F x T till you D = 300

Jun22
by Duf on June 22, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Posted In: Physical challenges

So I tried a different variation of the 5×10 endurance sets this week.  I did sets of 5 chin ups and 10 dips.  Difficulty wise it was definitely a level above last week since I can definitely crank push ups easier than dips.  I wound up doing 20 sets of the circuit in a little over 27 minutes (a slower pace than last week).  That worked out to 100 chin ups and 200 dips, a total of 300 reps.

I am working in a sleep deficit so I went into it feeling substantially less than 100%. I seriously need a nap right now.

I will have to see if I can come up with any other combos that work out well in these type of sets.

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Bar-baric mode, how to (almost) break your own collarbone, 375 reps

Jun19
by Duf on June 19, 2012 at 8:39 am
Posted In: Exercises, Injuries, Muscle Ups, Physical challenges

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.

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The best part

Jun18
by Duf on June 18, 2012 at 10:33 am
Posted In: General Fitness Talk, Muscle Ups

When I got into doing body weight exercise several years ago it was inspired from watching others doing incredible things on the bars via endless YouTube videos.  Despite being right around 40 years old at the time I decided I wanted to pursue this as well despite  the bar scene being dominated by people that are considerably younger than myself.

I have gotten many things from my work on the bars, an improved physique, a better outlook and a sense of pride in my accomplishments are just a few.  Well  things have started to come full circle.

If you are reading this, you more than likely have seen some of my numerous videos that detail my journey in improving at body weight movements.  My videos are kind of unique as I do a lot more talking in them than what you typically see in the genre.  I try to express what is going through my head when it comes to some of my triumphs and struggles on the bar.  It seems like some people actually kind of like that.

Despite a skill set that is definitely not all that impressive  I have become relatively well known in the bar community because of my weird videos and my participation running contests in the Bar-barian forums.  It’s sort of strange.

Well anyway I mentioned about coming full circle.  One of the things that I really like is when somebody gets little nuggets from my videos and uses it as part of their journey to accomplish a new feat or skill.  I just had that happen again today.

Chris is a guy very much like me (49), an older guy that fell in love with body weight work and more specifically, focused on pulling off a muscle up, something I targeted for a couple years. (he has been trying for 8 months) He has commented on a bunch of my videos and communicated with me several times about them, looking for advice on getting his first muscle up at just under the half century mark of years on the planet.

Well yesterday he finally pulled it off, it was great.  After he triumphantly got off the bar with the sounds of his family cheering him on he took some time to outline his experience, thanking several people along the way, including me.  I was touched and thought that was awesome.

My experience with the bar community has been nothing but a bright shining light in my life that often finds itself shadowed by other dark aspects of my personality.  Being able to help motivate others to push themselves to achieve new personal bests is a great thing and only motivates me to keep going.  We all feed off each others accomplishments, it is a very healthy and positive cycle.

Seeing Chris get his first muscle up has now put a fire in my belly to go out and get better at my own muscle ups, it’s awesome how it works.

Way to go Chris.

 

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Shoot me with a pistol

Jun14
by Duf on June 14, 2012 at 9:21 am
Posted In: Exercises

One of the more impressive leg bodyweight exercises is a pistol squat.  A pistol squat is a one legged squat where you lower yourself all the way down on one leg while using your off leg and arms for balance.  When done correctly your body sort of looks like a pistol at the bottom of the exercise.

In the past I toyed around a little bit with the movement but not much, mostly because of fear of what it could do to my already fragile knees.

Well during my conventional leg work out yesterday (squats, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises), I decided to throw in a few spotted leg pistols.

A spotted leg pistol simply means you hold on to something as you go down to both assist in balance and provide a little assist on the way up if needed.

I was able to do a few single reps on my left leg although I could feel the extreme torque from the movement straining against various connective tissue in the leg.  It will tax everything from the hips down.

I then tried to perform the movement on my right leg that contains my twice operated on right knee.  It was a no go.  Once I hit a certain depth the knee would flood with pain and the leg would collapse.

I’d like to pull off some clean, unspotted reps with my left leg eventually.

Last night at home I messed around with a couple movements.  The first one was a bar pull over.  A pull over is when you raise your legs in a similar manner as you would for a stiff leg raise, but you continue the movement where your legs go up and over the bar, allowing your body to rotate around until you are on top of the bar.

It is something that sounds simple and looks simple when done by guys that are more skilled or better proportioned than I am.  It is a move I toyed with in the past but never was successful at.

Well I caught a video by Paul that outlined the move.  I picked up one tip that helped me.

I would have this problem where I had my legs up at bar height but I couldn’t get them to break the center point, I would wind up stuck upside down.  Well Paul pointed out the easiest way to fix this is to bend your knees once your legs are extended upward.  Doing this will tip your center of gravity in such a way that you get your hips on top of the bar.  From that point you can extend your legs again so you can rotate to the upright position.

This is a good skill to have if you can’t muscle up on top of a bar or are too fatigued to do so.  I still look pretty awkward getting to the top position but at least I can do it consistently.  I’ll shoot a video for everyone to laugh at soon.

The other thing I tried was the “Zef position”, which is assuming a crucifixion type pose on the bar.  This is accomplished by pulling up an then using the back of your head as a temporary hook as you slide your hands outward until they are almost fully extended.

I sort of had it but it was very uncomfortable and my pull up bar isn’t wide enough for my mile long arms to fully extend.  I could probably fully extend on my high bar.  Maybe I will try it.

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Finger breakers

Jun13
by Duf on June 13, 2012 at 8:15 am
Posted In: Nutrition, Physical challenges

So I did a normal mode set for this month’s BB challenge which is a series of increasingly difficult push up variations.  I was doing ok until I got to the last set which are fingertip push ups.  I had to stop that set at 7 reps not because of chest fatigue but because of a feeling in my fingers like they were going to snap.  I obviously don’t do much work on my finger tips.

My total of 67 reps wasn’t bad but I’d like to get solidly into the 70’s before the end of the month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ifYLoDWW-I

I had a healthy dinner last night for the first time in awhile.  I supplemented my spinach wrap that had spinach, hummus, tomato, mushrooms and hard boiled eggs with  beet/carrot/spinach/tomato juice.  Yes it isn’t the most exciting meal in the world but it filled me up pretty well and was loaded with all sorts of good stuff.

I am trying to get a little more consistent with my dinner meals, keeping them on the healthy side more often than not.  My other two meals each day (during the week) are always identical.

For breakfast I have scrambled Egg Beaters, either the Southwest or Garden Vegetable variety.  I pair this up with a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter and a small glass of OJ.

Once I get to work I make myself a large cup of coffee that holds me over until my lunch which typically occurs about 10:45 AM, to give myself time to digest the food a bit before my noon workout.  Lunch right now is a peanut butter wrap (honey wheat Flat Out wrap) with a few blueberries thrown in, a Breakers Cottage Doubles (cottage cheese fruit combo), a 100 calorie serving of tapioca pudding and a pint of almond milk.

A lot of people have issues with eating the exact same thing day in and day out.  For some reason I don’t find it troublesome at all.

 

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