How to Easily Smash out A Beastly 1000 Pushups in 80 Minutes
The powerful 6/6/6 technique and its variations I used to build up to this number
When the quarantine started, gyms shut down around the world and as a fitness enthusiast that loved lifting weights, this was a highly unwelcome situation for me.
After a few days of whining and complaining, I realized that I had two choices — either continue whining or accept and make the most out of the situation by working out at home.
I chose the latter and with barely any equipment at my disposal, bodyweight exercises were my best bet — pushups, pullups, nordic hamstring curls, Bulgarian split squats, etc.
With pullups off a ledge wreaking absolute havoc on my fingers and Bulgarian split squats feeling too easy, pushups were what I focused on and fell in love with.
The 6/6/6 Method
I started off with weighted pushups using a bag but with the weight weighing on my core and my core giving out before my chest did, I stopped doing them.
I started doing bodyweight pushups but I couldn’t accumulate much volume with them. As I was at a loss as to what to do, I happened to stumble across a video by AlphaDestiny.
Alex did 1000 pushups using what he calls the 6/6/6 method which is pretty simple and involves:
- Doing 6 pushups and resting for 15 seconds
- Doing another 6 pushups and resting for another 15 seconds
- Doing one final set of 6 pushups that completes one “macro set” and resting for 30 seconds.
- Repeating until the time goal or the number goal is reached.
Excited, I decided to try it right away. I didn’t have any high hopes and was honestly expecting to get maybe like 400–500 in one hour.
My Progress
The first time I tried this, I outdid my expectations and managed to do 36 macro sets or 648 pushups in one hour and lay on the floor completely gassed out.
Tweaking the rest times
Since the first attempt showed me that it would be easy in the beginning and extremely hard towards the end, I decided to tweak the rest times in my second attempt.
So I started with around 10 seconds rest within the macro set and around 20 seconds rest between macro sets. As I neared the end, these numbers went up to 18 and 35 respectively. With this, I ended up getting 40 macro sets or 720 pushups in one hour.
The third time, I started with 8 and 15 seconds and by the end, was using 14 seconds and 26 seconds respectively. This time I managed to do 44 macro sets or 792 pushups in one hour.
Variations
I decided to slightly tweak the 6/6/6 method by doing 7 reps in a set instead of 6, essentially making it the 7/7/7 method.
With this, in my fourth attempt, I managed to get 36 macro sets or 756 reps in an hour. On the fifth attempt, I slightly shortened the rest times and managed to get 40 macro sets or 840 reps in 70 minutes.
In the sixth attempt, I managed to get 40 macro sets or 840 reps again but in an hour itself. For my seventh attempt, I tweaked it into the 8/8/8 method and with this, I got 40 macro sets or 960 reps but in 85 minutes.
Hitting 1000
On my eighth and last attempt, I managed to get 40 macro sets with the 8/8/8 method, and banging out another 40 pushups without it, I hit the 1000 mark. It took me 80 minutes to achieve this.
It felt exhilarating to finally achieve this number which was previously unimaginable to me. With every attempt being once a week, it took me 8 weeks to achieve it.
How You Can Achieve the Same
Based on my experience, I want to share a step by step framework to enable you to achieve the same.
Choose the number of reps in your macro set
As someone that can do 30–40 pushups, 6/6/6 was doable for me. You need to choose your number based on how many pushups you can do in a row.
If you can do 50+ pushups, start with 7/7/7 or 8/8/8 and if you can’t do more than say 20 pushups, start with 4/4/4 or 3/3/3.
Choose a number and try banging out one macro set. If it feels even remotely hard, reduces the number. Remember that the macro set is supposed to feel easy.
Decide the number of days between attempts.
As every attempt involves a lot of volume, I would suggest attempting again only after at least 5 to 7 days of rest. If it’s been only 3 days and you feel completely recovered, then go ahead, and if it’s been 7 days and you still feel sore, then wait.
Another important point is that do NOT workout your chest shoulders and triceps once you start this challenge. This will lead to overtraining and only hamper your progress.
Progression scheme
With the initial numbers decided, all that’s left is to start and progress. Here’s the progression scheme:
- Increase the number of macro sets. Once you start, see how many macro sets you can get in an hour. If you get x macro sets, then aim to get at least x+1 in the next attempt which can be achieved only by decreasing your rest times. Keep progressing this way until your progress stalls.
- Now increase the number of reps in your macro set. So if you were doing 6/6/6, change it to 7/7/7 and now progress as in step 1 — by increasing the number of macro sets.
- Rinse and repeat. Now all you have to do is keep progressing until the desired goal is met.
1000 pushups might sound hard but trust me, with this strategy, it’s extremely easy. Without this technique, I doubt I would even get 500 pushups in an hour.
The beauty of this technique is that it optimally manages fatigue and optimizes rest times which makes it easy to rack up huge numbers.
Irrespective of your experience level, I encourage you to take up this challenge. I am confident that if you properly progress, it won’t take you long to get to 1000 pushups in 80 minutes or even better in an hour itself.
Good luck!
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