PLP Program and Bodyweight Exercises

Hello,

I have started doing calisthenics a few weeks ago and have stumbled upon the PLP Program and i am very intrigued. Pull ups have always been a weak point for me and i wonder if this program will help me more. But since calisthenics 3 times a week includes pull ups at least 1 or 2 times a week, will that affect the PLP Program? 

Push ups and Lunges have never been a problem but PLP will help wit pushups near the very later stages of it. But the main question is, will doing pull ups 1 or 2 times a week (say 20-30 reps/negatives) affect my outcome with the daily PLP program? Should i just leave out pull ups, push ups and lunges from my normal workout and leave them just for the PLP program or should i do both together?

Thank you and sorry for noobie question

Welcome to the forum. ‘calisthenics’ means bodyweight exercises; as such, PLP already is a calisthenics program. You can do pull ups, push ups and lunges every single day if you don’t do too much. Please note that doing too much will result in soft tissue issues (joints, tendons, or ligaments hurting), so just make sure your elbows and shoulders feel fine.

I’m afraid I don’t quite understand your question as (see above) by doing PLP, you’re already doing calisthenics. Is your question whether two or three additional sessions on top of your daily reps will harm you? Probably not, just make sure nothing hurts.

Thanks for the reply! My question is that when i do mu calisthenics workout every other day, i will usually be doing push ups and pull ups already. If i do PLP then i will also be doing Pull ups and push ups but at lower reps. So how would i go about this? Would I do PLP a few hours after or should i just stick to doing the exercises like i normally would on a workout plan (every 2-3 days)

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Welcome to the forum. ‘calisthenics’ means bodyweight exercises; as such, PLP already is a calisthenics program. You can do pull ups, push ups and lunges every single day if you don’t do too much. Please note that doing too much will result in soft tissue issues (joints, tendons, or ligaments hurting), so just make sure your elbows and shoulders feel fine.

I’m afraid I don’t quite understand your question as (see above) by doing PLP, you’re already doing calisthenics. Is your question whether two or three additional sessions on top of your daily reps will harm you? Probably not, just make sure nothing hurts.[/quote]

All of this.

OP, perhaps you could fill us in on what you’re hoping to achieve by lifting and we will be able to give you our opinion on the best way to get there.

Sorry for the confusion. I would just like to do more push ups and pull ups and other compound bodyweight exercises. I was hoping that PLP would help with that.But i dont know if doing lots of pull/pushups every few days for my normal routine will throw off the intended effects of PLP

[quote]escapist11 wrote:
Thanks for the reply! My question is that when i do mu calisthenics workout every other day, i will usually be doing push ups and pull ups already. If i do PLP then i will also be doing Pull ups and push ups but at lower reps. So how would i go about this? Would I do PLP a few hours after or should i just stick to doing the exercises like i normally would on a workout plan (every 2-3 days)[/quote]

I would reverse-engineer the whole thing - what, exactly, do you want to achieve?

Sorry for the confusion. I want to do more compound bodyweight exercises. My question is, on back days i will be doing 3 sets of 6-8 pull ups/negatives, but im on day 3 of PLP so i should only do 4 pull ups. Will mixing the two programs affect my results?

[quote]escapist11 wrote:
Sorry for the confusion. I want to do more compound bodyweight exercises. My question is, on back days i will be doing 3 sets of 6-8 pull ups/negatives, but im on day 3 of PLP so i should only do 4 pull ups. Will mixing the two programs affect my results?[/quote]

This is not a goal. A goal is not something you do but something you achieve, e.g. being able to do more pull ups or have a more muscular back.

Well then i guess the goal is to work up to 15+ pull ups in a row and 60+ push ups

[quote]escapist11 wrote:
Well then i guess the goal is to work up to 15+ pull ups in a row and 60+ push ups[/quote]

Good. In that case, you CAN do what you suggested. However, I would do something different:

every morning and every night, respectively, you will do one set of push ups and one set of pull ups - both to complete failure. This will pretty quickly add reps as this is mainly an issue of muscular endurance. On top of that, you can train 2-4x a week, but make those skill sessions - work on exercises that require focus and concentration like pistol squats, one arm pushups, front levers etc. Do not kill yourself on these - they are practice sessions and you don’t want to be shaky.

Wow thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely try this out. What other exercises fall into that category. And im not sure if i can do a one arm push up yet. But i will try.

[quote]escapist11 wrote:
Wow thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely try this out. What other exercises fall into that category. And im not sure if i can do a one arm push up yet. But i will try.[/quote]

I would try these:

  • assisted pistol squats (hold onto something)
  • front lever progression
  • archer push ups
  • leg raises
  • back bridges

Do smooth, controlled reps.

In my n=1 observation, the best way to get good at doing pull ups is to do lots of them. Mostly not to failure.

Nighthawkz approach is a very structured way of doing this, which I’m sure will work well.

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
In my n=1 observation, the best way to get good at doing pull ups is to do lots of them. Mostly not to failure.

Nighthawkz approach is a very structured way of doing this, which I’m sure will work well.[/quote]

This worked for me as well once upon a time. One thing that I’ll tack on is that when I was doing lots of “pull-ups”, I did a variety of grips wide, close, pronated, supinated, neutral, towel…I found that this helped keep me fresher and helped to somewhat mitigate elbow discomfort

[quote]TX iron wrote:

[quote]dagill2 wrote:
In my n=1 observation, the best way to get good at doing pull ups is to do lots of them. Mostly not to failure.

Nighthawkz approach is a very structured way of doing this, which I’m sure will work well.[/quote]

This worked for me as well once upon a time. One thing that I’ll tack on is that when I was doing lots of “pull-ups”, I did a variety of grips wide, close, pronated, supinated, neutral, towel…I found that this helped keep me fresher and helped to somewhat mitigate elbow discomfort [/quote]

That’s probably a really important point. My pull ups where done on bars, rings, climbing walls, campus boards, monkey bars, bus stops, road signs, lamp posts etc. The vast majority would also have been unweighted. As a bonus, that also helped grow my forearms pretty well too.