1st June, 2012 — Workout — Pushups & Leg Raises

Yay Friday! Gotta get my workout in though. Kind of chilly out today, its been overcast and a bit rainy most of the day. I may go inside here for the Leg Raises.

Just a note, again with my of my workouts, I’ll be taking 120 second rests between sets, and 150 second rests between work sets.

Man my shoulders were burning like crazy after that first work set of Close Pushups. About the 17th rep I knew I had gotten 18 last time I did it, so that drove me to want to get 20 this time. As long as I’m progressing, I’ll stay motivated! My triceps are definitely tight and burning a little after that one though.

Boo, it decided to start raining on me so I had to bring my workout in to the back room to finish it up – my computer doesn’t mix well with the rain!

ROUND II

I’m only taking 30 second breaks for the warmup on Straight Leg Raises. I’m thinking next week I’ll be ready for the next step in the Leg Raise series – The Hanging Knee Raise!

For this last set I’m going to push myself and see if I can get it to over 20 again. It’s the last set, might as well go big or go home ya know?

Glad I pushed myself, because after the 12th rep my abs were on fire. Staying focused, and persevering through will always pay off – Make sure that form’s good though!

Check back tomorrow for the kick A footage of me working out! I know that’s the only real reason you guys follow me along 😉

Warmup: Full Pushup

• 20 Full Pushups
• 20 Full Pushups

Set 1: Close Pushups

• 20 Close Pushups

Set 2:

• 15 Close Pushups

Set 3:

• 13 Close Pushups

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Warmup: Straight Leg Raises

• 10 Straight Leg Raises
• 10 Straight Leg Raises

Set 1:

• 24 Straight Leg Raises

Set 2:

• 20 Straight Leg Raises

Set 3:

• 22 Straight Leg Raises

Workout Video: 180s Wall Headstand / 165s Crow Stand & 100 Short / 65 Straight Bridges

30th May, 2012 — Workout — HSPU & Bridge

Well today’s workout is one of my least favorite, but it’s still important to get done. I only say its my least favorite because I’m on the very basic steps of it and they’re super boring!

Ah well, no use complaining – If I just finish them up, the faster I’ll be able to move onto the next step – WOO HOO!!! ( I had a little bit too much caffeine after work today 🙂 )

Starting things off with the good old Wall Headstands.

I’m thinking I don’t even need to use the wall anymore with these Wall Headstands – must mean my core / balance is improving 🙂 Always nice to see any sort of progress. Again with most of my workouts I’m taking 120 second rests between sets, except this time I only did 30 second rests for the warmup.

First round of Crow Stands, I feel after the 40 second mark, so I killed that video and re-filmed with the full minute length. It’s tweaking my right wrist a bit, so I’m not positive I’ll be able to get all three sets at 60 seconds. I don’t want to injure myself as that’d derail my progress a bit.

On the second set I failed two times around the 30 second mark, so I reset the timer / video for both of those and by the time it came to the third attempt I could only make it to 45 seconds. I’ll take it either way though. This last set I’ll get the 60 seconds, and hopefully beyond! I’m a sucker for perfection, so when I fall from losing balance, and not being tired I feel as though I have to reset. Could hurt me in the long run, but as of now that’s how I play. I mean it’s only my third or fourth time attempting these, so I might be moving too quickly for my own good, I just can’t stand not progressing and pushing myself to see what I can achieve!

WHAT DRIVES YOU?

BRUTAL! I had a little stumble on the last set again around the 30 second mark, but one I reset, I mustered up all of my focus to crank out the last set with 60 seconds! Definitely not easy though, the last 20 or so seconds my legs started to slip and my shoulders were burning.

ROUND II

Short Bridges are an excellent lower back warmup for myself. When I was younger I had a fairly physically demanding job for a youngster and never paid much attention to my ‘form.’ Resulting in almost monthly occurrences of a strained lower back, so its crucial for me as an adult to keep good form, and strengthen those muscles. I’ve become super conscious of my posture, especially while sitting as my job now has a lot of that.

Warmup: Wall Headstand

• 120 Seconds
• 60 Seconds

Set 1: Crow Stands

• 60 Seconds

Set 2:

• 45 Seconds

Set 3:

• 60 Seconds

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Warmup: Short Bridges

• 50 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges

Set 1: Straight Bridges

• 25 Straight Bridges

Set 2:

• 20 Straight Bridges

Set 3:

• 20 Straight Bridges

28th May, 2012 — Workout — HSPU / Bridge / Pullup / Squat’s

I didn’t quite get to my workouts so well this weekend, although I did bike the Erie Canal on Saturday for a few hours which was nice!

Today I’m going to be doing a combination of the Hand Stand Pushup routine along with my normal scheduled workouts for the day ( Horizontal Pulls & Squats )

Starting with some Wall Headstands. I am trying to hold them without my feet touching the wall for the entire length of the set. First set was a success, although I had to touch them briefly so I could check the time. For the second set I’m going to just use a countdown time so I don’t have to check.

Not having done these in over a week, definitely noticeable with my shoulders, after the first minute for each set they were burning like crazy.

During the Crow Stands, I only took 30 second breaks between each because they weren’t too troublesome on me. During the second set though, my foot touched the ground — thankfully I had the timer going so I could just restart the set without too much trouble. I try to improve every time I do a set! The last set I couldn’t see my timer, so I just stopped when it was getting bothersome for my wrists, and I ended up with 42 Seconds – I’ll take it 🙂 Onto Bridges

I like doing the Short Bridges for a warmup, it’s a very low-impact way to loosen up and warmup my spine. Only thing I’m going to do different for next time is not do these in the lawn day after its been mowed! The bugs are all over the place, not to mention all the grass I’m getting on myself haha.

Following again with the 120 second rest time between the sets. The Straight Bridges were feeling good today. I learned from my last time with them, to do a bit of stretching beforehand because they put a weird pinch or something on the nerves in my bicep resulting in my arm going numb partially. Thankfully the stretching beforehand seemed to remedy the situation.

FREAKING BUGS CREEPING UP ALL OVER MY DRINK WHILE IM WORKING OUT!! What I get for working out outside I suppose.

I can definitely feel it in my lower back after the second set in the Straight Bridges. Going to push through, stretch it a bit during my rest time and finish strong. I also noticed that in the book it says to start with the trunk of your body perpendicular to the legs. I can’t quite seem to get this while I’m outside, I mean I can start that way, but there’s no way for my feet to slide forward as they do in the book. Anything this would cause any issues with regards to progression and form?

Hot damn, if you check out the video, on my last rep of the last work set a kamikaze bug decided to bomb my right eye haha. On to the workout that’s actually scheduled for today!

ROUND II

As I did last time with the Horizontal Pulls & the Supported Squats, during the rest time’s I’m going to do the other exercise, starting with the Horizontal Pulls.

During the last few reps of the first set of Horizontal Pulls, I felt like I could get 11 reps, but after the tenth rep I figured my form would’ve gone south. Form is one of the most important factors in my workouts. How’s your form?

Started to run out of time and stamina towards the end. Although I wasn’t able to make all the reps for each set, I’d say it was still one hell of a workout today! Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day if you celebrate that kind of thing. Check back in a bit for the video!

Warmup: Wall Headstands

• 120 Seconds
• 120 Seconds

Set 1: Crow Stands

• 20 Seconds

Set 2: 

• 30 Seconds

Set 3:

• 42 Seconds

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Warmup: Short Bridges

• 50 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges

Set 1: Straight Bridges

• 20 Straight Bridges

Set 2:

• 20 Straight Bridges

Set 3:

• 22 Straight Bridges

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ROUND II

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Warmup: Horizontal Pulls

• 10 Horizontal Pulls
• 10 Horizontal Pulls

Set 1: Horizontal Pulls

• 10 Horizontal Pulls

Set 2:

• 9 Horizontal Pulls

Set 3:

• 10 Horizontal Pulls

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Warmup: Supported Squats

• 20 Supported Squats
• 20 Supported Squats

Set 1:

• 25 Supported Squats

Set 2:

• 30 Supported Squats

Set 3:

• 40 Supported Squats

17th May, 2012 — Workout — Crow Stands & Straight Bridges

Starting things off with the Handstand Pushup series. Hopefully making it to the Crow Stands today, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get them, but for how long’s different.

I don’t really have a good way to time these, so I’m trying to count to 10 in my head. Not the most accurate or efficient way to do it, but its how it works for now. Next time I’ll set up my boxing round timer for 10 second increments. I didn’t put too much rest time between these sets, only enough for my right wrist to take a breather. Only thing bugging me with these so far. Also to note, I was trying to keep balanced, and have my feet off the tree as much as possible.

ROUND II

Starting with the Short Bridges. I’m not confident I can do three work sets of the Intermediate Standard yet, so my goal is still to do three work sets of the Beginner Standard. The Short Bridges are pretty easy, so I’m cutting my warmup with them. I don’t really want to do three sets of 50 on top of the already two sets of 25. I also am not taking much of a break between these Short Bridges in the warmup, as they don’t really bother me or make me tired.

Left shoulder is a little stiff going into the Straight Bridges. I’m taking my 120 second breaks in between work sets to stretch it out a little. I keep getting that weird numbing of my arm’s again … Anyone have any ideas as to why that happens?

BAM — 21 to finish it off.

Warmup: Wall Headstands

• 120 Seconds
• 120 Seconds
• 10 Second Crow Stand

Set 1: 

• 10 Seconds Crow Stand

Set 2:

• 15 Seconds Crow Stand

Set 3:

• 15 Seconds Crow Stand

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Warmup: Short Bridge

• 25 Short Bridges
• 25 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges

Set 1: Straight Bridge

• 15 Straight Bridges

Set 2:

• 18 Straight Bridges

Set 3:

• 21 Straight Bridges

9th May, 2012 — Workout — Handstand Pushups & Bridges

Starting today’s workout off with some good ol’ Wall Headstands. Again I feel as though they’re a bit on the weaker side of the workouts, but they are the first step towards being able to do One–Arm Handstand Pushups! With this round I tried to focus on keeping my balance, instead of just resting my heels on the wall – gives me something to do while I’m upside down for a minute, and it will help in the long run. I’m also trying to progress to the next step, so I added 10 seconds work set.

Next on the agenda for the day is the Bridge routine. Definitely seeing some improvement in these. As my previous post these were a bit rough even after the first warmup set. I feel as though my lower back is strengthening already, because I was able to crank through the warmup with no extended breaks. That little pause at the top add’s a little something extra!

Now onto the Straight Bridges. Last time, they put some funky strain on my shoulders the first few reps, so this time I made sure to warmup my shoulders before hand — definitely a noticeable difference this time around.

Heck yeah, feeling good today, those Straight Bridges stood no chance of getting me to quit today! How’s your workout today?

Warmup: Wall Headstands

• 30 Seconds
• 30 Seconds

Set 1:

• 60 Seconds

Set 2:

• 70 Seconds

Set 3:

• 80 Seconds

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Warmup: Short Bridges

• 25 Short Bridges
• 25 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges
• 50 Short Bridges

Set 1: Straight Bridges

• 10 Straight Bridges

Set 2:

• 11 Straight Bridges

Set 3:

• 12 Straight Bridges

2nd May, 2012 — Workout — Wall Headstands

Although I can do a few of the regular handstand pushups, I wanted to get my body used to it using the techniques mentioned in the book. So conditioning the body and blood vessels in my upper body to get used to being upside down is important. Today’s workout was kind of lame in my opinion, it wasn’t a real challenge, nevertheless its an important step.

Warmup:

• 30 second Wall Headstands
• 30 second Wall Headstands

Set 1:

• 60 second Wall Headstands

Set 2:

• 60 Second Wall Headstands

Set 3:

• 70 Second Wall Headstands

My big six and the steps I’m starting with

1. Pushup:
   • Beginning with Step 5: Full Pushup
   • Training goal: Intermediate 2 sets of  10
   • I’m fairly positive I can get the Training level goal of Progression ( 2 sets of 20 ), but I’m going to try to focus on keeping my performance of the pushup at a high level. The author mentions keeping it a bit slower — two second down, pause for one second , back up and immediately back down. The logic of the pause, being a momentum killer, was refreshing to hear. While doing a pushup fast, you are able to use some of the momentum, but with the pause its all muscle.
2. Squat:
   • Beginning with Step 2: Jackknife squats
   • Training Goal:  Intermediate 2 sets of 20
   • Squats have never been a big favorite of mine, but after reading the logic behind it, it will be very important to develop
3.  Pullup:
   • Beginning with Step 3: Jackknife pulls
   • Training Goal:  Intermediate 2 sets of 15
   • I need to remember to keep the shoulders tight on the way down and not to fully extend my arms.
   • Again the author mentions two seconds up, one second pause, then two seconds down
4. Leg Raise:
   • Beginning with Step 5: Flat Straight Leg Raises
   • Training Goal:  Intermediate 2 sets of 10
5. Bridge:
   • Beginning with Step 2: Straight Bridge
   • Training Goal:  Beginner 1 set of 10
   • I don’t really ever train my spine much, Only from the yoga of P90x so I feel that I’ll need to begin low
6.  Handstand Pushup:
   • Beginning with Step 1: Wall Headstands
   • Training Goal:  Beginner 30sec
   • I know that I can already do a few of them, but I want to be able to get to the Master Step
   • I like his line the author says, it will more than likely take you 2-3 years, but you were planning on getting 3 years older anyway right?