Part 3: Waterbury’s PLP Program

Part 3 to my Shredded and Strong program involves adding in Chad Waterbury’s PLP program on top of carb cycling and the push/pull training split. The PLP program is simple, and it starts out very easy: do 10 pull-ups, 10 lunges, and 10 push-ups in a day, spread out however you like. The caveat? On day 1 you do 10 of each of the core exercises (pullup, lunges and pushup), but then on each subsequent day you do one more (day 2 = 11, day 3 = 12, etc.). Do not underestimate this program; the volume really adds up. As Waterbury points out, from day 31-60, “you’ll perform an additional 1,635 reps!” And that is on top of the 4-5x per week push/pull program! So what can the PLP program do for you? How about more muscle mass (especially in the back and biceps), increased fat loss, and enhanced recovery? Read on for the full details on the PLP program.

Alright, so the basics of the PLP program are extremely simple. Start at 10 per day and then add 1 each day for 60 days until you hit 70 reps of pullups, lunges, and pushups per day. However, there are a few more details that some of you may find useful. In the list below I bullet out the basic guidelines, and from there I will continue with some extra nuances and tips for the program.

• Start at 10 reps/exercise/day
• Each day at 1 rep for each exercise for 60 days until you hit 70 reps per day for each exercise
• Do this program ON TOP OF your normal weightlifting (push/pull in my Shredded and Strong Program)
• You can spread the reps out however you like, as long as you hit the daily numbers (ex: for the 40 rep day doing 20 of each upon waking and then doing 20 of each before bed vs. doing all 40 in one session
• You can spread the reps out over numerous sets, for example doing 20 reps of each in 4 sets of 5 repetitions
• DO NOT PERFORM TO FAILURE. These reps should be easy, lead the hard training for your normal weight lifting program. If you are capable of doing 10 pullups in a set, do no more than 8, and even less would be more ideal.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to not go to failure. This program should be active recovery, not additional work that your body needs to recover from. To make sure you don’t reach failure, I would recommend spreading the work out in many sets of fairly low reps, ensuring that you avoid fatigue. You can also perform whatever variation of the exercise you feel like, and I would highly recommend mixing in several variations throughout the program. One day you could do palms away pullups (this is standard form and the correct usage of the word “pullup”), standard lunges, and standard pushups, and the next you could do palms facing pullups (correctly called “chinups”), backward lunges, and feet-elevated pushups. You can also and should also mix up grip width i.e. wide grip pullups, close-grip pullups, wide pushups, narrow hand pushups.

The last bit of advice I would give you is to make sure to spread the work out throughout the day. It is not such a big deal at first, but once you get up past 40 reps it becomes a real hassle to try to do 10 sets of 5 repititions per exercise in one session. It is much easier to spread the work out in at least 2 sessions or more, if possible. Good luck guys, you will really love this program!