Three up and three down

In my bodyweight exercise training journey, like others, I’ve been seduced into volume training for reps and sets of an exercise. For pull-ups and bar dips, for example, I’ve had a fascination with 100-rep workouts. Many of these workouts were timed; how fast could I complete 100 reps. I’ve always liked the game “Beat the Clock” but, truth be told, often it was the clock beating me. But I’ve always had fun trying.

 

Another variation of training with these two exercises has been adding weight and seeing how heavy of an added weight I could use to perform a single rep. Or how many reps of, for example a five-set effort, I could complete with a given weight, with progress measured by adding weight or trying to complete more reps with a given weight. Progressive resistance has always been the name of the game in my fitness training department.

 

Lately, I’ve been toning done the volume and doing something different that is currently a joyful change from my past training efforts. I’m doing a single set workout when doing pull-ups and bar dips. Yes, a single set for the day, no more and no less. To make it a beneficial single set, I’ve incorporated pause holds during the reps. My current variety of this is to hold a three-count at the top and bottom range of the exercise. Here are two recent videos of me doing this for pull-ups and bar dips:

Pull-ups with 3-count pauses

Bar dips with 3-count pauses

Add fitness training variety to your bodyweight training by incorporating pause holds with your reps like how I’m doing, three up and three down.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum