Pierini's January 2005 Training Log

[gcs118]

What are Great Gama squats? And you're right, long bodyweight sets and running especially, it becomes a mind game. It's great that you can bust right through those walls without hesitation. :

Great Gama squats are more commonly called "Hindu squats". I call them Great Gama squats out of respect for the Hindu religion. The Great Gama was a famous Indian wrestler who supposedly performed these in high volume.

Matt Furey is a big proponent of these. For an example of how they are performed, check out bronzebowpublishing.com website and go to the exercises section. John Peterson demonstrates how they are performed and many other bodyweight exercises including the Tiger Moves that I regularly perform.

Have a good day!

I forgot to post my statistics for the month-to-date.

Pull-ups - this week = 205, month-to-date = 781, January goal = 1,000
Push-ups - this week = 600, month-to-date = 1,620, January goal = 2,000
Dips - this week = 240, month-to-date = 785, January goal = 1,000
Squats - this week = 400, month-to-date = 1,500, January goal = 2,000
Sit-ups - this week = 500, month-to-date = 1,620, January goal = 2,000

I seem to be on track. No more quantity goals for me next month. Although I must admit I've had a good fitness performance month chasing these quotas.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Walked around 3 miles, very slow, as a participant in a Pro-Life march in San Francisco.

Pushed a woman in a wheel chair up a moderately-steep hill for around 300 meters. Got the heart rate up.

At the end of the march at a park, found a pull-up bar so performed 3 sets of 10 reps of standard grip pull-ups.

Talked to a gentlemen in his 70s who was performing pull-ups. He told me that when he was my age he could perform 50 non-stop pull-ups. My response was mixed. He was either paying me one heck of a compliment thinking that I was alot younger than what I am, or he was making me feel lousy that I can only perform 17 non-stop pull-ups. He was a nice man and I enjoyed talking to him. He said he was a dancer when he was younger and had to lift women partners above his head in the dance performances he did.

Well that's it for me. Sunday is a day of rest. See you tomorrow.

Monday, January 24, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 6:20 a.m.

Warm-up
Back hyperextension 1 x 50
Military sit-ups 1 x 50
Cherry pickers 1 x 50
Military sit-ups 1 x 50

Total sit-ups = 100

Pull-ups
For the next 3 weeks I'm going to follow the Armstrong training method strictly as it has been awhile since I've done that. Exception is that on Day #5 I'll probably do weighted pull-ups as I've come to enjoy the challenge that added weight provides. So today I did Armstrong Day #1, five maximum sets with 90 seconds recovery between sets.

I did: 15-9-6-6-6 = 42
Then I did 2 additional sets of 4 reps.

Total pull-ups = 50

Bar dips
5 maximum sets with 90 seconds recovery between sets.

I did: 22-16-10-10-8

Total bar dips = 66.

Cardio
3 mile treadmill run at 1% grade.

Mile 1 @ 8:28 - maximum HR 163
Mile 2 @ 15:40 - maximum HR 166
Mile 3 @ 23:48 - maximum HR 171

I've got some work to do here in the next month.

Stretching
Standard on the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/etc.

Other Comments
I've been eating healthy so on Saturday I decided to reward myself and give myself a "reward day", what others call a "cheat day". For me, this means that I do not log and quantify my food consumption. Ate a donut, a large chocolate chip cookie and a bunch of BBQ potato chips. I had also decided to make Sunday a reward day but after watching my Saturday behavior I decided to resume the log. I need the discipline.

Have a great day. Deo Gratias.

[gcs118]

50 hyperextensions for a warm up is pretty good, I think that'd tire me out in itself haha. Also, 22 dips in a row isn't bad at all. You must have some pretty good endurance.

I've been flat lately. Stuck on 17 pull-ups for a single set max. My PR for bar dips is 25. Everyday is different but being flat is a test to be patient and endure.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 6:05 a.m.

Warm-up
Whole body stretches and other warm-ups

Pull-ups
Armstrong day #2 pull-up workout: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-5-5 = 46 then 1 additional set of 4 to equal 50. Rest between sets is 10 seconds x number of reps of the set just completed.

Total pull-ups = 50

Superset Workout
This is a repeat of a workout I did on January 4th except today was in the gym and the January 4th workout was at home at 5:30 a.m. in the morning after awakening only 10 minutes earlier. The workout is as follows:

Superset of 20 standard push-ups on knuckles, then 30 military sit-ups, and finally 40 Great Gama squats. Perform 5 supersets for time.

Today's cumulative time after a superset and January 4th times are as follows:

SS#1 - today = 2:55 vs. January 4th = 3:40
SS#2 - today = 6:51 vs. January 4th = 8:15
SS#3 - today = 11:12 vs. January 4th = 13:15
SS#4 - today = 15:56 vs. January 4th = 18:53
SS#5 - today = 20:02 vs. January 4th = 24:03

So today was a good day. As in all the superset workouts that I set up and perform, the prevailing thought going through my head when performing them is QUIT.

Stretching
Did not perform. Maybe tonight.

Other
My work is starting to get hot and heavy so I will probably skip tonight's standard Tuesday evening dojo workout.

One of these days I should strap on my heart rate monitor and get some measurements when performing these supersets. My perception is that my heart rate is probably in the high 160s when performing the Great Gama squats, comparable to running at a sub 7 minute mile pace.

Have a great day everyone and train hard and surprise yourself.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 6:10 a.m.

Why do I go to the gym everyday so early? To avoid the rush hour commute. I live 25 miles from the gym and if I left home at a normal commute time it would take 45-60 minutes to get to work. The gym is .25 miles to my office. And, it starts my day off right.

Warm-up
Back hyperextensions 1 x 50 then military sit-ups 1 x 50
Tiger Moves - 5 reps each movement - light tension for 4 reps then moderate+ tension for the last rep with a 5-second isometric contraction at the end.

Pull-ups
Armstrong day #3 workout - 60 seconds recovery between sets

pull-ups: 7-7-7 then chin-ups: 7-7-7 then pull-ups: 5-5-5 (should have picked a rep count that would have allowed me to complete the same number of reps for all 9 sets).

Total pull-ups = 57

Dips
60 seconds recovery between sets

dips: 3 sets of 12 reps, then 2 sets of 10 reps, then 1 set of 8 reps

Total dips = 64

Cardio
Ran at 0% grade as I forgot to set it at 1% as I normally do. No wonder today seemed easier and my HR did not get as high as I expected it.

Warm-up of 1 mile at 8:34/mile pace.

Then, 240 meters repeats (0.6 lap) @ 6:00/mile pace followed by an interval recovery of 80 meters @ 15:00/mile walk pace then 80 meters jog increasing speed to be ready for the next repeat. 8 sets.

Total time for 3 miles was 24:12. HR at start of this workout was 92 bpm. Highest HR during the repeats was 163 bpm. Lowest HR during the interval recovery was 1245 bpm. Then walked at 15:00/mile pace so total time on the treadmill was 30 minutes. Ending HR was 103.

Stretching
On the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/etc.

Other Comments
Just another workout. Nothing fancy. No PRs today. Nothing eventful. A complete workout nonetheless.

Have a good day!

[Azanmi]

Hey you don't happen to live in Michigan do you? There was a guy at the gym that did A TON of Pullups, Chinups and Dips... probably an hour's worth!

No, I'm a California man. One thing I've noticed whenever I do my high volume stuff at my gym is that people watch, particularly when you strap some pounds on and do pull-ups.

By the way, 8 reps is good, you're making good progress. And I'm sure the pull-ups and weighted dips are spilling over benefits that you are seeing in your other exercises.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

My morning workout was at home this morning as I am going to a funeral near where I live before I go to work. I began my workout at 7:00 a.m.

This is what I did:

Superset of 25 standard push-ups on knuckles, immediately followed by 25 military sit-ups, immediately followed by 25 Great Gama squats. I completed 8 supersets in 34:40. Total of 200 reps for each of the 3 exercises making up this superset.

I performed this workout 2 weeks ago in a time of 53:10 so today's time was a signficant improvement. There was one difference with the workout of 2 weeks ago: I performed 4 different types of each exercise whereas today's workout only included 1 type of each exercise in the superset. Also, 2 weeks ago, I performed 3 x 10 of pull-ups before beginning the superset.

Then I sat on the floor for my standard stretching of my hams/quads/glutes/etc.

Well I have got to go pay my respects. Enjoy your life as we never know when our time will be up.

Have a great day!

Edited: snuck in a Thursday evening dojo workout

Friday, January 28, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 6:30 a.m.

Warm-up
Superset - cherry pickers x 25 then military sit-ups x 25, then Great Gama squats x 25 then Atlas push-ups x 25

Pull-ups
All reps were standard grip. Recovery between all sets was 3 minutes.

1) bodyweight (BW) x 5
2) BW + 25 lbs. x 5
3) BW + 35 lbs. x 5
4) BW + 45 lbs. x 4
5) BW + 55 lbs. x 2
6) BW + 65 lbs. x 2
7) BW x 10
8 ) BW x 10
9) BW x 6 (to equal 50 but I needed 7 - math error - then quit)

Total reps = 49

Superset
Repeat warm-up superset as described above

Dips
Recovery between all sets was 3 minutes

1) BW x 10
2) BW + 25 lbs. x 6
3) BW + 35 lbs. x 6
4) BW + 45 lbs. x 6
5) BW + 55 lbs. x 4
6) BW + 65 lbs. x 3
7) BW x 15
8 ) BW x 15
9) BW x 15
10) BW x 10

Total reps = 90

Superset
Repeat warm-up superset as described above. Performed 2 supersets

Stretching
On the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/etc.

Performance Statistics
I accomplished my January 2005 quantity goals! I'm proud of myself. These goals were bittersweet. They made me work hard and I can see the net gain in my fitness as a result of them, but they sure created alot of work. No more production goals for me next month. My work is starting to crank up so I'll need to make my workouts shorter, so more intensity in less time. I'm not necessarily looking forward to these workouts as they are TOUGH.

So here are my stats for January:

pull-ups: this week = 237 - month-to-date = 1,018 - goal = 1,000
dips: this week = 220 - month-to-date = 1,005 - goal = 1,000
push-ups: this week = 400 - month-to-date = 2,020 - goal = 2,000
sit-ups: this week = 600 - month-to-date = 2,220 - goal = 2,000
squats: this week = 500 - month-to-date = 2,000 - goal = 2,000

Have a great day!

P.S. snuck in a Thursday evening dojo workout last night so I've edited my workout recorded for that date.

[CF-OC_gal]

Wow, congratulations on those numbers. You are certainly committed and unquestionabley fit!

Good luck with your plans for next month.

[gcs118]

Pushing and pulling with an extra 65 lbs on ya...great job!