PIERINI FITNESS

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Getting back in the bar dip groove


My Tuesday blogflection earlier this week shared how lately I’ve had an itch to include more pullups in my training. Ditto for bar dips, an exercise I use to perform frequently back in my bodyweight-only exercise training days.

Back in those “old days”, I could perform 30 reps of bar dips in a single set and 100 lb. weighted singles on a good training day. While that’s not great, it was good enough for me. Now, being out of bar dip shape, I’m only good for 12-15 reps for a single set. There’s no way I would try weighted singles right now. Actually, my right shoulder is a little aggravated from last Saturday’s circuit workout that included bar dips, a healthy middle-age man reminder to be cautious in resuming them in my training.

Here’s the circuit workout I did last Saturday that included bar dips, consisting of 6 rounds of the following:

(1) pull-ups/chin-ups x 6 reps (done using my 6-grip pullup/chinup medley described in my Tuesday blogflection ), then

(2) bar dips x 6 reps (the standard garden variety), and finally

(3) Olympic-style back squats x 6 reps (next time I’ll do Olympic-style front squats for variety).

The pullup/chinup and bar dip reps were about 40 to 50 percent of my currently single set maximum. For the squats, I chose a weight that was about 65 percent of my current one rep maximum. I buzzed through this 6 round circuit in about 22 minutes; not a killer pace but one that required reasonable effort on my part.

Just like pullups and chinups, slowly but surely I’m getting back in the bar dip groove.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

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