Pull ups, dips, stair repeats, again and again
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I am not very fit at the moment. 3+ months of archilles pain saw me become a bit lazy. The next 2 months should be enough for me to turn things around, so I'll post here to motivate myself. Nutrition wise I'm pretty careful to eat enough meat and veges. Am 89kg at moment. Aim is cut 3 to 5kg fat, up 2-3kg muscle. Will post before after pics sometime.First 2 weeks are only outdoor, last 5 weeks combine outdoor and gym.Week 1. Started already.Legs, Friday: did 12 hill repeats (150 steps) in 30 minutes, bit slow tbh. Plus 15 minutes up, then down hill before/after. =1 hour exercise. Aim for July will be twice a week * 25-30 hill repeats fast (1 hour continuous). Hill repeats are great for cardio recovery. Longer hikes (3-6 hours at hard pace) are also fantastic for general fitness (and fun), but it's hard to maintain muscle.Upper-body, Sunday: All breaks under 1 minute-dips on parralel bars-18/12/8/6 = 44 faded a bit as short breaks.-Bench press (about 50kg) -30+10+10, 15, 15, 15,15 = 110. I can do about 95kg 1 rep max but like to do higher reps for fitness. Still, want to do at least 30 each time.-half pull ups (only go down just past 90 degrees on bicep/elbow)-25, 15, 12, 12, 16 = 80-full pull ups 5, 5, 5, 5, 4 = 24 Not very many, I admit, but was worn out.
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Thanks JK, I'll make a good effort to improve.<br />
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Week 1. Legs:<br />
-12 hill repeats plus warm up and walk down, 38 minutes for the 12=very slow. Was lethargic (excuses below*), and knackered after 5. Stuck at it due to this thread, and completed which was pleasing.<br />
-Added 1 set of dips, bench press, pull ups on way down. Just a few, my muscles are still tender from two days ago.<br />
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Tomorrow should be hard upper body, but might delay a day or two due to an imminent typhoon, and I haven't yet recovered.<br />
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[size=2][i]*excuses: late night watching Euro 2012 till 4am, straight after eating an oily Chinese lunch box, carrying a heavy bag, and wearing hiking trousers not shorts on a humid 30+ day. Bah.[/i][/size] -
I hurt my lower back. For three days could hardly walk, and many other movements were extremely painful. Felt like I'd put out a vertabrae. After 5 days I could walk at 90% freedom, and it's still a little tight at times.<br />
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I reckon it's due to so much hiking, pull ups and dips without adequate stretching-so the hips, legs, back are all too tight. Going forward I'm going to add more stretching, swimming,swim kicking. <br />
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Saturday did a reasonable upper-body workout:<br />
Dips-15/12/8/7 with 2 minutes stretching break<br />
Bench-25+10+10/20+10+10/25+15+15+10 with 3 minutes break between each group, and 30 second breaks in the sets<br />
Pull-ups+abs-just a light workout to test my back-3/3/5/5/5 with small breaks. Finished each with ab workout.<br />
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Sunday 15 hill repeats in 42 minutes. Tried hard, still slow, warm day (30+ C)<br />
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Back pain and archilles pain there, but minor. Ate too much last week so lost tone. Will push on with much more exercise. -
Still have sore back from yesterday.<br />
Tuesday chest, shoulders:<br />
-dips 17/12/10/10<br />
-bench press, 3 sets of 50 with longer breaks in between:<br />
28/8/7/7=50<br />
30/10/5/5=50<br />
24/11/8/6/5=54<br />
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I'd like to do 3 sets of 30/20/20/20 in the end, that would be fit enough<br />
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Tomorrow will be 2+ hour hike in the hills. -
Wednesday did 2 hour hike in hills, early. Aim was to burn some calories to lean up.<br />
Thursday nothing, should have swum early but want all muscle soreness gone, will resume with back tomorrow.<br />
Generally pleased to be back on track after my injured back and archilles-but a month out from being sufficiently fit.<br />
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It would be good to hear from other posters on some of the other fitness threads. -
Fri: nothing, too busy<br />
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Saturday, back:<br />
Half pull ups with 2 minute break:<br />
28,20,15,15,13,12<br />
Full pull ups with under 1 minute break:<br />
3,3,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4<br />
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Sunday, legs:<br />
-6AM, hiked 1 hour<br />
-late afternoon, 30+ C heat: 16 hill repeats of 150 steps, done in 38 minutes which is faster than the 15 in 42 minutes last time. I definitely felt a boost in my fitness this weekend. I would have done 20 but was close to throwing up my cheese pasta lunch. I look forward to getting 25 repeats soon, as per OP.<br />
-finished with a set of pull-ups, but have sore forearms/fingers so couldn't really hold myself up long without a fair bit of pain.<br />
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Monday, chest/shoulders<br />
Dips:<br />
15.10.8.8.9<br />
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Bench press: (total 200 of 55kg)<br />
30/10/10......25/7/8/10.....20/8/6/6/5/5....5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5 with 5 breath breaks and power the weight up, slow down. Not hard enough, should have done 7 each time.<br />
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Tuesday will be rest day. Phew. I have a long way to go and must really push harder and up the intensity. Still debating using the gym for a month (start next week) or not. -
EDIT: Bah, public transport-throat cold. Took a few days off to recover, I also limited my food, and feel a bit weak, but wanted to tone up more-and a fever is the perfect time to lose weight..<br />
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Did a mild workout on Friday (dips-15/12/10) and (half-pull ups 20/20/20).<br />
Saturday did 22 minutes hill sprints, 8 reps of 150-160 steps and small flat areas.<br />
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Was going to join the gym for a month, but decided not to. I prefer exercising outside in the summer fresh/hot air. I still think I can continue to get fitter over the next month, even on the limited exercises I do. I think it's time to up the intensity. Something like this:<br />
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to be completed in under 65 minutes, at two different workout areas on the hill near my home-one place has dips bars and 55~(estimate)kg bench press, the other has high pull up bar<br />
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10 m dips....60 sec breaks, hike 200m to do...(paralell bars, fully down and up)<br />
15 m hups....30 sec breaks, hike 200m to do...(hups=half pull ups=only go down just past 90 degrees on the arm, but keep body as still and controlled as possible)<br />
15 m bench...30 sec breaks, hike 200m to do...<br />
15 m fups....30 sec breaks....(fups=full pull ups, complete extension of arms-dangle at bottom)<br />
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all to max<br />
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every second day and weekends off<br />
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Legs Tue or Thu and Sat or Sun. 1 hour repeats each time -
Gave this a shot today, ouch, brutal but doable. Did only half today as afternoon rains stoped late, it was getting dark. Used a stopwatch on my breaks, so...<br />
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Dips: 80, of 15/8/7/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5 each with 30 seconds break<br />
Full pull ups: 37, of 10/5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5 (each one was most of the way up, but not complete)<br />
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try again tomorrow and [s]hike a mountain on Tue AM with some old guys.[/s] Rained overnight, it's a ridge walk so they cancelled. I'm going to rest, sore archilles, sore upper body from Monday's workout. -
Continuing to invent new ways to torture myself... <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' /><br />
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Monday AM did:<br />
10 minutes dips with 30 seconds break: 15/10/7/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4 = 81<br />
10 minutes half pull ups with 30 seconds break and 5 minute break in middle: 20/7/5/5///20/5/4/3 = 69<br />
10 minutes bench with 30 seconds break: 20/12/10/8/7/8/8/7/7/6 = 93<br />
under 10 minutes pull ups, ran out of focus: 6/4/3/2/2/3/3/3 = 26<br />
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That's a good workout, if only I could do 15 minutes each exercise, efficiently and more reps. Maybe I should make the breaks 60 seconds....... I'll do it once more this week, and also try my max reps with long breaks.<br />
Tired now. -
Tuesday off due to rain-no long hike.<br />
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Wednesday: tried 10 minutes total with 1 minute rest between sets<br />
Dips = 67: 15/12/8/7/7/6/7/6<br />
Half pull-ups = 76: 20/15/7/9/8/5/7/5<br />
Bench press = 94: 26/14/11/9/9/8/9/8<br />
then walked to the top and did some abs, followed by<br />
Fill pull-ups = 42: 10/6/6/5/4/4/4/3<br />
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Verdict, higher reps each time but not that sore afterwards, can push harder. Still, the ideal is 15 minutes with 30 seconds rest between sets. <br />
Thursday rest. -
Thursday: Went up just before dark<br />
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-20 hill repeats, 150 steps done 2 by 2, jog down. Time=46 minutes. Feeling fitter and could have kept going for the hour but it was basically dark.<br />
-Pleased with the workout and improvement in fitness, although archilles is still tender, after last weekend running up the hill <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':(' /><br />
-reckon can still go up a level in fitness<br />
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-the upperbody workouts are making a change in my strength/shape. I also bought 5lbs protein powder ( [url="http://www.knowyoursupplements.com/myofusion-reviews/"]http://www.knowyours...fusion-reviews/[/url] ) as had done all this only on food. Will take it 3 times a day, hope it helps.<br />
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-Should I continue with these updates? No comments so far. I might make tomorrow's my last. -
And a great record for you to look back on! unless you track your training somewhere else as well : )<br />
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My programme is more weights based but I certainly check out what you've been up too. -
Thanks for the comments, I doubted anyone read here. Yes, it is a good record for myself, and personally motivates me to push as hard as I can.....(and I would love to see someone give this type of workout a try and give me a tough target to aim at...)<br />
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Also, thanks to Bart and Kirwan, plus the mods. It's a good site. And it's a Kiwi site, which means a lot.<br />
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Friday late afternoon:<br />
dips-12 minutes with 30 second breaks<br />
=91: 16/10/6/6/5/5/5/5/5/5/4/5/5/5/4<br />
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half pull ups-12 minutes with 30 second breaks<br />
=102: 22/12/9/7/5/5/6/5/6/5/5/5/6/4<br />
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bench press-12 minutes with 30 second breaks<br />
=110: 27/10/10/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7<br />
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full pull ups-12 minutes with 30 second breaks<br />
=44: 8/5/4/4/3.5/3.5/3.5/3/2.5/2.5/2.5/2.5<br />
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A good week and am pleased. Weekend off, beach, and waterfall swimming. Next week, focus on better form, and want 60 minutes hill repeats session. -
Monday: 10 minutes with 30 second breaks....<br />
Dips=86: 18/10/7/6/6/5/6/5/5/5/5/4/4<br />
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Half pull-ups=105: 26/12/10/9/10/10/8/7/7/6<br />
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Bench press=27/10 and stopped with sore shoulders.<br />
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I must have overdone it on the dips, and am taking the rest of the week off to rest. I might also revise the workouts slightly. I'm getting good results from these more intense workouts but should limit dips, keep good form, and increase recovery time. I'm 86-87kg at 6"1, aiming to be 83-84kg as definitely carrying a layer of fat, ably assisted by all the nightmarket food I am supplied with on top of my strict diet...<br />
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Tuesday: Short walk up the hill and stretching at dusk. Took some photos, attached them all to this post, showing the workout area, the view from the hill, the start of the 150 steps.<br />
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Wednesday AM early:<br />
Hill repeats, completed 21 climbs (most since restarted after archilles strain (which still niggles)), jogged down each one. Stretched after. First 15 in 33 minutes, last 6 in 15.45 as slowed down. Still aiming for 26 in an hour before end of July, then 2 weeks on 30 a time before mixing it up. -
Saturday, mild workout to test shoulder stains: <br />
dips 1 minute breaks: 15/10/10/9/8/7/7/7/7=80<br />
full pull ups 1 minute breaks: 10/7/6/5/4/4/5/4/3/4=52<br />
bench press 3 minute breaks: 25/25/25/25=100<br />
abs 1 minute breaks: 520<br />
seems shoulders are recovering, phew<br />
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Sunday, went a bit harder, only 30 second breaks, but was tired from yesterday<br />
dips: 15/8/6/6/5/5/5/4=54<br />
full pull ups: 10/4/4/4/3/3/3/3=34<br />
bench: 30/12/10/9/8/7/8/6=90<br />
abs: 320
