 4 years to get there though. Took me about a year to get to 20. I was doing some bro exercises in the gym, but nothing that would really affect my ability to knock out pullups.

 

[thugpoet]

Guessing you have a good long rest before the last set?

Not really i superset with my pushing exercise. I have my 90 secs rest.

I think it's just a matter of me getting stronger.

 

[TeTe]

Progressive overload is progressive overload. More reps, more sets, lest rest between sets, and increased frequency will all cause your body to make adaptations. The question is; are you able to perform more work than the last time you performed that movement? No? You aren't getting stronger. Yes? Good job you're getting stronger!

But what is a reasonable amount of time to go between increases in weight? I ask because I was just reading an article about this. Necessary to add weight every single week... every three weeks... six weeks? I ask because I've just tweaked my 5x5 or 6x6 workout and with doing closer to one rep max... is it feasible to think you'll be able to go up in weight week after week doing low reps?

Does it make sense to go up in weight every week if you can only do 3 or 4 reps per set? I figure that if you're going to add weight to exercise you should be able to consistently do the same amount of reps.