Braxton Taylor
When they hear the question, “how much can you push,” most people in the fitness world consider this to mean the bench press or overhead press. But in the tactical fitness world, we will create a choreography of exercises and movements to embody every pushing activity you can do in a single workout. While there is a series of strength-building movements, the total volume has a strength-endurance component. Here is one such split routine that we call Push Day:
Warm-up with squats and dips (or push-ups if no dip bars are available) + run one mile or bike for 10 minutes: We use the half pyramid 1-10 warm-up series to get the body ready for the upper- and lower-body pushing activity:
- One squat, one dip, jog 50 meters
- Two squats, two dips, jog 50 meters
- Three squats, three dips, jog 50 meters …
- Continue up to 10 squats and 10 dips.
If there is no place to run near a dip bar, do 20 seconds of jumping jacks or jump rope. Then run or bike for 10 minutes to complete the warm-up.
The heavier lift section starts with bench presses and lunges or if you want to make the lunges harder, try the Bulgarian split squats (BSS). This upper / lower split circuit is challenging, and you may need to add a recovery minute or two if you are new to this type of upper-/lower-body split.
Repeat five times.
- Bench press 5 (heavy)
- Dumbbell lunges 10/leg (or Bulgarian split squat 5/leg)
Your bench press sets should be moderately heavy for 5-6 repetitions. Try not to select a weight that you could do 10 times; you should be barely able to do five or six. Then you can go a little lighter and do lunges for 10 reps/leg or the Bulgarian split squat for five reps/leg. Repeat five times.
For recovery, do 5-10 minutes of moderate cardio between circuits. It’s your choice of walking, jogging, biking, rowing, etc. Then start the next section of push/cardio. This is a bit lighter weight than the above push sets.
Repeat four times.
- Thrusters 10
- Dips 10
- Triceps extensions 10
- Jog or bike for five minutes
The above section starts off with the thruster exercise. This combination exercise can be done with a barbell or two dumbbells. Place the weight at shoulder height, do a front squat, then explode upward with the legs. Transfer the momentum in the weights to perform an overhead press. Repeat for 10 reps. This will get you winded but try to quickly move to the dips and triceps extensions and make an active recovery with a five-minute block of cardio. Repeat this for four rounds.
Finally, end the push session with a cooldown run or bike for 10 minutes and stretching.
Keep pushing yourself and find different ways to make training different and less monotonous. Military.com Fitness Section contains hundreds of articles to help you freshen up your existing workout routines, and you can send in emails to [email protected] for questions.
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