Dufisthenics

So today at the gym I targeted as the day I was going to try the routine suggested to me by Ray.  In a nutshell it went like this.

Five 3 minute rounds, during each round you must complete 20 dips, 10 pull ups and 25 push ups.  The sets must be unbroken, meaning you can’t get off the dip or pull up bars or break plank in your push ups.  If you finish before the 3 minutes is up that gets added on to your two minute rest period between sets.

The 20,10 and 25 rep counts was where Ray started at.  I figured our endurance level was somewhere in the same ballpark so I decided to start there as well.  For the workout I utilized  “Round Timer”, (thanks Fi!) a great free app for the Iphone that lets you easily create your own flexible timing system.

I was kind of excited to see how I would do.

So round 1 begins and I waste no time bouncing between the three exercises with negligible rest in between.  I look at the app and I still have 90 seconds to go in the first round.  Hmmm I am feeling a bit winded already, I guess it is good I have extra rest time.  Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to blow through the first set like that…

After a lengthy 3:30 rest I began round two.  Well I certainly didn’t blow through those reps and I tried to give myself a little time in between the sets.  I completed all reps, this time with only 30 seconds left in the round.

“Damn it”, I thought to myself, “why am I so tired already, this is where Ray started!”

So the two minute rest period expires and I am on to round 3.  I get to rep 17 in the dips and my tri’s lock up. Mother f!  I was pissed as I stepped off the bars, pretty disgusted with myself.  I quickly determined I had two options, quit right there since it was an official fail or complete all 5 rounds with whatever reps I can manage. I chose the latter.

So I was able to squeeze out the 10 pull ups and 25 push ups in round 3.  On to round 4. The 2 minute break which seemed overly generous at first was now feeling brutally short.

As expected my tri’s stopped working even sooner in set four, locking me up on the 12th rep.  I only managed 8 pull ups and 15 push ups in that round, pretty sorrowful.

In round 5, I rebounded a bit netting 14 dips, 8 pull ups and 20 push ups although the round actually ran long since some guy started talking to me in the middle of it.  I was pretty damn beat by the end of it, despite only netting 239 of the 275 required reps.

So all in all that was a pretty big fail.  I don’t know if I expected that I would be able to complete all 5 rounds the first attempt but I know I didn’t expect to have my first fail in round 3.

So what Ray has been doing is once he is able to successfully complete all 5 rounds at certain rep numbers two times in a row, he bumps the rep counts up a couple for each exercise until he can complete it again at the higher level.  In my case I will be doing the same thing, in reverse.

So the next time I try this I will do something like 18 dips, 8 pull ups and 23 push ups in each round and see how that goes.  Eventually I will find my own starting point and will build back up from there.

Despite failing today I do think this is a really good way to make some significant progress towards BBR level endurance and strength.  Thanks Ray, I think.. 🙂