The 36 Rep Challenge

Following the 100 rep challenge I wanted to try a version that was more strength oriented and less endurance oriented.  Here it is:

With as little rest as possible between pieces, 

6 assisted pistol squats on the left leg

6 assisted pistol squats on the right leg

6 dips with a 2 second pause at the top and bottom

6 pull-ups with a 1 second pause at the top

6 feet-elevated slow diamond push-ups

6 sissy squats

Next will be a 50 rep challenge with 5 x 10 of something....

PS, I just finished the 36 rep challenge.  The dips were easy, the pull-ups were very difficult.  Next time I'll do them first.

Showing up is 99.3% of the battle, 100 rep challenge

I've spent a lot of time and effort thinking about sets and reps and schemes and workouts.  I always worry if I'm doing enough reps, or too many.  And sets.  And exercises.  Often I think, hm, maybe I should just focus on x, y and z and forget about a, b and c.  Who doesn't?  But what I've realized is that showing up day after day, week after week, year after year, is really almost all that matters.  I'm still doing calisthenics every day and have been for at least five years.  And with the exception a few unimpressive, dubious forays into body-part "splits" I've pretty much worked the whole body every day.  So yesterday was another success and today will be yet another.  I haven't done everything correctly or incorrectly and I could surely be stronger than I am now, but where would I be if I hadn't done what I've done every day for the last five years?  And you can't fake five years of work.  Whatever it is, it's solid.

With that in mind, yesterday I did the 100 rep challenge from Al Kavadlo.  I love Al Kavadlo.  He's so well spoken and has such a great attitude.  He's as good as it gets.

The 100 rep challenge:

Each piece on its own isn't too difficult, but put them together and... With as little rest as possible between exercises, which for me was 10 to 30 seconds....

40 deep squats
30 regular push-ups
20 hanging knee raises
10 pull-ups

Lots of panting.....

The hardest part for me was the knee raises because I don't normally do them and my pull-up bar isn't quite high enough to extend the legs all the way down.  So I ended up keeping them bent and raising them up and then all the way down so the knees were pointing at the floor.  But hanging for that long was also difficult and made the 10 pull-ups at the end VERY challenging.

I think I want to try variations of this with more difficult movements so the challenge is more strength than endurance.