How to get Stronger?  Succeed by Failing?

This week, I sent several emails to people seeking to ace their military physical fitness tests. In my closing, I always remind people not to give up and that they will "succeed by failing." Some people get it and understand that to improve with pushups, pull-ups, situps, and other high-repetition calisthenics testing exercises, you have to push yourself until you can't do any more reps. Then, you can try a few more of the easier versions like knee pushups, assisted pull-ups or negatives, and crunches respectively.

Once you get to that burning sensation, you are reaching the peak of the muscle stamina in your body. In order to gain more stamina and muscular endurance, you have to "push the envelope" at least one workout a week. The remaining workouts of the week need to be foundation-building workouts that enable your body to do many repetitions in several sets. Such workouts are circuits, pyramids, or supersets as listed below:

Supersets for Pushups and Situps

Repeat this cycle of exercises non-stop 5-10 times

Regular pushups - 10
Regular situps - 10
Wide pushups - 10
Reverse Crunches - 10
Close or Tricep pushups - 10
Double crunches - 10

Pullups - 100
Pushups - 200
Situps - 300

The repetition goal above is to be done in as few sets as possible alternating from one exercise to the next. The only rest you receive is when you workout the other muscle groups and moving from exercise to exercise. If you are not on that level of endurance, set your goals for half of that or even a tenth. Everyone fails at this workout -- even the most fit people I know. Try it -- you will get stronger by pushing yourself to failure once in a while.

Also see the pyramid workout article for other ideas on foundation-building exercise.

Have any fitness questions? Send them to me at stew@stewsmith.com.

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                 Stew Smith, former Navy SEAL and fitness writer is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (www.nsca.com) as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).  Email him personally at stew@stewsmith.com or stew@mycustomworkout.com

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