Braxton Taylor
When training to improve muscle stamina on calisthenics fitness tests, many speak of progressing to higher volume (reps, sets, time) each week. However, the improvements are made by stressing the importance of recovery each day. You will hear “less is more” and “more does not mean better” from those focused on recovery. You may also hear “no pain, no gain” from those focused on pushing through mental and physical barriers.
Here is a good question from a reader with an average level of fitness who wants to improve his endurance and muscle stamina:
As you accumulate volume on calisthenics workouts, will the max reps in testing sets improve over time? If they do not, is it a recovery issue or an issue of not training intensely enough? Thanks, Gary
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Gary, that’s a great question. You need both hard training and recovery. That will look different from one person to the other, because one person’s maximum effort is another person’s easy day. Here is a list of things you can do to ensure you are on the proper training/recovery program balance for your goal of better calisthenics testing scores (pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups/plank):
1. Always Actively Pursue Recovery
Sleeping, eating, hydrating and resting between workout days matter more than the workouts themselves. If these recovery elements are not optimal, you will not be at your best. Recovery is not just a rest day; it is everything you do that day to repair your body (and mind) from today’s workout and refuel for tomorrow’s workout.
2. More or Fewer Training Days Per Week
Depending on your testing progress, you may need to add or subtract a training day per week. Do you do two or three upper-body calisthenics days per week? Well, that depends on your ability to handle what you are currently doing. Some people start out doing daily upper-body calisthenics workouts (five per week). While you may see quick advances at first, this progress is short-lived and usually turns to negative results and overuse injuries.
Every other day (three per week): A better option is to do upper-body calisthenics every other day. However, if you start to feel like you are not fully recovered with a day’s rest between upper-body workouts, try another day in between and see how you do. You can replace the upper-body day with a rest day, leg day, cardio-only day or mobility day, but give the upper body an extra day before going again. You can still do three per week if you do this on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Only two days per week: If you are feeling the strain of adding volume and making no progress, you may need to reduce the volume by a third and only do two upper-body workouts a week. In this case, “less is more.” This does not mean you do nothing on those other five days of the week. This is a great time to work your legs or core and do cardio on the days between upper-body days each week. You may find that 2-3 days of rest between high-volume workouts is ideal when first starting out by focusing on muscle stamina and endurance.
3. Define High Volume
High-volume calisthenics and cardio time is relative to the individual, because a warm-up may be another person’s workout goal for the day. High volume is your maximum one-set reps multiplied by 4-5 in calisthenics. For instance, if you can do 10 pull-ups, 40-50 pull-ups in a workout is a relatively high volume. But this is not a number I would classify as too high or outside your normal progression each workout. However, a multiple of 10 may be too high, depending on your current conditioning.
4. Add Variety
Even though the exercises will be the same, their choreography should differ each day. Do not do the identical routine multiple times per week. Each week can look similar, but each workout should vary in arrangement. Try a mix of pyramid, sub-max super sets and max-rep set workouts spread throughout the week. You will find this refreshing, as each has a level of intensity designed in them that is not too easy or hard.
No single answer to this question will specifically address everyone’s abilities and goals. Still, if you utilize this systematic approach, you will find that you can mix increasing volume, proper recovery and increased performance. One day, your conditioning will increase and you can handle more volume and see improved test scores as long as you are responsible with your recovery.
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