My grand experiment - comments welcome!

morningstar

morningstar

Cathlete
I am trying a new experiment in working out. I have been doing both a push up and pull up challenge every day - where I do the exercise each day adding 1 rep to the previous day's total. I had expected to gain endurance, but not much muscle, from doing the push ups everyday, as everyone says that you don’t gain muscle from the workout, but from the recovery, and so you have to have lots of recovery time. Well, I seem to be gaining both muscle and endurance! I also think I’m starting to notice a difference already in my back muscles. Also, I have been doing my own superset workouts, where I work one muscle with heavy weights alternating with working a different muscle with endurance weights, (no breaks) which seems to have helped my strength as well.

So, I wanted to take these experiences and develop a challenging rotation for building both strength and endurance that may set conventional wisdom on its ear. Or not, depending on the results, of course. Here’s what I came up with:

On a daily basis, I do these workouts (the rep numbers for the pull ups and push ups shown are for next week):

Monday
Superset Splits (30 minutes):
  • Chest strength
  • Triceps endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
15 pull up attempts
58 push ups

Tuesday
Superset Splits (30 minutes):
  • Legs strength
  • Shoulders endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
16 pull up attempts
59 push ups

Wednesday
Superset Splits (30 minutes):
  • Back strength
  • Biceps endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
17 pull up attempts
60 push ups

Thursday
Superset Splits (30 minutes)
  • Triceps strength
  • Chest endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
18 pull up attempts
61 push ups

Friday
Superset Splits (30 minutes):
  • Shoulders strength
  • Legs endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
19 pull up attempts
62 push ups

Saturday
Superset Splits (30 minutes):
  • Biceps strength
  • Back endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
20 pull up attempts
63 push ups

Sunday
Superset Splits (15 minutes):
  • Abs endurance
1000 strokes Rowing
15 minutes Frankenstein Marching
21 pull up attempts
64 push ups

And then add in running 4-5 times per week, and of course, walking. It’s just an experiment, of course. I was thinking about people that have to do heavy work as part of their jobs. They never take a day off from lifting, yet they have both endurance and strength; why can’t I do the same? Also, with my physiotherapy exercises, my physiotherapist always said to do the exercises everyday. This rotation might not be effective, but I don’t think it’ll hurt and I don’t think I will lose any strength. I do seem to be gravitating towards shorter, efficient and yet very brutal workouts.

Frankenstein marching is a rehab exercise to build strength for those that suffer from IT band issues and let me tell ya, 15 minutes feels like a very very long time when doing them! I've edited to add the link to the instructions: http://www.iawr-connect.com/injury-p...on/itbandpain/.
 
Last edited:
Would you mind explaining Frankenstein marching in more detail? Sounds like I could use this for my own IT band issues, yet no PT has ever shown me this move. Thanks you for your time.

Interesting experiment. My instinct goes towards thinking that trying pull up attempts adn push ups every day might not lead to results, but it would be interesting to see what happens in reality when you try it.

Good luck and keep us in the loop! You are your own living experiment...

Clare
 
I wanted to know what a Frankenstein march is too.

Google gave me this

http://www.educatedrunner.com/Blog/...cleId/144/Why-Hip-Kidnaps-Cant-Stop-ITBS.aspx

It's about 3/4 of the way down the page.

But I don't think I'm doing it right. I feel crazy tension in my shins from trying to keep my foot so the band doesn't pop out, but nothing in my ITB, which has been pretty sore both yesterday and today.

Here's a video, but no band
http://vimeo.com/11700239

Dunno? Am I actually supposed to walk, or stay in place?

Nan
 
spyrosmom said:
I wanted to know what a Frankenstein march is too.

Google gave me this

http://www.educatedrunner.com/Blog/...cleId/144/Why-Hip-Kidnaps-Cant-Stop-ITBS.aspx

It's about 3/4 of the way down the page.

But I don't think I'm doing it right. I feel crazy tension in my shins from trying to keep my foot so the band doesn't pop out, but nothing in my ITB, which has been pretty sore both yesterday and today.

Here's a video, but no band
http://vimeo.com/11700239

Dunno? Am I actually supposed to walk, or stay in place?

Nan
Click to expand...

You are definitely supposed to walk - I walk forward and backward, rather than turning around. There shouldn't be tension in your shins.
 
Ah-ha!!!! Someone on your link posted a link to a video. I was stepping too high. Almost a straight leg kick, which is why I was losing my band and getting the shin tension trying to hold my band.

Now I'm feeling it.

Thank you!!! :):):):):)

MWAH!!!!

Nan
 
spyrosmom said:
Ah-ha!!!! Someone on your link posted a link to a video. I was stepping too high. Almost a straight leg kick, which is why I was losing my band and getting the shin tension trying to hold my band.

Now I'm feeling it.

Thank you!!! :):):):):)

MWAH!!!!

Nan
Click to expand...

And I pretty much guarantee you'll keep on feeling it - especially tomorrow!
 
spyrosmom said:
Ah-ha!!!! Someone on your link posted a link to a video. I was stepping too high. Almost a straight leg kick, which is why I was losing my band and getting the shin tension trying to hold my band.

Now I'm feeling it.

Thank you!!! :):):):):)

MWAH!!!!

Nan
Click to expand...



Where is the link to the video? Please help!!!! Thanks.

Clare
 
Got it, thanks.

At my PT sessions we called this monster walk and used a versaloop around either the shins/calves or ankles. I never found this particularly difficult. Sideways, squat position crab walks are more challenging, working the gluteus medius to help take some of the work off the ITB. One aspect of ITB issues is strengthening, the other is flexibility. I think I have the strength down pat and only the foam roller seems to take care of helping to soften the tissues of the ITB, introducing more flexibility and movement back into it and into the attachment of the ITB at both ends.

Thanks for the link!

Clare
 
I did 500 freakin' push ups today

And yep, they were all with good form and off my toes.

Shortly after my posting this thread, I decided to change things up on the push up challenge part of my daily workout. I had got up to 71 push ups per session.

Well, I was getting a little bored with how I was doing my push ups, and I also noticed that my push ups were getting a little shallow and a little too fast. Not cool. So I decided to do my push ups in sets of 10-20 instead. I also decided to take real breaks of 5-10 seconds or so between sets, instead of going into downward dog.

Here's my counts since I made the change a week ago:

Thursday: 173
Friday: 200
Sunday: 210
Monday: 220
Wednesday: 240+260=500 (two separate sessions)

Notice I actually took Saturday and Tuesday off? That's new too!

This is a lot more fun this way, and the dread factor goes way down. It's a lot easier to think, "I only have to do 10 push ups and then I get a break", than it is to think "I have another 40 push ups before I can stop this torture". The hardest part is actually the pressure on the wrists, more than anything else, or I think I could've done all 500 push ups in a single session. I don't like using things like dumbbells or the Perfect Push Up type-thingies, though, so I'll just have to toughen my wrists up.

The rest of my daily workout is looking a little ragged around the edges, to be honest, and I'm going to be changing up my rotation. I've started a new job and need to adjust my expectations accordingly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top