September 18, 2012 - I'm giving up... on my blog.

I'm not writing anything interesting here.  This is just a glorified workout log.  I am ceasing as of today.

Bye!

September 12, 2012 - COOOOOORE.

I've come to realize that the left side of my core is not engaging nearly as strongly as my right.  I realized it when I tried a pistol squat on my left side and I had to lean over really far to keep balance.  No such thing occurred on my right side.  Today I decided to start doing something about it and did all of my work with the tightest core I could muster.  It seems to be working because I'm sore as hell.

To help with this core thing, I tried a new exercise today: overhead dumbbell squats.  WHOA.  You need to keep everything tight or you fall over.  Hilarious.

I worked out today:
10 minutes warmup + handstands
4x15s Tuck Front Lever
6x8s Band Assisted Tuck Planche - I'm finally starting to understand what I need to do in this move.  It's not any easier or anything, but at least I understand it.
10,10,8 Ring Rows (feet & rings @ 47") - After the first two or three reps, I wasn't getting full lift.  I'm going to stick with this setup for a while longer until I can pull myself up for all 10 reps on all 3 sets.
10,10,8 Ring Pushups (feet & rings @ 47) - I'm now focusing on making sure my forearms don't rest on the rings.  It makes everything MUCH harder.
3x10x30lbs Dumbbell Overhead Squats
12,12,8x15lbs. Dumbbell Step Up (23")
2x5 Chin-ups.  I plan on doing at least 4 more sets when I get home from work.  GTG is hard.

September 10th, 2012 - It's working (me too hard.)

New routine is still going well.  As of today, I've put on 10 lbs total since May and just barely missed my self-imposed goal of +10 lbs by September 6th.  It wasn't pure muscle like I hoped, but I'm almost back to the lean weight I had when I weighed 220.  Craziness.

And most importantly, Mrs. Wife said I looked hot.  That's really all I wanted out of this crazy experiment.

This workout was suboptimal because I only got 5 hours of sleep.  I will not let this happen again.

I worked out today:

• 10m warmup + handstands - Finally starting to get the right feeling on handstands.   
• 5x15s Tuck Back Lever 
• 2x30+s Tuck L-sit - It's time to do a max length test on this.  30 seconds barely stresses me now.
• 8, 7+1, 4+4 Chin-ups - I think my newly increased chubbiness is causing me issues with pulling.  At this point, I'm just trying to get a solid 3x8 every workout.  We'll see what happens next time.
• 3x2 10+s eccentric HSPUs on cinder blocks - I don't seem to be improving at all on these, so next session, I'll be replacing the cinder blocks with some 1.5" thick bricks I have laying around. After I can do 3x8 at that depth, then I'll add more blocks.  Repeat this process until I'm at full depth.
• 3x12 Jumping Squats w/30lbs. - Cardio for the day!
• 1x12 23" Step Ups w/20lbs. - Picked up the wrong DBs by mistake.  This was ROUGH.
• 2x12 23" Step Ups w/13lbs. - This was the right weight and it felt much better.
• 8 Chin-ups - done later in the day.  I want to start doing GTG training, but I can't seem to remember to get out to the garage often enough.  I really need to find a place to do pullups at work...  Any ideas?

August 31st, 2012 - It's working!

The new routine is officially going well.  I've put on at least 2 lbs this week.  Maybe more.  I'm the highest I've weighed since March.  Woot!  And no noticeable increase in bodyfat.  Feels awesomeness.  I should break 180 in a week or two.

I'm hoping to start working on "greasing the groove" with my pullups.  GTG is when you do 50-70% of your max reps of pullups several times throughout the day.  My current max is 9, so I am doing sets of 5 throughout the day.  I'm trying to get at least 6 sets in over the day with a goal of 10 sets.  It's a lot of volume so I'm a bit scared.

Oh, I was able to up my time in Band Assisted Tuck Planche from 5x8s to 6x12s!  The 6th set was a mistake.  Thanks to a rather fun playlist on Songza, I wasn't paying attention well enough.  :)

I worked out today:
10m warmup + handstand work
6x12s Band Assisted Tuck Planch
4x15s Tuck Front Lever
3x8 Dips (+ 5lbs)
8,10,12 BW Curls (rings @ 47", legs bent)
12,12,10 Goblet Squats (43 lbs.)
3x12 High Step Ups (23" + 5 lbs.)

SIDE NOTE: Mrs. Wife lost another 3 lbs. this week.  She's withering away before my eyes!

August 28th, 2012 - Still Here.

I haven't been blogging recently for two reasons:

1. I took a week off between August 20th and 27th.  I got sick in the afternoon of the 20th and it threw me out of rhythm for the whole week.  
2. The time I normally would spend blogging has been spent designing workout routine for a few friends.  I'm basically acting as their long distance personal trainer.

But I'm back at it as of yesterday.  I think I've settled into a good routine.

• Warmup (mobility work + handstands)
• Hold 1 (Back Lever M,R, Front Lever T,F)
• Hold 2 (L-sit M,R, Planche T,F)
• Superset:
• Pullups/HSPUs (M,R)
• Rows/Pushups (T)
• Dips/BW Curls (F)
• Leg Superset High Step Ups/Squats (M,T,R,F)

Cutting down to two strength exercises per workout seems to helping me give better quality reps.

Anyway, I don't feel like writing more, so here's my workout today:

Warmup (including 7 clapping pushups. HARD)

5x8s Band Assisted Tuck Planche

5x12s(ish) Tuck Front Lever

8,8,7 Ring Pushups (0" differential, FINALLY)

8,7,7 Ring Rows (0" differential)

3x12 Step Ups (23")

3x12 Goblet Squats (43lbs)

August 16th & 17th, 2012 -

The new routine is going well, but I've definitely got some adjustments to make to the programming.  The A routine feels good, though a bit heavy on pushing, but the B routine has far too much pulling.  I've been failing hard on pullups as a result.  To fix these imbalances, I'm doing the following:

• Swapping A and B routines.  So B on Monday and Thursday, A on Tuesday and Friday
• Swapping L-sit work and Planche work
• Dropping down to 2 strength exercises/day

I may drop the Ring pushups too.  Still thinking about that one...  I feel strongest in my chest, so I think it may be beneficial to use that energy towards other weaker areas. 

No matter what changes I make, it's crazy how much better everything feels in my upper back even with so few days put in.  My muscles are working together.  I'm almost standing up straight! And not too much DOMS. 

August 14th, 2012 - Routine B

Things I have learned from this new routine after 2 days:

• I need to eat more.
• I think I need to cut down strength exercises per routine from 3 to 2.  Doing pullups in a circuit with BW curls = me failing at pullups.
• I need to eat more.
• I shouldn't put L-sit work and dips on the same day.  My triceps are on fire.
• I need to eat more.

All this extra eating is going to be a pain tonight; I have to fast for 12 hours tonight in preparation for a cholesterol screening tomorrow.   No bacon in the morning?  What will I do?  I am looking forward to a day of rest, though.  These past two workouts have been killer.

I worked out today:

5 minutes general warmup

5 minutes handstand work - I had about 4 seconds of freestanding today!

5x12s Tuck Back Lever

3x20s Tuck L-Sit

8,7,3 Pullups

6 Ring Dips

2x8 Regular Dips - felt REALLY unstable on the rings, so I switched to chairs.

3x8 BW Curls - Rings @ 50", but legs straight.  Seems to be a valid step up from the way I was doing them previously: Rings @ 37", legs bent.

6x10s GHR eccentrics 

6,8,8 Pistols