Four Main Calisthenics Workout Schemes

I find that I am rotating (un-systematically) between the following four approaches to sets and reps:

1.  Super Drop Sets - described in more detail in my last post, within a category (push, pull, squat), I start with the most difficult and take that almost to failure, then move to the next most difficult, etc with no rest.  I usually end up with 6-15 reps per piece and overall anywhere from 12 to 50, depending on the difficulty focus.  This is good for days when you feel pressed for time or like you just can't do the volume.  So,  for pushing, it might be:  15 dips, 10 diamonds, 8 Russians, 8 regular pushups, 5 incline pushups, 8 tricep extensions.

2.  Strength Foundation - this involves taking the main core movements (pullups, dips, pushups, squats) and doing as many sets per day of as many high quality reps I can do.  Sometimes I do these all in one workout but mostly I do one round of each several times a day.  If I do it all in one session I may do, for example (pullups):  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6.  This one is about practicing being strong.

3.  "The Workout".  This one would most closely resemble a weightlifting session at the gym (and that's probably why I hardly ever do it.)  This would be a "pyramid" style of workout with sets and rest between sets and starting with the easiest exercise (say, pushups) and ending with the most difficult (say, slow dips).  So for pulling it might be 18 rows, 15 close grip rows, 15 assisted pullups, 10 pullups, 8 slow pullups, 5 super slow pullups, 20 curls.

4.  The "Fat Burner" - I have just recently added this to the rotation.  We are now understanding that the best way to burn fat is NOT the slow slog on the treadmill with the heart rate in the "fat burning zone" but rather the short, intense, whole body bomb that leaves you lying on the ground gasping and panting, and that takes about 10 minutes.  People commonly do jumping jacks, burpees, etc, but I prefer the big four, so I will usually stick with those but pick a rep range that I can keep doing and don't rest any between exercises and then rest, say, 30 seconds between rounds.  So this may be 10 pushups, 10 rows and 15 squats, rest 30 seconds, repeat for 10 minutes of agony.

The overall goal as I have finally worked it out is to get the most high quality reps that I can per week per exercise group (while burning fat).  So spending time on "warmup" type sets like a heavy bencher would do with 135 is not of much value to me.

Super Drop Sets

Well, I obviously didn't like the reboot because I haven't stuck with that plan.  And I know why.  As you will see below, I cannot divide the body.  And I have the math below to prove why you shouldn't.  I have, however, come up with something new that I really like.  I enjoy videos by Brandon Carter.  He's entertaining and informative.  He showed mathematically why he thinks full body workouts are better than splits and it boils down to the total number of sets you are able to do under one approach or the other in the same amount of time.  And in a full body workout you end up doing more sets per muscle group in, say, a month.  I would take that one step further and instead of counting sets, count reps, or rather Quality Reps.  So, under my approach, which is full body EVERY DAY (which surely makes the weightlifters wince and whimper), I am getting more Quality Reps in.  Why?  I'm doing 1 Super Drop Set per exercise grouping per day, to almost failure.  The way I do this is:  pick a rep total target, then go from hardest to easiest exercise until almost failure (this is important.  If you go to complete failure you won't be able to do it every day.) with no rest between and vary the rep speed to make it harder or easier.  So, for today for example, I wanted to shoot for a lower total rep range, something around 15 or 16.  So for pushing I did:

6 slow dips followed immediately by
6 slow Russian pushups, followed immediately by
6 slow incline pushups

That's 18 total reps with no rest and each one is high quality (very difficult, slow, concentrated, with squeeze and no pause).  Sometimes I go as high as 40 or 50.

For pulling:

6 slow pullups, close grip, followed immediately by
6 slow, wide grip rows, followed immediately by
6 slow, neutral grip rows

My rep ranges vary from, say, 14 to 44.  The average would be about 30.  I may have gone as low as 10 and as high as 60.  So on average that's about 30 quality reps a day.  I never skip, so that's 900 quality reps a month of push, pull and squat.

The average weightlifter will do the same body-part maybe once or twice a week.  Let's say twice.  They may do 12 sets for an average of 8 reps each set.  That's 96 reps x 2 workouts per week, which is 192 x 4 weeks = 784 (I think) per month.  And many of those are probably not high quality.  If they can bench 275 their first set is probably with 135 and they're not pushing it hard because they want to save themselves for the heavy sets.  So they are probably only really pushing it for the last few reps of the heavier sets.

And my daily workouts take about 15 minutes.  And no gym.

First "Pull Day"

Early morning warmup of 15 pushups and 15 squats and 15 rows.

Pull Day:

Pullups:  10, 10, 9
Rows:  20, 20, 8 (one arm)
Alternative Rows:  25, 20, 25
Curl:  6 (one arm), 12, 20

Time for a Reboot?

It's the new year.  Time for a new start and to make some goals and to monitor progress.

Goal:  get my weight down to 175, add muscle, lose fat.

Current weight:  187.  12 pounds to lose.

Exercise change:  daily full body "warmup" and pyramid split focus in one workout with combination of high, medium and low reps.  Each concentrated grouping will be performed twice a week.  There will be a "push" day (or chest, shoulders, triceps) a "pull" day (or back, biceps) and a "leg" day (squat variations).  Generally speaking I will do the "cornerstone" or hardest exercise first and work down to the easiest.  So this will be dips, pullups, and pistol squats for the three days.

The seventh day of the week could be for explosive movements and/or sprints.  I haven't decided yet.  But NO "rest day"!

For nutrition I'm not sure what to do.  For now the goal will be to try to forgo eating until the main workout has been done.

So, for today, 1/7/2016:

6:30 - black coffee, water, stretching, 15 pushups, 15 squats
7:30 - bike 15 miles (1 hour 15 minutes)
9:00 - full body "warmup" - 20 pushups, 20 rows, 20 squats, weigh-in - 187 lbs clothed with shoes
9:30 - black coffee


11:00 - workout - "pushing" or chest/shoulders/triceps (ugh)

Dips:  20, 18, 15
Archer Pushups:  8, 7
Diamonds:  20, 18
Feet elevated Russian Pushups:  15, 14
Pike Pushups:  9
Tricep Extensions:  12, 8, 18 (the last set was on a higher "bar")

12:00 to whenever

Honecrisp apple
Mixed nuts including peanuts
Olives
Taco insides (ground beef, cilantro, onion, green pepper, lettuce

4:00 - bike 15 miles (1 hour 30 minutes)

Taco insides (ground beef, cheese, black beans, peppers, cilantro)
Fruit salad (blackberry, mango, pomegranate)
Beer

New Weekly "Split"

I don't believe in splitting body parts.  When you do body-weight calisthenics you realize the best exercises are the ones that use as much of the whole body as possible. You do see nowadays more of a similar message in weightlifting than you used to (more people doing squats and dead-lifts and olympic lifts and favoring pull-ups over lat pull-downs) but I don't think it's quite the same thing.  I also believe that you work the whole body every day.  So for me, the split is in the types of exercises.  I have been experimenting with lots of things:  low reps, high reps, slow, strict form, etc.  There are a million different possibilities.  I don't want to miss anything but I can't do everything, so I have come up with a weekly "split" that allows incorporating all these possibilities.  I have also lately concentrated on rings.  Using rings makes the exercises much more difficult because you need to stabilize yourself.  But I don't have access to rings every day.  So I'm doing something like a high rep day (rows, push-ups, air squats, bench dips - reps always in the 25 - 50 range per set) and low rep days (concentrating on one side at a time, such as one arm rows, push-ups with one hand on a soccer ball, pistol squats, etc. reps 5-12 per set), and then ring days.  I cycle through this a couple of times a week.  So Monday might be a high rep day, Tuesday a low rep day, Wednesday a ring day, then repeat.

For added spice, I'm throwing in days with a "pyramid" approach so I can run the gamut from high to low reps on the same day.  This is fun because you get to build your routine using your imagination and it gets you away from the drudgery of "oh man, I have to get through 150 pullups today".  It's fresh.  Today's effort:

10/15/2015

Pulling:
Knees bent row (easiest):  40
"T-Bar" Rows:  52
Rows:  30
Pull-ups: 12
One arm row: 10
One arm T-Bar:  6
One arm curl: 8
Curl: 28

Pushing:
Incline push-up (upper body elevated, easiest):  50
Regular push-up:  52
Russian push-up:  40
Diamond push-up: 35
Dip: 20
One arm push up: 6
Triceps extension: 10
Triceps push:  30

Squats:
Regular air squat:  50
Strict form 1 second pause all the way down squat:  35
3 Second pause squat:  25
"One Leg Dead-lift":  15
Pistol squat: 8
Slow pistol:  5
Slow dead-lift:  4
Feet close deep squat:  25

My Progress on Something Like the (Possible) Hannibal for King Routine

9/29/2015
Pull 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 5 8
Ring Dip 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 5 8
Pistol squat 8 7 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4
Diamond 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18

9/28/2015
Pull 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 5 5 5=83
Dip 15 14 13 12 11 10 10 10 10 8 8=121
Pistol Squat 6 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3=39
Diamond 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 12 12 12 12=202

9/27/15
Pull. 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 5 5=78
Dip. 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 8 8=108
Squat. 25 24 23 22 21 20 18 15 15 15=198
Diamond. 25 20 19 17 17 16 15 10 10 10=159

9/26/15
Pull. 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 5 5 =80
Dip. 18 17 16 15 14 12 11 10 10 10= 143
Squat. 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 15 15=202
Diamond. 25 24 20 19 18 15 15 12 12 10=169

Hannibal for King Workout Routine?

This is the man as far as body-weight calisthenics are concerned, but specifics about what he does and how often and for how long are hard to come by.  But I've revisited the questions because I wonder if I'm ready to take it up a level and try to emulate what this guy does, or at least start down that path.  He has a number of instruction videos but they're fairly vague and the most useful suggestion is that you stick with the basics for a long time, like 6 months.  But recently I have found two different articles that describe the "Hannibal method" as starting with a number of reps on an exercise, say 30 for push-ups, and then working down in consecutive sets so that the final set has, say, 20 reps.  Something like this:

Sets of pushups: 30 / 29 / 28 / 27 / 26 / 25 / 24 / 23 / 22 / 21 / 20

Sets of pullups: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5
Sets of Dips: 20 / 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

Sets of Chinups: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5 / 5/ 5

I recall Hannibal saying in one of his videos that he doesn't count sets but he does count reps.  So I am wondering if he really does this kind of  descending rep scheme.

I've been getting a lot lately out of one set "drop sets" per exercise where I start with the most difficult move and then keep going until I'm at 45 to 60 or more reps.  Today for pulling exercises, for example, I did 13 strict pullups with knees up followed directly by assisted pullups followed by rows and then easier rows.  The total reps were around 64.  This is appealing because it's quick and intense, but as with all things, you start to wonder if you should be doing more of whatever's the opposite.  Should I be doing more lower intensity volume?  What about the "beast mode" idea where your level is determined mainly by the number of reps you're doing of the difficult movements with good form?

I'm going to try this and will report back.