Workout Recap - Week of November 19, 2017
I decided to focus a bit more on strength work this week. I don't have any particular reason for it, really. It's nice to have a change of pace at times, that's all. What wasn't intentional was the general dearth of bar work this week. I suppose it wasn't so bad, though, since bridges and handstand push ups also work those back muscles, so it was just a bit of a break for my arm flexors. I'm sure I'll make up for it in time, anyway.
Sunday
Type: Pass/Fail
Shoulder-width Handstand Push Ups - 2 sets of 7 (pass)
Uneven Pull Ups - 2 sets of 10 (pass)
Shrimp Squats, Both Hands Behind Me - 2 sets of 10, each side (pass)
Bonus: 4 sets of 3 Superman push ups, 6 hanging V-raises
I'm finally feeling good enough with these shrimp squats to move on to doing pistol squats with my hands behind my back. It'll be a jump, but as the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the glory.
Tuesday
Type: As Many Reps As Possible
3 sets of 30 second intervals with 10 seconds of rest of:
Bridges (total = 45)
Hindu Push Ups (total = 24)
Mountain Climbers (total = 115 each side)
Prisoner Squats (total = 59)
Tuck Jumps (total = 100)
Straight Leg Raises (total = 45)
Bonus: 13 chin ups
Well, I did say last week that I was in a rut of not doing these types of workouts, so I decided to address that. It was good to do this type of workout again. While having the incentive to go fast and finish quickly with other workouts is nice, there's a meditative quality to just getting in a groove and counting out reps between dings of a timer that can't be matched.
Thursday
Type: Pass/Fail
1-Armed Push Ups, Feet Together - 1 set of 8 (pass)
Stand-to-Stand Bridges (with one touch of a wall on the way up) - 1 set of 10 (pass)
Hanging V-Raises - 1 set of 10 (pass)
Bonus: 4 sets of 3 Superman push ups
I don't know what I really did this day, but the whole day just blew by me before I realized it, so I shaved it down to one set instead of two in order to find time for it. Well, those circumstances notwithstanding, it was a good performance despite being a step back from what I can usually do. Take it as a maintenance workout, I guess.
Friday
Type: Pass/Fail
Shoulder-width Handstand Push Ups - 2 sets of 7 (pass)
Stand-to-Stand Bridges (with one touch of a wall on the way up) - 2 sets of 8 (pass)
Pistol Squats, Both Hands Behind Me - 2 sets of 4, each side (pass)
Bonus: 4 sets of 3 Superman push ups, 13 pull ups
As planned, I took the leap towards doing pistol squats with my hands behind me. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. I tried to do that, but my balance in the bottommost position was so awkward that I settled for putting my hands under my hips in order to stop tipping all over the place. It's a concession, obviously, but it's something that I'll work on cleaning up before I start worrying about increasing the number of reps.
Saturday
Type: As Fast As Possible
7 sets of:
7 Burpees
7 Bridges
Time = 7:30
Bonus: 4 sets of 3 Superman push ups, 1 burpee, 1 bridge
I tied my personal best. As I've said before, that's an easier type of failure to get motivation from than just coming up short. Hey, I didn't forget about the message about grinding away from my workout recap two weeks ago, but I did say there that these little failures are still going to be frustrating.