kentcowgill.org/blog

August 4:

I'm really glad I took the opportunity to rest over the weekend. I feel like due to the bike riding, I could possibly use a little extra rest for my triceps since they seem to take a lot of the abuse of supporting the weight of my torso on these multi-hour bike rides I've been taking, but I guess it won't hurt too bad if I just start in to the push ups tonight. No sense in putting it off any more. And if I stick to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday routine, then I get two whole days of rest on the weekend. Well, resting as well as I can supposing I ride my bike over the weekend. Which supposes I'll find time to get it to a bike shop and have my tires replaced. I wonder... is it like a car where if you replace one, it's safer to go ahead and replace them both? I think with the distinct lack of crumple zones on my bike, I'll opt for playing it safer and replace them both.

Push ups: 30 then 22 then 22 (the last few are getting tough, and) then 20 (wow, I don't think I can pull off the max-out set, but I'll try and) then maxed out at 20. Trying for 21 had me collapse. Rested about 2 minutes between sets, for a total of 114 in about 11 minutes. 114. That's getting up there. I missed the max-out targets for all three of the days in week 3, so I think I'll just repeat it. Days 1 of week 3 is only 99 pushups in about 6 minutes. I'll keep a positive outlook for Wednesday, AKA week 3 day 1 redux. Hopefully with this slight step back, the max-out targets are more within reach.

Chin ups: Exhaustion test. I did 9. Not too shabby. 300% of my original in about 3 weeks. I can live with that, assuming I don't think too much about how far I seem to be from what I used to be able to do, much less the current goal of being able to do 100. Doing 9 consecutive chin ups qualifies me to start from column 2 in week 1. Column 2 of week one looks fairly tougher than column 1 of week 2. I hope the rest between sets allows for enough short term recovery to hit all the targets. I'm not fond of repeating weeks.

August 5:

Kettlebell. 3 circuits from Kettlebells the Iron Core Way. No ab stuff. It's important to note that I'm not skipping the ab work because I can't do it. I just don't want to. Not only have I done enough ab work in the past, but I really, really don't want to smear my sweaty self all over the floor. Once again I forgot to find a towel beforehand. Also, even as recent as a month before Matthew was born, when I was doing my boxing workouts, I used to do several minutes straight of crunches. I first aimed for 3 minutes, but after a while that wasn't a challenge any more and so I tried to see how many minutes of crunches I could do. I think I lost count after 5 minutes.

On a side note, it's too bad that every other week or so there's an exhaustion test. It's also too bad that I need to rest for at least a day after the exhaustion test. Why? Because for the rest of the program, I'll have no way to know what the heck day of stuff I'm supposed to be doing on any given Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. This is due to the fact that I've decided that those are the only days I'll be doing this stuff, and the exhaustion test will get a day of its own. Which will throw the schedule a little out of whack each time the exhaustion test comes up.

It used to be easy - Monday? Sure! Day 1 of whatever week. Friday? You bet! That's obviously day 3. Now I have to search backwards through my training log to figure out what I did the last time, and then cross reference it with the website to see what's supposed to come next. So that's an unexpected benefit of keeping this log - some degree of organization and a reminder (if not at least a way to figure out) what's coming next. But it's a pain.

July 31st:
Push ups: 27 then 19 then 19 (the last 5 of which were really tough, but I'll keep going and) then 15 (oh crap those last 5 were really hard, how can I possibly do the max and) then maxed out at 13. Rested about 90 seconds between sets for a total of 93 in about 8 minutes. Supposed to have been 105, but I ran out of steam for the last 12. The good part is that this was a full 9 more than I did two days ago. The bad part is that it looks like I'm going to have to repeat week 3. That's OK - missing the max-out targets for week 3 looks like it ought to adequately prepare me for ... week 3.

No kettlebell today. I want to make sure I don't get in danger of overtraining. Which I very well might be dangerously close to doing at this point - I've started an awful lot of activity lately, some of it quite intense. Because 93 pushups are a lot harder than about 24 chin ups, I'm thinking of moving my next kettlebell workout to Friday, right after my chin ups. Saturday will be pushups only, with maybe some biking. Sunday should be a day of rest. But maybe some biking. Due to scheduling (i.e. when I get home from work, it's usually my job to take over with Matthew), there's pretty much no opportunity to get on my bike and go somewhere throughout the week. Sure I can throw the bike on the stationary trainer, but it's just so much more motivating to get out and accomplish something.

August 1:
Chin ups: 5 then 5 then 4 then 4 then ... are you ready? maxed out at 8! Sure, the last two were just barely countable, but I'm pretty sure I got my nose up to the bar at least. And everything before, I had my chin well above the bar, whereas previously I only got my chin to the level of the bar. Rested about 2 minutes between sets maybe just 1 minutes between the third and fourth sets - I honestly lost count - for a total of 26 in about 10-11 minutes. Give or take. These really felt good. I'm noticing in the last few days that push ups actually seem to hit my biceps a little, because I could feel them after my push ups yesterday, and I think they were a little sore today. I honestly didn't think that would be the case, but I can't argue with the way I feel.

I just realized that since I'm done with week 2 for chin ups, I need to take an exhaustion test. I'm fairly confident I won't be able to hit the minimum to get into week 3 (16 consecutive chin ups!) - I may have to start in the 6-10 push ups column of week 1, which will only be a little tougher than today was. And now I'm envisioning working my way through 2 weeks - the first two weeks - of column 2, and then only exhausting myself into column 3 of week 1. Now I'm thinking I might have to go through all three columns of all 6 weeks, which might mean I'll be through this in 19 weeks. Why not 18? I had to repeat column 1 for week 1 already. This is much further out of reach than 6 or possibly 12 weeks.

But maybe I'm being too pessimistic, and I'll actually be able to move through some of these levels a little faster. Time will tell.

No kettlebell. I was exhausted.

July 29th: The push ups day I'm dreading. I'm feeling mostly OK, but a little tired and sore.

Push ups: 25 then 17 then 17 then 15, which were tough - I don't think I can do the last max out set, but then I tried anyhow, and - I maxed out at 10. Rested a little too long between the first two sets, but then about a minute between the rest of the sets, for a total of 84 in about 8 minutes. Supposed to have been 99 in about 7. I can go for the 105 in about 8 minutes on week 3 day 2, but I suspect I'll end early on the max out set again. Hopefully I'll at least be able to hit everything before the max out set, and maybe hit the same 10 on the max out set, so maybe I'll hit 90ish or so. Week 3 day 3 is a bit too far away for me to be able to speculate on how I'll do, so I won't. Later on I recalled that earlier in the day I had demonstrated one use of a swiss ball to some coworkers - push ups! Resting my feet on the ball. I did about 3. Maybe that's what kept me from hitting the 25. Hrm. No.

Kettlebells: That's right - I didn't do any kettlebell training Monday, so that means I get to do at least two circuits today. I'll maybe go for the third. And I did. And the third circuit was a little tougher than the second, and was topped off by some abdominal work - most of which I skipped due to excessive sweat of the back area, and my desire to not get too much sweat on the carpet, and the lack of a nearby towel. Also, I was pretty tired at the time. I did the rolling situps - new to me - since it looked like I didn't have to recline all the way to the floor.

July 30th:
Chin ups: 6 then 5 then 5 then 3 then maxed out at 6. What's that? More than the minimum on the 3rd set? Yes. I didn't write it down on the way upstairs and couldn't remember if it was 6-5-3-3-6 or 6-5-5-3-6. So I opted for the latter, to play it safe. Rested about a minute and a half between sets, for a total of 25 within about 8 minutes. The very last one was a struggle - I almost gave up at the half way point - but I hung in there, and gave it a final kick to get my chin very near the bar, and feel good enough about it to call it a solid 6. Friday should be a breeze. But what's the big upside to today? The first set was 6, and I'm pretty sure I could've done at least one more after the 6. Even discounting the potential 7th, that means I can already do twice the number of consecutive chin ups as I could do just two weeks ago. That's 200%! Granted, I need to be able to do about 3,300% of my original to meet the goal. Or rather just 3,100% now :)

July 27th: Exhaustion Challenge, push ups. 31. Kind of disappointing. But that's OK, I'm only getting into week 3. And I'm still at the highest level, which I'm assuming means that (as long as I can continue to hit the goals) I'll be that much closer to getting to the 100. I may have tired out my triceps earlier on my bike ride when I was putting most of my weight on the front, riding standing up and leaning on my arms. Regardless, I'm looking ahead to day 1 of week 3, and I'm scared. On Tuesday I'll be going for 99 in the space of about 7 minutes. That's going to be rough. But I'll keep you posted.

July 28th: I'm feeling pretty beat up, and almost didn't do my chin ups. I spent a lot of energy changing the tube on my bike tire... twice. Thanks to the pinch flat I gave myself putting the first one on. Man those tires are tough to get on and off when you're not in practice. I say this because while I struggled mightily getting the tire back on the first time, the second time seemed much less difficult. All of that aside, no excuses for the push ups or chin ups until I'm done, so...

Chin ups: 4 then 4 then 3 then 3 then maxed out at 6. Resting about a minute between sets, for a total of 20 within about 6 minutes or so. Thought for sure I'd struggle at the end, but somehow I managed to pull out one more than the minimum on the max-out set. Week 2 is officially under way, and I'm so far at the mark. I just noticed I don't seem to be too enthusiastic about getting more than the minimum on the max out set. Meh.

No geek update.

July 13th:
Push ups, initial test: I did 20. I could've probably squeezed out a few more, but 20 is where I stopped. The program at hundredpushups.com doesn't really have you do anything different if you can do more than 10, and I'm planning on starting in with the program on Monday (the next day), so I figured I wouldn't kill myself eking out the last few. But man, that's a long way from the 300 I used to be able to do, albeit in pyramid sets.

Chin ups, initial test: I did 3. There is a very slim chance that with an appropriate amount of grunting, kicking, and facial contortions I could have possibly gotten close to doing another one, but my wife was in the room next to my chin up bar trying to get some work done, so I left it at 3, and left her a little less disturbed than she could have been. But man, that's a long way from the 100 I used to be able to do, albeit in pyramid sets.

So I'll be starting this program on the highest level for push ups, and the lowest level for chin ups. Sounds about right, since chin ups have always been a lot harder for me anyhow.

Which takes me to the next day...

July 14th:
Push ups: 10 then 10 then 8 then 6 then maxed out at 9. Resting about 60 seconds between sets. Total of 43 within about 5 minutes. The start of the second ten, the eight, and the six seemed a little tough. I think I'm a little sore from my initial chin up test yesterday, and it is surprisingly interfering with the push ups a bit. I'm dreading Wednesday a little, I'll have to do 11 more push ups than I did today. But I guess on the bright side, today I did 23 more than I did yesterday.

Chin ups: 2 then 2 then 2 then 2 then ... two and a half. And then another half. Resting about 60 seconds between sets (except I tried that last half chin up within a few seconds after the previous half). So that's three on the last set, right? Well, no - I guess it doesn't count unless I get my chin over the bar. Or at least near. Total of (let's call it just) 10 within about 5 minutes. Man, I can't believe I used to do 100 of these things within 40-50 minutes or so. I really had to strain for the 6th and 8th chin ups. I was really kicking to get the 10th, and I completely ran out of steam on what would've been the 11th. I'm not sure how I'll be able to do any more than these on Wednesday. But today was 7 more than yesterday, and Wednesday is only 5 more than I did today. That ought to be doable, no?