Hanging around

I’m a middle-age man fitness character who seems to do best if there’s a measurable fitness challenge that I’m chasing.  Recently, I chased a goal I had of doing an Asian Squat for 10 minutes.  I diligently trained to improve the time in the squat, starting off with a modest 2-minute squat and advance to 10 minutes over the course of about six weeks.  I’m still doing Asian Squats because I’ve learned of their value and spillover benefit to other aspects of my life.

But there’s time for a new kid on the block in my fitness challenge world and it is a pull-up bar hang hold for time.

I have a history of doing pull-up bar hang holds for time over my middle-age man fitness training journey.  To the best of my knowledge, the longest I’ve hung before dropping was for 2:08 but that was done a long time ago, exact date unknown.  In 2019, I decided to resurrect this and managed to hang for 2:02 before dropping.  Then, the exact reason unknown, I got distracted or lost interest and made no further progress.

A couple weeks ago, I began hanging for time.  The first time I lasted for 1:30 before dropping.  On my second attempt, I lasted for 1:33.  Last week, I managed to hang for 1:48.  Here’s that effort:

Progress comes slow unless the training is structured which it now is.  I’m taking an interval training approach like what I did for the Asian Squats.  I’m also doing some forearm endurance training using a fitness gadget I recently purchased.  I’ll have more to say about that one in a later blog post.

Pierini Fitness will soon be a 66-year young middle-age man fitness dude and it sure would be nice if before his birthday he’s able to surpass his lifetime best of 2:08.  I’m training with that short-term goal in mind.

So, it’s fair to say that, until further notice, I’m going to be spending time hanging around.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A good and honest life

It’s something sort of difficult to admit but I will; Pierini Fitness is having a hard time writing new middle-age man reflections about living and dying, gracefully-aging, and trying to live a good and honest life.  It has been my genre for a long time, so I see no need to change it.

At various times in my long blogging journey, I’ve encountered similar “dryness.”  I think it’s something all artists and writers experience from time to time.  Sometimes it’s the result of burnout and other times, it’s the result of lethargy.  I’m not sure which of the two, or something else, that’s fueling my current episode.

Maybe I’m not spending enough time reflecting about the life I’m living but this seems hard to believe.  After all, I’m retired now from the rat race and one could argue I have much more time for pondering that in my past. 

Maybe it’s the new surroundings I’m living; a new home in a new state with none of the familiar outcroppings that for so many years were my life.  I’m not sure that’s an excuse, however, because you’d think that the newness that’s part of my life would create boundless opportunities to think about this and that, to reflect about the life I’ve lived and the life I hope to live for the rest of my life.

Blah, blah, blah, I could ramble on forever and it would not lead me to a light at the end of my dryness tunnel, a passageway I must go through to emerge into a state of being and mindset where and when I start to bang out some homerun written reflections.

If you have anything to add to what I’ve shared that might illuminate the darkness of where I’m at as a blogger, please let me know.

If not, be patient because it’s a matter of time before I’m fully back on my middle-aged man reflective saddle giving you my two cents about living and drying, gracefully-aging, and trying to live a good and honest life.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

My Burpees 2021 Journey

Last week I told you about my Asian Squat Journey that’s currently in progress.  I’m pleased to report I had a good training week and was able to set a new personal best, a 9:00 Asian Squat.  Here’s video proof of my latest proud accomplishment:

As also previously shared, I have a goal of completing an Asian Squat for 10:00 by my 66^th birthday.  I have about five weeks to accomplish this goal and at this point, I’m confident I will.  Check back often for updates. 

Moving on to another 2021 fitness training preoccupation I have; it’s with an old friend named burpees.  I’m calling this fitness training preoccupation my Burpees 2021 Journey. 

For 2021, I’m going to complete 100 burpees workouts of at least 100 burpees.  The burpees I do have a pushup and hands-extended overhead jump with each repetition.  The jump makes them harder; at least that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

Last year around this time, I was knee-deep with my burpees workouts and had a goal of completing 100 burpees in 10:00 or less.  I never achieved this goal but got, sort of, close with a time of 10:37 until distractions and/or burnout arrived. 

Reviewing past training journals, my current time to complete 100 burpees is about what it was last year.  I’ve completed three burpees workouts thus far in my 2021 Burpees Journey and have 97 more workouts to do.  Just hanging in there and showing up will result in progress which’ll be nothing more than reclaiming what I had last year and eventually lost.  Maybe, this year, I’ll finally achieve my goal of completing 100 burpees in 10:00 or less.

Here’s my latest effort, burpees workout number three.  You’ll notice I’m sucking air because I’m not in burpees conditioning shape.  I’ll be back.

I’m asking that you privately cheer for me as I travel down my middle-age man fitness training highway working my 2021 Burpees Journey.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

My Asian Squat Journey

I still have vivid memories from over 46 years ago when I was a young soldier stationed in the Republic of South Korea.  A bunch of us soldiers would regularly spend time in the village outside our military base.  We’d roam here and there, down the main streets and into the meandering alleys where homes were located on both sides. 

I’d notice Koreans in front of the homes engaging in conversations with their neighbors while, for some, smoking their cigarettes.  They weren’t sitting or standing but in a very low squat position known by some as the Asian Squat.  They’d stay in this position for what seemed like forever.

Another Asian Squat memory I have is one day when I witnessed a group of Korean mechanics who were taking a break in front of the garage where they worked.  There must have been a half dozen of them in a circle.  They were smoking cigarettes and talking and laughing while playing a board game.  They stayed in this position their entire break time and then when their break was over, they sprung up like frogs and went back to work. 

This is all an introduction to something I’ve been doing the past month that I’ve named my Asian Squat Journey. I’m spending time perfecting me being in the Asian Squat bottom position, trying to improve the duration of time I can spend before crumbling to my knees and quitting.

The first time I did this, about one month ago, I timed myself and stayed in the squat bottom position for a whopping two minutes.  That was, unbeknownst to be at the time, the beginning of my Asian Squat Journey.  How long will it last and where will it lead me?  Time will tell but thus far, I’m having fun in my journey.

Since progress comes from training and not just by being good looking, I’ve been training and have settled into two workouts.  The first one is a timed hold that I do at least once a week.  Thus far, I’ve been video recording my tests and uploading them on YouTube for my archival benefit so that when I’m an old man sitting in a rocking chair and crapping my pants, I’ll be able to take great delight in thinking about the things I used to do.

Thus far, my best is an 8-minute hold.  Unfortunately, I had video recording technical difficulties of that accomplishment so there’s no video evidence thus far.  But I did upload on YouTube an executive briefing video of my accomplishment.

Here’s a video of my 7-minute Asian Squat hold:

The other training workout I do is called my Asian Squat Interval Training Workout.

It consists of 15 rounds every minute on the minute where I sit in the Asian Squat bottom position for a fixed time interval and then stand and shake it out for recovery.  I believe I started out with 20-second squat holds with 40-seconds recovery and have advanced to 45-second squat holds with 15-seconds recovery. I did try a 50-second squat hold with 10-seconds recovery, but I had a bad day and threw in the towel after completing seven rounds.  I’ll try that workout again, probably this week.

I’ve done another interval training workout during which I superset shorter-duration Asian Squat holds in tandem with rounds of alternating pull-ups and chin-ups done every minute on the minute for 30 minutes.  The goal is to complete 100 repetitions of pull-ups and chin-ups and get some decent squat time in.  For these interval workouts, my squat times have been shorter thus far, ranging from 20-seconds to 25-seconds.  I’ll try 30-seconds my next workout and see how it goes.

In the process of achieving what I have thus far, I announced to myself a short-term goal of a 10-minute Asian Squat which I’d like to achieve by my upcoming birthday in about six weeks.  We’ll see if I do it.  If not, I’ll keep marching forward because I’m liking the benefits this training is giving me.  I’ll have more to say about these benefits in the future.

So, until further notice, I’m having a good time with my Asian Squat Journey.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Happy New Year 2021

Good morning Pierini Fitness sports fans.  I’m finally checking in after being away longer than I thought.  I wasn’t ill or out of the country, just enjoying my new life as a retired middle-age man.

It seems that I just didn’t deliver in the blog department much the remaining part of 2020.  I’ve had my main computer down and it isn’t as easy trying to bang out and post award-winning middle-age man reflections using my iPhone.

My computer is still down but will be back up and running within the next week.  So, rest assured, I’ll be back.

I plan on being more regular in sharing what’s going on in my life, not only my thoughts and feelings but the workouts I’ve been doing.  I have been working out but not at the gangbusters pace that I did earlier in the year leading up to my retirement on October 1, 2020.  I have lots to share including my 2021 fitness goals.  Stay tuned for the details because the best is yet to come.

Until then Pierini Fitness sports fans, Happy New Year 2021.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum