Videos: Chin-Ups, Push-Ups, Dips and Squats Done Properly

Lunch

This is what I'm having because this is what I have.

Grass fed beef
Fresh dill
Fresh ginger
Butternut squash
Bok choy
Avocado

Today: Lots of Calisthenics, Escalating Density Training (Push Ups), Fewest Sets to 100 (Pull Ups), Legs Pre-Exhaust - 473 Reps Total

206 push ups in 11 minutes and 55 seconds.  This beats my prior record of 193.

Chin Ups:  How few sets to get 100?:  15 sets.

Legs:  Pre-exhaust.  The idea here is to mimic the bodybuilder's pre-exhaust, to fatigue the legs before squats.  They will usually do some kind of isolation move for quads and hamstrings (leg extensions and leg curls) and then get to squats.  I am trying to model this with sissy squats, glute raises and then squats.  As little rest as possible:

Sissy squats:  15 x 3 (very short rest)
Glute raises (one leg at a time):  15 x 3 each leg, no rest
Squats:  15 x 3, very short rest
Side Steps with Resistance Band:  15 x 3  = 180 reps total

On Drinking Alcohol: Chapter 2 - What It Appears To Be

I've read at least a half-dozen books about drinking and quitting.  They've either been memoirs by people who quit or self-help books on how to quit.  For the most part I have really enjoyed the memoirs and have found the self-help books to be rubbish.  Of the memoirs, I most enjoyed "The Tender Bar" and "Drinking, A Love Story".  But the impact of the latter was diminished when I learned that the author, Caroline Knapp, died not long after the book's publication, of lung cancer.  She was a smoker.  I was disappointed when I realized that as good as the book was, she may have picked the wrong vice to quit.  I oversimplify that which I do not completely understand and mean no disrespect.  I'm just stuck on the simple thought that if she'd quit smoking and not drinking she might still be with us.  But we wouldn't have the book, so it's not helpful, really.

Of the self-help books, the only one that had any kind of impact at all on me was "This Naked Mind", which was given for free in PDF format to participants in the reddit "stop drinking" forum.  The exercise in this book that I find most useful and revealing is the first one, which asks you to pay attention to the messaging that you receive about alcohol.  That messaging can come from the media, advertisements, entertainment, social settings, health care, science, "experts", etc.  You are asked to pay attention to or identify what alcohol appears to be in the message.  Good, bad, cool, healthy, unhealthy, required, evil, smart, dumb.....?????

This is a useful exercise and I have held on to it.  I like to scrutinize what I perceive and understand if maybe there might be an ulterior motive.  Of course, the messaging on alcohol is overwhelmingly positive.  Drinking is required for night life, sports fandom, social situations, summer outdoor activities, vacation, dinner, and being a badass in movies.  Even the warnings are more positive than negative.  "Please drink responsibly."  Notice that this is a warning about the dangers of alcohol wherein the first two words are "please drink".  Medical literature and coverage of health and alcohol almost always tout the health benefits of moderate drinking.  They always point out daily limits and suggest (via correlation) that at or under these limits (but more than none) daily intake of alcohol is good for you.  It is associated with longer life and less disease.

I'm starting to suspect that moderate drinkers enjoy health and longevity despite alcohol consumption rather than because of it.  And maybe it's the moderation thing in general rather than in specific that is the key here.  And maybe, just maybe, the reason for the overwhelmingly positive messaging regarding alcohol has more to do with a strong desire to sell it regularly and in largely quantities than anything else.

I like strong beer (regularly) and Irish Whisky (sometimes).  That's it.  Can't stand wine, wouldn't come near a mixed drink, have enjoyed other liquors (straight) before but nothing to write home about.  Beer and whisky.  IPA and Irish.  I assume I like the taste (I tell people I do), and I seem to like the assault on the senses and the kick in the teeth.  I like feeling tough?  I like to think I'm a badass?  Yes, I think that's part of it.  Do I like to read stories about native South American runners who drink beer and run around all day long?  Yes I sure do.  Do I like stories about athletes who drink (drank) a lot and still performed well?  Yes.  Do I Google "how to drink beer and stay strong / thin / etc.?"  Yup.

Do I need to get over this?  Oh yeah.

(Primarily) Push Session

Warmup:  two sets of pull ups, dips, push ups, squats and lunges.

Push

Chest elevated push ups:  40
Chest elevated (lower) push ups:  25
Regular push ups (elbows in:  20
Diamond push ups:  15
Dips:  12
Feet elevated push ups:  10
Pike push ups:  8
Dive bomber push ups:  5
(Assisted) one arm push ups:  3
Drop set close grip push against progressively higher surface:  50

Sets:  10
Reps:  188

Leaky Gut Lifestyle and Behavioral (Mostly Diet) Modifications: Experiment 1

I've been down this road many times.  It seems most of my days are spent in mental yo-yo games regarding what (mostly) dietary/behavioral shift I can make that will help me feel better quickly and potentially get rid of my leaky gut / possible SIBO AND be something I can do most of the time.  Something I can live with.  NOW, I understand and admit freely that feeling better in and of itself must be sustainable, no matter what it takes to get there.  But right now I'm in a delicate place, as everything has come to a head with me and I know I must do this, but I'm in so much discomfort and physical and emotional pain that I somehow am less able to make a shift.  It's like I've become a professional at enduring pain.  That's not good.

So I make half-assed or temporary changes and then drop them and wake up the next day on the same hamster wheel.  Might as well keep track of it.  Maybe something will arise.

Yesterday I decided it might be worth giving OMAD a try.   One Meal a Day, or another way to look at it would be to extend the fasting window another few hours from 16 to 20 or more.  Many people do this for weight control and to manage problems.  Many also want to (myself included) eat (and drink!) whatever they feel like eating during the 2-4 hours of eating.  The idea here is that I know I can handle the fast and I know I will be healing during the fast and I know I can push it longer.  I feel great when I'm doing it.  Hardly any symptoms at all.  And maybe, just MAYBE, it will be enough to get me on a healing track even though I will eat garbage (grains, sugar, beer, junk food) during the short eating window.  Maybe that will do less damage and overall I'll be doing more healing than hurting.  The "I can eat whatever I want during the feeding window" idea is what keeps it from being a painful emotional burden.

Will it work?  I know one day won't tell, but I also know that for something to seem like a good long term plan it will need to make me feel better right away and if something I do makes me feel bad or worse, it's probably not a good long term plan.

So, yesterday I tried it.  I basically refrained from bringing food to work and didn't buy or eat anything.  So by the time I got home at about 6:00 PM, I had been without calories for about 20 hours.  I felt great.  Paradoxically, when I do this I actually feel like I have MORE energy, I don't get tired during the day, and most surprisingly of all, my 15 miles hilly bike ride home actually feels BETTER to me.

So when I got home I commenced eating whatever I wanted.  Which basically entailed some good things (olives, pickles) and some bad (burger with white bun, sandwich with Lebanon balogna and cheese, corn chips).

Result?  I felt TERRIBLE.  HORRIBLE.  Bad stomach cramps, huge bloating, an overall increase in symptoms.  I think the fast helped and then smashing it over the head with two hours of eating garbage just made it all come roaring back with a vengeance.  Not good.

FAIL.

The next experiment will be with a day of very low carb.  Depending on how that goes it will be interesting then to combine it with the long fast.

Stay tuned.

A Fairly Exhaustive Guide of All the Body Weight Calisthenics Exercises I Like to Do

The purpose in doing this is to remember them all and to come up with some interesting pairings that will add variety and still allow me to work the whole body every day.  These are things I've actually done regularly.

Push
"Russian" Push Ups  -- I call them "Russian" but I don't think they are, technically.  The point here is that I like to keep my elbows in next to my sides rather than flared out.
Diamond Push Ups
Pike Push Ups
Dive Bomber Push Ups
Incline Push Ups
Decline Push Ups
Archer Push Ups
One Hand on Ball Push Ups
Incline One Arm Push Ups
Dips
Push Against Wall or High Bar

Pull
Heels on Floor Row
Knees Bent Feet on Floor Row
Feet Elevated Row
Full Body Weight Row
Cheat Pull Up / Chin Up
Pull Up / Chin Up
Neutral Grip Pull Up
Skull Crushers
Close Grip Pull / Chin Up
Body Weight Bicep Curl
Archer Pull / Chin Up
Body Weight Pull Over

Legs
Body Weight Squat
Feet Together Body Weight Squat
Archer Squat
Bulgarian Split Squat
Hover Squat
Shrimp Squat
Assisted Pistol Squat
Sissy Squat
Good Mornings
Drinking Bird
Lunge
Toe Raise
Tippy Toe Walk
Jump Squat

Core
Hanging Knee Raise
Hanging Toe Raise
L Sit
Sit Up
Crunch
Leg Raise

On Drinking Alcohol: Chapter 1 - Introduction

This is the first of what I hope to be a long, brutally-honest continuing series on alcohol and drinking.

I have a drinking problem.

A lot of what I do in the name of health and a lot of what I suffer from, health-wise, are most likely related to my consumption of alcohol, mainly beer.  And I usually ignore, side-step, or cover up the issues.  Lately (over the last few years) I have tried to be more honest and to address it head-on, in some cases even in this blog.  I have a few earlier posts that are pretty honest.  Some examples of my side-stepping are as follows.  The first time I ever realized that I was getting out of shape was in the mid '90's and I decided to start eating less and running every day.  I remember at the time that I wanted to select behavioral changes that would allow me to leave my beer-consumption intact.  A few years ago when I tried my first Whole30 Challenge I couched it as overall health improvement but it really was an excuse to try to quit drinking for 30 days without calling it that.  Any time I've tried to strictly observe lent it's really been about not drinking for 40 days.

My health problems in no particular order are asthma, high blood pressure, persistent allergy symptoms and a host of digestive issues.  These come from leaky gut and possibly SIBO (will be testing for this soon).  These come largely from my decades-long daily drinking of beer and sometimes Irish Whisky.  I don't abuse much else.

I started drinking in college as a social lubricant which then became a way to overcome social anxiety (or mask it) which has now become a way to overcome or mask existential anxiety.  I live, I feel, I fear, I love, I am in pain, I blunt myself.  I routinely batter the edges.  This habit started with about two or three units a night and has gradually and consistently grown to five or more over the last 30 some years.  Hardly ever more than ten but seldom less than five.

Parts of this blog have been a gradual acceptance and growing honesty about this problem and THAT I need to do something about it and just what to do and how and how often and when and where and why.

Unlike pregnancy, I don't think alcoholism is on a Boolean scale.  Either you are or you aren't pregnant and I think conventional wisdom would say the same thing for alcoholism but I really think otherwise.  It's an infinite and analog thing.  Many would say either you are or you aren't and if you are you need to quit entirely by way of some 12 step program in which you surrender any notions that you have any control.  This has helped many but it does not resonate with me.  That said, I think a quest for moderation might also be doomed to fail.  AA gets all the press and is the default setting for most on the issue but I really think the truth is silent and is somewhere else.

I don't know if I'm an alcoholic but I am certainly dependent on alcohol.  I don't think I'm addicted because the times that I do take a break are not difficult for me other than mentally.  I don't get DUIs or make a fool of myself on social media or in public but that may just be because I don't use social media and don't go out and certainly don't drive to or from a drinking session.  Not useful to think of things in this way.

I do hide my consumption and I have blacked out.

What I'd like to do here is lay it all out and maybe come up with a strategy.  Or at least some clarity.

Last night I had 7 beers.  I did about the same the night before.  I also had a nip from a brandy bottle.

I think the most important first things for me would be to understand what alcohol appears to be to me and to understand my relationship with it.  Messaging is important.  Messaging coming into my brain and messaging leaving it.


I am a pretty good BS detector but I think alcohol got a free pass with me for a long time.  That is starting to change.  Whereas I used to think otherwise, I now think alcohol is mostly bad and damaging.  It is nearly universally understood that moderate drinking is healthy but I am now starting to question this and suspect that the health benefits are coming from something else and are enjoyed EVEN THOUGH moderate drinking occurs.  Put another way, it's easy for me to imagine a teetotaler who's very sick and a heavy drinker who's not because of other factors.

I'm not going to demonize alcohol and drinking.  It's my own behavior and understanding of it and the things around me that are of interest.  It's a behavior pattern and thinking pattern that are dangerous, not the drink per se.

I want to get at the behavior and thinking patterns.

Escalating Density Training: How Long to Do ....

The first time I tried this was about two weeks ago, so maybe 5/14/18, and I did 25 chin ups in 2 minutes and 22 seconds.

The second time I tried it, somewhere around 5/20/18, I did  25 chin ups (5 x 5) in 1 minute, 56 seconds.

Today (5/28/18), 25 chin-ups in various reps per set in 1 minute 34 seconds.  Let's see if we can get this down to a minute.

I wonder if this would be a good way to work up to a set of 20?

Escalating Density Training (EDT): Push Ups

Last time I tried this I did 174 in 15 minutes.  My goal today is to beat that total in 12 minutes.

Today:  193 push ups in 12 minutes

Today, 72 Chin Ups in 12 Minutes

Mostly in sets of 3, 2, 1

WOW, that's one more than last time.

Dialing Back the Century to 75 Years Or So

Why is it called a "Century"?  Isn't that supposed to be years?  Anyway, I did a couple of days of this and now have decided to dial it back again and focus on rep quality.  I'm pretty tired from these high rep days and want to make sure form returns.  The pull ups are still strong at 10 but the pushing stuff and especially the squatting are labored, so I've reduced the reps significantly.  To about 20-25 for push ups and 20 - 25 for squats.  This feels right. 

Milestone: A Century!

Today, in round 2, I decided to go for it:

10 pull ups
20 dips
30 push ups
40 squats

I am going to try for 8 of these today, and 10 tomorrow (1000 reps).  The last time I tried 1000 reps was on 12/17/17, and I failed.  Then I will take another day to do 1000 reps but with a concentration on form (1000 really GOOD reps).  Then I'll move to the next hardest version of the moves and dial the reps back down.

About Two Weeks In, A Couple of Milestones

I'm on a journey to build back up to at least 10 sets a day of pull, push, and squat, but this time with better form. And when I reach rep goals within each without compromising form, I move to a harder version of each move and build that one up. 

I'm about two weeks in and have kept true to the mission of keeping the reps real and not worrying about totals.  So far pull ups have felt best and squats worst.  But I'm making progress.

For a few days now I have met the 10 set a day criterion without much difficulty.  I am largely doing three or fewer "rounds" at a time spaced throughout the day.  Usually by late afternoon or evening I've had enough.  I don't rush these and don't worry about rest.

The reps have remained in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 for pull, 12 to 18 for push and stubbornly stuck at 12-15 for squat.  The squats are feeling ok but I don't feel like they're getting any easier and I'm having a bit of tweakiness around the knees, particularly the left knee.  But I still feel like I'm doing the right thing here.

Today I hit the 10 set mark early so I decided to add for the remainder of the day a single round whenever I feel like it but where I try to hit a higher rep total.  To that end I just completed a round of ten chin ups, 30 push ups and 25 squats.  Two of those (pull and push) are at criterion and squat is coming close (goal is 40).  Pull feels very strong, push up feels great, squat is getting better.  Dips are still around 10-12 and are not improving much.  Overall I'll take it.  Very happy.

I would guess that I will easily be at criteria in the next week or so, which means it will have taken me about a month to move to the next level.  Which is, chest to the bar pulls, diamond push up, forward lean dip, and maybe a deep squat jump.  I think that's the best place to take the squat.  I really want to try to postpone trying the one legged stuff for as long as possible because I know that if I rush into it I will start hurting.

It's Really the Hannibal for King Progression With Tweaks

He's a bit vague and cryptic but you can get some really great and honest information from him if you listen carefully.  After watching the videos where he gives you beginner and intermediate workouts about a hundred times, I can summarize as follows: 

Always strict reps.  Lock out, all the way over the bar, no cheating, no resting between reps in a set.

Pull ups:  close grip, chin over the bar, lock out.  Sets of 5 to begin.  Work up to 10 sets of 10 and then move to the next level, which is chest to the bar, all other requirements the same.  Then, he doesn't state it, but I think it's waist to the bar with more of a false grip.  Once you can correctly do 10 sets of 10 you can move to the next level.  We are heading towards muscle ups here.

Dips:  sets of 10 and work your way up to 10 sets of 20.  Straight up and down, complete reps.  The next level is a forward lean.  We are working towards Superman stuff.

Push ups:  diamonds with one foot up.  Work up to 10 sets of 25 with one foot on top of the other and then one leg all the way up in the air, switch the leg.  The next level is a forward lean so your hands are closer to your waist.  I think the point here is to help with the Superman stuff.

Squats:  This one is a little mysterious.  He doesn't talk about squats much and doesn't include them in his "around the world".  But he does have a couple of videos where he discusses and demonstrates them.  It's clearly a sensitive area for him as he mentions getting criticized for his legs.  He does sets of 20 with feet together and might have his toes or heals on a stair or ledge.

A note about the squat technique and the pull up technique - he cares about forearms and calves and shins.  That's why the spacing and other idiosyncrasies.  The guy knows what he's doing.

For my own purposes I am trying to build up in the manner suggested with strict form, but I am probably going to stay with Russian push ups rather than diamonds (wrist pain) and will keep squats as part of my rounds.  I will keep feet further apart and go all the way down. 

I'll shoot for the same rep and set totals as a marker to move on.

Hannibal for King mentions a lot that he does what he does because it feels best to him.  That's really the main lesson here.  Go with feel rather than what someone else does.  That's why I'm changing this up to suit my own preferences and predilections.

Right now I'm at or above 10 sets a day of 6 pull ups, 8 dips, 10-12 push ups and 10-12 squats.  Long ways to go.  Take your time....

Getting Stronger, Staying True

I'm managed to force myself to stay true to the cause.  I am not allowing myself to be guided by numbers, while remaining aware of vague totals.  Today that feeling I want and need started to creep in.  That feeling of getting stronger.  I'm forcing myself to keep the reps low.  Still around 5 or 6 pull ups at a time.  Ten or 12 push, 10 or 12 squats.  The pull ups are feeling good.  I can feel the breakthrough coming there.  The push and the squat are still tough.  Especially the squat.  But I continue to do this, to keep it real, and to feel it.  It feels good.

Ignore the Numbers, Return to Form. That's the Mantra.

I am very early into my exciting effort to make my way to somewhere around 1000 very high quality reps a day.  The idea is to stick with form and to not blow it out and to gradually increase the numbers without compromising form.  Yesterday I managed around 10 sets (I think more, actually, and it's good that I don't know for sure) of about 5 very high quality  pull ups, 10 very high quality push ups, 7 dips, 5 high knee raises and 10 squats.  I woke up today as excited about this effort as I was yesterday.  That's good.  But already today I started thinking about numbers.  I thought that since I managed 5 good pull up reps yesterday all day without a problem, I should be able to handle 6 today.  Problem!  I also found myself in my second session for the day trying to remember how many total sets I'd done up to that point.  Again, problem!  Stop it!

So I forced myself to stop it.  Like in meditation, return to the breath.  I forced myself to shoot for FEWER reps with better form.  I brought the chest ALL THE WAY up to the bar for maybe 4 pull ups.  I paused my squats at the bottom and sometimes even at the top.  I did not set myself a mental goal of how many sets I would do for that session and instead went with the feel.

That's progress.

I'm Going to Build It Back Up, Only This Time Much Better

As far as I can tell I started doing body weight calisthenics consistently in the summer of 2010.  I'm not much of a documenter.  But at least that is the first time that I can recall heading to vacation wondering how I will manage to do my pull ups.  So that means that I am in my 8th year of consistent calisthenics work.  For this time spent I am happiest that I have worked hard and consistently.  With very few exceptions I have worked hard and every day and on most of the body if not all of it each day.  But I have wandered and been distracted and have been confused about what I want, which has led me time and again to body part splits and weights and some (although very few) days "off" and working on "skills" when I really shouldn't and don't want to.  And maybe a few flirtations with training to "failure".  I don't like "off" and I don't like "failure".  Sometimes I cannot shake old and dubious interests such as muscle size and mass.

In looking back I have felt the best and most "on track" when I have done body weight calisthenics for high rep totals ever day in an "around the world" fashion, where I do one set from each of push, pull, squat and maybe core.  I have enjoyed feeling a little stronger every day, and the occasional prize of really feeling strong on some exercise, like I could keep going forever.  The best I got in this was somewhere around 1000 reps a day, which boiled down to about 10 sets of about 10 pull/chin ups, 20 dips, 20 knee raises, 30 push ups, and 40 squats.  One time around the world is about a hundred reps (depending on how you do it) and 10 of those make a thousand.

Here's why I think this is best.  It means at any given time, I can give you 100 reps, regardless of what I did the day before or two days before or early in the same day.  If I were weightlifting and/or doing body part splits and/or training to or near failure, I couldn't.  I couldn't even give you half the reps or even a third, or even a single rep, depending on what I did the day before or the same day.  Have you ever seen any videos of weighlifters or bodybuilders trying to go toe-to-toe with calisthenics people or gymnasts?  That 20 inch arm doesn't help much. It really only gets in the way.

But then, alas, my mind has wandered, my Youtube viewing habits morphed, and some other thing has caught my eye and my weak little attention span and convinced me to change it up with weights or bands and splits and pump training and even sometimes.... "heavy".  Not that these changes haven't "worked" but they have led me astray from what I truly want and more importantly, have forced me to lose what I had built up.  If you take a week and do pump training with dumbbells, I guarantee your 1000 reps won't happen the following week.

I can't say I won't wander again.  But for now I am interested in building myself back up to that 1000 or so reps a day around the world.  But this time, I really want the emphasis to be on form, and I really want to be patient, and I really want to get back to that 1000 reps but with each one of those reps being as close to perfect as I can get them.  THEN, maybe I can work on the skills like pistol squats, one-arm stuff, etc.

I do recall on some of those 1000 rep days, particularly when I was jamming all of them into one "work out", I would really struggle and even cheat a bit to get through it.  It's easy to let your form fall off when you're chasing some dubious and rather meaningless numeric goal.  Numeric goals are good markers of progress but they should not be the goal itself.  Some of those sets of 40 squats were quick and shallow.  Some of those push up reps were probably a half second.  This is at least one reason why I'm going to work to keep the focus on the rep quality rather than the count, and I'm going to try my best to avoid mentally determining "how many sets I have left for today."

Now I'm forcing myself to keep the focus on form and to really try and steer away from the number.  That means chest to the bar on pulls and a complete lockout at the bottom.  Slow is fine.  For squats, ALL THE WAY DOWN.  I am picking an easy rep range and keeping the focus on the rep and the consistency and on 10 sets a day (at least).  Right now, I'm looking at 5 pulls, 10-12 dips, 15 or so push ups, and 12-15 squats for once around the world.

I'll keep doing this each day and when it feels right, add a rep or two.

Today: 5 x 5 x 4

Assisted 1 Arm Push Ups:  5 x 5
Assisted 1 Arm Rows:  5 x 5
Hover Squat:  5 x 5
Extended Hanging Knee Raise:  5 x 5

100 reps

Extended hanging knee raise explained - my pull up bar is too low to the ground to allow a toe raise, so I did a knee raise where the starting position saw my legs bent and my kneecaps essentially pointing to the ground.  Then I pulled up so that my knees were at my chest.  That is one rep.

Today, All Day

Choosing 3 difficult exercises that are roughly matched in difficulty, one from each category of push, pull and squat.

Assisted pistol squat, l-sit pull/chin up, feet elevated diamond push up.

Sets of 3 throughout the day.  How many reps can I get?

So far:  6 x 3 =  six sets of 3, 18 reps
             2 x 4 =  One set of 4, 8 reps

Total:  26 reps

How Many Squats Can You Do In a Minute? (But It's Really Not What You Think)

First minute - do a single, one minute squat.  Rest until the start of the next minute.
Second minute - do two squats, 30 seconds each.  Rest until the next minute.
Then 3 squats (20 seconds each), rest one minute.
Continue this, adding one squat each set but making sure to do them slowly enough so that they take the entire minute, then rest a minute.
How far can you go?

THIS IS TOUGH!  Each set is difficult but in a different way than the previous set.  The middle rep sets (6 or 7) are really tough.  Often I had to pause at the bottom to keep the timing right, but it would be much more difficult if you could eliminate any pausing.  You'll be tempted to pause at the top but don't; this is resting!

I made it to 11.  And my legs are as blasted as they've ever been with any weight workout.

It would be interesting to do this in the reverse, starting with, say, a 30 rep in a minute set and then working down.