GPP Training: 101 Different Push-up and Sit-up Exercises

It’s mid-September and some of you are still on a training break, others are back into heavy GPP training.

What the heck is GPP?

In short, it’s just plain well rounded fitness.  It’s a good time for athletes to be in balance with strength and coordination for all the body parts.

GPP, or General Physical Preparedness, is literally a translation from of Russian texts on physical training.  No doubt, these texts were extremely scientific which you can fall asleep read from any strength and conditioning blog or website.  You know which ones I’m referring to.

Of course, specific training for your event is called SPP or Specific Physical Preparedness.

My athletes usually get “in shape” by doing tempo strides, often with push-ups or and sit-ups on both ends of the 100 meter, and always on grass surfaces.  We don’t even see a track until October.

We also focus on the weight room as well as working the core-trunk-abs using endless varieties of exercises including med balls and plyo balls.

101 Different Push-up and Sit-up Exercises

Over the course of the summer, I’ve bookmarked some good informative websites and blogs that deserve honourable mentions.  No sense in me recreating the wheel.

Here are two good sites that may be a bit extreme, but if your athletes are bored or stale from unconventional push-ups and sit-ups, then take a quick look:

The Art of Manliness’ The Ultimate Push-up Guide: 35+ Push-up Exercises

Nick Tumminello’s  Unconventional Ab Workout

Other references for those who want to dig deeper:

The Inner Unit: A New Frontier in Abdominal Training by PAUL CHEK

The Outer Unit by PAUL CHEK

The Function of the Mid-torso in Sport Activities by ADRIAN FACCIONI