Hey guys, I’ve been here since the inception of the first issue of the online Testosterone, but I usually don’t post. Until now. I just HAD to vent. I was on the WBB board, and people are just tearing Chad’s program apart without trying it! Look, I don’t claim to know everything, but this program has worked for me, and from what I can tell, a lot of you guys too. Let’s get the word out! Can we get some more support for this program and more support for Chad? This is what I wrote: “Hey guys…long time reader, first time poster. I just had to jump in on this discussion. Go to Testosterone and read the “100 reps to greater size and strength” by well-respected strength trainer Chad Waterbury. I never thought that this program could work, but like Vince Gironda used to say, “If in doubt, try these concepts and try others. Results count. Examine. Test. Then make up your own mind.” I don’t think anyone can agrue with that statement. Anyhow, just so you guys know, my bench/squat/deadlift total isn’t too shabby. I have never maxed out, but I have benched 260 for 5 full reps on a 211 tempo, full squatted 335 for 6 reps, and deadlifted 340 for 5 reps. I have seriously trained for 3 years, and used methods and programs by Charles Poliquin, Ian King, Steve Holman, Mike Mentzer, Paul Delia, Shawn Phillips (I’m sure I’m leaving a few out, but these are the notables). I have to say that the 100 reps routine is working very well for me, and many others have concurred. Try it out. It might work for you, it might not. Everyone is different. But try it out and then judge for yourself.”
So what do you say when their “experts” try to beat it down? Quote:
"Where to begin? Well, first, as I stated before, the resistance provided by pushups is limited by your bodyweight. Yes, you can alter the angle of your body, thus increasing the effective resistance, but your bodyweight is the ultimate limiting factor.
Now, a little lesson in physiology. The human body will adapt, within genetically determined limits, to imposed stress. Training is an imposed stress on the body. Your goal, in lifting weights, should be, primarily, to increase muscular size and strength. Aerobic fitness is best achieved without the use of weights as it requires extended efforts which are precluded with added resistance. So, when one stresses the body with weightlifting, if the weights lifted are heavy enough to stress the body’s capacity to lift them, then an adaptation will occur. The two main adaptations that occur will be acclimation of the nervous system, thus allowing the body to maximally utilize its existing muscular capability, and adaptation of the muscles themselves via an increase in the size of the contractile proteins amongst other muscular adaptations.
The problem with the pushups, as I indicated in the 2nd paragraph above, is that your body will quickly adapt to the stress that you can apply to it with pushups. Of course, you can increase the number of reps performed, but that will do little for increasing size. Why? It is due to the fact that performing more reps does not require greater muscular strength, it requires greater muscular endurance. The body will increase muscular endurance by increasing the number of mitochondria within the cells themselves (the mitochondria are the oxygen handling components of the cells). This increase in mitochondria will cause a small increase in muscular size, but one so small as to be unnoticeable. Pushups will increase size and strength, but only to a certain point, a point which would not satisfy most individuals. Thus, most people use weights to increase the size and strength of their chest, shoulders, and triceps.
Now, for those of you who don’t like science, and go by your own eyes, let us consider the world record holder for pushups. This guys has performed thousands of pushups within a given period of time. His chest really doesn’t even look like he trains. Now, there are some people who have natural size and shape. This is what creates some of the misperception that is obviously happening here. Herschel Walker used to say that he got his size and strength from pushups and situps. Yeah right. The simple truth is that Herschel is a genetic superior who is big and strong without any training. Pushups did not make the man."
A la Mufasa, your thoughts?