Saber2 Workout Log & Comments

4/15 Tax the body day

Conditioning

I did 4 rounds of 3 min jump rope followed by 25 burpees.

I tried to get each 25 burpees in the minute rest between rounds but didn't succeed. So I guess that might be a goal to reach for my conditioning days.

4/19 Payback for the weekend.

Static Strength- 4x12-15s Advanced frog tucks (knees kept slipping) 2x30 Wall squats (Done at the end of the workout)

Dynamic Strength- 3x5 One arm pushups, 1x4,2x5 One legged squats

Explosive Strength- 3x8 Plyo pushups, 3x8 Fourth Stair explosive jumps

Regular Work - 3x7 TRX Flys (only seven because I lost balance at 8 took that as failure and backed down), 3x15 Hindu Squats

1x10 Floor wipers, 1x15 V-ups

Overall good workout, I figure If I am gonna focus on one muscle group in this case two, I might as well throw all the training in with it. I liked it because each exercise had a purpose, not where you are just doing one more to get a burn or what not. This might be something for me to look into.

Tomorrow will more than likely be a shoulder/ab day combo.

4/20

Static strength 4x15s Handstand work, 2x30 Ab Planks, 2x15s L sits

Dynamic Strength 3x5 HeSPU, 3x5 Standing ab wheel roll outs

Explosive Strenght 3x15 explosive ab twists green band, 3x15 green band shoulder raises

Regular work 1x50 Situps 1x50 flutter kicks, 1x50 russian twists, 3x10 Trx knock off shoulder work

4/21

I am liking my current training protocol where I am doing static, dynamic, and explosive strength. My muscles feel good and worked when I am done so I might stick to it for a little while. Anyway today was back and hammies however I couldn't think of too much for the hammies, so I am open to suggestions

Static 4x15s Front Tuck Levers

Dynamic 4x5 25lb vest Pullups 4x5 Assisted Glute Ham Raises (Small Band)

Explosive 3x10 Clapping Pullups 3x10 each leg Hamstring Curls (Small Band with an emphasis on speed)

Regular Work 3x10 Bodweight rows (I eventually would love to be able to these one armed as a progress goal)

4/22

Conditioning/cardio Density day

10 minutes of:

10 Burpees

10 2 count Mountain Climbers

I got 8 rounds I was hoping for 10 but I was sucking wind for a lil while

10 minutes

Med Ball Slams

I got 260 med ball slams (My medicine ball is 26lbs, I cut up a basketball and filled it with sand)

3 minutes:

Jump roping (Active rest)

Overall Great workout. I think I like the approach of density days because it lets me compete with myself. How many reps can I get in this amount of time (this mentality satisfies the beast within :twisted: )

So after reading some other logs I am curious what others do for conditioning/cardio days?

On another note, I still have not achieved my goal of the muscle up but that is because I haven't been practicing. I really would like to find a tree to hang my rings from for I can practice kipping muscle ups, because the other day when I did clapping pullups I hit my head on the ceiling so I want to see if that kipping force would result in a MU.

Whats up with all the highrep stuff? What's this for?

I am the type of person who needs high rep workouts at least weekly. Thanks to good ole Uncle Sam, that became the foundation to my workouts. To me when I am gasping for air is a workout, I don't know why its just the mentality set within, during this week my muscles were "trained" because I felt that nice deep burn, but I was still left wanting something more. I might incorporate some of these conditioning drills as finishers to my first three day workouts. The only thing that will be stable from week to week is my gymnastic oriented workouts, the rest will be varied for two reasons:

1) Avoid Boredom of repetiveness

2) These workouts are not what I am measuring my progress in, they are just tools to help get me to my destination.

It appears after reading my log I may have workout ADD, ah well can't blame me for experimenting

4/23

Conditioning Day 2

Still trying to follow a density day mindset.

50 pullups in 3:42 I wanted to attempt 100 pullups but by the time I hit 50 I was done.

10 minutes of:

10 80lb Sandbag Cleans (I squat down, lift the sandbag at an explosive speed to throw it up and then catch it and repeat)

10 lateral jumps (Back and forth is 1)

Got 8 rounds in

I was spent so the rest was random

did 10 turkish getups with 25lb kb,

10 snatches per arm with the same kb

25 Body rows (Usually I am completely horizontal when doing these but I opted for a easier variation to really get the burn + plus I don't think I could have done 5 in the horizontal position)

Overall good workout. I like the suck factor from the last two days.

4/26

Today I had to cut the leg portion of the workout. My legs are so sore, I am not sure if its from last weeks hamstring day or if I sat on the stool wrong where it cut off circulation for a while.

4x15s Advance frog tucks

3x10 Psuedo Planche Pushups with 25lb vest

3x6 (Each arm) One arm Push ups

3x12 Powerovers (this is a pushup where one hand is elevated and ou explode side to side)

Not a bad workout considering I ditched the legs today. I wish I wasn't so sore because I think I would throw some burpees in there. I wish there was an obstacle course near by because I would really like to do something like that for fun.

Where are your hands during PPP? Are your wrists next to your hip bones? If they aren't there yet then you need to make sure you at least alternate between your weighted PPP and doing bodyweight reps with less advantage, meaning hands closer to the hips. Are you coming up to straight arms at the top or is there some bend at the elbow?

my hands on the ppp are very close to the hip bones. I read the post and video you had up of them and practiced for a few months before I started posting. Actually I have the opposite effect. I don't move backward I move more forward. So if I don't start right I know I am ending right. I do regular body weight versions over the weekend. Sometimes I try to do a Pseudo Maltese Pushup.

4/27

Unstructured workout

1x40s Handstand (I wanted to go for max length with my feet on the wall because)

1x4 1x3 HeSPU

3x10 Standing rollouts using TRX-like strap

5 min of 120lb Sandbag shouldering 26 reps

3x10 L-Sits

3x5 Flags.

Random Shoulder movements with TRX-like strap.

Not a bad workout, I enjoyed doing the shouldering work because that is just fun.

So I was reading some of your posts and posts on rosstraining. I saw something about the VFF and was like WTF. I found out what they are and am very interested in starting barefoot running. I used to suffer shin splints when I run but never when I sprint, and now I realize that is due to mechanics. Endurance running I would hit my heel first and sprinting I would land on the balls of my feet. So I am gonna start playing with that. All my training is barefoot as is or with sox, same difference to me. I figure tomorrow I might hit a half mile doing bare foot on the treadmill, while I gather the materials to make some running sandals, haurache sandals. I would just like to find some rawhide straps to use instead of nylon or hemp. (I saw the VFF go for 80 bucks but I don't spend that on regular shoes why would I do that on minimalistic shoes that are supposed to represent bare feet). Maybe this will entice me into running again, after all the theme I try to tackle when training is au natural (movements the body will face or is likely to face)

Anyway this was a quick little rant.

Saber2 said:

I saw the VFF go for 80 bucks but I don't spend that on regular shoes why would I do that on minimalistic shoes that are supposed to represent bare feet.

I'd say the best reason is that you can be barefoot everywhere you go. Wherever you decide to run or workout, it will always be safe to be barefoot because you'll have that Vibram rubber protecting you from things that would hurt your bare feet. I mean, you certainly could take the time to let your feet toughen naturally, but you'll still get cut on small pieces of glass, thorns, etc. The vibrams protect you from that. Second, there's nothing better for your feet than always being barefoot, even in the stores. Sandals are not comparable, not even remotely. You'll see if you decide to shell out the money. The Vibrams last for a looooong time. I've had mine for over a year and they are holding up great. Even if I had to buy a new pair once a year that'd totally be worth it.

4/28

4x15s Tuck Lever

4x6 Tuck Rows

Ran 1 mile on the treadmill barefoot

3x10 exploding pull ups

I am not gonna lie today my efforts were more focused on doing the barefoot mile. IT felt good, my feet are on fire right now but I am expecting that they will eventually callus up. Now I wonder if that will be a good thing or bad thing. Nonetheless running felt good and enjoyable considering I haven't ran in quite a while. I also made a new pair of TRX straps using tie downs I bought from Lowes. Depending on what you hook it up to they make for a decent pair of homemade rings. The straps I was using before were not adjustable, my father made them out of old rock climbing gear. Another reason I did this because the rings are at my house but I train over my parents since I have not brought everything over yet.

Slizzardman, in regards to the shoes, believe me I would love a pair, and more than likely will get a pair in the future. The thing is I have old wrestling shoes that I can probably make a decent pair of sandals out of that will work for the time being. But the more I read up on them, the more I would like them too.

I own a pair for the last 2-3 years and there not even remotely close to dying out on me.

One thing I could say that I find no one else really mentions is that you can literally FEEL the texture beneath you. It will feel different standing on cement, it will feel different on grass, on wood... you name it. I LOVE that about my VIbrams.

That is so true! I totally forgot to mention that.

4/29

Conditioning

10 minutes of AMRAP of SLS - I got 78 reps (39 per leg)

6 minutes of Jump Roping ( 1min high intensity followed by 1 min cool down x3)

Tabata Rows

Short and effective, wasn't what I was desiring but it worked. The jump roping was tiresome because my legs were completely smoked. I wanted to do 10 min of burpees and pullups but I was somewhat lethargic. Also since I really didn't hit legs at all this week I figure why not torch them today :twisted: I guess after doing this many SLS I will need to throw some weight into the mix when I target them for strength. I used to try a weight vest but I never could find my balance. Tomorrow since it will be nice I am hoping to do hill sprints where I run to the top and do 10-15 reps of an exercise and then go back down.

Slizzardman, I know you advise me not to go back to back days hitting the same muscle group, but does that matter on my conditioning days? The way I look at it I will not be targeting back for strength until next Wednesday so I should have plenty of recovery time.

You have to ask yourself whether or not you taxed them. If you had done strength for sure you would have taxed them and you need time to recover before you get adequate performance with them. Your workout was more tiresome and extremely enduring. Do you think your legs were taxed? Or do you think they've recovered to give you good performance the next day?

I would suggest that you build up slowly if that's how you want to work them. If you build up slowly enough it will probably not get in the way too much, but I don't know.

Personally I don't do things like that without a day in-between. I certainly wouldn't suggest you do that much back work right after a back strength day unless you are ok with making slow progress on strength. Not that that will necessarily happen, but you're doing a lot of work with a muscle group that's already pretty hammered. It's certainly a possibility. I'd experiment with it for a month and see how you feel. If you don't feel like you're making good progress, take a rest day inbetween. You can always do sprints for conditioning the day after and do rows the day after that.

Well today I know I am gonna run hills, probably need to do more than I will because my better half cooked an amazing dinner and had dessert that she brought home from work.

My legs are a little tight from yesterday so today will be fun for them. Will post workout later.

4/30/2010

30 Minutes of Hill sprints

I was able to do it 7 times

It was more like hill running though because I was focusing on doing a forefoot landing even though I was not barefoot. I figure this would be a good way for me to help develop the muscles required for barefoot/minimalist running. When my form started to get sloppy I felt the heal hit. Nonetheless great workout, considering the last time I ran that hill I had to progressively make it shorter after each run. I do enjoy the forefoot landing style of running because I feel it in my abs more. My body feels more structured (acting in a way its suppose to.) However I am not sure If I am bouncing which I know is not good, so I will be more mindful of that.

Next week I would like to do 100 yard sprints and then burpees at one end and possibly muscle ups on the Goal Posts at the town High School. I am hoping to attempt kipping MU just to see If I can do it.

Now for a weekend of active rest and recovery!!! 8)

Oooo I just found an idea for a good weight lifting device. This is old school by every sense of the word, I found it at this site http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Aston/p-s/ps2.htm. Its called the anti-barbell. This will be helpful if you are like me and tight on your budget and/or prefer unorthodox training methods. Pretty much its a barbell 4-5 ft in length and you load the weight only on one side say 15-25lbs. Like everything else with gymnastics you increase your strenght by changing leverage by gripping further away from the bar. It might be something I will try in the near future. This will obviously increase grip strength exponentially. Can anybody think of draw backs or flaws in this thinking? I am open to suggestions.

Anti barbell = something like this?

2MtgNkAvd-c

If so, DO IT. It works. I used to use a steel rebar I found, those things are heavy enough You don't need weights if you have a heavy stick.

THATS IT EXACTLY!!!!! But the question is does if I used such a device for back rows would it target my back? I figure if its heavy to lift (resistance) and the position you are in it would be the same as using a regular dumbell but with the added benefit of grip development? That is my main question? But thanks for the clip!!! that is awesome!!!

Hm great idea. I think this would be very good forearm training. What if I don't have access to a barbell or steel bar? Any ideas?