New Year's Resolutions - Travis

This year, I'd like to set some fitness goals rather than a weight goal.

-  I'd like to do "the century" workout.
-  I'd like to do 5 one-arm push ups, like rocky (at 50sec). Actually, I'd settle for one-arm push ups. They don't need to be plyometric.

Overall, my plan for the first months of the year is to be working off of the "convict conditioning" program.  Even though some have said that the author is a fictitious character, the program is still very cool.

Here's a progress update for today, January 5th.

• (C)hest - Push-ups.  I can do about 20-25 decline push-ups. I've just started close push ups, and I can do 12 on the first set.
• (H)ands - Handstand push-ups.  I can do about 5 reps, at only 1/4 of a depression. Or, as a hold, I can hold my handstand for about 40 seconds - up to a minute if I do it one time on full rest. 
• (A)bs - Leg lifts.  I'm doing lying frog lifts. I can do 30 on the first set.  I have a real flexibility issue in my knees. I cannot bend to an L-sit position with straight legs. I'm just starting to work on touching my toes, but I'm pretty inflexible.
• (N)eck - Bridges.  I can do 15 bridges, where I make it up on to my hands. But, I'm not straightening my arms all the way. And, they hurt. I'm actually going to go back to head bridges for the rest of this week.
• (L)egs - Squats.  I can do 50 full squats. When I go to close squats, I can only get down to the halfway point. I can't go full. So, I need to practice those for a while. I also lack any balance in the leg-forward position.  I can do about 15 Romanian squats, with my leg behind me. So, I'm working on those. But, once I put the leg out front (on a basketball), I just fall over. Its kind of funny. 
• (B)ack - Pull-ups.  These humiliate me.  I can do 3 - not 4, just 3. I've been working on "down under" or "jacknife" pulls. But, the difference in height matters. When I try to do them "down under' a table, I can't do 10, in either hand position. I have a bar and a foot support set up in the garage. The bar is supported in the rafters, and the foot support hangs on a rope. On that, I can do 12 in the first set, 8-10 in subsequent sets.

I'm doing each exercise 3x per week, in the 5 weekdays. For most, that means I do them two days in a row at some point.

Monday - (C)(H)(L)(N)

Tuesday - (H)(A)(B)

Wednesday - (C)(A)(L)(N)

Thursday - (H)(L)(B)

Friday - (C)(A)(B)(N)

I do three sets, all the way through.

I'm not sure how much running I'll be doing.  I know I have a 5k in February, which I need to train my daughter for.  So, I'll be running with her a few times a week, to get her up to 3.1 miles. But, I don't know that I'll be doing much more than that on my own. It probably depends on how badly I want to loose weight! (For me, nothing melts the pounds like low-calorie and lots of running.)

I've started to do a bit of Yoga, too. I had two books last year on my kindle (this one and this one), which were very good reads. So, I've started to do some routines. I'm just using a circuit timer, and hitting the poses for a set period of time. And, I like it.  A 15 minute or 18 minute session of that, after my calisthenics, gets me sweating quite a bit.  I've looked around a bit for a video or podcast routine that I can do. But, I haven't found any that are right for me. Many are aimed at women, and some of them that target men (like this one) are just way too hard or way too long. I only need a 15 to 20 minute routine to do after my calisthenics.  I don't need an hour routine where I'm supposed to do standing splits halfway through. (But, thanks, Bob.) And, no, I can't do a crow pose. When I try, I land on my frickin' forehead.