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Next Level of Fitness

stew smith

I received two great emails this week from an Army Soldier and an Army recruit. Both did free workouts offered through my Article Archive page at StewSmith.com -- The Pushup Push Workout and the Free Six Week Running Plan. Here are their emails:

Before starting the workout my APFT 2 mile run was 17:38. I started this run workout in January 06, here it is 12 weeks later and I ran a 13:10 - 2 mile. I just about exploded, but I did it. I found the workout VERY EASY to do. I pushed my self "gently", and low and behold, it works. By training smarter and taking a slow, gentle, smart approach to physical training, I increased my PT score from 244 to 320 in only 3 months. Can I get even faster?

and...

I wanted to let you know I did your Pushup Push workout and I did 150 pushups everyday for ten days. I took 4 days off from doing any pushups and actually DOUBLED my pushup score. I went from 45 to 93 in 15 days! Wow! How do I maintain this?

First of all, congrats and thanks for crediting me for your success, but YOU are the ones who took a method and applied it to your workout programs. I cannot make people workout -- I can just show them how to do it to get stronger or faster. So, good job for being motivated to complete the workouts.

The answers to your questions: It is ALL ABOUT Progressing Forward

To keep increasing your pace in the two mile run, all you have to do it apply the same workouts you have been doing, but increase your mile pace slightly when running quarter miles, half miles, and mile repeats. For instance, one workout asks you to do the following:

Warmup jog -- 5:00 / stretch
Repeat the following 4-6 times:
Run 1/4 mile at goal pace
Jog or walk 1/8 mile
Rest / stretch 5:00
Run 2 miles at goal pace -- write down when you start to slip off the pace.

If your goal pace is to next run the two mile run in 12:00, then you need to work on a 6:00 mile pace or a 90 second quarter mile run. Learn to maintain that pace while being able to repeat it with little rest for 8-10 times. Once you are there, your two mile run will be very close to 12:00.

See other ideas at Drop Mile Pace

As for pushups -- you do not want to keep doing pushups everyday. I only use that workout once in a while (6-8 months) to kick start growth. Now, focus on more pyramid workouts, supersets, and timed pushup test for 2:00 periods. If you do three workouts a week of pushups try to do one of each of the above. Also see:

Other Progressions into Pushups / Pullups etc...

8 Count Pullups Workout




More Progressions




Good luck with your fitness journey. Thanks for the feedback. Keep those emails coming to them all or use them in an article. Send them to stew@stewsmith.com.



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