Brmc72's log

[brmc72]

Level 6 (week #2)

Day 2:

Round 1: 1:07
Round 2: 1:02
Round 3: 0:56
Round 4: 0:58
Round 5: 1:00
Total: 5:03 (an improvement of 20 seconds from my previous L6D2 time!

Felt strong today! The last set of push-ups were really difficult, but overall the workout felt great. I got a little derailed last week (long work days and a couple of fairly intense jujitsu workouts that left me pretty sore the next day), but I'm back on track.

[brmc72]

Level 6 (week #2)

Day 3:

Total time: 5:50
Pull-ups: 13, 7, 4, 4, 4
Push-ups: 30, 10, 10, 10, 4
Squats: 50, 14

Significant improvement over my last attempt at day 3 (which I finished at 7:45). I feel confident that I'll be able to pass this level with one more week's worth of work.

[KTG]

Fantastic progress! It's a real inspiration for the rest of us.

[brmc72]

Level 6 (week #3)

Day 1: 27 rounds in 19:39.

Same number of rounds as the last go around, but I did it 16 second faster. It's possible that I could have squeezed out one more round in those final 21 seconds, but I was done, physically and mentally.

I just looked at my last entry and it was about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I've been active those past couple of weeks, but I didn't realize I'd neglected the Simplefit workouts for that long. I'm back on the wagon this week!

[brmc72]

Level 6 (week #3)

Day 2:

Round 1: :56
Round 2: :56
Round 3: :55
Round 4: :57
Round 5: :52
Total: 04:36

[brmc72]

Level 6 (week #3)

Day 3: 04:59!!!

Looks like I'll be taking on level 7 next week!

[KTG]

Fantastic! That's a real inspiration. Getting through these last few levels seems incredibly daunting, so it's great to see some more pathfinders pushing through it and showing that it can be done.

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #1)

Day 1: 20 rounds

I had set a goal of 20 rounds for today and I made it, but just barely. I was completely wasted at the end. Overall, though, I'm happy with these results. I'll just focus on shortening the rest time between rounds(I did 5 rounds, rest, 5 rounds, rest, then needed to rest after pretty much each round after that) next week.

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #1)

Day 2:

Round 1: 1:11
Round 2: 1:12
Round 3: 1:17 <- felt good up until round 3. At this point I was really starting to feel it.
Round 4: 1:22 <- struggled with the pull-ups and had to take a few second rest at about the 15th push-up
Round 5: 1:16 <- switched to chin-ups for this round

Total: 6:18

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #1)

Day 3: 9:17

Pull-ups:

15 neutral grip
10 chin-ups
3 pull-ups
4 neutral grip
4 pull-ups
4 neutral-grip

Push-ups:

40
20
10
10

Squats:

50
30

Wow, this was just miserable...but in a good way Looking back, I probably should have not hit the pull-ups as hard in the beginning and tried to even out the sets a bit (i.e. four sets of 10). I kind of feel like I wasted my arms too early and ended up really struggling through the last dozen or so.

What's the general opinion re: dead hang pull-ups vs. more of a kipping type of pull-up? I always try to just do a standard dead-hang, but as I start to fatigue (after about I start relying a bit more on my lower body to get me up above the bar. I'm definitely not doing a full kip, but my knees start coming up and that gives me just enough lift to get over the top. Am I cheating?

[KTG]

I'm prone to the same kind of pulling the knees up a bit towards the end of a series. I think dead hang should be the goal, but I don't think it is cheating. The goal can be to bring the knees up less and less. Ultimately, one aspires for all smooth dead-hang pull-ups, for getting the chin/chest/thighs down to the floor for every push-up, and full ROM squats. But, especially when you are racing the clock it is hard to put into practice. As far as I can tell, whether it is even possible to do L8D3 (or L7D3 for that matter) in less than five minutes without a bit of kipping remains to be seen.

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #2)

Day 1: 22 round (plus 4 pull-ups)

Starting my 2nd week at level 7. Last week I managed 20 rounds, so my goals this week were to 1) really focus on good form and not let things get too sloppy in an attempt to beat the clock and 2) do at least one more round than last week. I manged to beat last week by 2 full rounds and even squeezed in 4 extra pull-ups before the time ran out. Felt good!

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #2)

Day 2

Round 1: 1:15
Round 2: 1:08
Round 3: 1:08
Round 4: 1:10
Round 5: 1:04

Total Time: 5:45 An improvement of 33 seconds over last week! I was really happy with my form throughout all rounds...the whole workout felt really solid.

[KTG]

This is really impressive progress! It is particularly inspiring to hear about your ability to remain committed to solid form through this level.

[brmc72]

Level 7 (week #2)

Day 3: 9:02 -> beat last week's time by 15 second

Pull-ups: 8, 8, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 3
Push-ups: 30, 20, 10, 10, 10
Squats: 40, 40

My goals for Day 3 going forward are going to be to 1) finish in less time each week (kinda obvious, but I figure I should mention it) and 2) try to even my sets out so that I don't end up doing a bunch of reps up front and then a bunch of smaller (2-4 rep) sets at the end. I'd like to work on getting my pull-ups in five sets of 8 and my push-ups in four sets of 20...then start consolidating more from there.