For the past year year and a half goals of mine have been to do a single armed pull up, single arm hand stand as well as proficient hand stand push ups, single arm push up and pistol squats. I have been working on progressions on and off for the past year and a half but I need to get serious. A week here and there isn’t going to cut it!
I also recently got hooked on ninja warrior training. I have been hittin up Conquer Ninja Warrior gym in Eden Prairie, MN the last month and the more progress I make, the more I want to do it– well, at the expense of the skin on my hands! (bad azz though right ;D )…
gross… I busted opened that callus doing this reverse ladder deal on the ceiling shown in the pic below. This was a major feat because I would get to the top, freak about crossing the gap dangling like a iron cross to get to the other side. Needless to say, it was exciting and I got a bloody war wound to prove it! :/ still kinda bad azz. 😀
Me initally chickening out on the reverse ladder with no proof of actually having killed it on this thing a week and a half ago!
And my warp wall fail: Still haven’t gotten this one….
Some other fun videos:
I have no aspirations to go on the show but I do want to do some local competitions. This training is a nice adjunct to my goals. Although muscle size and added weight does not help in this realm but, I feel that if I can do these obstacles at this weight, just think of what I can do when I am cut lean 15-20 pounds lighter! BAM!
This type of training requires a lot of upper body strength, explosive power and balance which fits in my goals I set for myself regarding the single armed pullups, pistol squats and free handstand pushups and such- which is a long road…
Anyway, being all gung hoe about this ninja stuff, I kicked it up a notch. I decided I was going to incorporate more dead hangs, pullups and un-even monkey bar work at my usual gym…
In the video below, on the left: 6 weeks ago, on the right: last week. For the last month I have been working on a whole lotta upper body and grip strength stuff like dead hangs from my fingertips, dead hangs with a full grip, uneven monkey bars in the video, handstands, pull ups etc etc. I come a long way from only doing these monkey bars in 2 passes to doing them in 5 with little rest after having slipped twice. I have the calluses to prove it!
….and then hit up Conquer Ninja Warrior 1-2x per week. It’s a 30 minute drive to Conquer but I keep my self occupied….
Aside from increasing the upper body hangy work volumes, I am also increasing the volume in which I work my shoulders as they lag behind. And, I increased my leg work to 3x per week. That third day being more plyo work for explosive power. Bikini girls need bootay anyway! Then I cut my triceps and chest work down to 1x per week. My triceps are already pretty big.
So, my devised workout plan weekly will look like this:
Do 3-4 exercises for each muscle group at 3-4 sets of each exercise in the specified rep ranges.
See exercise bank (click here) for a list of exercises for each muscle group.
Sunday: Quads, glutes, hams, abs: 6-8 rep range
include leg raises-legs straight up to bar.
Monday: Back, biceps, shoulders: 20-30 rep range
include pull ups, un-even monkey bars, swing to skip bars, dead hangs (full grip, finger tips, single handed), hands stand holds
Tuesday: Legs / plyo day
Example: Box jumps, slack line, Jump squats, alternating jumping lunges, pistol squats, balance work, explosive push-ups, (add in progressive calisthenics)
Wednesday: Back, biceps, shoulders: 10-15 rep range
include pull ups, un-even monkey bars, swing to skip bars, dead hangs (hands, fingertips, one handed), hand stand holds
Thursday: Quads, glutes, hams , abs: 10-20 rep range
include leg raises-legs straight up to bar.
Friday: Chest, triceps 10-15, Shoulders 8-10 reps
include pull ups, un-even monkey bars, swing to skip bars, dead hangs (hands, fingertips, one handed), hand stand holds
Saturday: OFF
I leave at least 1 day between working muscle groups or techniques.
On my full grip dead hangs, I can hang for about 2 – 2.5 minutes with each set decreasing greatly.
Fingertip dead hangs: 40 seconds, followed by 20 and 10-15 seconds and finally 10-15 seconds
Handstand holds I try to hold at least 1 minute each with the first one lasting 1.5-2 minutes on a good day.
Pull ups: I can do 8-12. I am following 50pullups.com program as well doing pull-ups at home when I pass up the pull up bar.
Explosive pullups: where you pull up and touch the wall above it (see here). I can do about 4 or 5 (each arm) before dieing 😀
Check out my Instagram for snippets of workouts.
Apparel is in!
GF2 Crew gear in in! Since I am not buying mass volumes of things, like 10,000 pieces at $6 each, my costs are within the range I bought them. When I am rich and famous, I will drop $60,000 on some tanks tops at $6 a piece and sell them for $20 :D. Check them out. (Click here)
See also:
Pullups- see 50 pullups.com for a plan. Also see pull up progression
What are your thoughts? Comment below.