500 Pushups :
500 pushups is pretty easy to do.
I had set an interval timer, and every 45 seconds, I did a ten pump burpee.
(500 pushups in 37:30.)
Burpees To Interval Timers :
For burpees I like using an interval timer. Using it I don’t have to count reps, and I have that psychological aspect of seeing the time remaining count down.
“I’ve already powered through ___ minutes, I can power through ___ more.”
I have noticed that I push faster through volume doing more reps than one at a time and using the tally clicker to keep track.
I could just do a set of a few reps each interval, but pushing doesn’t really allow for an interval timer.
Using the interval timer so far has made burpees closer to steady state cardio than sprint style cardio.
In theory it could progress to very low rest between reps with the interval timer, but at that point it’d likely work as well with a metronome.
The hardest part of high reps and high volume is not the doing, but in the keeping track.
Sometimes I feel that working out would be more effective with zero counting, just doing.
People are often stronger/more effective when they don’t have the numbers in their head.
“One Arm Pullups” On The Assisted Chin/Dip Machine :
Something I did today was “one arm pullups” on the assisted chin/dip machine.
While it’s not free hanging, the core does fire hard, and being a closed chain exercise it’s more effective than one handed lat pulldowns.
Alternating hands I did a reverse pyramid of 5,4,3,2,1 for a long time under tension, and was laughing to myself about how brutally strong you could get running with this style of training.
I can get 7-8 chins at about 270 right now, and pullups are less.
With the assistance stack maxed out, I’m using about 95lbs work weight each side in the pullup pattern.
For the assisted one arms it’s 95x15x2=2850lbs of volume.
The real chins?
270×8 = 2160lbs of volume,
With the assist machine I’m getting more meaningful volume on day 1 of assisted one arms (I hadn’t done this since before lockdown) as compared to my best current chin set.
(7 within the last month, 9 within the last year, for math I split the difference.)
Applying The Pushup Principle To The Assisted Dip/Chin Machine :
I’ve gotten very good results doing lots of pushups. Including my max strength being far higher than my work weights.
Depending on the source, pushups are said to be the equivalent of benching between 60% and 70% of bodyweight.
I generally assume ⅔, and have found the principle holds as compared to bench weight and reps.
For someone who isn’t light and able to just rep out on pullups, I can see using the assisted chin/dip machine to lighten your pullups to closer to pushup percentages of bodyweight, even lower percentages, and to get stronger this way via handling more volume per set.
Starting at say 10×10 at 50% bw is going to build more ability to do reps than me just bombing through 100 reps of real chins but never hitting double digit reps, and mostly doing a million sets of 3-4.
To progress use higher percentages or increase to 10×20.
It could also be treated like pushups and be something you do super high reps on. For example looking to break 100 reps at 50% bw.
I have noticed that I can get good at set after set of chins with little rests, just before lockdown getting 100 chins in 10-15 minutes, but that was mostly sets of 3-4.
At the moment little rest doesn’t seem to be the way to attack chins.
So it’s either playing with the assist machine or actually taking rest periods on the real thing.
The Heavy Smith Machine :
I swear the angled smith machines feel heavier than a barbell.
Due to this, one could get very strong using them. I liken it to being an odd object – machine version.
It’s a hilarious thought to program 5/3/1 percentages into smith machine use, or to run bulgarian squats.
Though not impossible.
Persistence & Tenacity