Exercise/Fitness Log

[Ego]

My birthday is coming up in October. Over the weekend I decided I'm going to work my way up to 45 consequential pull-ups (non-stop) for my 45th birthday. Told my wife this morning. She said, "That's great. But you're going to be 46 in October." Actually had to count on my fingers. Crap.

Will post video success or failure. This promise will hold me to it.

[jennypenny]

LOL, maybe you should be doing more mental exercises...

[Ego]

Precisely what she said.

[Ego]

First video working toward the pullup challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnu2PUuee7Y

I got 30. From that angle it seems my chin does not clear the bar.... it does.... except maybe on one near the end. This is the first time I've used the pullup bar at Mission Bay Park. It was slippery as heck. The bar at my gym has padding which isn't slippery at all and allows me to get a few more. The guy in the back said most people use chalk to get a better grip. I'll have to get some.

He told me about a group of acrobats who meet there regularly to practice body-weight exercises. Apparently this is the website they enjoy:

http://www.beastskills.com/

I'm going to be spending a little more time at the park to see if I can learn anything interesting and perfect a few more exercises.

[sshawnn]

30 is a great start ego.(19 is the most I have ever done.) Those gymnast/acrobat folks are no joke! Some of the strongest per pound people I have ever seen. Training with them would certainly stimulate training.

[Hottentot]

Some days ago i was able to do this 100 squat challenge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvzVjuY8SY) so i added some weight today.
Did 6x6 sets of squats with 12 box of milks today (about 13kg) and it was not that difficult. I'll add something on top of it the next workout. Maybe my dog.

[Chad]

First video working toward the pullup challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnu2PUuee7Y

I got 30. From that angle it seems my chin does not clear the bar.... it does.... except maybe on one near the end. This is the first time I've used the pullup bar at Mission Bay Park. It was slippery as heck. The bar at my gym has padding which isn't slippery at all and allows me to get a few more. The guy in the back said most people use chalk to get a better grip. I'll have to get some.

He told me about a group of acrobats who meet there regularly to practice body-weight exercises. Apparently this is the website they enjoy:

http://www.beastskills.com/

I'm going to be spending a little more time at the park to see if I can learn anything interesting and perfect a few more exercises.

Very impressive. Reminds me of the CrossFit games. Those people are definitely functionally fit, as you demonstrate.

Maybe do a few sets without the chalk to strengthen your grip and then add the chalk to make sure you are getting the maximum out of your arms, shoulders, and back.

[Spartan_Warrior]

@Ego: Agreed, very impressive! Good luck with your goal.

This thread, combined with the fact that I finally have some free time after publishing an e-book, have finally inspired me to get serious about fitness again, after a few months doing little/nothing. I think I'll come up with a new weightlifting and diet regimen today.

I'm finding the diet is even more complicated than it once was as I now have an (essentially) live-in girlfriend with different eating schedule/habits, which can occasionally throw my OCD meal planning off balance.

Routine will probably be straightforward compound/power lifting 2-3x a week--squats, bench, deadlift, pull ups--just because volume training is time consuming. Also, now that summer is essentially over and I don't care as much about fat gain, I may start "bulking" (eating in excess of maintenance calories) to try to put on some muscle mass, and I feel the low-volume/high-intensity routines are better equipped for that. (On the other hand, I feel like high-volume stuff is better for overall fitness/conditioning/fat loss, and a little more fun if you have the time.)

[Chad]

...which can occasionally throw my OCD meal planning off balance.

This is my problem with meals and working out. I get a good schedule going and something disturbs it. I have a hard time reinstating it, as the disruption feels like failure.

(On the other hand, I feel like high-volume stuff is better for overall fitness/conditioning/fat loss, and a little more fun if you have the time.)

I think the exact opposite. If I get above 8-10 reps in anything my interest starts to wane.

[henrik]

@Ego-- respect!

This actually seems like a good recurring/consistent fitness goal: be able to do pullups, pushups, run the number of miles equal to your current age. (Use the metric system if you're not that much into running:)) Just need an elegant way to scale this down a bit when you reach your nineties or so...

[Ego]

Thanks guys. I really need to work on grip strength. It is my point of failure on any of the pulling lifts. It was always really bad but got worse after I broke my thumb last December.

Look at that, I'm already making excuses.... hah!

[jennypenny]

...which can occasionally throw my OCD meal planning off balance.

I'm packing to go away this morning and I'm worried about this also. I don't want my diet/exercise disrupted while I'm gone, especially now that I've transitioned back to LC from paleo.

I really need to work on grip strength. It is my point of failure on any of the pulling lifts. It was always really bad but got worse after I broke my thumb last December.

Use a bucket of dry rice. Or crawl along the bottom of the pool using only your fingers. Or do laps with your fingers spread apart. (Can you tell I've broken 17 fingers LOL? Lots of practice with building up grip/hand strength.)

[Ego]

Use a bucket of dry rice. Or crawl along the bottom of the pool using only your fingers. Or do laps with your fingers spread apart. (Can you tell I've broken 17 fingers LOL? Lots of practice with building up grip/hand strength.)

I'll have to try the pool. If I were to do the rice thing I would never hear the end of it.... Keep your grubby hands outta my rice!

Today I got 40/22/12 then another 22 after ten minutes of rest. The angle is funky because we're not supposed to film at the gym... and since I technically work there I'm supposed to follow the rules, so I hid the camera. The first set of 40 absolutely gutted me. The next two sets were harder than I expected. The squishy bar helped a lot with grip endurance, but I feel like I am cheating now that I know what it is like using a real bar. Also, there is no bar at chin level making it easy to cheat... which I think I did on a few reps. Oh well.

http://youtu.be/PauvvmWO8cA

[McTrex]

Jenny,

Since no-one else asks...17 fingers? How do you manage to do that???

[jennypenny]

@McTrex--I was a soccer goalie. And despite how that sounds, I was a really good one I just didn't wear gloves with metal fingers.

[Ego]

I figured you meant 17 fingers in the same way someone would say they drank fifty beers last night. It's a wonder you can type.

[George the original one]

Vacation last week was a great chance to exercise with purpose. Wed morning started off with mist, followed by rain showers, followed by mist... feeling cooped up, but eventually the sun broke through and I fished while kayaking the estuary. Wed evening hiked in & out 3 miles to the fishing holes on second river. Thur was up at the crack of dawn hiking/fishing second river and covered 12+ miles. Fri afternoon/evening was hiking & fishing third river, about 5 miles covered... lots of vertical climbing in this box canyon. Sat morning was a 5 mile hike/fishing on the second river followed by another 5 mile hike/fishing on the third river in the afternoon. OK, finally felt sore enough Sun morning that it was time to rest & recover... my toes were tired of having soggy socks bunch up in the bottom of the wading shoes and getting up from chairs made me groan like an old man.

[riparian]

Ego, damn! Good job!

Hottentot, I added weight to my squats by doing them one legged and it made my muscles grow way more than regular/weighted squats.

I've been building a house! No pull ups or push ups cause I'm carrying around 80lb bags of concrete and stuff and don't wanna deal with sore or fatigued muscles. Also no pull up bar. But my friend took a picture of me making a muscle today and I have a new little dimple cut where my bicep ends near my shoulder.

This gives me hope - I should probably lose like 5-8% body fat, and I thought I'd have to do that by losing weight and muscle and mass, and I like having muscle and mass. Now I think maybe I could eat and grow my muscles to the high teens of bf%. I just ate a bunch of sausage dipped in hummus. It was nummy.

[jennypenny]

I (mostly) stuck to my diet and exercise while I was out of town. I tried a long run yesterday (2hr) and I feel pretty good today. The first mile is still a grind, but I get a consistent rungasm @18:00 now so that helps a lot. I have one more week of unstructured running, and then I start a 20-week training program.

Now that I have my legs under me again, it's time to shore up my core. I'm going to add more strength training and ab work this week. I can tell I'm really tight, so I have to add more stretching.

[Ego]

Rungasm.......HAH! Hadn't heard that one before but it describes it (almost) perfectly.