So it has been one month (wow, that actually went by pretty quickly) since I started this Strength Rules workout program. Here is how I think it went.
So far, so good. I definitely feel stronger. I don't think I'll be doing any of those crazy calisthenics moves (muscle ups, human flags, etc...) for a bit, but I'm okay with that. The workouts, while still hard, seem more comfortable as I get used to doing the pushup and pullup movements. Dips are still an awkward one for me and I think they will just get more awkward when I get to doing single bar dips. But they are a necessary evil.
I am seeing some definition in my muscles - mainly in the chest and some in the biceps. I would have liked to see more in the shoulders, but that hopefully will come with time.
Not seeing my abs. I can definitely feel them when I tighten them up now, but my diet is not great so I don't expect them to pop out any time soon. I just like my crappy food too much. I am trying to limit myself to healthier stuff but I fall off the wagon way too often to expect my body fat percentage to drop low enough to get a six pack. At least for now.
All in all, happy with the progress. I'll post pictures soon with before and after to see if I can see a difference.
Now, back to working out.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Day 31
Okay, new round of workouts - got them all in this morning as I have a dentist appointment at lunch today, but going forward I will probably start breaking these out between 2 workouts, either both the same day or between two different days. I just feel kind of rushed to get all the sets and reps done and want to make sure I do this right.
So here's the results for today:
Pull-ups felt pretty good - was able to add a rep to each type which I am happy with. I probably could have added a few more reps in the early set but wanted to make sure I could get through all the sets. The last set of the chin-ups I struggled a bit with the last rep so I think I planned it well.
Push-ups felt better than last time. I was able to get through 20 reps in each set, though my tempo may have been a little faster than it should be. I'll try slowing it down a little bit on the next workout. I am definitely feeling some definition forming in my chest though, which is nice.
No real progress on the knee raises, though I still feel the burn. But I still lose form toward the end of the third set.
Dips, I found another callisthenic workout that had dips with the knees up as the next progression so I did those. It was an awkward position for me and I was only able to get in 8 for each set. Strength Rules has Staggered dips as the next progression but at my gym I haven't found a way to do that as the dip stations have very small areas for gripping the bars. Luckily there is a wealth of stuff out there on the internet so I'll keep finding harder progressions as I move forward.
Incline pike pushups were hard today - probably because I did them yesterday. In retrospect I should have rested those today and just did them over the weekend. They felt week and uncomfortable and my reps were down. Hopefully they will be better on Monday.
So here's the results for today:
| Classic Workout #1 / #2 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Narrow Pushup | 2 | 20 | 20,20 |
| Wide Pushup | 2 | 20 | 20,20 |
| Pull-up | 3 | 5-10 | 6,5,5 |
| Neutral Pull-up | 3 | 5-10 | 6,5,5 |
| Chin-up | 3 | 5-10 | 6,5,5 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 20,20,15 |
| Incline Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | 15,10,10 |
| Dips (Knees up) | 3 | 10 | 8,8,8 |
Pull-ups felt pretty good - was able to add a rep to each type which I am happy with. I probably could have added a few more reps in the early set but wanted to make sure I could get through all the sets. The last set of the chin-ups I struggled a bit with the last rep so I think I planned it well.
Push-ups felt better than last time. I was able to get through 20 reps in each set, though my tempo may have been a little faster than it should be. I'll try slowing it down a little bit on the next workout. I am definitely feeling some definition forming in my chest though, which is nice.
No real progress on the knee raises, though I still feel the burn. But I still lose form toward the end of the third set.
Dips, I found another callisthenic workout that had dips with the knees up as the next progression so I did those. It was an awkward position for me and I was only able to get in 8 for each set. Strength Rules has Staggered dips as the next progression but at my gym I haven't found a way to do that as the dip stations have very small areas for gripping the bars. Luckily there is a wealth of stuff out there on the internet so I'll keep finding harder progressions as I move forward.
Incline pike pushups were hard today - probably because I did them yesterday. In retrospect I should have rested those today and just did them over the weekend. They felt week and uncomfortable and my reps were down. Hopefully they will be better on Monday.
Day 30
Didn't get the pike pushups in yesterday so I did them today at lunch, which finishes up this round of workouts as follows:
| Classic Workout #1 / #2 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Narrow Pushup | 2 | 20 | 20,15 |
| Wide Pushup | 2 | 20 | 15,13 |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,5 |
| Neutral Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,5 |
| Chinup | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,4 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 20,20,15 |
| Incline Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | 15,13,10 |
| Dips | 3 | 10 | 10,10,10 |
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Day 29
Wow, I'm beat after today's workout. I was trying to get all the exercises in at lunch so I supersetted most of them. I did Pull-up/Narrow Pushup, Hanging Knee Raises/Dips, Neutral Pull-ups/Wide Pushup and then a round of Chin ups. The only exercise I didn't get in was the incline pike pushups which I will get in tonight when I get home from work. Here are the results:
All the pull-up sets went well, wasn't able to get that last set of 5 in on the chin-ups but even still, I'm still progressing forward.
Pushups, I actually felt pretty good on the narrow ones, but was not able to get as many of the wide pushups as I had hoped.
Hanging knee raises made a bit of forward progress as well, and dips remained the same, mainly because I haven't yet looked up the next progression of harder dips to work on.
Feel great after the workout - a bit of soreness, but the good kind.
| Classic Workout #1 / #2 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Narrow Pushup | 2 | 20 | 20,15 |
| Wide Pushup | 2 | 20 | 15,13 |
| Pull-up | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,5 |
| Neutral Pull-up | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,5 |
| Chin-up | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,4 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 20,20,15 |
| Incline Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | |
| Dips | 3 | 10 | 10,10,10 |
All the pull-up sets went well, wasn't able to get that last set of 5 in on the chin-ups but even still, I'm still progressing forward.
Pushups, I actually felt pretty good on the narrow ones, but was not able to get as many of the wide pushups as I had hoped.
Hanging knee raises made a bit of forward progress as well, and dips remained the same, mainly because I haven't yet looked up the next progression of harder dips to work on.
Feel great after the workout - a bit of soreness, but the good kind.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Day 28
No workout today, was able to get it all in yesterday. Here is my plan for tomorrow - I am adjusting a bit since I hit the max on push-ups. So I am kind of combining Classic Workout #1 and Classic Workout #2
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Narrow Pushup | 2 | 20 | |
| Wide Pushup | 2 | 20 | |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Neutral Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Chinup | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | |
| Incline Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | |
| Dips | 3 | 10 |
As you can see I have four sets of pushups, broken into narrow and wide. I also broke out the three different types of pullups I am doing on the schedule now so it is easier to see and update.
See you tomorrow.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Day 27
Long weekend of soccer - all in all, 8 games between kids playing and refereeing - a little sunburned but fun.
Not getting to they gym at lunch today, so I got my workout in this morning. Sciatica is still not great, better but not great, so I just got a mile in on the treadmill, which left me with plenty of time to get in my strength workout.
I supersetted the pushups with my first 3 sets of pullups and was able to get through all 20 in each, next workout I am going to move to wide pushups in the progression.
Pullup sets all went fine, was able to get two sets of 5 and one set of 4 in for each type of pullup - regular, neutral and chin up. Will keep progressing on these until I plateau, which I always seem to do around 8 pullups. Hopefully this will change this time, but we'll see.
Hanging knee raises - I did remember I was supposed to go to 20 to complete this level so I just tried and got 20 in the first set, then did 15 in the next two. Will keep working to get these up to 20 in all three sets.
Pike pushups - I forgot I was going to go to incline pike pushups this time - oh well, next time.
Dips were fine - a little tired as these were last but I got through them - will look for the next progression on dips for next time.
Not getting to they gym at lunch today, so I got my workout in this morning. Sciatica is still not great, better but not great, so I just got a mile in on the treadmill, which left me with plenty of time to get in my strength workout.
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Pushup | 3 | 20 | 20,20,20 |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | 5,5,4,5,5,4,5,5,4 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 20,15,15 |
| Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | 15,15,15 |
| Dips | 3 | 10 | 10,10,10 |
I supersetted the pushups with my first 3 sets of pullups and was able to get through all 20 in each, next workout I am going to move to wide pushups in the progression.
Pullup sets all went fine, was able to get two sets of 5 and one set of 4 in for each type of pullup - regular, neutral and chin up. Will keep progressing on these until I plateau, which I always seem to do around 8 pullups. Hopefully this will change this time, but we'll see.
Hanging knee raises - I did remember I was supposed to go to 20 to complete this level so I just tried and got 20 in the first set, then did 15 in the next two. Will keep working to get these up to 20 in all three sets.
Pike pushups - I forgot I was going to go to incline pike pushups this time - oh well, next time.
Dips were fine - a little tired as these were last but I got through them - will look for the next progression on dips for next time.
Friday, April 21, 2017
Day 24
Workout felt good today. Here's where I ended up:
So pushups I still seem to be struggling with a bit. Today I supersetted them with my first three sets of pullups. They felt good but I couldn't get too deep into the last set.
Pullups, I did 9 sets of 4 - 3 sets of overhand, underhand and neutral grip.
Hanging knee raises I did the 3 sets of 15, forgetting that the sets should go up to 20. I'll work on getting up to 20 next time. That's what I get for not writing it all down before I went to the gym.
Pike pushups were fine - next time I will elevate my feet for the pike pushups and see how far I can get. I also think I'll throw in one or two sets of headstands to start getting used to being upside down and engaging my core. I always found that when doing handstands I seem to really arch my back, which has hurt me in the past. I think I need to work on keeping my body in a straight line when inverted before I try going to handstand pushups.
Dips were fine - missed the first set, not sure why, but was able to get the next two out.
Weekend off, more on Monday.
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Pushup | 3 | 20 | 20,20,13 |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | 4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 15,15,15 |
| Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | 15,15,15 |
| Dips | 3 | 10 | 8,10,10 |
So pushups I still seem to be struggling with a bit. Today I supersetted them with my first three sets of pullups. They felt good but I couldn't get too deep into the last set.
Pullups, I did 9 sets of 4 - 3 sets of overhand, underhand and neutral grip.
Hanging knee raises I did the 3 sets of 15, forgetting that the sets should go up to 20. I'll work on getting up to 20 next time. That's what I get for not writing it all down before I went to the gym.
Pike pushups were fine - next time I will elevate my feet for the pike pushups and see how far I can get. I also think I'll throw in one or two sets of headstands to start getting used to being upside down and engaging my core. I always found that when doing handstands I seem to really arch my back, which has hurt me in the past. I think I need to work on keeping my body in a straight line when inverted before I try going to handstand pushups.
Dips were fine - missed the first set, not sure why, but was able to get the next two out.
Weekend off, more on Monday.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Day 23
No workouts today - could definitely feel that I had a good workout yesterday. Abs, back and shoulders had that good sore feeling. Ran 3 miles this morning - painful.
But, here is my plan for tomorrow:
Again, will do 9 sets of the pullups, 3 sets of each type - doing another exercise in between each group of three sets. Everything else will be as prescribed above.
But, here is my plan for tomorrow:
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Pushup | 3 | 20 | |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | |
| Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | |
| Dips | 3 | 10 |
Again, will do 9 sets of the pullups, 3 sets of each type - doing another exercise in between each group of three sets. Everything else will be as prescribed above.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Day 22
Okay, today I started the classic workouts. Not everything went as planned but overall it felt pretty good. Here was my plan
As you can see, the pushups didn't go quite as planned - just felt a little tired while doing those. the rest I was very happy with.
For the pull-ups I modified it a little. I really used to love doing pull ups, but I like to mix it up and do all three kinds, regular grip, neutral grip, and chin ups. So instead of trying to do 3 max sets of just regular grip pullups, I tested myself with 9 sets of 3 pullups, 3 sets using each grip. Each one felt like I could have done another rep (probably) but I felt good at the end of it and felt like I got a workout. I'll build these up over the next few weeks, relatively slowly but I'll get there.
Missed a few dips just from being tired. Going to look for another progression for dips though to make them a bit tougher maybe in a few workouts.
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| ------ | |||
| Pushup | 3 | 20 | 20,13,12 |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3 |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 15,15,15 |
| Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | 15,15,15 |
| Dips | 3 | 10 | 10,10,8 |
As you can see, the pushups didn't go quite as planned - just felt a little tired while doing those. the rest I was very happy with.
For the pull-ups I modified it a little. I really used to love doing pull ups, but I like to mix it up and do all three kinds, regular grip, neutral grip, and chin ups. So instead of trying to do 3 max sets of just regular grip pullups, I tested myself with 9 sets of 3 pullups, 3 sets using each grip. Each one felt like I could have done another rep (probably) but I felt good at the end of it and felt like I got a workout. I'll build these up over the next few weeks, relatively slowly but I'll get there.
Missed a few dips just from being tired. Going to look for another progression for dips though to make them a bit tougher maybe in a few workouts.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Day 21
Workout went well this morning. Finished up the two day breakout of workouts
Given that, I am going to move on to the next progression in workouts - Classic Workout #1, which is actually a little simpler than this one, with less exercises. So Tomorrow's workout will be the following
I have removed the squats because I still feel that this may be what was tweaking my sciatic nerve, but I added in the Pike Pushups to make a fourth exercise. I am also adding in the dips, which are a key exercise to master for me to get to my muscle up this year.
We'll see how it goes, this could take longer to get out of this workout because getting to 3 sets of 10 pullups will be tough.
| Starter Workout #3 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Pushups | 3 | 10-20 | 25,20,15 |
| Parallel Bar Dips | 3 | 10 | 10,10,10 |
| Incline Australian Pullups | 3 | 5-10 | 10,10,10 |
| Flex Hang | 30 | 30,30,30 | |
| Leg Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 10,10,10 |
| Straight Bridge | 60 | 60 |
Given that, I am going to move on to the next progression in workouts - Classic Workout #1, which is actually a little simpler than this one, with less exercises. So Tomorrow's workout will be the following
| Classic Workout #1 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| ------ | |||
| Pushup | 3 | 20 | |
| Pullup | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Hanging Knee Raise | 3 | 15-20 | |
| Pike Pushups | 3 | 15 | |
| Dips | 3 | 15 |
I have removed the squats because I still feel that this may be what was tweaking my sciatic nerve, but I added in the Pike Pushups to make a fourth exercise. I am also adding in the dips, which are a key exercise to master for me to get to my muscle up this year.
We'll see how it goes, this could take longer to get out of this workout because getting to 3 sets of 10 pullups will be tough.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Day 20
I should build some strength today because I probably weigh 10 pounds more than I did last week - Easter was yesterday and I ate way too much. Great day though.
So here is my plan for today and tomorrow:
Happy with what I got in - could probably have gotten more in on the leg raises, but I couldn't remember the rep-ranges I was going for. I'll up those next time.
As for the pushups, I'll keep going with those for a few more days even though I think I can hit the 3x20 reps. Flex hang is done, I'll move into pullups next time.
Tomorrow will be the dips, Australian pullups and straight bridge.
So here is my plan for today and tomorrow:
| Starter Workout #3 | Sets | Reps | Actual |
| Pushups | 3 | 10-20 | 25,20,15 |
| Parallel Bar Dips | 3 | 10 | |
| Incline Australian Pullups | 3 | 5-10 | |
| Flex Hang | 30 | 30,30,30 | |
| Leg Raise | 3 | 15-20 | 10,10,10 |
| Straight Bridge | 60 |
Happy with what I got in - could probably have gotten more in on the leg raises, but I couldn't remember the rep-ranges I was going for. I'll up those next time.
As for the pushups, I'll keep going with those for a few more days even though I think I can hit the 3x20 reps. Flex hang is done, I'll move into pullups next time.
Tomorrow will be the dips, Australian pullups and straight bridge.
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