The One-Exercise Challenge: I Did Only Push-Ups for 30 Days, Then Only Squats, Then Only Pull-Ups

As a personal trainer with almost two decades of hands-on experience, I have tried several strength, hypertrophy, and fitness programs. I’m constantly looking for new, challenging programs to keep me out of my comfort zone and make consistent progress.

While scrolling through my Instagram feed, I discovered a new challenge that piqued my interest — 30 days of a single exercise.

Doing one exercise for a month allows you to focus on a particular muscle group, which can help fix strength and muscle imbalances. It is also an excellent way to improve your training form and mind-muscle connection, which can improve your performance and results in the subsequent weeks and months.

That said, there are several drawbacks to doing just one exercise for a month. For example, it can cause imbalances in people with balanced physiques.

I designed a more extensive challenge to offset this negative. I would do one exercise each for 30 days. I’d start with a month of push-ups to train my chest, triceps, and shoulders, transition to 30 days of squats to target the lower body and finish with pull-ups to bias the back and biceps.

In this article, I share all the details of my three-month one-exercise-a-day challenge, including the changes in my overall fitness levels and physique and the challenges I encountered.

Phase 1: Push-Ups

Before starting this three-month challenge, I was doing a six-day PPL (push, pull, and legs) routine. So, this structure made the most sense to me. Also, I only chose compound movements for this experiment to maximize muscle stimulus and get the best bang for my buck.

Although I was proficient with all these three lifts, I decided to start small and increase the training volume gradually as my muscles, tendons, and joints got accustomed to my new training regime.

Workout Programming For Push-ups, Squats, and Pull-Ups

Here is the programming I used for each of the three exercises:

Week	Sets	Reps
Week One	10	10
Week Two	12	12
Week Three	14	15
Week Four	16	20

When I train a single muscle group daily, I usually do 15 sets in total. However, the workouts usually involve four to five exercises that train the muscles from different angles. Considering this, I decided to tone down the overall volume and start with 10 sets of push-ups.

The progression over the four weeks might look small to the untrained eye. However, we are moving from 100 reps in the first week to 320 reps in the final week — a monstrous 220 percent increase in a relatively short period.

Summary of My 30-Day Push-Up Experience

I had initially thought that I would cruise through the first week of this challenge. I had done German volume training (GVT) before, and the programming for this challenge was similar, requiring me to do 10 sets of 10 reps. However, GVT involves switching between different muscle groups daily, whereas I did the same exercise daily for a month.

While I felt great on the first two days of this challenge, the delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) was unreal on Day Three. I had to dig deep to get through the fourth and fifth days. The soreness subsided on the sixth day, and the day off from training was all my body needed to recover from this brutality.

My body had adapted to the single-exercise routine in the second week, and the incremental volume increase allowed me to settle in. Make no mistake, doing one exercise for a month is as big a mental challenge as it is physical.

Week Three felt like an uphill battle again. I struggled to complete the 15 reps unbroken after the seventh or eighth set. I prioritized following a full range of motion (ROM) to maximize target muscle stimulation and growth.

Let me tell you this: 16 sets of an exercise is a lot! My chest, triceps, and anterior delts were screaming for mercy toward the end of the workout.

Results of 30 Days of Push-Ups Challenge

I noticed slight progress in my chest and tricep size and definition in the third week. The improvements were obvious by the end of the challenge. My inner chest muscle definition and separation were also significantly better.

That said, I didn’t see much improvement in my shoulder muscle size or definition. It was probably because push-ups target only one of the three shoulder heads.

Doing the same exercise for 30 days also boosted my muscle strength and endurance, as I was able to perform progressively more push-up sets and reps over the four-week period.

Phase 2: Squats

I decided to do squats in the second month of the challenge as 60 days without training legs would have been a little too long, and I didn’t want to risk losing lower body strength and muscle mass.

To be honest, the first day of training legs after over a month felt challenging and awkward. It took me a few sets to find my groove. In the first week, I used tempo reps (4-1-1-1) in the first two to three sets to drill my movement mechanics. This technique involves four-second negatives, one second on the concentric phase, and a second each in the bottom and top positions. Following this, I switched to a steady rep cadence.

I divided the second month into two phases:

• Weeks 1-2 — Quads
• Weeks 3-4 — Glutes & Hamstrings

In the first two weeks, I kept my torso upright throughout the ROM to bias the quads and glutes. I even used a squat wedge to maximize knee flexion and ensure the quads did most of the work.

I incorporated a two-second pause in the ‘hole’ in the second week to increase the time under tension (TUT) and muscle growth. (1)

In the third week, I got rid of the squat wedge and tweaked my form to load the hamstrings and glutes. I kept my torso at a 45-degree angle throughout the ROM and focused on pushing my hips back on the eccentric phase to achieve a deep hamstring stretch.

The fourth week of squats was the most physically demanding of this entire challenge. Performing 20 bodyweight squats in a single set pushed my heart rate through the roof. Multiply this by 16 sets, and you can imagine the insanity of the workouts.

Results of 30 Days of Squat Challenge

Since my lower body has historically been a weaker muscle group for me, the first phase of this 12-week challenge had me worried about lower body strength and muscle loss. However, focusing on my legs for 30 days was one of the most satisfying experiences.

These four weeks made me realize you don’t need excessively heavy weights to transform your legs. Slow, controlled reps with a focus on a full ROM can do wonders for your lower body growth.

I gained an inch in my thighs during these 30 days, which is a significant achievement as my legs usually respond slowly. This high-volume training also improved my lower body strength, endurance, and overall physique symmetry and aesthetics.

Phase 3: Pull-Ups

I had one objective while prepping for the 30-day pull-up challenge — slow eccentrics. A study found slower negatives led to greater muscle hypertrophy (2). I aimed for four-second negatives and a one-second pause in the fully lengthened position during the four-week challenge.

I employed a shoulder-wide overhand grip in this exercise and prioritized a full ROM, with my chin over the bar at the top and elbows and shoulders fully extended at the bottom.

As you can probably imagine, performing 12 to 20 pull-up reps with this picture-perfect form can be a challenge for even experienced lifters. I used the myo-rep technique to complete the recommended number of reps. This approach involves using small rest-pauses during a set until you complete the desired reps.

Furthermore, I used a bench to get a good grip on the bar. I advise against jumping and grabbing the bar as it rarely leads to a secure grip and can strain the upper body joints. Using a bench instead of an aerobic stepper ensured I could get a full range of motion without hitting the elevated surface in the bottom position. Alternatively, you could use a dumbbell placed vertically.

Summary of the 30-Day Pull-Up Challenge

Ten sets of 10 full ROM pull-ups is a beast; you have to experience 16 sets of 20 reps for yourself to comprehend the savagery of this program.

In the first week itself, I realized that my grip was a limiting factor in this exercise. To counter this, I employed lifting straps as my grip strength fatigued to eliminate the weakness and maximize upper body stimulation.

Drive the elbows down and toward your back pockets during the concentric phase for optimal lat fiber stimulation. Relying solely on elbow flexion to lift yourself to the bar can overload the biceps and remove tension from the target muscles.

Completing the recommended pull-up reps can be a challenge once your grip strength starts giving out. Beginners and intermediate lifters can use an assisted pull-up machine or a resistance band to complete the desired reps without comprising form.

Doing 16 sets of 20 reps felt like an eternity. However, you must prioritize a strong mind-muscle connection and focus on contracting the lats with each rep for optimal target muscle stimulation and growth.

Results of 30 Days of Push-Ups Challenge

My back took on a life of its own halfway through this 30-day challenge. This high-volume training program improved my back-width and accentuated my V-taper and overall physique aesthetic.

Pros and Cons of Highly Specialized Training

Here are the things you must consider before starting a similar challenge:

Pros

These 30-day challenges can help you in the following ways:

Muscle Growth & Endurance

Training a single exercise for 30 days will inevitably boost muscle growth. Furthermore, as you increase the training volume, it will also improve muscular strength and endurance. This boosted work capacity can carry over to other aspects of your life.

Skill Development

This is arguably the biggest advantage of this training protocol. Sticking to a single exercise for an extended period helps you master its movement mechanics. Pick exercises you struggle with, and you will notice significant improvements within a month.

Better Mind-Muscle Connection

High-volume workouts are excellent for developing a solid mind-muscle connection. A single 30-day exercise challenge helps you build muscle memory, which can make mind-muscle connections during training second nature.

Cons

Specialized training protocols have their fair share of drawbacks. Here are a few of them:

Atrophy and Muscle Imbalances

When you focus on a particular muscle group for 30 days, chances are the other muscles will atrophy, which can lead to muscle and strength imbalances. You must be highly analytical while designing and implementing such training programs.

Overuse Injuries

Performing the same exercise over an extended period can strain the primary muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints, significantly increasing the possibility of overuse injuries. Rest and recovery should be a priority during these training programs.

Plateaus

Once your muscles start adapting to an exercise, a plateau is just around the corner. It can be incredibly challenging to progressively overload your muscles over an extended period during such challenges. Furthermore, doing the same exercise daily for a month can also lead to boredom, resulting in a loss of motivation to train.

Conclusion

Performing one exercise for 30 days is a form of specialized training. After adhering to this program for three months and analyzing the overall results, I would label it a fad and suggest you overlook it.

There are several other more effective training programs you can adopt for addressing strength and muscle imbalances that don’t require you to ignore all the other muscle groups. Beginners should work with an experienced professional to design a personalized training program to ensure balanced development.

If you have any questions about the one-muscle 30-day challenge, drop them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to help!

References:

1. Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, et al. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012;590(2):351-362. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200
2. Azevedo PHSM, Oliveira MGD, Schoenfeld BJ. Effect of different eccentric tempos on hypertrophy and strength of the lower limbs. Biol Sport. 2022;39(2):443-449. doi:10.5114/biolsport.2022.105335

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