Day 14: 30 November 2012 - Squat Step 2/Leg Lifts Step 1

One day late because of Thanksgiving.

Last time I accidentally did an extra rep of knee tucks on the first set, so I just added an extra rep to all the sets. They're still kicking my ass, which is embarrassing. The nice part about working out at home is that the shame is totally private.

My knees were cracking like crazy with every squat rep! I'll have to think about whether this is related to form, or just being old.

Went to Home Depot to get the supplies for my cheap-ass TRX knockoffs. Looking forward to putting that together. My outlay was closer to $25, but still better than $190 for the "official nylon strap with handle". Not sure where to hang them.

Warm-up:
1x5 Bodyweight Jackknife squat
1x5 Knee Tuck

Main Exercise:
3x27 Bodyweight Jackknife Squats
3x19 Knee Tucks.

Day 13: 28 November 2014 - Push/Pull Step 2

Did the horizontal pullups under a table. That thing is sturdy, but the flat "table" part is a huge chunk of granite. All I could think about was how f'ing dead I would be if one of the legs gave way. Need to find a different solution, but I'm too cheap to spring for TRX bands. Those things are about $190 for a set!

After some research, the internet came to the rescue. I knew it would

http://scoobysworkshop.com/diy-trx-6-dollars/

Warm-up
1x50 Fingertip Wall Push-ups
1x5 Horizontal Pulls

Main Exercises
3x20 Incline Pushups
3x10 Horizontal pulls

Day 12: 26 November 2014 Leg Lifts/Squats

More reps today, based on the new level set last week. A good, tough workout. Leg lifts are weird for me. I get very shaky as my core starts to really work. I'm not sure if there's a problem with my form, or if that's normal as my stronger and my weaker muscles are trying to work together in a coordinated way. I'll do some research.

Jackknife squats:

1x5

3x27

Leg Lifts:

1x5

1x19 (oops!)

2x18

Day 11: 25 November 2014 Push/Pull Step 2

Step 2 of push pull this morning. Trying to mix it up, I used gymnastic rings instead of a stool or something to support the incline pushups and horizontal pulls. This worked fine for the pulls, but my form for pushups must have been terrible, because I was feeling the workout in my shoulders instead of my chest. I suspect that my arms were flying up and out to the side. I still think the ring incline pushups are good, but I might need to just do one set of them until I get a little stronger. I was really struggling by the end, and had to break up the sets into multiple smaller sets just to hit the numbers I wanted.

Started with 50 fingertip wall pushups to warm up, and 40 vertical pulls. The fingertip pushups were fine, but I think I need to cut back on the vertical pulls.

A decent workout, but more valuable as a lesson in what not to do than for the physical benefits.

1x50 Fingertip Wall Pushups

1x40 Vertical Pullups

2x20 Incline push ups (gymnastic rings)

2x10 Incline push ups (gymnastic rings)

3x10 Horizonatal Pull-ups (gymnastic rings)

Day 10: 22 November 2014 Leg Lifts/Squats

Didn't make it in to the gym this time, but did all the exercises at home. Since everyone was home for the weekend, we did a whole "Family workout". My daughter tried to keep up with me, but got pretty tired pretty quickly. Still, pretty fun. My son unfortunately wanted to spend time talking to me, and I'm afraid I got a little short with him. Toward the end of the routine I'm spending all of my energy just cranking out another rep. Decided to take the third set and see how many I could turn out before I ran out of gas. Will take the total number and divide by three to get my normal reps for next week. Excelsior!

Knee Raises:

1x5 (Warm Up)

2x15

1x24

Next week we'll do 3x18.

Bodyweight Jackknife Squats

1x5 (Warm Up)

2x20

1x41

Next week 3x27 (!)

Day 9: 21 November 2014 Push/Pull Step 1

Last day of Step 1 Pushups and Pullups, and I'm looking forward to moving on. Did the progression set as usual. The first set of pushups were fingertip pushups. As I move to step 2, I'll have to decide how to continue doing fingertip work. I could continue to do my first set as fingertip, but as I progress, I may be pushing the fingers too hard. I suppose I'll play it by ear.

Krav Maga last night was fun. It was exactly what I was looking for, a different activity to do once a week to break up the routine. I had one small triumph there. An early warmup was a kind of paired pushup. When you reached the top of your pushup, you would reach out with one hand and slap the opposite hand of your partner. It's difficult to explain - I'll see if I can find a video. In any case, the job was to do 15 of them, which went off perfectly. They were very fast, and therefor much simpler than the CC equivalent would be. When I started trying to get back in shape this summer, I took a fitness test and could only do 15 pushups in a minute, and that was a real struggle. It was really nice to be able to knock out 15 without breaking a sweat. Reminded me of the good old days.

3x40 Vertical Pull-ups

1x50 Fingertip Wall Push-ups

2x50 Wall Push-ups

Day 8: 20 November 2014 - Krav Maga?

As I said last week, I'm looking for something to do on Thursday's that's a bit more challenging and involved than the Trifecta. Last weekend, driving around with the Kids, I stumbled across a Krav Maga studio about 5 minutes from my house. How weird is that?

I don't have any martial arts experience, but what the hell, might be fun, and the first class is free.

Day 7: 19 November 2014 - Leg Lifts/Squats

Second workout with jackknife squats. I notice a lot of joint popping when standing up from the squat, but it appears that by watching form closely I can minimize this effect. I've had knee trouble in the past, so I'm trying to move very carefully. That didn't stop me from bumping up my reps. Slow and careful, but trying to find my ceiling. Good news is, muscles were struggling by the end of the last set, so I know I'm doing something right.

The leg lifts are still tough, but doesn't seem to be related to an injury or any strain; just weakness leaving the body, as they say.

Warm up:
10 minutes on treadmill (~ .8 miles)
1x5 Jackknife squats
1x5 Knee tucks

Main workout
2x20 Jackknife squats
2x15 Knee tucks

Final set
1x25 Jackknife squats
1x21 Knee tucks

I need to start adding Trifectas as a warmup.

Day 6: 18 November 2014 - Leg Lifts/Squats

Push/Pull

Second and probably last week of step 1 of push/pulls. I expect a significant increase in difficulty at step 2. I am looking forward to the challenge. I'm glad I'm spending the time focusing on form and timing. Hopefully that will carry forward to the next steps.

3x40 Vertical Pull (TRX Bands)

1x50 Fingertip Wall Pushups

2x50 Wall Pushups

Went to the chiro today, following my misadventures on day 2. Compression of a couple of neck vertebrae have caused the numbness in my arms. Will keep going to treatment for that. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to start headstands, my neck will be as well.

Day 5: 15 November 2014 - Leg Lifts/Squats

Leg Lifts/Squats

Tried a few new things today. First set was warmups - 1 set of 5 of each of the exercises I'm doing today. I'm going to be at this level for at least a month, so I'm going to try to do things right.

As recommended, I'm skipping the shoulderstand squats and moving to jackknife squats. Trying to figure out the right number of reps. Tried three sets of 10, but after it ended, it didn't seem like enough so I did an additional set of 15. The progression standard is 3 sets of 40, so I've got quite a lot of head room. I'm enjoying the squats quite a lot the stretch feels good, as does the action of sitting on the haunches.

Leg lifts are still tough. Did three sets of fifteen. I was definitely struggling by the end, but I wasn't trying to train to failure. I'll have to play with the numbers until I get to the right balance. It needs to be tough, but this is a long term project so I don't need to kill myself every session.

Bodyweight jackknife squts:

1x5

3x10

1x 15

Knee Tucks:

3x15

Day 4: 14 November 2014 - Push/Pull

2nd Push/Pull Day. Pushes are still pretty easy, but tried a couple of things. Did fingertip push-ups for the first 50. I'm going to keep doing fingertip push-ups for the warm-up set to start building finger strength. Eventually I'll need to balance with some grip work, but I'm already doing the pull-ups, so I'm probably fine for now. Popeye arms will be cool.

Historically my trouble with push-ups has been wrists and elbows. I can definitely see the advantages of starting slow to strengthen those tendons and gain more wrist flexibility. Still, looking forward to moving on to step 2.

Pulls were more of a challenge, that's mostly (I believe) a result of using the TRX straps. Those things are pretty good from a pure workout perspective, but it's really impossible to get a sense of progress because there are so many variables of foot placement and other things. From session to session and even set to set the difficulty can vary widely. This could be manageable in a home gym, because you can control those variables much better, but in a shared gym environment it's just impossible to tell whether you're doing more reps because you're getting stronger or because someone else has lowered the straps. Annoying.

Anyway, I did the progression set on both push and pull. I'll be hitting the wall on pulls first - no surprise there.

1x50 Fingertip Wall Push-ups

2x50 Wall Push-ups

3x50 Wall Pull-ups (With TRX strap)

Day 3: 13 November 2014 - Trifecta

Not sure I did this right. The whole exercise, end to end, was about 10 minutes. I guess it counts as a rest day. My problem is momentum. If I get up every morning and go to the gym, I’m good. But if I start skipping, everything goes to hell. This is one of the reasons that I looked for a five day a week workout instead of doing the two day routine recommended by the book. Eventually day 3 will be bridging, but I'm definitely not ready for that yet. I'll have to think more about what to do on those days, maybe some other random calisthenics like burpees, etc. Main goal is not to screw up recovery.

Day 2: 12 November 2014 - Squat/Leg Lifts

Shoulder stand squats - a strange way to start. As the book says, you spare your knees, but put a lot of strain on you shoulders and neck. Plus, they would be basically impossible for a fat person to pull off. Guess you have to start somewhere though. When I finished, my right arm was numb and tingly as if it had fallen asleep. Took a couple of hours to feel better. I have a pinched nerve that’s made my left arm permanently semi-numb for a couple of years, so I’ll have to think about this. Did the progression set.

Leg lifts. Even at step 1, these are not to be trifled with. Couldn’t make it to the progression set. did 2x40, but the third set was too much. After 15 reps, I had to call it a day. Strength in the bank. Rather than feeling discouraged, I feel pretty good about it. Step one will actually be making a big difference, and I’ll be a beast just by step 5.

UPDATE: Logged on to the dragon door forum (kbforum.dragondoor.com) and posted a question about the arm numbness. Got three replies, all helpful. Consensus was:

1. Don’t fuck around with my neck. A symptom like that means I’ve got a problem, and a serious injury to my neck would be really very bad. Seriously. Cut it out right now.
2. Skip step 1 of the squat progression. If the knee is a problem (which it is for me, though not too bad) do fewer reps. Better to stress your knees than stress your neck. See #1.
3. Get to a chiropracter, and see what can be done about the neck. It could be a major problem if not taken care of. If the chiro clears you for shouldstands, that might be fine, but it’s not something I should just put up with, or I may have problems later on. Neck problems. See #1.

Day 1: 11 November 2014 - Push/Pull

1st day started out with Pushups and Pullups - Step 1

I’m finding the Wall push-ups a little frustrating, since I feel that they’re far below my level. Nevertheless, I’m taking the time to think carefully about form and get used to the rhythm of the CC pushups, which are a lot slower than my normal pushups. I can see that the slower pushups are going to be a lot more punishing in the advanced steps. Did the progression set.

Wall Pulls were a bit of a challenge, not from a physical perspective but just in trying to find a good place to do them. Tried it against a narrow pillar, but the flat wall made gripping pretty difficult. Finally figured out that I could use those annoying TRX bands to simulate a pull up bar at chin height. Not quite by the book, but close enough, I hope. Did the progression set.

Finished progression set on both exercises, but I think I’ll hang out here for a while. I don’t want to rush it - as the book says: “strength in the bank”. I’ll do at least two weeks of step 1 before moving on. I can see some benefits of the easier levels. Since there’s little physical exertion involved, I can focus on form and timing, and take what I’ve learned with me to the higher levels of the exercises. Plus, pushups for me have often resulted in painful elbow tendons. I hope that by spending some time at the easier levels, I’ll strengthen my joints and tendons so that by the time I’m at the later levels I won’t have any of those problems holding me back