diff --git a/t/perf/p1400-update-ref.sh b/t/perf/p1400-update-ref.sh
index ce5ac3ed85..dda8a74866 100755
--- a/t/perf/p1400-update-ref.sh
+++ b/t/perf/p1400-update-ref.sh
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@ test_description="Tests performance of update-ref"
 test_perf_fresh_repo
 
 test_expect_success "setup" '
-	git init --bare target-repo.git &&
 	test_commit PRE &&
 	test_commit POST &&
-	printf "create refs/heads/%d PRE\n" $(test_seq 1000) >create &&
-	printf "update refs/heads/%d POST PRE\n" $(test_seq 1000) >update &&
-	printf "delete refs/heads/%d POST\n" $(test_seq 1000) >delete &&
-	git update-ref --stdin <create
+	for i in $(test_seq 5000)
+	do
+		printf "start\ncreate refs/heads/%d PRE\ncommit\n" $i &&
+		printf "start\nupdate refs/heads/%d POST PRE\ncommit\n" $i &&
+		printf "start\ndelete refs/heads/%d POST\ncommit\n" $i
+	done >instructions
 '
 
 test_perf "update-ref" '
@@ -26,14 +27,7 @@ test_perf "update-ref" '
 '
 
 test_perf "update-ref --stdin" '
-	git update-ref --stdin <update &&
-	git update-ref --stdin <delete &&
-	git update-ref --stdin <create
-'
-
-test_perf "nonatomic push" '
-	git push ./target-repo.git $(test_seq 1000) &&
-	git push --delete ./target-repo.git $(test_seq 1000)
+	git update-ref --stdin <instructions >/dev/null
 '
 
 test_done