Today's Sally

[Llani Boy]

Thanks for reminding me of this thread Mossdog as first time round my shoulder was out of action and I was waiting for my surgery.

This evening I decided to have a go.

As I do no specific upper body strength exercises I was not expecting much and was not disappointed.

A pathetic 1 min 14 sec.

Will now do a few daily press ups, shoulder allowing, and try Sally again in a couple of weeks.

[Mossdog]

Thanks for reminding me of this thread Mossdog as first time round my shoulder was out of action and I was waiting for my surgery.

This evening I decided to have a go.

As I do no specific upper body strength exercises I was not expecting much and was not disappointed.

A pathetic 1 min 14 sec.

Will now do a few daily press ups, shoulder allowing, and try Sally again in a couple of weeks.

Hey! Well done Llani. Actually, that's a great start, especially if, like me, you were just used to bashing out standard press-ups. It's a shock to the system when you get those longer, hovering-in-the-down-position pauses.

I've come to associate the lyrics "Old Miss Lucy's dead and gone, left me here to weep and moan..." with pain, humiliation and defeat (in the good old days these experiences used to be prescribed for proper life-preparing character-building!) What more can a fella/fellatte ask from a workout

[Mossdog]

Gawd Blimey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsWOIaYUBf4

Bring Sally Up... X10 and all in one session.

Looks like he's a RM looking at the green beret tucked in his waistband.

[noel]

This is amazing. Notwithstanding the physical challenge - the mental strength is so impressive. He's absolutely knackered by half way through.

[Mike T]

My press-up sessions have plummeted - 1 set a couple of times a week if that. I can normally manage 35 or so, but using the Sally routine it is down to 12 - oh dear. This chap doing 300 is amazing!

[Mossdog]

My press-up sessions have plummeted - 1 set a couple of times a week if that. I can normally manage 35 or so, but using the Sally routine it is down to 12 - oh dear. This chap doing 300 is amazing!

I know! Same here. As mentioned above, I've changed my routine over the past year incorporating eccentric lowering, count of 5, and a 3 count pause isometric hovering at 'the bottom' of each press-up. All to no avail

As I gradually age past my prime for muscle strength development I'm going to need some radical 're-framing' to bolster my bruised ego

[Travs]

i did a total of 195 pressups last thursday in our club circuit session (in sets of 15).... also 195 squat-thrusts and a load of hurdle-based japery.... oh and 7 miles on top.

i do a fair bit of upper body stuff in the gym, but perhaps 3 sets of 15-25, so the sheer repetition of 195 made me feel a bit sore

[Mossdog]

i did a total of 195 pressups last thursday in our club circuit session (in sets of 15).... also 195 squat-thrusts and a load of hurdle-based japery.... oh and 7 miles on top.

i do a fair bit of upper body stuff in the gym, but perhaps 3 sets of 15-25, so the sheer repetition of 195 made me feel a bit sore

Now you're just rubbing it in for those of us who are codgers!

But, the question is, can you do the Sally challenge? A mere trifle of 30 press-ups in total. I mean, how hard can that be ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koMp3ei4xJw

[Mike T]

I can recall reading that we get the most benefit from the first 2 sets to failure of any resistance exercise - the sets after that do little or nothing in terms of increasing power and strength. But - but - those who did more sets regularly were better at doing more sets! So it depends how the results are measured.

One longstanding rule is to lift what you can lift between 8 and 12 times - if you can't lift a given weight 8 times, lower the weight; if you can lift it more than 12 times, increase the weight. Weight, or difficulty. Doing press-ups from the ground is rather more difficult than press-ups from 6 inches or so above the ground, as are press-ups done using hanging hoops.

My 2 sets of press-ups to failure last week: 42, then 36. Today: 41, then 41. I need to increase the difficulty - I will start with doing them from the ground.

[Mossdog]

I can recall reading that we get the most benefit from the first 2 sets to failure of any resistance exercise - the sets after that do little or nothing in terms of increasing power and strength. But - but - those who did more sets regularly were better at doing more sets! So it depends how the results are measured.

One longstanding rule is to lift what you can lift between 8 and 12 times - if you can't lift a given weight 8 times, lower the weight; if you can lift it more than 12 times, increase the weight. Weight, or difficulty. Doing press-ups from the ground is rather more difficult than press-ups from 6 inches or so above the ground, as are press-ups done using hanging hoops.

My 2 sets of press-ups to failure last week: 42, then 36. Today: 41, then 41. I need to increase the difficulty - I will start with doing them from the ground.

That's pretty much what I'd heard too Mike, except that I thought it was 20 - 30 reps to failure, but I'll try 8 to 12 as that makes sense. I don't do them from chest flat on the ground, but do nose tip on the floor(ensuring my body/head are in straight alignment and resisting the temptation of lowering my face towards the floor). However, I wonder if starting each rep from chest on the floor, if that's what you meant, while recruiting a further set of muscles and range of movement, doesn't undermine the isometric aspect of hovering just above the floor, even if holding the 'hover' only momentarily.

I'd also heard that if you are doing press-ups to pass, say a military selection test, where speed and number are important, you should of course train for speed and number. For example, it used to be that the RM selection day asked candidates to do at least 64 press-ups (proper form) in 2 minutes.

I believe it may be true generally, for strength training, that it's usually the last few reps before failure (ensuring correct form) that build the strength/muscle as these are the ones that cause the beneficial micro-tears. All the previous reps are doing is just providing a means of getting you to the point of near failure However, there must be a lot more to the physiology (stating the obvious!!!) if fewer than 8 reps is insufficient for efficient strength building.