Train Like Herschel Walker
Before Reggie Bush, there was Herschel Walker. If you’ve never heard of Herschel Walker, here’s a little highlight footage of him running over future Dallas Cowboy Bill Bates back when both were in college.
Walker played at the University of Georgia in the early 1980’s, and then for both the USFL and NFL. He’s often regarded as one of the greatest college football players ever. Some of his accomplishments include 2x Pro Bowl selection, 2x All-Pro selection, the 1982 Heisman Trophy, the 1985 USFL MVP, the 1985 Sporting News USFL Player of the Year, and the 2x USFL leader in rushing yards.
According to Walker, his success came down to conditioning. Few would disagree with him there. During his professional career, many of his competitors felt he was the best conditioned athlete in the NFL.
Yet, Walker didn’t start out an athletic monster. In fact, in his book Hershel Walker’s Basic Training, he writes about being a husky kid often picked last for teams. He writes how his sister constantly beat him in foot races.
So how did Walker go from the last kid picked to Heisman Trophy winner? Obviously talent and determination played a huge factor. But besides that, Walker trained hard.
You might expect Walker’s workouts to be complex. On the contrary, his workouts consisted of mainly bodyweight exercises. Specifically: pushups, sit-ups, body squats, pull-ups, and hill sprints. In Herschel Walker’s Basic Training, he talks about doing 1,000 pushups a day (100 at a time), 1,000 situps a day, and 1,000 squats a day every day.
How to Get to 100 Pushups, Sit-ups, and Body Squats
Many people try to increase the number of pushups, sit-ups, and body squats they can do by going to failure. However, I’ve found this method slow and frustrating (your body seems to psychologically hit plateaus).
A better method is to systematically increase your numbers. And a terrific method to do this is through pyramids.
Refer to the graphic in this article. Notice the numbers going up and down the sides of the pyramid. The following is an example of how pyramid training works.
Say you’re doing pushups. You start at the bottom left side of the pyramid. The number in the corner is 1. Thus, you do 1 pushup. You then rest 60 seconds. The next number on the left side of the pyramid is 2. Thus, you do 2 pushups. You then rest 60 seconds. Make sure you always rest between numbers.
You do this so on until you reach the top of the pyramid. You then work your way back down the right side.
Thus, your pushup routine would go like this:
1 pushup – rest 60 seconds – 2 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 3 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 4 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 5 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 4 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 3 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 2 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 1 pushup – you’re done.
Increasing Your Volume
After a while, you’ll find yourself whipping through a pyramid with no problem. That’s the time to increase your volume. To do this, multiply the numbers on the sides of the pyramid times the number you start with. Thus, going back to our pushup example, if you started with two pushups, your routine would go like this:
2 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 4 pushups (2 pushups x 2 on the triangle) – rest 60 seconds – 6 pushups (2 pushups x 3 on the triangle) – rest 60 seconds – 8 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 10 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 8 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 6 pushups – rest 60 seconds -4 pushups – rest 60 seconds – 2 pushups – you’re done.
Workout Days
Aim to do a pushup pyramid 3 days a week, a sit-up pyramid 3 days a week, and a squats pyramid three days a week. I like to also add a pull-ups pyramid in there as well.
Thus, I do pushup and pull-up pyramids on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I do sit-up and body squat pyramids on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Cardio
In addition to this strength training, aim to walk 5 – 6 days a week. Start at 20 minutes and work your way up to 45 minutes. Walker used to do hill sprints instead of walking (eventually attaching a tractor tire tied around his waist as he ran). But that’s why he’s Herschel. Feel free to try that if you want . . . just make sure you work up to it.
Conclusion
Although you may never get to the level of fitness Herschel Walker has, follow this program and you’ll find yourself tripling the maximum number of pushups, situps, body squats, and pull-ups you can current do in about three months. While you may never win the Heisman Trophy, chances are you’ll feel like Herschel at your next flag football game.
