3 x Pushup Pyramid of 20

What you are about to see is my 3 pushup pyramid routine, each one adding up to 400 pushups for a total of 1200 pushups. It takes me a little over 80 minutes and I do a variation of it 5 days a week. But that is not my only exercise. I also play tennis 5 times a week, and I hike for 100 minutes 2 times a week. The routine is made up of 3 variations of the pushup in a pyramid format. This means that I progressively increase the number of pushup reps in a row from 1 to 20, and then back down from 20 to 1, as the steps in a pyramid. Notice that I take a break between steps and make a motion with my arms, equal to the number of reps in each step. This allows my muscles to quickly recover to better continue the routine.

Pushup Pyramid and OMAD

How am I able to do these pushup pyramids at my age? I credit this to a change in my lifestyle I made 10 years ago, in 2009, when I was obese and hated to do any exercise at all. I was your typical couch potato until I started my regimen of one meal a day only. Although I did not know why, one meal a day (or OMAD as it is called now), changed more than my physical appearance. It changed my health and my fitness. To this day, I continue to eat one-meal-a-day and exercise for 2 hours or more every day, and I love it. However, you must know that I don’t have any kind of superhuman willpower to impose these demands on my body. It is my body that seems to ask me for the exercise. That is how life-transforming OMAD can be. My story is all on this website.

Anyone can change his/her life too

So, yes, you too can change your life, no matter what your age is. Imagine all the time we waste making food and eating it! you can be spending that time on your own intellectual and physical pursuits. Don’t be afraid of being hungry. The reality is that our bodies have an immense capacity of adaptation, and it will not take more than 21 days for you to adapt to OMAD. I only feel hungry once a day, starting 30 minutes before the time I take my regular meal.

Exercise while fasting? YES!

Notice that as I do my pushup pyramids the sunlight is coming in. I do my pushup pyramids in the morning before I have my meal. I start with 20 hours of fasting. What this means is that I don’t need a full stomach to workout. I think that a full stomach might get in the way of my performance.

Ketosis = endurance

When one is in fasting, the body is forced to use sources of energy other than glucose and glycogen whose muscles and liver stores are quickly depleted. That means that you used your energy stored in the form of fat. You enter a state of Ketosis, which means that your body fat is mobilized and used in the form of ketone bodies. Using fat for energy in this way is much more efficient, and that translates to more strength and endurance. The difference becomes quite obvious, and you become more and more adapted to this new way of utilizing your body energy storage. You become “keto-adapted”.

Not extraordinary, really

So you see, my pushup pyramid routine is not that extraordinary after all. There is a physiologic explanation for my changes. Of course, I feel younger than when I was 52, obese and unable to do much exercise. Perhaps this is the way we were all meant to be, but have been brain-washed with clichés such as “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” and “a high-fat diet leads to heart attacks”. Now, I am not advocating that you start a high-fat diet, become vegan or carnivore. What you want to eat is entirely up to you. What I do recommend is that you eat to satiety, but only once a day.

Calories in, calories out?

What about calories, you may ask? after all, our fat stores depend on the calories in and calories outright? wrong. We are not test tubes in which reactions take place without our intervention. No. We are extremely complex biochemical machines with multiple hormones, enzymes, and cytokines that determine our fat content. One of the most significant hormones is Insulin, which some call the “energy storage hormone”. Control insulin and you can control obesity and even diabetes. The number of calories you eat is not the issue, but what is the source of those calories is paramount. It is not the same to eat 100 calories of sugar and 100 calories of fat. The first triggers insulin, the second not so much. Keep an eye on my future videos by registering to this website, so you can follow my new posts.

Check this YouTube video about OMAD