Workout Recap - Week of July 12, 2020
Between spending the start of the week looking after cats while my sister did some moving, how long my current exercise routines take, and just general depression over current events, I didn't do much exercise this week. I resorted to doing something like one of my older pass/fail-type workouts on Wednesday just to break my rut and do something, but while that did make me feel a bit better, it wasn't enough by itself.
I'll stick with the current style for a couple of more weeks to have given it about a month and a half overall, but then I'm very likely going to change back to what I was doing before. I'm just not a fan of how much time these take, and the rep/time caps feel like an arbitrary patch on that instead of being meaningful targets. I will try to take away some stuff (like having days dedicated to certain areas instead of trying to get a full-body workout in each routine), but the approach overall hasn't jived with me yet. I'll reserve final judgment for the end of the month, but it has been a mildly disappointing experience.
Wednesday
Type: Pass/Fail
Pistol Squats - 2 sets of 5 reps, each side (pass)
Bridges - 2 sets of 5 reps (pass)
Straight Leg Raises - 2 sets of 10 reps (pass)
Bonus: 3 pull ups
I did this to force myself to do any kind of workout again, after skipping so many days (for reasons understandable and exaggerated alike). Nothing special in and of itself, but it got me moving and served to boost my enthusiasm to working out again, so that's something.
Friday
Type: To Form Failure
Horizontal sets with 30 second rest intervals:
Tight One-leg Forearm Planks - 8 sec, 8 sec, 10 sec Half Pull Ups - 10, 7, 6
Half Push Ups - 20, 12, 14
Reverse Flies - 30, 26, 22
Pike Push Ups - 25, 13, 11
Bonus: none
Good takeaway: I rep-capped on the first set of half push ups and improved my totals overall for half pull ups and reverse flies. Pike push ups regressed slightly, but that could be a consequence of increased fatigue from the earlier steps, so I'm not hugely concerned about it. Trying to contract as much as I could in a plank with one leg elevated felt weird. Maybe I just need some more experience to get used to it.
Saturday
Type: To Form Failure
Horizontal sets with 30 second rest intervals:
Pistol Squats - 6, 4, 3 (each side)
Isometric Bridges - 28 sec, 26 sec, 26 sec
Long Reverse Lunges - 10, 5, 5 (each side)
Hamstring Curls - 4, 4, 4
Star Planks - 20 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec (each side)
Bonus: 1 slow drinking bird (each side)
Some steps forward, some steps back. I went with full bridges instead of one-leg short bridges to get back to alternating between bilateral and unilateral movements. Keeping my hips tucked while elevated was a bit awkward, but assuming I actually was cognizant of when I was losing my form, it seemed to go pretty well. Star planks continue to be an interesting way to finish off the routine; they're easy enough that the built-up fatigue isn't a huge concern, but they're also challenging enough that it feels frantic to keep rapidly switching from side to side (I make this worse by reducing the rest interval for them, but that's another story).
