Dufisthenics

So in my early to mid 40’s I was very heavily into calisthenics.  I did endless pull ups, push ups and dips.  Much of that work was my pursuit of an explosive calisthenics move called the muscle up.  The move involves swinging and pulling through a normal push up motion in a powerful way that results in a finishing position with your arms locked out on TOP of the bar.

I literally tried to accomplish this move for around two YEARS until I finally got it.  Doing so required a lot of form tweaks, dieting (was right around 170 pounds for awhile), and of course building the requisite strength to do the move.  When I did finally find myself above my backyard bar it was truly one of the bigger physical accomplishments of my adult life.

Well for various reasons my obsession with the muscle up faded over time and I would not be surprised if it has been over 18 months since I even attempted to do one.  I also am pretty sure any attempts in the last two years have been failures.  Well for some reason last night as I finished up my evening chicken chores I looked over at the bar and decided it was time to try again.

I have mentioned in my main blog how I recently started taking CBD oil (hemp oil), which has a long list of potentially helpful effects, one of which is fighting inflammation.  Of course I am naturally skeptical but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I have felt significantly better since starting on the oil.  Things just don’t hurt as much.  That was another drawback over trying to work muscle ups the last several years, it would have dire consequences for my shoulders/elbows.

So anyway I grabbed onto the bar, hoping I somehow would manage to get myself over the bar but not expecting to.  My predictions were correct, I could not get over the bar but I got close.  I would estimate I needed another 2-3 inches of height to get my chest clear of the bar.  I tried 3-4 times and each time got to a pretty similar level.  Honestly it was better than I expected and gave me hope that it was still possible.  Getting a muscle up again by my 50th birthday would be a nice little present to myself.

Today at the gym I worked in four sets of high pull ups, a necessity to get the power needed for the transition of the muscle up.  It is officially a goal now, and once that happens it’s hard to shake me loose.  I weigh close to 15 pounds more than my lowest so the challenge will be large.

So I have been doing hanging knee raises, leg raises, and toes to bar forever.  I just realized a week ago that because of my poor hip flexor flexibility I have been doing them in a far from ideal way.  One of my old time calisthenics online buddies, Daniel, did a video demonstrating the right and wrong way to do the movement and it turned out I was doing it all wrong.

When you do these movements you want the rotation to come from the hips, not the back.  Because my hips are so tight I wind up having a lot of lower back involved in the lifts.  The best way he said to combat that is to do them with your back supported against something solid and you only lift your lower body to the point where your lower back just starts to come off the support.  By keeping your upper body upright against a support you prevent arching and momentum from being a crutch.

Unfortunately at Planet Fitness there is no real pull up bar to do this on but at home I should be able to simulate this by placing my back against one of my pull up bar side supports and doing the same thing.  I expect to be able to do far less reps but be equally if not more effective even so.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

50 push ups

Supported hanging knee raise x 10

Standing oblique twist x 20

Supported hanging knee raise x 10

Standing oblique twist x 20

Supported hanging knee raise x 10

Standing oblique twist x 20

Cybex ab crunch – 80lbs x 10, 100lbs x 10

Cybex stiff arm ab crunch – 110lbs x 10, 150lbs x 8

12 pull ups