Djaaz

Sorry, I don't want to hijack LadyNinja's thread but I am wondering about Tabata's. I am following the startbodyweight.com routine at the moment, would it be advised to do tabata's intervals with that kind of bodyweight routine, let's say: Day 1: tabata push ups and tabata bodyweight rows. Day 2: tabata pull ups and tabata tricep dips Day 3: tabata squats and tabata leg raises on and on.... Would that help me save some time while working muscle and doing cardio at the same time? I tried steady state cardio and really despise it, tried programs like P90X but really hate it even more (it burns but the moves are so fast that you easily forget good form and leaves more room for injuries). I did Focus T25 for like 2 months at the beginning of my journey and it really helped but I got tired of it. I have to admit that after those 8 weeks my cardio was at a life-best! Now it's degrading and I'm not too sure how to recover from it since I hate pretty much any exercise which implies a high heart rate...I think a short tabata routine could help me...any opinions?

Hey guys, I recently started a new job and I love it, but the downside is that it works on shift rotations. I work 2 - 12 hours days, then have 2 days off, then 2 - 12 hours nights, then 2 days off, on and on. I work on weekends each 2 weeks, alternating between nights and days. Every weekend I'm not working I have 3 days off. When I'm working on day shifts I usually sleep around 7-8 hours each night but when I'm on night shifts I have a certain difficulty to sleep during the day (4-5 hours, sometimes not even in a row, can be 2 hours, then awake a few hours then nap later, etc.), even though I'm pretty tired after my night shifts. I realize I don't sleep enough, but how do you guys live with that? How do you manage to fit your workouts in your schedule? I tried working out in the morning as soon as I come home from work, but it's very tough and my workout is really half assed. I workout on my days off when I finish my day shift but it's harder to do the same when I'm recovering from night shift. Should I try to workout even if I'm really tired (like today, on a day off, still recovering from working mon-tue nights, working fri-sat-sun during the day). Or should I just workout whenever I feel great? Obviously in my case I feel there are more days where I am in need of sleep recovery than days where I am fresh and ready to kick butt. Thanks for your advice!

Flexibility is definately not an issue I can do ass to grass squats with no problem, I can even hold the position for 5 minutes or more if I wish... I feel like it is either a lack of strength or balance issues. I will check your progression Bacon and will also try assisted shrimps.

Hi guys, I've been doing the startbodyweight.com routine in the past for 6 continuous months and then stopped for about 6 months...Now I'm back at it and I find myself at the same place where I was 6 months ago, I'm progressing slowly but surely almost at every exercise but I'm stuck on the squats progression. I can do 3 sets of 12 reps of bulgarian split squats so in theory I should be switching to the next progression (shrimp squats), but for some reason I'm not able to go all the way down, especially when doing it with my left leg... What are my options to get better at this one-legged squat (eventually shooting for the pistol) and keep the progress going?

I started doing the startbodyweight.com routine a while ago (3 sets of 8-12 reps), and got stuck on some of the progressions, and then quit for some time, trying to recover from various injuries... Now I started to do them again, I'm doing 5x5 for each exercise in the routine. It's ok and I got a good challenge, except that I feel that my movement is very slow. I now slow is good to keep a good form, it's also a good practice to make the movement harder. BUT, I would like sometimes to achieve faster movements (with proper form), you know, have some intensity in the movements I make...just 'cause... How do I achieve that? Last summer before I started suffering from intense fatigue I was able to do them quick but somehow I lost that ability...How do I gain it back?

I used to do dips on a desk while resting my feet at a 90 degrees angle on a swiss ball... Very good for stability. Not as challenging as using a dip station though but a great alternative to dipoing with the fete on the ground.

Thanks Danica and Evicious ( the pun actually made me laugh), your words are very apreciated, and I started again 3 days ago by doing a 7 minute workout (seven app) it´s not too hard, doesn't take as long as my normal routine and does not involve the elbows. Teros , I don't have enough anger or emotions to channel through workouts.... Cannonball, thanks formthe link, will read it. I know change does not happen over night and it is not related to my lack of motivation. I don't have much to lose, only 10-15 pounds, I am generally content with my appearance in fact, that might explain the lack of motivation....when I first started my goal was to look good for my wedding...now that the wedding has passed, I feel like I can take it easy, which is not the case. Like the ladies mentionned, I think I need to go with discipline instead. Thanks for your good words everybody, I will try...no...I will continue doing the 7 min. workout until I feel my strength is back and will ove on to my regular routine once I am healed.

Hey guys, here's the story... I started wall climbing somewhere in November and I was really enjoying it, but as I was getting better at it my forearms decided to let me go....verdict:tendinitis in both elbows. So I'm off the hook since early December, I tried some exercises that didn't involve the arms too much, but everything started to feel very boring and now I'm completely out of motivation. I tried to get back on track but it just won't come easily. Both of my elbows are still out, and while I know I can do some other exercises and I know the benefits of it, I just won't do it. Bad pattern here, laziness, procrastination, call it what you will, I just can't find the right motives to get it going again... A bad news doesn't come alone, my dedication to eating healthy is slowly going away as well. What are your motivations? What is it that keeps you going on and on? How do you jump back on the wagon when you fell off? No matter how much I think think about it, it seems that it's better to sit on the sofa watching stupid TV shows rather than going to the man cave and train hard for 30 minutes.

In my opinion Glute/Ham raises are more fun to do and it targets the same area, am I mistaken?

Man, now I hate you just for reminding me! ;p

This site is your friend: http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/pull-up-progression.html

Thanks all for the replies, some great info in here! I thought I was doomed but I think I will move forward with some of your tricks! Bacon, thanks for the link about that dude, that is motivation I needed! Jfreaksho, here's some input about your suggestions, thanks for the cool ideas!

I cannot run: -I'm not a runner -Therefore I'm not crazy enough to go outside in wintertime -I don't have a tredmill Jump rope....I always sucked at that But thanks for your input.

Hi guys, I normally do the start bodyweight routine: squats, pull ups, pike push ups, leg raises, inversed rows (australian pull ups), push ups, dips and planks. Due to a severe tendonitis in both forearms I cannot grip or put weight or bend my wrists in order to put weight on them, no hangs, etc... The only exercises where I don't use my arms are: Squats, leg raises (on the ground) and planks. What would you do in my situation? Just squat and some ab work? Rest until I'm fully healed? Thanks

Will try this out tonight, thanks man!

Oh ok...I don't think it's the bar though, I have the same and I also use the small diameter bar and the bigger one it has not been an issue for me as of yet.

Is that what you're having along with the knuckles skin pain? Or is it related to your internal set of knuckles (bones, joints)?

I have the same bar and I think what you describe happens with my hands too, it kinda hurt at first but I got used to it. Now it's just the skin that peels off from time to time (picture). It's just like when you first start playing the guitar, the tip of your fingers will be very painful for a certain amount of time but after that your skin adapts and becomes thicker and more solid, now I have skin bumps on my ''inner knuckles''. I also do climb once a week and I have joint pain in every finger, I think the bar exercises are not helping either but I love doing both and will continue till my arms fall of!

Don't replace lunges with pistols, pistols are a harder variation of the squat, you'll be able to do them later if you stick to the right progressions. I think I would drop the lunges and do bodyweight rows instead. I think you should check www.startbodyweight.com it's full of ressources, you have routine examples and all the progressions are there with very smooth transitions between each of them so it's easier to progress and you almost never feel stuck...well except with those damn pull ups lol! Check it out anyway, it's very useful.

Don't worry I did the same thing! It's only when I asked him that he told me that, lol!

Good to know I'm normal!

When browsing the startbodyweight website site, I saw that he proposes to deload when you reach a plateau. You could just go back to the previous progression.

Yesterday I completed day 4 of the Armstrong program. Since my back and lats were so sore on day 3, I decided to skip the morning push ups on day 4. I still managed to do the pull ups on day 4 (8 sets of 2 reps). I feel good this morning but wasn't able to do as many morning push ups as I could on day 2 and day 3...tonight I'm gonna go with the pyramid again, as it was my toughest day. Question: Is it normal to struggle more with the wide grip than the normal grip pull up? The wider the grip, the harder it is to pull a 2 rep set while I can do a 5-6 rep set on a normal grip...

I first read this post last monday and I decided I would try this challenge as well and I was inspired! I somehow managed to get 18 reps/5 sets on monday, and yesterday a big total of...9 for the pyramid thing...Today, I can say that I'm spent and that I feel my back muscles a lot! Needless to say the 3 sets of max push ups isn't helping! I'll try to stick with the challenge and see what happens! Hopefully the soreness wiill be gone Saturday for my weekly climbing session!

That makes a pretty long workout if add the squats, push-ups, dips, etc... It could be one workout session in itself, is it what you did? Consecrate only one day to the pull ups and the rest of the exercises the day after?