About Me

So, a little about me. I'm just a guy. A guy with a job, and a family, who's not happy with his body or fitness. I've been fatter, I've been a lot fitter. I don't have the answers, in fact this blog will probably be as much about my failures and hopefully learning from them.

So why post a blog at all? First? it seems like a fairly good way to track progress and research in one place. Second, maybe it'll help someone in the future who's like me, trying to figure out the best way to get fit.  I mean you can read 3 websites, get 5 different answers to the same question, and they'll try to sell you 8 products... I do keep the option of selling stuff open, if this site ever gets big enough. ;)


So about this mysterious Plan that I've referred to several times now.  I'll do a whole detailed post but here's the basics. I'm working with several constraints.  First is time I work, I have kids and a wife.  By the time I get home, help with dinner, help clean the house, help put the kids to bed, it's about 9:30-10:00.  Most gyms are closed by then. Money is another. Money is tight but we have enough for gym memberships (in fact I need to cancel the one I have now) and I considered slowly putting together a home gym.

In my research into home gyms I came onto Street Workouts, Calisthenics, Body Weight Workouts, Bar Workouts, etc. There's several names for this style of workout basically you're using body weight exercises, and progressing to harder and harder forms. My first taste of this was in high school, one of my friends could do a human flag, granted only for a couple of seconds, but I thought it was one of the coolest things.

(Al Kavadlo www.alkavadlo.com)

Also, I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a cheapskate.  So the idea of a FREE, no gym, no equipment workout sounds great! (Though I'm learning that I may want to invest in a couple of items.)

So back to the research, research, research... I came across startbodyweight.com by Nick Janvier.  So simple, one info-graphic, 7 exercises, I don't know how many variations.  Add one rep per workout until you master a progression at 8/8/8 and move to the next progression. That one info-graphic can represent a year or more of workouts.  Once you master certain workouts you "unlock" cool new abilities. (the ancillary progressions)  I'm sold.  Honestly, at this point I'm still reading through StartBodyWeight, but the workouts I've done based on it have been good and I'm excited.

Just one more thing.  Most of my posts will be from a mobile app.  Therefore they're going to be pretty basic, probably low on links or images.  There's probably going to be spelling, grammer, & punctuation errors. (stupid spell check) Every so often I'll jump on the computer or laptop and post bigger, more content heavy posts.

Peace

12/3/15 Workout

Had some stuff to do tonight so I tried a park on the other side of Orlando. A little research and I found a  park I've passed by pretty often but never stopped at. And it has a fitness trail! Oh, but not all fitness are made equal... This one features kiosks, all with wierd vertical handle bars & a lot of info that I can only imagine is mostly for stretching... No pull up bars! No parallel bars! But, despair not, there's a kids play ground!

A little creative use made a pretty nice workout. There was even a bridge with a ledge under it that made a perfect spot for eccentric pull ups. Now I'm going to have to find a park on my side of town, or a way to bring a step with me.

It looks like I can still step up a couple of these to the next progression. The beginner shrimp squats I think I'll keep at for now. I could do 15 and maybe more, but lack of flexibility and ballance made them pretty ugly. Next time I'm only going to count good ones.

Diamond pikes, fore arm knee raises & maybe inverted rows, can go to the next progression. The rows I did the first 2 sets on a low monkey bar type thing. The last set I used the chains on a swing. I think the chains were a lot harder. I might try that again if I find a new park near home.

Almost busted my head practicing crow stands. Might practice tucking my head & rolling out next time. I can barely lift my toes off the ground, but it was fun.

Peace


Beginner Shrimp Squats - 10/10/10 each leg
Eccentric Pull Ups - 6/6/4
Diamond Pike Pushups - 10/10/10
Forearm Knee Raises - 15/15/15
Close Elbow Pushups - 9/6/7
Inverted Rows, One Leg - 15/12/6
Decline Plank -  0:50

Played with crow stands

12/1/15 Workout

Now thats a better workout. I'm feeling it. Park 2 is nice mile and a half jog from the house. According to the plan, I should move to the next progression for each exercise. I'm thinking I'll try the next progression and see how it goes. As for the workout im following, its from StartBodyWeight.com. More on that later.

Peace

Bulgarian Split Squats - 15/15/15/15
Inverted Rows, Strait Leg - 10/10/12
Pike Pushups - 15/12/12
Strait Leg-raises - 15/15/15
Strait Leg Bench Dips - 15/15/15/15
Inverted Rows, Strait Leg - 12/12/10
Side Plank - 1:05 each side

Worked on Crow Stands a little.

11/30/15 Workout

So 10 pm is too late for park 1, the lights were off and i couldn't see my finger in front of my face.  Park 2 is only a short bike ride away. It has a fitness trail with parallel bars & a pull up station. The only thing is I'd like to be doing jacknife pull-ups but don't have a way to put my feet up, so for now I'll do 2 sets of hanging rows. Felt good but im not as pumped as I want to be. Next workout I'mm going to go till failure to better figure out howmany i should be doing.

Peace.

Bulgarian Split Squats - 8/8/8
Inverted Rows, Strait Leg - 8/8/8
Pike Pushups - 8/8/8
Strait Leg-raises - 8/8/8
Pushups - 8/8/8
Inverted Rows, Strait Leg - 8/8/8
Side Plank - 1:00 each side

Try to fail for all

First Workout

So here it goes. Im off. My first workout in the world of bodyweight conditioning.

Its late, the kids are in bed, my wife is asleep. My goles for tonight are to check out the park closest to me, about 1/4 mi. and see if it has what i need to train. For now just a low bar for inverted rows. But ill be looking for paralell bars and chinup bars for later.

I'll post my workout and results when im done. Wish me luck.