For a week or so I’d been thinking “what if I reverse curled daily” so I’m going with it.
50 reps with the bar as a minimum, more reps and/or heavier allowed…reverse curls (generally thumbless). Everything else is extra credit.
It’s a good idea to at least do one easy set of pullups each day, but I’m not going to be rigid on this, as I said reverse curls the minimum, everything else is extra credit.
The lower body will naturally follow upper body gains so as to stay proportionate. I’m not worried in the least about “dont skip leg day bro”.
This will be the third time or so around that I’ve done “arms every day”, it always surprises me how quickly the ability moves up, and oddly this time I’m in an alright mental state…likely the fresh air, and freedom from gym dues.
(I’ve actually had people see me curling and ask what’s wrong as it’s so out of my norm. Not a thing that’s going to happen in the backyard.)
Bro time! I figure this will help with pullups, and add some size to my arms. It’s strange how I’m going bro lifting alone in the yard. Yet, “bro” feels damn right right now. My inner narcissist decided that it’s grow some forearm and bicep time…
Curls for the girls amuses me right now, as does the idea of 135 for reps.
The reps aren’t fully cheat or super strict, though it could slip either way. So far I’ve got 25 reps strict, 30 with some momentum, both thumbless, with the bar.
At the end of the month I’ll update as to PRs.
I want 50-100+ reps empty bar, would like 95lb+ for 15-20. 135+ would be very strong arms.
Aside from the pullup carryover, and arm size, I assume I’ll see carryover to my clean.
Firstly to use a neck harness you must have one. I suggest a leather one, mine is branded Harbinger, and thus far it has done well over 8 or 9 years of usage. I bought nice unintentionally going with the old school style, and likely will never need to buy twice.
(The Spud Inc neck harness is often lauded online, I don’t like it. Spud straps? They’re the bomb. Spud neck harness? Go get an old school leather one instead.)
Now starting weight :
If you have never used a neck harness or worse you’ve never trained your neck (anyone who’s ever wrestled would be disgusted at you for being a pencil neck geek) I suggest starting with a 2½lb plate for 1 set of 25.
Build that up to 4×25 at a minimum, 4×50-100 being cool too, and then add weight.
When you’re strong enough to nod 20-25lbs x 50+ at all times I’d suggest just starting at a set of 50 and progressing until you’ve got a set of 100+ at that weight.
(I’ve done sets into the 300+ reps before.)
I’ll do the counted reps in the normal nodding manner, then let the weight swing front to back (like a kettlebell swing, but using the neck harness as the point of contact), and end with a static hold spine straight, and parallel to the ground as “extra credit”.
To keep from getting too stiff from the harness work :
1. If starting out gradually build into it.
2. Always do range of motion work after. I like using the front bridge from the knees going front to back, side to side, and “around the world”
Also, frequency is best for the neck. Train it daily or near so. However I’ll allow a rank stack of dimes sad excuse of a neck beginner to start 3x weekly or every other day as long as they build up the frequency as they become more developed of neck.
Often I feel that the biggest benefit of calisthenics is the cardio effect.
You get the “runner’s high” like euphoria in a way that’s building you up physically.
(I’ve been liking this aspect of my pushups and squats lately.)
Running wouldn’t have the muscular benefits of the calisthenics, and lifting doesn’t allow you to do the necessary density of work in as short a period to really get the cardio effect going. Calisthenics being strength-endurance combine the two nicely.
Calisthenics pushed (and better yet superset) becomes an enjoyable strength building cardio.
Don’t have a gym? If you work you’ll be surprised just how far the calisthenics will take you. Add in jump roping, and isometrics, then it’s “oh boy” where you’ll end up.
A note : at ~215lbs I could run well, play full court basketball without issue off of…10×100 pushup and jump rope supersets. Pumping short range of motion pushups, and making sure I got 100 revolutions in a row, always ending with a crossover and double under. Those sessions often ended up at ~1500 skips due to that perfection requirement and fatigue.
That’s the style of training best for losing weight :
Cardio Calisthenics
Persistence & Tenacity
(The link was either going to be this or “our song”.)
Blood flow to an area speeds recovery. Blood flow to an extremity causes blood to flow through points higher up the chain.
If something hurts or is injured higher up the chain working the extremity past it will speed up the healing process.
Wrist and/or ankle work speeds up your recovery, it improves your ability to heal.
This is a generally unknown reason to train your forearms and calves… healing pumps.
However take note that training the muscles and the joints are not exactly the same thing. The mobility and stability of those extremity joints are also important.
Keeping them healthy will allow you to keep the rest of you healthy as well.
Your best and most developed bodypart is going to be the one that you trained :
1. While young.
2. With the highest reps/most total volume consistently.
My chest is far bigger than it ought to be. I never did much for it other than loads of pushups, and at least some daily. I started at 14, and I’m still doing them each and every day now about a decade later.
You want to develop a certain bodypart? It’s best to have done consistent volume for it starting a long while ago. The next best thing is to give it consistent volume starting right now.
I know I can bring anything up with a period of work capacity building effort. You could too, but it’ll take a period of doing what others say won’t work.
Dive into the deep end, and do a lot daily for what you want to build up.
There was a point where I was squatting to a daily heavy single, getting near 5×20 @ bodyweight (225) in backoffs, and volume leg pressing on a near daily basis.
Periods of what others say is madness allow for you to slack off for periods of time while retaining your capabilities relatively well.
However the difference between my chest and my legs is the consistency for the former, and the off and on periods of training the latter. Both are developed well, but chest never had time off, it’s better developed overall, and just does not tire.
This is a theory. File under natural movement. Enjoy.
As a heavyweight I seem to get pumps in pulling musculature from walking. The swing of the arms or something pumps up by lats.
One of my buddies was constantly on his feet through high school. He had a sometimes homeless welfare type mother, which often found him constantly crashing at different places. One motel was 10-12 miles from school. There was no car in the family, he ran, jogged, and walked everywhere.
5’9″ 165, he had a very wirery strength. Just from always being on his feet and wearing a backpack.
I believe strength that we can’t reason it’s existence out via gym science is built simply through natural movement.
Walking at a decent pace, hands cupped, swagger arm swing, alert, head turning & scanning… something primal is comes alive in you.
You ever run faster cause someone’s at your heels?
The first time I ran a mile at if not a sub 6:00 pace, then very close to it was with my 5’10” 230lb wrestling coach breathing on my neck the entire time (I was a 6′ 171lber) and me simply thinking “he ain’t passing me this lap” eventually realizing larger and larger fractions of the mile were done, and in the last 1/6 RUNNING full speed ahead to keep him from passing me.
I finished and go “time!” His reply 6:02 or 6:03. It had taken a moment for him to check and I was in front of him.
That Mark’s Daily Apple stalking prey run thing works. I can recall being on the “prey” end of it twice.
1. The aforementioned wrestling story where the coach (a threat to me) kept me moving faster ahead of him.
2. During a 1 mile run with bleachers added (~1.5 mile equivalent) another cadet was able to pass me in the last 100m. I’d gotten sick of keeping him from passing, and unlike a few months earlier primal brain he wasn’t a threat.
Anyway, I noticed when I’m doing a lot of walking that my pulling strength, particularly grip as applied to heavy lifts like a double overhand deadlift, improves even though I may not be training it.
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.
Just phase 1 and up though.
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.
