Workout Recap - Week of January 27, 2019
I've had a bit of muscle discomfort at the front of my abdomen lately. It doesn't feel bad enough to call it a real injury, but since it'd been lingering for so long, I thought it'd be a good idea to have a week of trying to go easy on my waist so that it could heal up. It's feeling better now, so I'd say that plan was a success.
Sunday
Type: Pass/Fail
One-armed Push Ups, feet together - 2 sets of 7, each side (pass)
T&A Pull Ups - 2 sets of 5, each side (pass) Pistol Squats, both hands behind me - 2 sets of 6, each side (pass)
Bonus: 2 sets of 6 half-Aztec push ups, 7 fingertip push ups
Clearly, the idea from my intro wasn't in effect for this workout. It was actually the annoyance of dealing with that discomfort while doing the pistol squats which finally spurred into taking the break. Aside from that, we've got the return of T&A pull ups. They seemed to be a good medium between progressing with unilateral work and continuing with general grip training.
Tuesday
Type: As Fast As Possible
21/15/9 Pull Ups
21/15/9 Push Ups
21/15/9 Lunges
Time = 8:15
Bonus: 20 breath isometric dead hang
The triplet from the middle of last week got me thinking about checking my pull up endurance in a routine that was less likely to sap it, and I was thrilled with the results. I still needed to break them up into mini-sets, sure, but only two mini-sets each, and each of those had at least as many pull ups in the first segment as the next set would have in total. I think that's pretty great.
Wednesday
Type: Pass/Fail
Close Handstand Push Ups - 3 sets of 4 (pass)
T&A Pull Ups - 3 sets of 4, each side (pass)
Bonus: 2 sets of 6 Superman push ups
My introductory attempt at close-grip handstand push ups was definitely a balance test. I started getting the hang of it by the end, though, and it feels like continuing to work on them should help me get ready for some freestanding handstands. It's a promising step.
Friday
Type: As Fast As Possible
21/15/9 Lunges
21/15/9 Bridges
21/15/9 Push Ups
Time = 8:45
Bonus: 7 chin ups
I don't have anything specific to say about this workout. It felt like I'd been neglecting my lower body somewhat, so I thought bridges would be a good way of addressing that while still maintaining the goal of not overloading my midsection. It seemed to work well enough for that, on the whole, but it wasn't anything special in a greater view.
Saturday
Type: As Fast As Possible
7 sets of:
7 Pull Ups
7 Bridges
Time = 6:30
Bonus: 1 pull up, 1 bridge
This was phenomenal. I feel like it could've been even better, but on the whole, improving on my last time with this challenge workout is awesome. In particular, it felt like I was really pushing the pull ups this time around instead of just trying to make it through them. Whether that was from some actual gains or just a psychological boost from my performance on Tuesday is impossible to say, but whatever the cause, it definitely made a difference in the results.
