Jump to content

Pat's Training Log


patrickmeniru

Recommended Posts

At the moment i generally have nobody to train with and so i find it tough to stick to routines. I'm hoping that posting here will motivate me to stick with the programme and make progress with my goals, which include:

1) Get down below 85kg bodyweight - currently 90kg

2) Close the CoC #3 MMS - currently can TNS the #2

3) Hold a front lever for 5 seconds

4) Flag hold for 5 seconds

5) General improvement in cardio-vascular conditioning for football (soccer) season

I'm a student and so not flush with a lot of cash at the moment and so i can't afford a gym membership. As a result i will be focussing on calisthenics, with the occasional gym session when i can get in with a friend, when i get back to university i will be able to use the gym facilities there for squats, dead-lifts etc.

I'm very new to grip and calisthenics, so any and all advice/criticisms would be greatly appreciated :grin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no one to train with were i live as well. Posting stuff does help motovate. Good luck on your goals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me to. no one I know is into grip training. I'll be following your progress. Good Luck man.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today was my first training session for a week or so, before i get into what i did, just a couple of points, when i refer to pull-ups/chins/levers i'm doing them on a 2" bar, not sure if this will help my grip or not? But it's all i have to work with at this time. Also dips are done on a couple of posts at the bottom of the stairs, approx 29" apart.

Grippers:

Warm Up - 2 x 6 store gripper, each hand

2 x 5 TNS CoC #1 each hand

3 x 5 TNS CoC #2 each hand - reps to approx 1.5" gap between handles

3 x 1 Negatives with #3 choked to 1" LH - right wrist was hurting at this point after golfing incident a few days ago, so i missed the negatives

1 x 12 second hold with #2 RH

1 x 10 second hold with #2 LH

1 x 25 TNS #1 each hand - as explosive as possible, although for both hands the last 5 reps were quite slow due to fatigue.

Cooldown - 1 x 10 store gripper each hand, 1 x 10 store gripper inverted each hand

Upper Body/Core:

Warm-up - 2 slow chins and 2 slow pull-ups followed by one explosive chin and one explosive pull-up.

4 x 5 muscle ups - explosive, with slight kick - maybe one day i'll get a slow one... :happy

3 x (20 dips, 20 hanging leg raises [to parallel with floor], 10 pull-ups, 10 chins)

Some very light levering with an old steel pogo stick - will add ankle weights to the end for more resistance.

1 x back lever for 3 seconds - felt like an hour :blink

2 x tucked front lever, thighs perpendicular to body, 5 seconds each

2 x 5 handstand pushups against wall

1 x 10 straight arm side raises with 5kg dumbbell

1 x 10 straight arm front raises with 5kg dumbbell

1 x (10 pushups, 10 close hand position pushups, 10 wide pushups, 10 fingertip pushups)

5 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches on each side, 20 v-sit crunches, 20 russian twists with 5kg dumbbell)

Cooldown - Jogged a mile

Cardio/Legs:

Played football casually at the park for 3 hours

Tomorrow will likely be a rest day, with a few sit-ups and maybe a run, as i'm attending a wedding.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday, managed to squeeze in a light session, no grip work.

2 x 50 pushups

1 x 20 shoulder press pushups

1 x 5 pseudo-planche pushups

1 x 10 super-wide pushups

1 x 5 narrow pushups

1 x 12 spartan pushups? (walking pushup arms but remaining stationary)

1 x 5 one arm tricep dips each arm

1 x 10 tricep dips

1 x 10 dips

1 x 4 slow dragon flags

3 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches on each side, 20 v-sit crunches, 20 russian twists with 5kg dumbbell)

1 x 20 second L-Seat

1 x 20 leg raises

1 x 20 situps

5 mile run

Trying to work on shoulder strength, some snowboarding injuries have left both shoulders a little weak and i would like to build up to a straddle planche eventually, but at the moment i'm not even able to tuck planche - anyone got any good bodyweight exercises for shoulder strength?

Edited by patrickmeniru
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterdays workout:

All exercises repeated with both hands unless otherwise stated.

RH = Right Hand

LH = Left Hand

(Just to clarify :) )

Grippers:

1 x 10 store

1 x 10 store inverted

1 x 6 NS #1

1 x 6 NS #1 inverted - not all full closes, sometimes i get it, sometimes not - any tips on consistent invert closes? it doesn't seem to be a strength issue as much as a positioning one.

20 Bodyweight Squats

2 x 6 NS #2 - felt weak after 2nd set, had planned 3.

1 x 20second hold with #2 (tough)

3 x 10 TNS #1 explosive as possible, left hand currently better for reps than right, but right better explosiveness and ultimate strength slightly.

1 x 100 store gripper

2 x 50 store gripper inverted

2 x 50 extensor work in rice - really made my forearms burn.

An idea with the gripper progression from #2 to #3, is making the #2 closes harder by holding the gripper higher up the handles a good progression idea or not? I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere that i recall...

Non-Gripper Grip Work:

2 x 10 towel pull-ups

2 x 10 reps wrist levering in each position, i'll get the weight and length of the pogo-stick with ankle weight i use soon.

2 x 4 wrist roller, each rep is up and down, weight approx. 5kg roller diameter is 2.75"

brick work as detailed by John Brookfield here http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/GripTips/Brick_lift_grip_challenge.html

(4 bricks for 10 second hold)

2 x 8 wrist curls with 22.5kg

1 x 5 pronated bicep curls with approx 18kg (i use a toolbox with bricks on top as i only have 5kg dumbbells)

1 x 5 pull-ups

1 x 5 chin-ups

General work:

5 second back lever hold - really solid form, PB hold :grin: got a video but it's very dark, i'll try for another one at some stage, it does stress the tendons around the elbow insertion point of the bicep making them a bit sore for 5 minutes afterward, should i worry about this?

3 x ( 3 x dragon flags, 5 x full ROM hanging leg raises)

5 x 30 push-ups, mix of normal, wide and shoulder focussed.

1 x 2 One arm pushups (2 each arm)

4 x (15 cruches, 15 foot reaches, 10 oblique crunches on each side)

1 mile jog

Any and all feedback is much appreciated :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today:

Grip work:

Had planned a day off, but when i was at the track some people had plates out for power-cleans and i thought it would be a waste of an opportunity to try some pinching to work on my thumb pad.

10 x One hand pinches with two 10kg plates. Varying length lifts, between 3 seconds and 15 seconds, walked about a little while pinching to make it a bit tougher on some of the reps. First try pinching, so i was just experimenting and having fun frankly.

1 x 5 three finger one arm dead-lift with 60kg olympic bar

1 x 5 two finger one arm dead-lift with 60kg olympic bar

1 x 5 plate curls with 10kg plate

General Work:

1 x 10 tyre flips, not sure about the size of the tyre, wasn't particularly heavy.

1 x 6 clean and press with 60kg olympic bar

Athletics training, some light sprints and standing jumps, drills.

Handstand balancing practice

Back bridge! Never had the flexibility/strength to do this before so i was pretty pleased :blush

3 x 5 handstand press-ups

1 x 3 handstand press-ups - failed the last two reps of my 4th set of 5 reps.

1 x 10 dips

1 x 10 hanging leg raises to parallel with ground

2 x 5 wide grip pull-ups

100 consecutive max height bounces on garden trampoline - tougher than it sounds! (or at least tougher than i think it should be :laugh )

Pretty light day to be honest, left out most of the core work as it's been a while since i was training seriously and i don't want to overtrain at this early stage, planning to do muscle up and pull-up/chin work tomorrow with 500 or so sit-up variation reps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lot of solid work here! Holding the #2 higher up on the handles is a good way to progress...if you don't have a harder gripper. Buy a #3 as soon as you can since it's your goal gripper!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, i thought so, but i wasn't sure, cheers :)

I do have a #3, choked to parallel, but i can't even keep the handles together for a hold or even control the first 1/2" or so of a negative. It just opens to about 1/2" as soon as i remove the assisting hand, and i can hold it at that.

I'll put up a video of me squeezing the #3 in the choker, then forcing the close with my other hand and attempting a controlled negative. To illustrate my problem.

I'm planning on getting a 2.5# to help bridge the enormous gap between #2 and #3, although i find myself putting it off as it would be a huge psychological boost for me to close it out of the packaging, and i'm not sure i'm ready for it yet!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday I had planned a tough, non-grip session for today with some weighted pulls and tough core workout, but my body decided otherwise...

General Workout:

Warmup: 5 slow chins, 5 slow pull-ups, 2 explosive chins, 2 explosive pull-ups

Muscle ups: 1 x 2 - had planned sets of 5 but failed, muscles more tired than i thought, cold probably isn't helping but decide to focus on abs rather than lats/back.

2 x 8 L-seat chins with ankle weights

2 x 8 L-seat wide grip pull-ups with ankle weights

1 x 8 windshield wipers

Started to get persistent aching in right elbow, probably a tendonitis warning so i stopped hanging exercises.

2 x 20 squats

2 x 20 split bounces

2 x 20 burpees

1 x 5 tucked dragon flags

2 x 10 pushups

1 x 6 pseudo planche pushups

The dragon flags and the pushups started to make the elbow worse so i stopped those too :(

1 x 5 One left arm pushups, with very slight assist from right arm

1 x 20 leg raises ankle weights

5 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches on each side, 20 v-sit crunches, 20 russian twists with 5kg dumbbell)

1 x 30 crunches

2 x 6 eccentric hamstring lowers/falls

1 x 20 hyperextensions (back)

1 x 1 mile run

1 x 1 mile jog

Took some ibuprofen for the elbow, will ice it too. Today i'll take a day off completely from upper body work other than some crunches, leg raises, and back extensions. I've got athletics training and might play football for a while. I'm going to do a gripper session but just a light one with my left hand only, as it is slightly weaker than my right hand at present and perhaps this will be a good opportunity for it to catch up somewhat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had athletics training yesterday, besides that did very little, after demonstrating some of the core exercises i had been doing to my coach the elbow began to hurt again (very frustrating, i've suffered from patella tendonitis for a long time so this is the last thing i need :( ). Going to rest totally today and continue to ice.

Tried some grippers yesterday with the left hand, but felt extremely weak and only just managed a couple of reps with my #2 so decided to abandon the session.

Any tips on recovery/prevention of tendonitis in the elbow would be much appreciated (beyond icing, ibuprofen and extensor work).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, no work yesterday, ate continuously all day, when i can't exercise i get slightly depressed and make up for it by just eating everything in sight, idiotic i know but hey... Just sets me back a little on the weight-loss plan.

Today i'm going to go for a light jog with the football and do some abs and grippers with the left hand, i'll post the specifics in a few hours when i've finished.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today was my first training session for a week or so, before i get into what i did, just a couple of points, when i refer to pull-ups/chins/levers i'm doing them on a 2" bar, not sure if this will help my grip or not? But it's all i have to work with at this time. Also dips are done on a couple of posts at the bottom of the stairs, approx 29" apart.

Grippers:

Warm Up - 2 x 6 store gripper, each hand

2 x 5 TNS CoC #1 each hand

3 x 5 TNS CoC #2 each hand - reps to approx 1.5" gap between handles

3 x 1 Negatives with #3 choked to 1" LH - right wrist was hurting at this point after golfing incident a few days ago, so i missed the negatives

1 x 12 second hold with #2 RH

1 x 10 second hold with #2 LH

1 x 25 TNS #1 each hand - as explosive as possible, although for both hands the last 5 reps were quite slow due to fatigue.

Cooldown - 1 x 10 store gripper each hand, 1 x 10 store gripper inverted each hand

Upper Body/Core:

Warm-up - 2 slow chins and 2 slow pull-ups followed by one explosive chin and one explosive pull-up.

4 x 5 muscle ups - explosive, with slight kick - maybe one day i'll get a slow one... :happy

3 x (20 dips, 20 hanging leg raises [to parallel with floor], 10 pull-ups, 10 chins)

Some very light levering with an old steel pogo stick - will add ankle weights to the end for more resistance.

1 x back lever for 3 seconds - felt like an hour :blink

2 x tucked front lever, thighs perpendicular to body, 5 seconds each

2 x 5 handstand pushups against wall

1 x 10 straight arm side raises with 5kg dumbbell

1 x 10 straight arm front raises with 5kg dumbbell

1 x (10 pushups, 10 close hand position pushups, 10 wide pushups, 10 fingertip pushups)

5 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches on each side, 20 v-sit crunches, 20 russian twists with 5kg dumbbell)

Cooldown - Jogged a mile

Cardio/Legs:

Played football casually at the park for 3 hours

Tomorrow will likely be a rest day, with a few sit-ups and maybe a run, as i'm attending a wedding.

Man what a workout :ohmy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha, thanks :) although i think i started out too hard, having to take a step back now to let the elbow heal. Planning to resume basic abs work and jogging tomorrow. Probably leave out pull-up work and grip for a few more days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Okay, haven't posted up here for a few weeks, i was pretty much resting up my elbow - also went on holiday to Bulgaria for a week with some friends. Whilst away i actually managed to pull off a Flag on both sides, much to my own surprise! I think it had a lot to do with finding the right handholds, so i'm really pleased about that achievement, i managed to hold it for about 5 seconds and i'll upload a photo as soon as i get hold of the images from a friend.

Im planning to ease back into the calisthenics, will be doing a fair bit of running too as the football season has now started. Hopefully my elbow will cooperate!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For some reason i can't upload photos to this site at the moment, but when i find the time i'll make a flag video instead and link the YouTube page.

Did a light session yesterday, didn't record the reps:

Chins

Pull-ups

#1

#2

Pushups

Ab-wheel

Handstand Pushups

Football training for two hours

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday:

Played football for an hour, with warm-up and cool-down afterwards.

1 x 6 clapping pull-ups

1 x 6 slow pull-ups in L-seat position

1 x 6 wide grip pull-ups

1 x 6 chin-ups

3 x 6 handstand pushups against wall

4 x 10 pushups

1 x 10 clapping pushups from fingertips

1 x 20 tricep dips

1 x 3 hanging leg raises

3 x 5 ab-wheel rollouts from kneeling

1 x 30 #1 closes each hand

1 x 20 situps

2 x 10 crunches

2 x 10 oblique crunches1 x 10 leg raises

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 x 5 muscle ups

1 x 5 wide grip pull-ups

1 x 5 close grip chin-ups

2 x 20 dips

3 x 6 bicep curls 18kg

1 x 3 overhead dumbbell press 27.5kg

2 x 6 overhead dumbbell press 18kg

1 x 10 benchpress 27.5kg dumbbells

2 x 6 tricep pull-downs 35kg

Some other shoulder and back work, nothing really worth documenting - can't remember the specifics so won't put anything down, stuff like pushup variations, front raises and rows.

2 x 6 hanging leg raises

1 x 3 dragon flags

3 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches each side, 20 feet raised crunches, 20 russian twists)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a pretty tough football training session today for a couple of hours, then did some grip work.

Was a little slack about recording exactly what i did, but i went for lots of reps of the #1 and #2, hopefully this will help me lay a foundation of strong tendons and ligaments in my hand and forearm so that i can deal with heavy negatives and such later on - was reading something Paul Knight wrote to this effect, also, i think my body responds well to slightly higher reps.

I'm hoping that this approach for a few weeks will help me prevent injury and also enable me to mash the 2.5 out of the packet when i do get one. Going to aim for 10 solid back to back TNS reps with the #2 - i think i have an easy one, so hopefully i'll get a average/hard 2.5, although no way to calibrate grippers at present.

Lots of TNS #2 singles with both hands - probably about 20 each hand

4 x 5 TNS #2 opening fully each rep

3 x 5 TNS #1 as explosive as possible

2 x 10 TNS #1

1 x 20 TNS #1

1 x 30 CCS #1

Some wrist roller work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh and i forgot to add a hundred sit-up/crunches - a few different variations.

Might do a hill run before football training tomorrow, as i ate a bunch of junk tonight and am feeling guilty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't realise it at the time, but had a really good gripper day today.

Watched the Silverbackgrip guy's latest video documenting his workout - i know he's not exactly the most popular individual around these parts and i don't think he'll get near the #4, but i'm impressed with his gains so far - decided to take and aspect of his regime that he said helped him with the #3, basically lots of #2 reps in as short a time as possible. I used TNS reps, but i will do MMS in future, as i need to work on the close more than my sweep, which is much stronger.

50 x #2 in 28 mins with right hand - 3 sets of 10 reps, which is a PB/PR (previous best consecutive reps was 7) then sets of 5 until i reached 50.

50 x #2 in 30 mins with left hand - 2 sets of 10 reps, then sets of 5 and eventually doubles and singles until i reached 50. Was really tough left handed.

60 x consecutive MMS reps with #1 focussing on speed

40 x consecutive MMS reps with #1 focussing on speed.

50 x #2 'clicks' with both hands (reps where the handles barely come apart)

Damaged the skin on my little finger of my right hand a little, not my left, i think i hold the gripper slightly differently in each hand possibly? Or maybe the way the spring is wound...

Never done a session with that much volume before, so i'll wait and see how my hands feel tomorrow. Hopefully not too sore!

Also, does anyone have any tips on building thumb strength without buying expensive equipment? I've heard that buying a pony clamp and applying rubber bands for more resistance is a good way to go.

Have been playing a LOT of football lately and so i've slipped up on abs work and pull-ups, as i need to be able to perform well in matches and not be fatigued. Will resume core work shortly however, when my football fitness improves.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just ordered the coc #2.5 and some chalk balls. I've heard that the chalk can be worth 10-20lbs of crushing force, although i'm slightly skeptical of this, i'd love to be pleasantly surprised!! Hopefully i'll be able to get the #2.5 out of the packet when it arrives - i'll make a video of the attempt, probably on Saturday.

I'm expecting to get an MMS rep, having hit 10 consecutive TNS reps with my #2 but i don't think i'll manage a CCS rep. Also, i guess i'll be able to tell a little better whether i have an easy #2 or not!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good Luck with the #2.5. Keep working hard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Chez :)

Had an upper-body and core session today for the first time in a little while:

Rowed 1km on an ergo machine to warm up.

3 x (5 x muscle-ups, 10 x dips)

1 x 6 wide grip pull-ups

3 x 10 dips

1 x 10 close grip chin-ups

1 x 2 bicep curls with 27.5kg dumbbells strict form (just to see if i could - was actually pretty easy, PB might be around 32.5kg)

3 x 6 bicep curls with 20kg dumbbells

1 x 6 pushups using straps for instability

1 x 10 dumbbell bench-press 27.5kg

1 x 10 dumbbell pull-overs 27.5kg

1 x 5 weighted pull-ups 12kg

1 x 5 weighted chin-ups 12kg

1 x 10 weighted dips 12kg

1 x 2 weighted pull-ups 20kg

1 x 2 weighted chin-ups 20kg

1 x 5 weighted dips 20kg

3 x 6 tricep pull-downs 35kg

2 x 10 military press - keeping load on delts - 30 kg

1 x 5 front raises 10 kg dumbbell

1 x 4 chest-press machine 120kg

5 x (20 crunches, 20 oblique crunches each side, 20 feet raised crunches, 20 russian twists)

2 x 5 ab-wheel rollouts, from kneeling

1 x 10 windshield wipers

3 x 10 pushups

1 x 10 leg raises

As you can probably tell, gym session wasn't very focussed, haven't been to a gym in a while and i just did a little of what i fancied. They have a dipping belt now, hence the weighted work, will try for a decent PB in dip/pull-up soon, maybe hit 30kg pull-up and 40kg dip. In other news, managed a feat that i saw on a youtube video, push-up with a clap in front, clap behind and clap in front again before the hands touch the ground again. Also getting close to a one arm elbow lever, almost snapped my wrist though :blink

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, and i did a few wrist curls and reverse wrist curls along with a little wrist roller work, pretty light stuff really, but worth doing i'm sure. Also picked up a 20kg kettle-bell with just my pinkie, much to the amazement of my friends :laugh have managed a 60kg one arm dead-lift with two fingers before, and a 100kg one handed dead-lift. Not really sure if these are laughably low, or halfway decent, but i was pretty happy with them at the time :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy policies.