Soviet-Style

What can we learn from how the Soviets trained pushups? Quite a bit actually. The way that they would increase their max-reps for this exercise is counter-intuitive. Instead of doing a large number of push-ups to exhaustion, they did only a few at a time. They focused on doing the exercise with perfect form and with ease. They then did this many times a day. For example, someone might do three pushups 10 times a day.

Apparently how many push-ups you can do and when you give up during a max-effort set has a lot to do with when your brain predicts you will give up. Doing easy practice frequently retrains your brain to experience push-ups as something easy. 

A similar way to change habits involves breaking something hard down into absurdly small steps, and mastering those one at a time. For example, if you are out of shape but want to run a marathon, you first get really good at placing your running shoes by the front door. Once you do this faithfully, you then practice putting on and tying your shoes, then you practice stepping out the door, going on walks, then runs, etc. Fidelity to a small first step or sequence of steps is often enough to generate the momentum needed to keep going.  

Anecdotally, I’ve been using the Soviet pushup method for the last two weeks. I’ve increased the number of pushups I do in one set, but what’s been most transformative is that I now enjoy doing pushups, which is something I haven’t experienced in years. 

This week, I invite you to apply Soviet-style training to something in your life: 

What is something that I would like to do or improve but don’t currently enjoy or excel in? What would my first easy practice set look like for this thing? When and how often will I practice? During my practice, what belief could I focus on to make this thing easier? 

God bless,
Dan