300

[illuvitar]

I wrote this out in a document a while ago but just decided to post it. I know the year is half over, but as I was entering my latest workout I thought that some of you might be interested in what system I use.

300
Illuvitar’s 2009 Workouts

2009 marks the beginning of my third year on the transformetrics training system.

This year I have decided to have a simple fitness goal that allows a lot of flexibility (in routine and schedule).

That is: 300 reps per day in less than 30 minutes.

At this point in time, I don’t have any specific strength or endurance goals to shoot for. In the past, I have set them and met them, but for now, this year, I simply want to keep fit, strong, and active without injury or investing loads of time. Maybe later in the year I’ll have different goals in addition. If so, I’ll post them.

I exercise six days a week, always resting completely on Sundays. My diet consists of mainly fruits, raw vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and water, water, water. I sometimes, but rarely eat eggs, fish, or dairy, and stay completely away from sweets, refined grains, processed foods, and meat.


300 Reps of What???
A rep doesn’t equal a rep doesn’t equal a rep. I know. But, I don’t care too much. I do, however want to be fairly consistent, so I have set up the following ‘guide’.

‘Regular exercises’ like pull-ups, push-ups (most variations), squats: 1 rep counts 1 rep.

‘Advanced exercises’ like pistols, one armed push-ups, or standing ab wheel roll-outs: 1 rep counts 2 reps.

‘Static exercises’ like high intensity isometrics, nose to mat bridge, or other prolonged disadvantaged leverage static holds: 2 seconds counts 1 rep.

‘Daily life exercises’ like walking up stairs 3 at a time: 1 rep counts 1 rep. Walking around town at my normal pace 1 minute counts 5 reps.

‘Intense aerobics’ like Tabata sprints on foot or stationary bike: 1 second of exertion counts 1 rep.

So, that is a description of my goal and some fleshing out of what equals what. I’ll post some of my workouts below for anyone to see.

All the best,
Illuvitar

[illuvitar]

Looking back over my workouts this year, I have about 40 that look like this:

Push ups:
Atlas-35
Military 125 (60% regular/40% wide)


Squats:
80

Abs (variations from PYTP):
30

Pull-ups:
20 in sets of 5

DVR:
20 (usually high reach, or other Tiger Moves)

Total: 310

I also live on the 4th floor (85 steps up) of an apartment building without an elevator. I always take steps 3 at a time and go up at least twice a day. I count one climb at 25 reps, unless I have my baby on my shoulders, which ups it to 40.

More to come.
Illuvitar

[illuvitar]

Twice a week I do the trinity. That is, 100 Hindu Push ups, 100 Hindu Squats, and a 3 minute nose to mat bridge.

Early in the year I was breaking up the Hindu Push-ups into 3 sets of 20 and 4 sets of 10. Now I am doing 8 sets of 10 and 4 sets of 5.

Then I do squats, usually in 2 sets of 50.

Last I do the bridge. Mostly in the evening before sleeping, after doing the other exercises in the morning. I do three minutes and 20 seconds to make it an even 300 reps for the day (according to my system). But, I always climb stairs out of necessity, so I guess I don't have to be so militant about the extra 20 seconds.

Lately, though I have been doing all three exercises in one go. Thus far, I have done them in this order only. I have never tried a different order for some reason.

Today the trinity took me 19 minutes.

More to come,
Illuvitar

[illuvitar]

I try to do Tabata intervals on my windtrainer (a wind trainer is a stationary mount for a real bicycle) once a week.

This is a 4 minute workout that usually takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to recover from. Here's how it works:

20 seconds of all out gut busting sprinting in high gear followed by 10 seconds of gasping for breath. Then, repeat 7 times.

Total time = 4 minutes. I count this as 160 reps.

On Tabata days I almost exclusively do DVRs or DSRs for my remaining 140 reps as they are slow, deliberate, and relaxing. I really like the 'tiger moves and friends':

20 wrist curls
20 high reach
20 full range chest contractions
20 shoulder rolls
20 rope climbs
20 'bear hugs' (don't know what these are called. I clasp my fingers together and try to pull them apart while moving my arms from my waist, over my head, and back to my waist)
60 second iso hang (I count this as 15 reps, whether or not this is a good calculation is debatable)
10 Deep breaths held to a 7 count.

More to come,
Illuvitar

[illuvitar]

About two months ago I developed a workout plan for my son, Creed, age 5. It is based entirely on static holds.

I have been doing the exercises along with him though we are at different levels of difficulty.

The exercises are as follows:
L-sit
Straddle L-sit
Palanche
Front Lever (on the pull-up bar)
Handstand
Deck squats (rolling)

The way I have done these is to test Creed's (and my) ability on the first (or appropriate) level of difficulty in the progression for each exercise (from easy to advanced). I took the total time he was able to hold a position with good form, cut it in half, and divided 60 by that number. So, let's take L-sit (first level has bent knees). He could hold that for 12 seconds in good form. I divided 12 by 2 to get 6. Then I divided 60 by 6 to get 10. So, for the L-sit Creed needs to do 10 reps of the L-sit for six seconds each.

Each exercise is different based on his ability, but each day he needs to hold each position for a total of 60 seconds. I have built this into an eight week cycle, which we have just finished. Now, we test on the next level of difficulty (for the L-sit that would be straight legs, even if below parallel, for Creed). During the next eight weeks he will do the next level of difficulty until he can hold that position for 15 seconds.

I found that keeping good form on the movement exercises (like push ups) were a little difficult for a five year old, but that the static holds are great. He has really done well. In the beginning he could not hold a single front lever (tucked) for even 1 second. Now, after eight weeks he can pull himself into the position and hold for 10 seconds four consecutive times.

So, all this to say that I have been doing this routine myself for the last eight weeks, four times a week with Creed.
I count the sixty seconds for each position, according to my beginning of the year plan, as 30 reps. Plus an additional 10 reps of deck squats for a total of 160 reps.

I then add in 2 sets of 20 Warrior Power-T push-ups (40 reps) or 4 sets of 10 pull-ups and 4x 25 stair climbs for 300 reps for the day.

All for now,
Jake

[illuvitar]

Today I whittled my Trinity down to 17 minutes total time.

10 minutes for the push ups, 4 minutes for the squats, and a 3 minute NTM bridge. I rested for about 30 seconds from the end of my second set of squats before beginning my bridge (but that was included in the 4 minute total). I'd like to get it down to 15 minutes, but I need to be able to do more push-ups in a row in order to do that.

All the best,
Jake