Gene Hikes the Appalachian Trail

Tag: workout

  • Workout Ideas

    Just wanted to take this occasion to share a workout tip I have been using for about a year now which lets me keep things fresh. I love to do this on months with 31 days, and since July and August both have 31, this is a chance to do this for consecutive months.

    I like to take a movement and progressively add to how many I do each day of the month. It is tough to explain the progression, so here is a calendar for the month of July that shows how many to do.

    For example, I’ll do 10 burpees on the 1st, 12 on the 2nd, etc. By the final day I’ll do 60. This is not in lieu of normal workouts, just an extra layer. In the beginning of the month, it is a nice little invigoration. By the last week or so it can become a slog, especially when also getting in 8000-10000 steps a day. Since this is in addition to your regular workout, you can spread it over the entire day. In May I forgot to do burpees one day when it was 22, so I just did 46 the following one. It isn’t that serious.

    Burpees are my go-to workout for this, so I think I’ll do that again for July. I know there are many ways to do burpees, but my preferred way is an eight-count like this.

    1. Drop into a squat with hands on the floor
    2. Kick legs out behind you into a plank
    3. Down portion of a push-up
    4. Up portion of a push-up
    5. Bring legs back under you into squat position
    6. Stand back up
    7. First half of a jumping jack
    8. Second half of a jumping jack

    For August, I’ll probably do explosive squats. Depending on your fitness level, you can choose any workout for this. Some suggestions:

    Here is a calendar for August as well. Give ’em hell!

    If this doesn’t float your boat I have one more thing to consider. I am not a Crossfit person, but I recently got into a specific Crossfit named workout called Cindy. It consists of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats. I know Crossfit people do those weird looking pull-ups, but you can do regular pull-ups for this instead. You do those exercises in order for one round. A full Cindy is as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in twenty minutes. A great full body workout in a short time with no equipment needed other than pull-up bars.

    If that also does not float your boat, maybe you should stay on dry land.

  • Swedish Ladder Appreciation Post

    There are quite a few outdoor gym setups all over the Austin area. Most of them have these contraptions that look like monkey bars standing erect. I never really gave any thought to what they were for until relatively recently someone I know called one a “Swedish ladder” and said they were great for stretching. Here are a couple of pictures of ladders in their natural habitat.

    I decided to look into these things a little more closely and since then I have incorporated Swedish ladders into my outdoor workout routine. I’m going to talk them up here so you might consider doing so as well.

    Swedish ladders (also called “stall bars” or “wall bars”) are exactly what they look like. They are a wide ladder with rungs up to a couple feet apart. They can optionally have a pull-up bar on top, like in the picture on the left above. They were created early in the nineteenth century by the Swedish (hence the name) “Father of Physical Therapy”, Pehr Henrik Ling. He has an interesting story that I’m not going to recap here, but I can link to his Wikipedia page and save you a Google search.

    The best exercises to do on a Swedish ladder are stretching exercises. You can grab a rung above your head and squat down to get a good stretch through your upper body. You can achieve a similar stretch by grabbing a lower rung and getting down on your knees.

    Another thing at which Swedish ladders excel is static strength moves. Obviously you can do dead hangs from the pull-up bar, but you can also do front or rear support holds. A support hold is where you simply grab a rung just above your waist height and hold yourself up in a straight position off the ground. My favorite exercises are inverted rows and decline push-ups with my feet on the rungs.

    For those of you who are visual learners and those of you who think I do a lousy job of describing exercises with words, here are two very good YouTube videos that show many different exercises being done with proper form. The first one is from VAHVA Fitness, who also have a great write-up on their website.

    Keep an eye out for Swedish ladders the next time you are at a park or a fancy gym. I encourage you to add them to your workout regime if you find them. Even better if you can pair them with rings or resistance bands.