Resisting pull ups, junk joints

Feb04
by Duf on February 4, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Posted In: Endurance activities, Injuries

On Saturday I got my 10 mile run in.  Overall I felt pretty good covering double digit mileage for the first time in months although later in the day Sunday my right knee started feeling stiff and achy after a day of shuffling around the property doing chores.

[slideshow id=1]

On Sunday afternoon I got around to installing two sets of hooks that I bought out of the shelving aisle at the local Home Depot onto my pull up station.  Last week I came up with the idea of doing the modification as a way to add resistance band pulling work to my routine.   This was clearly inspired by the Niroc Belt that you see out there in the bar community.

Once I mounted the hooks on the wooden supports, all that was left to do was attach one of my resistance bands to both sides to test it out.  The layout of the 4 hooks allows a huge variety of ways to vary the resistance you get depending on how you connect it.

To do resistance pull ups all you do is lift the band on the back of your neck and start pulling.  It felt very effective in the small amount of testing I did.

Of course I shot a video outlining the process which you can see below.

This mod can be used to do more than just add resistance to pulling movements.  If you stepped on it you could use it as extra support and lift doing pull ups or muscle ups.  It could be used as an assist on levers and a guide to keep leg swing at a minimum when doing pull ups and muscle ups.  It could even be used as a spotter for hand balancing or planche work if you strung one of the stiffer resistance bands across the hooks.

I’m looking forward to giving my addition a thorough test.

There is one thing that has been slowing down that testing and any body weight work right now, joint pain.  When I did my couple test reps yesterday afternoon my shoulders, elbows and forearms all hurt to varying degrees.

I don’t recall any specific moment that kicked off the latest round of pain but I am pretty sure planche lean holds, back lever practice and hand stands all had a part to play in it.

└ Tags:
Comments Off on Resisting pull ups, junk joints

Completing a Century, 60 in 120

Feb01
by Duf on February 1, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Posted In: Injuries, Physical challenges

Al Kavadlo, one of my favorite people in the body weight/bar/calisthenics community posted an article about the “Century Test”.   The physical test is part of a greater certification to become a PCC, a Progressive Calisthenics Certification.

The test has male and female variations.

For men it includes:

40 Squats (body weight)
30 Push ups
20 Hanging Knee Raises
10 Pull ups

For women:

40 Squats (body weight)
30 Knee Push ups
20 Hanging Knee Raises
10 Australian Pull ups

Each exercise has to be done with proper form and range of motion.  Each exercise set has to be unbroken although you can rest between the different exercise varieties.

I did the work out as a warm up at the gym yesterday.  It was made more challenging by two sore legs and sore forearms.  The circuit took me 3:45 to complete, a little slower than I would expect.  I am hoping to do it again when feeling 100%.  I’d hope to get closer to three minutes.  It was tougher than you would expect.

Last night on the way home from work I got it in my head I wanted to make one last attempt at the push up set from this months BB forum challenge.  I had tried it twice so far this month, the first time netting 58 reps, the second time bailing out at 50 reps.  I wanted to get to 60 reps.

This goal was not well timed since the sore legs and forearms (tendons) I dealt with in the Century challenge actually had clicked up a few notches in discomfort.  I also had a pair of sore triceps from pretty intensive tri work on Tuesday.

Well despite these issues my head wanted 60 reps and once again, as I have experienced many times, the head is ultimately the muscle that matters the most.  I squeezed out rep 60 with a second or two to spare.  As far as I can recall this is the first time I have ever done 60 chest to floor push ups in one set.

309956_10152080807237841_1414620592_n[1]My forearms feel awful today, more specifically the tendons.  I need to be careful.  I have been plowing through some tendon pain doing things like planche lean holds, back lever progressions and pull ups that all work those same tendons in a major way.  The last thing I need to do is cross the line where I fall back into the chronic tendinitis trap.  Trying to straighten my right arm currently is a painful act.

I bought some accessories for my pull up bar that I hope to install this weekend.  It hopefully will allow me to add a new twist to my pull ups in the future.  I’ll document it all here of course.

Hoping to run 10 miles this weekend.

Comments Off on Completing a Century, 60 in 120

Shoulder shit, t-hold returns

Jan29
by Duf on January 29, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Posted In: Exercises, Injuries

tholdLast night after work I decided to head outside to do some work in the bar park.  I did this despite some nagging pain in my right shoulder.  My shoulders have not been pain free in years, the only thing that changes is the level of the pain.

I recall having similar problems with my shoulder pain increasing last year around this time.  I attributed it to my lack of swimming over the winter months.  Swimming is a great all around shoulder exercise.

I thought I was being proactive in preventing shoulder pain this year with my new warm up / stretching routine  I do with a rubber resistance band at the gym.  I hit my shoulders from almost every angle you can imagine during the warm up yet I still am having issues.  Oh well, I hit the bar park anyway.

First I worked on wall hand stands and single arm wall hand stands.  I was able to hold one handed on the right arm but only held for a moment on my left.  It was indicative of the problems I have with strength imbalance.  In some ways my left arm is stronger than my right but in most movements my right side will dominate.

At the gym during the day I tried one arm push ups.  I got a few reps on the right side but didn’t even get close on the left.  The imbalance is also very evident once I get past a couple muscle up reps where my side dominance results in ugly one overs.

I then did some back lever attempts on both my pull up and parallel bars.  My descent wasn’t bad but not as controlled or deep as what I pulled off indoors last week.

I then messed around with a T-hold, the name I gave the move where I grab onto a pole with one hand that is wrapped around my back while holding my body more or less parallel to the ground.  There is a funny moment in the video where my brain short circuits when I try to reverse my hands for the hold.

Finally I make some comedic attempts at a human flag.  When I watched the video back I immediately noticed I had the grip for my top pulling hand wrong, not that it would have made a huge difference.  I feel like should be able to at least hold a tucked flag briefly.

I have the required core strength to do it (can do a set of 10 dragon flags) and I should have the ability to support my weight on my bracing arm since I can hold a one arm handstand.  Yet, I didn’t get even remotely close.

I will do some more attempts with the correct top hand position and possibly use the pull up bar supports to spot me into the right position. (while wearing sneakers this time)

└ Tags: , ,
Comments Off on Shoulder shit, t-hold returns

Squat stretch

Jan25
by Duf on January 25, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Posted In: Injuries

My exercise schedule has been all out of whack for about a month due to the holidays, traveling and my dad visiting.  One of the exercise casualties during this time has been my legs, I haven’t done any weighted leg work since 2012. Yesterday I decided to dip my toe back in.

I hopped in the squat rack and did a couple sets with only 135 pounds on the bar.  My legs felt weak but I forced myself to go as deep as my knees would allow me.  I then added a 25 pound plate to each side.

I went down for rep one, again as deep as I could.  At the bottom of the movement it felt like every muscle fiber in my hamstrings and ass creaked and stretched at the same time. It was like my entire lower body was on the verge of one big cramp.  I pushed back up and and racked the bar.  My legs felt shaky after just that one “heavy” rep which is crazy.

Much like dragon flags, if I don’t do leg work every week, I pay the price when I resume the movements.  Today it feels like I have legs that should be attached to someone 6 inches shorter, they are that tight.

The good news is starting next week my workout schedule should get back on it’s normal path.

 

Comments Off on Squat stretch

Working on weakness after work

Jan23
by Duf on January 23, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Posted In: Exercises

My dad flew back to PA yesterday.  While he was visiting my exercise/eating patterns were not anywhere close to normal.  Last night I tried to start getting things back on track.

I first planned to try normal mode of this month’s BB challenge, hoping to beat my first attempt of 58 chest to deck push ups in 2 minutes.  Well my exercise lay off was quite evident, I was only at 50 reps with 35 seconds to go, I bagged the attempt there.

After a set of 20 pull ups on the Triple Gymcloselever I hopped on the lower attachment to see where I was at with back levers.  My first attempt was no better than any of my prior holds with me losing control after I broke 45 degrees in angle.

My second attempt went better.  I REALLY squeezed through my scalpula, retracting them as much as I could.  I controlled the movement almost all the way to parallel.

I was excited that in spite off my overall subpar physical level currently I am still progressing on the hold.

Comments Off on Working on weakness after work