60 day plp challenge

PLP: The 60-Day Challengeby Chad Waterbury – 3/21/2011

You know the story: Prisoners work out every day, often without much in the way of equipment, and getjacked.

How do they do it? Don't they know the "rules" about not training the same muscle every day? Theyknow next to nothing about physiology, have limited choices when it comes to diet, and many of themare in better shape than you. Ouch, not fair!

So what's going on here? Well, I recently stumbled upon a type of training that may help us answer thatquestion. It's probably one of the simplest ways to add muscle mass to the chest, upper back,shoulders, arms, and upper legs. And when you do this type of training correctly, you'll stay leanwithout changing your diet.

And get this: it's just a supplemental workout. Something you can easily add to your current trainingprogram in just a few minutes each day.

First, allow me to tell you how I came across this workout. Then I have a little challenge for you.

How It Began

Last year Robert hired me to help him get strong and fix his aching joints. He'd just turned 40 and wasin decent shape, but he needed some professional help to take him to the next level. So I designed aprogram to boost his relative strength and help his joints.

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After four weeks he saw excellent improvements in his strength, muscle, and mobility. He could movebetter and faster, and he felt stronger.

After looking over the next phase of his program he asked if he could add push-ups throughout the day.Normally, I allow clients to do additional push-ups whenever and wherever because it usually doesn'thurt anything. But Robert had a pretty messed-up shoulder when he started working with me. Heshowed marked improvement though, so I told him to go for it. But I had to ask, "Why do you want to dopush-ups throughout the day?"

"The more push-ups I do, the leaner I get," he responded.

At this point about a million thoughts ran through my mind. First, he didn't mention anything beforeabout wanting to get leaner, so I had him on maintenance-level calories.

Second, I was very reluctant to believe that adding push-ups would make any real difference in fat loss,even though I know how effective high frequency training (HFT) parameters are for bodytransformation.

Third, I realized that if he was right, this would be the perfect time to test the hypothesis since he wasn'tfollowing a diet for fat loss.

So I gave him the green light to do push-ups whenever he wanted over the next four weeks. When hemet with me at the end of the phase, sure enough, his waist had decreased almost an inch... withoutdieting.

Turns out he was doing about 100 push-ups per day, on top of our training sessions, but sure enoughhis shoulder had started acting up again. Some soft tissue work fixed that, but I had to admit: the rest ofhis plan worked. The push-ups leaned him out and his chest measurement increased by about an inchin four weeks.

A Better Approach


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For his third, month-long phase, I asked what his goals were. He said he wanted to start adding muscleto his frame while continuing to lean out. He, of course, wanted to keep doing 100 push-ups every day.

I reminded him of the unpleasant soft tissue treatment I had to put him through after his push-upblitzkrieg. However, I had a plan.

I designed a supplemental workout that he could do every day – a HFT workout that would help him getleaner and add muscle without throwing his joints out of balance. We added the workouts to thefull-body relative strength and mobility program I had him on.

This was his "extra" workout for the first day of his 30-day program.

Pull-up: 10 repsReverse lunge with no additional weight: 10 reps with each legPush-up: 10 reps

Of course, he thought it was way too easy. That's when I dropped the bomb on him. I said, "That's whatyou'll do for day one. The next day you'll do 11 reps of each. The third day you'll do 12 reps of each. Bythe end of April (day 30) you'll do 39 reps of each exercise."

The pull-up, lunge, push-up (PLP) program was born.

Robert's Results

Before my client started the PLP program in April of last year, I took his measurements. Afterward, I


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measured again. Here were his results:

Chest (across nipple line): Gain of one inch

He gained a full inch on his chest, in spite of the fact that he did significantly fewer push-ups than hedid the month before. A good portion of the enhanced chest measurement girth came from the musclehe added to his upper back with all the extra pull-ups.

Arms: Gain of about half an inch on each arm

This was no surprise considering how effective the pull-up is for adding mass to the elbow flexors.From an intensity standpoint, the pull-up is the most demanding of the three exercises. That's why heachieved the highest proportional gains with this exercise.

Upper legs: Gain of half inch to each thigh

The thigh musculature responds better than just about any muscle group to a wide range of reps andintensity. Cyclists have huge thighs, and so do Olympic lifters. Even though the load (his body weight)was light, the volume was sufficient to induce hypertrophy.

Waist (across navel): Loss of 1 1/8 inch

Of all the results, an inch-plus drop in his waist measurement surprised me most. The additionalworkouts were excellent for fat loss. It also explained why his body weight was relatively unchanged atthe end of the month, even though he gained muscle. Indeed, he replaced fat with muscle.

What You Can Expect


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There are a few things to keep in mind when you consider Robert's results.

First, he was on a relative strength program (low volume, high load) with maintenance calories. In otherwords, his main program wasn't intended to add muscle mass since that requires higher volume workand more calories. Yet he gained muscle and lost fat.

Second, after one month on the PLP program his shoulders were healthier than when he started.Remember, when he did tons of extra push-ups the month before, it disrupted his shoulder joint health.So, it is possible to add a considerable amount of extra work and keep your joints intact ifthe balancebetween pushing and pulling is right, and if you're doing exercises in your main workout to support jointhealth (face pulls, external rotations, and trap raises).

Third, there's not a lot of data on this method. But since April I've had four other clients add the PLPplan to their program. Each client had different goals in their main program (hypertrophy or fat loss orrelative strength). However, everyone has achieved results similar to Robert's. Importantly, it appearsthat the longer you stay on the program, the better it works.

After testing my clients, these are the benefits you can expect from adding PLP to your current plan.

1. More muscle as determined by enhanced girth of your chest, upper arm, and upper legmeasurements.

2. Greater fat loss as determined by a drop in waist girth.

3. Enhanced muscle recovery. (Think of the PLP program as GPP work or active recovery.)

4. Greater endurance. It's a no brainer that this program will add significant reps to the pull-up,push-up, and body-weight lunge. But the PLP program has also helped my athletes increase their timeto exhaustion in exercises like the sled push that challenge anaerobic endurance. It also boosts theiraerobic endurance, which makes sense because Tabata taught us long ago that higher intensity workwill benefit the aerobic systems.

The Challenge

Are you up for a 60-day challenge to build a leaner, more muscular body? If so, here are the details.

1. If you can perform more than 10 continuous pull-ups, start with 10 reps of the pull-up, 10 reps of thelunge (each leg), and 10 reps of the push-up on the first day. Keep adding one rep to each exerciseeach day until you reach 69 reps on day 60.

If you can only knock off a single-digit set of body-weight pull-ups, start with one rep of each exerciseon the first day and add a rep to each exercise each day. So on day 60 you'll be doing 60 reps of eachexercise.

2. Spread out the reps as much as needed.


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As you get into higher reps you won't be able to finish all of them in one set. This is how it's supposedto be. You can spread the reps throughout the day.

Most of my clients start their day with a circuit of the PLP program before breakfast. For example, onday 32 of this program my client did four rounds of eight reps with each exercise. It took him fiveminutes to complete.

Later in the day, do your main workout. Generally, try to have at least 6 hours between the PLP workoutand your main workout. And you don't need pre/post-workout nutrition for PLP workouts. Save that foryour main workouts.

3. Don't do more.

T NATION readers are a motivated bunch, and many will want to do more reps at first. Don't.

The first week should feel like nothing. It's important to slowly build the volume so your ability to recoverisn't overwhelmed. The PLP program, or any HFT program, is intended to work a lot like compoundinginterest: small additions each day make a big difference over the long haul.

If you start with 10 reps of each exercise on the first day, by the end of the first 30 days you'll haveperformed 735 reps of the pull-up, lunge (with each leg), and push-up. The volume really adds upbetween days 31-60. During that time you'll perform an additional 1,635 reps!

4. Use different movement variations.

You can use different versions of each exercise. For example, feel free to do pull-ups with a narrow orwide pronated hand position, a narrow or wide neutral hand position (palms facing each other), or asupinated (palms facing you) grip. Push-ups can be performed with your hands wide, narrow, or inbetween. Lunges can be forward, reverse, or to the side.

There's no set rule, but my clients usually rotate between two and three different hand positions everyfew days. Do whichever version you feel like doing that day.

5. Don't change your main program.

Regardless of what program you're on, keep it as is. The PLP program is a supplement to what you'recurrently doing.

Ready to Try It?


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Even though the daily volume is low, this will seem like a hellacious amount of total volume. But you'llbe amazed how little soreness you feel once you get a few weeks into the program. That's because thePLP program supercharges your recovery ability, and that's essential for faster muscle growth.

Take measurements and/or pictures and get started. I'll be posting in the LiveSpill on a regular basis tooffer tips and guidance.

Start today!

PLP Summary

I Can Do More Than 10 Pull-UpsPull-up (any hand position) for 10 repsLunge (any version) for 10 reps with each legPush-up (any hand position) for 10 repsProgression: Add one rep to each exercise every day for 60 days. This results in 2370 reps of eachexercise over the course of 60 days.

I Can Do Less Than 10 Pull-UpsPull-up (any hand position) for 1 repLunge (any version) for 1 rep with each legPush-up (any hand position) for 1 repProgression: Add one rep to each exercise every day for 60 days. This results in 1830 reps of eachexercise over the course of 60 days.


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60 day plp challenge

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