I decided I’d start the year off with a 10 day 1500 reps daily run.
(Actually thought 500 hindu squats for the rest of the month in addition, decided against it.)
Whereas last time was bodyweight only, pushups, bodyweight squats, and abs this time I made use of the equipment I had, and broadened the categories out to push muscle/pressing, legs, abs.
I believe I did some pullups daily as well.
I used weights, calisthenics, flexing, and holds.
(8-9×50 of btn presses was good, as was getting 450 reps with 65lbs in sets of 30-40 which was shockingly difficult, I didn’t get to do such things last time.)
A static exercise was either timed like in the case of leg work, 1 second = 1 rep, or each mental count was equal to ⅓ of a rep meaning 500 reps static abs would be 1500 counts. Even the days I did flexing or the Bruce Lee front raise hold (the hold I timed like the leg statics) instead of using only pushups, I made sure to get 50+ strict pushups a day, with a few extra credit mantra reps tacked on.
The first few days I got it all done in the morning.
On the 3rd it was 500 hip thrusts off the living room couch. This was more difficult than the hindu squats of the prior two days, but felt much better on my knee.
On the 4th I did 500 reps of sissy squats.
That ended up an all day affair, gone was doing it all in the morning. The 500 sissy squats may have been the hardest leg thing to get through that I’ve ever done. You feel them quite well on the part of the quad near the knee. It’s a great exercise.
On the 5th I did 500 step ups using the highest park bench there. It was a good challenge, on the 6th visually my quads looked a good deal bigger overnight.
The rest of the leg work was mostly static exercises, and that category was mostly flexing in warrior pose for the quads and glutes…outdoors. However bodyweight squats and pacing around the yard were mixed in to a degree.
4:30 seconds in that pose before switching which leg is forward is quite meditative, and that long (9:00 combined) qualifies it as aerobic isometrics.
I did mostly flexing and vacuums for the abs. The first few days were crunches or toe touches, the rest the aforementioned. It would’ve been better to use crunches primarily. Right now they’d be good to do frequently, towel over the tile, plenty have done such exercise on hard surfaces. A few thousand a week I believe would change my physique.
Diet was a couple days of cleanish (kielbasa, beans, rice, steak), the end was steak, a good deal of milk, and serious amounts of frozen food, cereal, and anything I could get my hands on.
Zero supplements.
Sleep was pretty good through it all, the volume was wiping me out, I switched to statics as they were easier to recover from day to day.
Bodyweight? Somewhere in the 250s I’d guess. Upper body looks a little bigger, as do quads, and my waist is definitely smaller. My track pants are getting loose even while cinched up.
(I wonder how much of this is the lack of heavy squats/deadlifts/partials vs vacuums vs recomp)
I didn’t step on a scale once, nor do I care to. As a man, completely outside of the gym it doesn’t matter. There is only performance, and the mirror.
Coincidentally on the 5th when I walked into a gas station a maybe 5’3″ tattooed Hispanic gang banger type got wide eyed and went “woah, you’re a big dude. You a bodybuilder?” One, it’s surprisingly easy for me to reply “haven’t really lifted for months”, he then goes in shock “that’s natural!”, I replied “pushups, shit ton of pushups”, “damn…cool” as he nodded his head. Looking back it dawns on me that as a big, tall, strong, red bearded man I’m often perceived as super human. It makes some funny shit, in and out of the gym make more sense. They’re looking at you like you’re Kryptonian.
Lessons :
Activity will guide the cravings.
Just massively up volume to lean out.
Hip thrust more often, I used them years ago unweighted when I couldn’t lift. Keep them in rotation.
Buy an exercise ball for peak contraction leg curls.
Sissy squats are like a compound equipment mashup of the leg extension and glute ham raise.
It’s time to lose more rigidity in my training, I’m outside a gym. Just move, and hit the whole body daily.
Leaning out could be tied to the high volume of flexing. It definitely is euphoric.
The front raise hold has serious potential.
One arm pushups for strength. Clap pushups for power. Do more than just high reps. You can do them weighted too.
Hindu pushups, and yoga could be fun.