PLP Challenge, 30-Days In

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Halfway through Waterbury’s 60-day PLP Challenge. Today was 39-reps day, and it’s strange, but the pullup portion is almost getting easier. I usually ladder up to 5 and stay at 5-8reps/set. I do every rep dead-hang, mix up the grips, and my lat MMC is much, much improved.

Also doing a ton of stretching and mobility work to keep the taters healthy. I started the program with wicked proximal biceps tendinitis, and at first just forced myself each day to warm up the shoulder girdle, and stretch, stretch, stretch. 30-days in and I am getting much healthier. Upper back, and forearms are getting noticeably thicker, and I am slowly gaining weight. 187 this morning, up from about 183.

I am still doing the lunges and pushups with one continuous set each, so for the lunges I do get a decent burn, pump even with just bodyweight. Every now and then, I’ll rotate in some BSS’s for lunges. The pushups I usually do feet elevated to make it more challenging.

Just wondering if anyone is still doing this program, and how your progress is going?

2

I’m at day 26

And my pullups simply sucks, i mainly do smith inverted pullups to accommodate all that volume.

As for Pushups they made my elbow tendonitis get better and helped a lot on my bench press, i’m breaking some nice PRs, also it fitted right in, because as my elbow was thrashed i was using pushups on my Chest day and was struggling with the elbow flaring up, funny how upping the workload everyday made me healthier.

Lunges What can i say, it makes my heart rate go through the roof and it’s all i’m searching this moment.

mostly i’m doing like 2 sets of each

3

Did you guys take before pictures? Is this the only thing you are changing/adding into your current program? It would be really interesting to see results after 2 months of this simple addition.

4

I’m doing the PLP challenge as well. Today is 30 reps. so I’m not quite 3 weeks in yet. Somewhat like the OP, I pyramid up, but I don’t stop at 5. Today’s work sets were 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 2 reps. I do diamond push ups for pressing muscles and do them in a straight set. Right now my weight is holding steady at 224-225 lbs but there is definitely a visual difference in my arms, chest, and upper back. The biggest thing for me is the strength gains.

I’ve added like 20 lbs to my chin up, bringing my 1RM to 400 lbs (clothed BW + 170 lbs), and about 15 lbs to my 1RM strict curl (176 lbs). I don’t do much pressing work, but my overhead presses are inching up too. I’ve added 1 rep to my BB and DB military press bests.

I like what I’ve seen so far, but I’m thinking about doing a more extreme experiment in training frequency and volume soon.

5

Sounds good. Would you recommend it to everyone looking to gain muscle?

6

Hey Guys-

I’m on day 27. I didn’t take before pictures, and I also changed my workout routine the same time I implemented the PLP so I’ve got more than one variables at play making attributing changes to one thing or another difficult.

That being said, I’ve noticed my upper back, chest and arms all leaning out. I think the best change I’ve seen is my work capacity. I get bored adding 1 pushup so some days I’ll add 2 or 3. I knocked out 45 today in less than a minute. I read in the livespill where Chad warned against letting the volume get TOO high (like 100 pushups a day) as it may interfere with recovery. Honestly I’m going to continue to “pump the volume” so to speak and see where I start to top out.

I’ll make sure to check back in 2 weeks to update everyone.

7

I may be the truest test of the efficacy of this protocol b/c due to aforementioned bipital tendinitis, I had been basically unable to do much upper body at all.

So this is kind of a back to basic movement pattern/rehab kind of thing. But the muscle is coming on, almost unintentionally. About once a week, I do a heavy hip thrust/DL day, or a barbell complex.

The good news is that my shoulder/proximal bicep is healing, and I attribute that in part to training every day and getting really clean with my form. Practice makes perfect!

8

i’m at 43 reps of each today…made it to i think 28 reps on the pullup w/o needing to stop. now doing them in 3 sets for the moment. lunges and pushups i go straight through on. varying the grip on pullups on occasion, switching between alternating fwd, reverse, and jump lunges depending on the day. pushups are either normal, close grip, med ball, or decline. (someone sat on me the other day for the decline pushups and it was just terrible at the end lol) i changed some other stuff in my programming (started a small recomp diet, added a shit-ton of prowler work) as well, so no real way to tell what this is doing on its own, but i do know that i am leaner (down 10 lbs) than when it started, and my deadlift has finally hit 500 traditional/505 w trap bar (up from stalled max of 465 a few months ago) finally so something is working for sure. legs look bigger and leaner as well.

also noteworthy: have had some nasty tendinitis in right forearm (radialis) for months, and it is actually improving to the point where the pullups are pain free entirely, and i barely feel it on curls anymore.

9

25 reps in today ! I was dieting before starting by about 5 days. Noticeably getting a lot leaner, from the mirror view and from my clothing size !! arms, forearms and back getting thicker and the sweet thing is i haven’t started doing cardio yet !! Doing a 3 day split: Chest & Bi’s , Back & Tri’s, Shoulders & Legs.

10

Damn, we have some strong PLP’ers up in here! RJ with a 1RM chin of 400-lbs. agent37 rocking 28 straight pullups. Very nice.

Interesting overlap of results. Back and arm hypertrophy is self-explanatory. Getting leaner makes sense, from an energy flux standpoint. But clearing up tendinitis (myself, agent 37) by doing MORE, I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around.

I almost bailed early on b/c my shoulder was throbbing with pain each night. I can only theorize why this protocol might help heal damaged tendons.

Theory #1: Low impact enough to keep blood flow, tissue turnover at the lesion site. Also b/c I am dutifully avoiding failure, the muscles bear the brunt of the load each rep.

Theory #2: In order to keep program alive, a decent body temp. and mobility warmup MUST be performed, and decent post-exrc rehab must be performed. This takes self-discipline. As a matter of fact, that’s how I originally injured my biceps,subscap, by jumping on the bar with 68-lbs. totally cold.

Theory #3: Form improvements, synchronicity of muscles. Learning what flaws hurt, and making repetitive corrections to clean it up. After all, I’ve had 266 practice pullup reps this week! This will go up to 462 pullups for the last week of the program, ha ha!

Keep the progress reports coming, guys…and girls…Do we have any women out there on the program?

11

I should be at reps 43 today but I was sick the past couple of days. I’m starting back again today at 42 reps.

I’m doing it just to increase work capacity. I’m not hoping it will be the “secret” to getting jacked or anything. It’s just a little extra something to help in the long run.

12

Are you guys grouping all the reps together in a single session or are you spreading them out in any way? I would imagine you could pound out the whole thing in under 10 minutes if you switched back and forth between the 3 exercises even as you approach 60 reps.

13

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Are you guys grouping all the reps together in a single session or are you spreading them out in any way? I would imagine you could pound out the whole thing in under 10 minutes if you switched back and forth between the 3 exercises even as you approach 60 reps.[/quote]

For me, each day is different depending on work, sleep, etc.

Yesterday I did lunges in 2-sets. About an hour later, I did the pushups in one set when I had a little break. Then I rocked the pullups in about 20-minutes.

I’m about to head to the park for 44-rep day. Usually what I do over there is run the quarter mile in btwn the various monkey bars as kind of a little circuit with the pulls.

Push ups and lunges I will probably just knock out in one set again, although lately I’ve been splitting the pushups up to really focus on form, rather than just banging out mindless reps.

14

Day 21, no other program at present due to being knee deep in revision. Really enjoying things, very little in the way of soreness… I absolutely love its flexibility. Some days I’ll do straight sets or circuits if I’m feeling particularly fresh… other days when I feel like death I’ll spread things out a little.

Very tempted to look towards tweaking this to form something that I could use long term for a fairly complete workout. I aim to be getting back into parkour/gymnastics and eventually some MMA. The flexibility of something like this would be very appealing…

Maybe even an ABABABX type weekly split:

A:
Horizontal pressing - pushup variations, dips
Horizontal pulling - front level pullup progression, fat man rows
Quad dominant - BSS, lunge variations, pistols and other one legged squats

B:
Vertical pressing - handstand pushup progressions.
Vertical pulling - pullup/chinup movements
PC dominant - glute bridge variations, GHR (band assisted?), etc.

Throw in some metabolic work… skipping/running… maybe some abs… and good to go!

…Or would this idea be terrible?

15

[quote]benmoore wrote:
Day 21, no other program at present due to being knee deep in revision. Really enjoying things, very little in the way of soreness… I absolutely love its flexibility. Some days I’ll do straight sets or circuits if I’m feeling particularly fresh… other days when I feel like death I’ll spread things out a little.

Very tempted to look towards tweaking this to form something that I could use long term for a fairly complete workout. I aim to be getting back into parkour/gymnastics and eventually some MMA. The flexibility of something like this would be very appealing…

Maybe even an ABABABX type weekly split:

A:
Horizontal pressing - pushup variations, dips
Horizontal pulling - front level pullup progression, fat man rows
Quad dominant - BSS, lunge variations, pistols and other one legged squats

B:
Vertical pressing - handstand pushup progressions.
Vertical pulling - pullup/chinup movements
PC dominant - glute bridge variations, GHR (band assisted?), etc.

Throw in some metabolic work… skipping/running… maybe some abs… and good to go!

…Or would this idea be terrible?[/quote]

I like it, Ben. You and I are on the same page. I’ve also constructed my own PLP v.2.0, which will begin in 3-wks after the completion of PLP v.1.0.

PLP 2.0:
50 reps/day stays constant, no rep progression. Instead, load progression per rep on the pullups and lunges.

PULLUPS & LUNGES: 50-total reps
Day 1, 10-reps, +10 lbs. +20 lbs. for lunges
Day 2, 11-reps, " "
Day 3, 12-reps, " "

Day 41 will complete the process with all 50-reps performed with the additional 10-lbs. for pullups, and additional 20-lbs. for lunges. Pushups stay the same, as simple supplemental work.

Also, b/c I’ve fallen in love with training every day, my primary program will consist of this light, perfect form, “crush it” warmup/practice session.

RDL: 3x3
B.Row: 3x3
H-CL: 3x3
P.PR: 3x3
MIL PR:3x3
F-SQ: 3x3
B-SQ: 3x3
I-BE: 3x3

Following this, select 1-2 movements, and ramp up to one heavy set of 3. My thought process is that my CNS will be exposed to every movement pattern that is important to me, EVERY DAY.

Heavy DL’s, and Hip thrusts will be performed once every 2-weeks on a “wildcard day”.

16

[quote]felix uhlirach wrote:

[quote]benmoore wrote:
Day 21, no other program at present due to being knee deep in revision. Really enjoying things, very little in the way of soreness… I absolutely love its flexibility. Some days I’ll do straight sets or circuits if I’m feeling particularly fresh… other days when I feel like death I’ll spread things out a little.

Very tempted to look towards tweaking this to form something that I could use long term for a fairly complete workout. I aim to be getting back into parkour/gymnastics and eventually some MMA. The flexibility of something like this would be very appealing…

Maybe even an ABABABX type weekly split:

A:
Horizontal pressing - pushup variations, dips
Horizontal pulling - front level pullup progression, fat man rows
Quad dominant - BSS, lunge variations, pistols and other one legged squats

B:
Vertical pressing - handstand pushup progressions.
Vertical pulling - pullup/chinup movements
PC dominant - glute bridge variations, GHR (band assisted?), etc.

Throw in some metabolic work… skipping/running… maybe some abs… and good to go!

…Or would this idea be terrible?[/quote]

I like it, Ben. You and I are on the same page. I’ve also constructed my own PLP v.2.0, which will begin in 3-wks after the completion of PLP v.1.0.

PLP 2.0:
50 reps/day stays constant, no rep progression. Instead, load progression per rep on the pullups and lunges.

PULLUPS & LUNGES: 50-total reps
Day 1, 10-reps, +10 lbs. +20 lbs. for lunges
Day 2, 11-reps, " "
Day 3, 12-reps, " "

Day 41 will complete the process with all 50-reps performed with the additional 10-lbs. for pullups, and additional 20-lbs. for lunges. Pushups stay the same, as simple supplemental work.

Also, b/c I’ve fallen in love with training every day, my primary program will consist of this light, perfect form, “crush it” warmup/practice session.

RDL: 3x3
B.Row: 3x3
H-CL: 3x3
P.PR: 3x3
MIL PR:3x3
F-SQ: 3x3
B-SQ: 3x3
I-BE: 3x3

Following this, select 1-2 movements, and ramp up to one heavy set of 3. My thought process is that my CNS will be exposed to every movement pattern that is important to me, EVERY DAY.

Heavy DL’s, and Hip thrusts will be performed once every 2-weeks on a “wildcard day”.[/quote]

Tempted to take PLP to something crazy like 100 reps a day to see what happens.

Love your ideas though! However I feel it’s moving away from the simplicity of the program… My idea too!

17

Finished day 38 today for 47 reps of feet elevated pushups, pullups, and bulgarian split squats. I usually do the pullups as themselves as a warmup before my real training sessions, and then I’ll superset the BSS with the elevated pushups sometimes later. So today was like:

Pullups (warmup for strongman lifting)
BW X 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 9, 8

Bulgarian Split Squats
20 each leg
20 each leg
7 each leg

Feet Elevate Pushups (I do these in between BSS, so I’ll do the reps for my right leg, do a set of pushups, do my left leg, do some pushups, etc. until I finish my reps)
10
10
10
10
7

18

@ben, yeah, I complicated it by listing the primary program. As far as the PLP portion of the program, I just am getting bored, and want to add load, rather than reps. If you do go on to 100-reps/day, I’d love to hear your results.

@ash, keep on keepin’ on. The other day I did my lunges BSS style straight through, 40-plus reps in a row. Damn, I almost called the fire dept. to put out the fire in my glutes!

Today was my 49-reps day. And now the volume is getting high enough, day after day, there is absolutely no doubt that my body composition is changing.

Proximal biceps better, but starting to get the dreaded “golfer’s elbow”. I don’t care what I get, there’s no way I’m not finishing these last 20 days.

19

I’m gonna do the PLPC starting tomorrow…adding in crunches :stuck_out_tongue:

20

I probably wouldn’t use crunches - way too easy for most I imagine!

I’m still trying to think how to put this all together in a program (and have this as a major component).