Monday, March 30, 2009

Next to nothing


Something is better than nothing is a training mindset that I’ve written about before of how I train during my busy work season like now. You can read more about it here: Something is better than nothing

Squeezing in fitness training was very difficult last week. Here’s what little I accomplished:

Monday
In my basement beginning at 5:15 a.m. – a single set of 54 reps of the combo of shoulder dislocates/overhead squats using a light wooden pole – a single set of 54 reps of 4-count cherry pickers – a standard grip pullup hang hold for 54 seconds – a handstand hold for 54 seconds. Then at my office in the morning, I managed to skip my jump rope for 100 skips and perform a single set of 25 reps of standard pushups on my knuckles. Cumulative exercise time: about 15 minutes.

Wednesday
In my basement beginning at 4:15 a.m. – a single set of 54 reps of the combo of shoulder dislocates/overhead squats using a light wooden pole – a single set of 54 reps of 4-count cherry pickers – a standard grip pullup hang hold for 54 seconds – a single set of 54 reps of standard burpees completed in 5:36. Cumulative exercise time: about 15 minutes.

Saturday
In my basement beginning at 5:35 a.m. – a single set of 54 reps of the combo of shoulder dislocates/overhead squats using a light wooden pole – a single set of 54 reps of 4-count cherry pickers – a single set of 12 reps of standard grip pull-ups. Cumulative exercise time: about 10 minutes.

So that’s a total of about 40 minutes last week, a far cry from the 30 minutes a day that the “fitness experts” recommend for most adults.

The combo of shoulder dislocates/overhead squats with a light wooden pole continues to be my favorite early morning exercises to wake up my middle-age man body. Here’s an explanation and short video demo of this great exercise: My shoulders feel great

I’m not so sure what I did meets my baseline standards for a something is better than nothing workout; in fact, my training last week can better be described as next to nothing.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

3 comments:

Franklin said...

You are to be commended on knowing you had to do as much as you could that the time would allow. Also, a ten minute intense workout is nothing to scoff at especially your grueling "54" series.

There have been days where I only had 10 minutes to allow me to swing a kettlebell .. and believe that was enough!

Its all about quality not quantity. Also due to the physical demands of O-lifting and the extra recovery time necessitated by being middle-aged, a week of lighter BW training is probably very good in the long run.

Pierini Fitness said...

Thanks for the compliment and visit Franklin. Your perspective is sound and well-received.

I hope your wrist injury is healing. I've dropped in a couple of times to see what you are up to. Your chuckling along like a good middle-age man athlete. Attaboy!

Franklin said...

Hey Ed, thanks so much for sharing the video on the shoulder dislocates.

I have been doing these every day now for a week together with the OH squats and snatch balances I had been doing previously. I am pleased to report that my shoulders have never been better. I too use a long thick wooden dowel and have slowly been bringing my grip in.