Daily max rep test

S

stepstone

0
To conduct a test to possibly advance my lifting records (which I'm stuck at), here are my current records

Push-ups: 25 reps
Pull-ups: 8 reps
#25 overhead press: 20 reps
(standing dumbbell press one arm at a time)
#25 swissball rotating punches: 24 reps

I do a few "reverse" exercises to balance these exercises but I will not track my progress with those reverse exercises.

For background: I have reached some apparent limits with my body-weight and #25 dumbbell exercises. And I have experienced some minor injuries (or pain) by pushing these exercises too much (probably from doing too many series).

Therefore, I am trying a new approach which I will call single-series, daily, all out record-setting bouts. Instead of trying to pound out lots of series and reps each day, which is not working, as I have not been able to improve at all, though I take some days off, I will now simply do each exercise one time each day and do it to my absolute limits. This to test whether I can advance my limits using this method.

More background:

I've tried weight-lifting in the gym several times in my life and the outcome each time, despite my careful approach, was injuries. I never had any serious injuries just those frustrating yet continual little tweaks.

After going totally out-of-shape about three years ago (for the first time in my life) and the returning slowly to excellent shape, I decided to focus on calisthenics and working toward the physical characteristics of a general gymnast, which I view as my ideal body condition. (Though I'm aware how injury prone serious gymnastics can be... it's mostly just an idealized goal.)
 
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As someone who used to practice squats in the gym, I read once again that doing squats 20-reps can be an important catalyst in realized strength gains throughout your entire body. I don't know if that's a myth or not. Anyway. I have started once again to train squats. I'm starting off very slow, doing two series of 20-reps each workout or as often as I can.
 
While I might make a new post on this later, I can also say that I'm trying to train to jump rope. I started this a few weeks ago but had to stop when I banged my heal quite hard on something so I had to stop jumping rope. I let this heal and now I'm starting back slowly. I watched several videos on this and I found that while I can jump okay, my endurance is poor. I really can't jump continuously for more than say 2:00 minutes, forget about doing all the fancy moves... though I can do a cross-over with the rope. Anyway. I was doing 10 series where I jumped as long as I could, alternating forward and backward rope spinning. This normally took me 18 minutes. I would give myself a break in between just enough to catch my breath. I was trying to do this every day.

On my return to rope jumping, I lost a great deal of my gains. I settled with doing 5 series, which took only 8 minutes, so my duration was shorter. And I noticed a clear strain in my Achilles area so I decided to not do this every day but to wait until the minor pain goes away. I consider this one of my main challenges. To improve at rope jumping.
 
I like to play tennis but I find that if I don't play regularly, I totally loose my stroke. Though I can play well if I'm playing regularly. Last night, I tossed the softball for the first time in many years. I noted a similarly in my throw to my tennis stroke. I really don't have the control that I should have in either case. I'm sure that again it's merely a matter of practice. I threw with a person who has a great throw so it was easier to see what I should be working for.

So, as you can see, my aim is to be physically fit but also to be "preformant" at almost any sport or activity I'm handed at any moment. So, I'm shooting for a broad skill set and trying to improve at many things.

Maybe it is better to focus on one thing, master it, and move on, then cycle back to it. I'm not sure.
 
A friend who will visit suggested that he teach me some jiu jitsu or martial arts. I'm not really interested but I do feel that learning to kick properly is a good exercise to focus on. This type of exercise might help me focus on flexibility as well which I don't work on much.
 
I recently had some chronic lower back pain. It would come and go, mostly only bothering me in bed when I'm laying down and turning in bed. I had no idea of the source. I realized that I have extremely weak obliques. So, I pushed on exercising these. But I came to believe that this was contributing to the back pain. Then I read an article on the reason we must develop the core: Because some people don't automatically engage the inner ab muscles, which puts strain on the lower back. Then I read this week that that theory is a total myth. Therefore, in the end, I'm not sure of the source of the back problem or the solution. I have essentially backed off from all but my most basic exercises and the problem is gone now. I did read that doing squats can be very good for your back. I have started slowly to again train for squats. I'm doing this in my home for now but eventually I may join the gym, primarily just so I can do squats in a rack, as I mostly don't care to go to the gym or do traditional weight training, as I prefer calisthenics, body weight, & #25 dumbbell training. Traditional weight training for me always seemed to result in minor injuries even though I was careful and did stretching and warmup.
 
In my quest to try something different--mainly these max rep sets, as well as cycling exercises more so I'm not overdoing certain moves--I will do this max rep test every other day, or skip days occasionally and rest on those exercises.

I can see where this lead... We have to focus on certain exercises and not cycle too much... Specialization.... comes into play.

I decide to do this today because i feel some mild soreness from the max test yesterday, and I'm tired, and I maybe exercised aerobically too much yesterday.

(So, what will I do today... My Achilles feel better from renewing my rope jumping then resting for a few days due to the soreness. So, maybe do another minimal rope jumping. There I could do Ultimate Frisbee tonight. Or, just go for a fast walk today.
 
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BASELINE
Push-ups: 25 reps
Pull-ups: 8 reps
#25 overhead press: 20 reps
#25 swissball rotating punches: 24 reps

TEST I (Two days later)
Push-ups: 25 reps (no change)
Pull-ups: 9 reps (+1)
#25 overhead press: 21 reps (+1)
#25 swissball rotating punches: 30 reps (+6)
 
I've realized through this thread that I need to start thinking of my workouts more in terms of PERFORMANCE over TIME SPENT. What really matters, beyond the cardio part which is mostly time related, more time = more calories burned, beyond this, what matters is performance. Can I do the exercise or the sport? And Am I making progress with my performance with each move.
 
Today's workout consists of the above TESTS, which I performed quite well on overall, improving 3 of 4 exercise limits. I did other exercises which work the 'inverse' side... pull vs. push, though I didn't record limits. I also did biceps. I also did two sets of 20-rep squats and two sets of crunches.

Later today, I will do a 30 minute jog and either before or after I will do 5-15 minutes of jump rope. As usual, I will likely get out for several short walks doing business around town.
 
I think your thread is best suited to the Journals section, since its more of a one-sided discussion than anything.
 
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