10/18/2009

Planned Workout:
10 Squats w/ the 15lb (hold the dumbells at your sides)
10 Pushups
10 Situps
10 Shoulder Presses w/15lb (hold the db so that your palms face the side of your head)
10 Situps
10Pushpus
10 Squats w/the 15lb (hold the dumbells at your sides)
 
No rest between exercises.  Minute break after set. Try for 3 times through.

Before Comments:
- Been a long time since I worked out, so not sure about weight estimates.  May need to lower weight for shoulder presses. Could probably raise for legs, but as I’ve got limited weights and want to focus on doing this set for speed I’d like to keep them the same for each exercise.

Results and Times:

Set 1: 2:44
-
Set 2: 2:24
-
Set 3: 2:44

After Comments:
- Definitely need more weight on squats. Will see if anyone has some I can borrow.
- On final time through I was only able to complete 8 S. Presses, with only 5 having good form.
- Also, on final set my form was terrible on the second round of pushups and second round of sit ups. Still completed them though.

Wrap up:
Add more weight to squats, everything else seems at a good level right now as I am able to do the exercises but still need to improve their execution.

Specific Critique Desired:
Any advice on what I should stretch for upper body stuff? I'm used to legwork, but I'm pretty lost on how to stretch my arms in particular for lifting.

Any other critiques suggestions welcome & appreciated!

Didn't manage to get two in, but tonight's workout went well.

12 Pushups
12 Hammer Curls each arm w/ 15lb db's
12 Crunches
12 Squat Jumps (pick up the db's in each hand and place them at ur side. Then light junp 
off the ground)
 
12 Crunches
12 Hammer Curls each arm w/ 15lb db's
12 Pushups
 
NO REST bewteen exercises.  Do for time. Take a 1 minute break and do it again. UP to 3x's

set1: 2:16

set2: 2:30

set3: 2:16

The curls were killer. Wasn't sure I'd make it through the last set but I did, though form was bad. Pushups felt much easier than yesterday, managed to keep form on them throughout, was happy with that.

Crunches felt way to easy, should up the number.

First off, i just want to say well done on taking the first steps to getting fit for parkour and in general. it's very good that you recognize the importance of establishing your physical base before taking up something that can be as potentially harmful as parkour.

if you want to toss something into the mix you could try dumbbell swings. look up crossfit's exercise videos for kettlebell swing technique. it's very similar, you just point the dumbbell head perpendicular to your legs.

also, be careful to go slow as you're just starting out. It's easy to bang out reps (and great that you're pushing hard), but it will take some time to allow your body (specifically your joints) to adapt as it does take longer for tendons to strengthen. If it hurts, and not in the muscle burn sort of way, then assess what you're doing (and what you're doing alot of).

the elbows and wrists especially can be tricky dicks when it comes to building up a tolerance to physical activity, so make sure to listen to your body as you progress.

in addition, for the squat jumps you're better off putting the dumbbells down, and just going for maximum effort bodyweight jumps (vertical or horizontal take your pic). It's more important that you're exerting alot of force, and since holding the dumbbells means you can't adequately do this, you'll get better results in your explosiveness by not using them for jumps.