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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Paleo Pull ups and Pushups ALL DAY LONG!

I have been planning to increase my numbers of pull ups and pushups; a worthy goal indeed!  I usually top out at about 18 pull ups or chin ups (pull ups are where your hands grasp the bar with a forward grip, chins with your grip facing back at your face).  I also have a set of "handles" in my garage, that are flexible and kind of sideways, so I can cover lots of different angles to hit the muscles in different ways.

Anyway, I figure I need more volume to get me higher numbers of reps!  Experimenting, I found that I can do, let's say 15 reps at a time, but I can do 5 reps ALL DAY LONG!  


That's right, if I limit my reps to 5, and periodically as the day goes by do 5 more, and 5 more, and so on, buy the end of the day I've done maybe 100 or more repetitions!  Plus, since today is Sunday, where i usually do a real basement/outdoor type of workout, I'll do my usual 18 reps, followed by more sets of less reps...

That's a lot of pull ups!  I think that this will be beneficial in a big way; I also decided to add in pushups as well, since I have a perfect pushup device right next to my pull up handles in the garage.  Each time I pass by, or think about it, I'll do my 5 pull ups, and then 20 pushups, since 20 pushups appears to be the number I can do all day long.

It's the morning now; I will let you know how it goes later today...


... I'm back!

I did my Sunday workout early, and decided NOT to do my usual high rep pullups- I just kept doing 5 reps pull ups and 20 reps pushups- between each other exercise I did.  I've not been counting- I like to go by "feel", not numbers, and all I can say is I've done a lot of pull ups, a lot of pushups, and I don't feel at all burnt out, and plan to do lots more!


I think I'm on to something here- not something to do every day, but maybe once a month or so, just do lots and lots of one particular exercise you want to improve!

Let's say you can do 10 pull ups.  Try this same idea, but limit your reps to 3!

"But Jay but Jay!" I hear you saying "I can't do a single pull up! What about me??"


Just support yourself on a stool, so you can assist yourself with your legs.  Use your legs just enough that you can do a few reps, slowly. Here is a blog of mine that explains, and even has live examples!
Wowzer!!

 leg assisted "aerobic/isometric" chins and dips

Perhaps you can already to a "negative" chin, perhaps not- if not, again, use your legs to help just enough that you move slowly downwards.  It really will not be all that long that you can do a real, unassisted chin or pull up, and that is a real accomplishment!  Lifting your own bodyweight with your upper body is probably the most functional exercise you can do- real world strength indeed!  It engages not only your arms and back, but your entire core, abdominals, and grip.  Anyone who can do this exercise, even one single rep, is a paleo person; they could survive handily in the wild, just like our ancestors did.  Most people, even children these days, cannot do this exercise!


Especially if you are a woman- I would really focus on this movement/exercise!  Using the leg assisted version, you can start doing the actual exercise immediately.  Chin/pull ups and hindu squats together will make a paleo person of you.

Again, I plan to do a lot of these little mini-sets today!  I'm going to go out by my grill, by the garage, and will repeatedly be doing pull ups and pushups while I grill my chicken and salmon and mushrooms...  I was playing guitar earlier, and stopped often to do a set of pushups- (no pull up bars in  the computer room here).  Kind of a fun challenge really!

I could see doing this periodically with many exercises- perhaps doing 50 hindu squats, over and over and over throughout a Sunday...  what fun!  I'll keep you posted-

J

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