Dufisthenics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhzr2RV-xxs

So last night I made an attempt at Bar-baric mode of this month’s BB forum challenge which are a series of progressively more difficult muscle ups with only 30 seconds rest between the sets.

I immediately cringed when I watched back the video.  I had popped some gum prior to going outside, I was chewing on it like a cow.  I’ll be sure to spit it out first in the future.

I have not worked muscle ups in awhile for whatever reason so I really didn’t know what to expect.  Well maybe I do know the reason, I don’t spend the amount of time doing body weight exercise that I would like to.

I think to really progress at BW stuff, especially at my age, you need to really put some time in.  I know a lot of the Bar-barians are putting in a couple hours per day in.  I get in 40-45 minutes at the gym over my lunch hour.  Of that time there is still a lot of more conventional weight work mixed in along with my pull ups, push ups etc.

Then I sprinkle in my after work evening mini-workouts that aren’t anything that serious.  I am either hungry as hell for dinner or have other things to get done around the house (or I just feel like giving myself a break).

I now have a pretty clear definition of what I need to do if I want to make serious progress, it’s just a matter of if I want to make the time to do it.

Then there is that fine line us old guys have to walk where you have to balance pushing yourself with risk of injury. If I go too nuts it is a recipe for pain/injury that can derail me if I am not careful.

So anyway, my muscle up sets were good and bad.  My first four muscle ups were really solid, possibly the best 4 consecutive muscle ups I ever have done.  Then all of a sudden I missed on the 5th rep which really frustrated me.  I eventually got the 5th by hanging, swinging and doing an ugly one over.

The narrow grip and wide grip muscle ups didn’t go great, I knew I wouldn’t have much gas in the tank with only a 30 second break between both.  I netted 2 reps of each.

I had a couple fail reps where I was RIGHT at the transition point and wound up falling out of it.  I need to be able to lock in my grip when that happens and use my forearms to power me through.  Up until this point I seem to forget to do that.

My 9 total reps is nothing to write home about but it gave me some push to start working my MU’s more.

Later in the night when I was dumping stuff in the compost bin I walked over to the high bar.  I had wanted to try the move pictured to the left.  To be honest I am not quite sure what you call it.  It is kind of doing a dragon flag while holding on to a pole.

So I grabbed on to the pole and braced the back of my right shoulder against it.  I got up and extended but I am not quite sure how straight I was.

I then had the brilliant idea that maybe if I started with my feet above me in a vertical position and lowered into it like you do in a dragon flag, I would do better.

So I awkwardly threw my feet above me and tried to hold on.  Well the way I was positioned all of my weight was resting on my collar bone, against the pipe.  I felt searing pain so I quickly lowered myself back down.  It hurt like crazy, I was worried that I did some damage.  Eventually the pain went away.

I’ll attempt the move on video to see how close I can get to a good hold.

Oh, I forgot to mention on Friday I tried to do as many 5 x 10 sets as I could, 5 pull ups by 10 push ups. I named it “10 x 5 Until You Die”  The rules were simple, the sets could not be broken, for instance I couldn’t drop off the pull up bar or break plank position in the push ups.

I did half decent, netting 25 sets in just under 28 minutes of exercise.  For those of you that are weak in math that adds up to 125 pull ups and 250 push ups.  The pull ups towards the end were getting VERY difficult.  The push ups however felt surprisingly strong all the way through.

I am thinking of making this a semi-regular challenge with a bit of variation.  Like maybe next time I try to break it into 5 chin ups and 10 dip sets.  That could get pretty damn tough on the triceps but worth a shot.

I need to catch up to Lou’s Hulk-like physique somehow.