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