trapperjohns log

[trapperjohnme]

i stumbled upon this sight after reading cheapo's post on another forum and really liked the plan so gave it a go today.
i knew i was out of shape so i didnt push myself to hard and started with L1D1 did 15 rounds. pushups and squats were easy. but after the first few round I was only able to do pullups enough to get my nose to the bar, not my chin. I would really like to get my pullups even with my other exercises and am therefore thinking i should stay at level one for a bit untill things level out. any advice would be appreciated.

[cheapo]

Hello John,
Yes, you should stay on L1 for a bit.

Your pull-ups will improve quickly. You might want to try slowing your pace even more so that you have more time to recover between sets of pull-ups. You should then be able to get your chin over the bar more often.

Do you understand how the levels work?
If you are following the program as designed, you stay on a level until you successfully complete Day 3 in less than 5 minutes.

Best of luck!

[trapperjohnme]

yesterda was so sore i thought i had been beaten with sticks. still some sore today but did L1D2 with the followign results

R1 49s
R2 39s
R3 44s
R4 42s
R5 36s
tot 210s

i did not try to go fast, rather i just did the exercises and kept good form trying to feel it
doubt i will b eable to to L1d3 in under 5 minutes due to pull ups, the other things should be relatively easy. still tempted to go to L2 so i can push the pushups and squats a bit

[Ruli]

hi john, and welcome to SF.

don't rush through the lvl's too fast. you might feel like you can do much more, but, as cheapo said, until you can't do D3 of a certain lvl in under 5 min's, you shouldn't progress!

[trapperjohnme]

did L1D3 in 4'40", think it is time to move to L2. again squats where real easy, pushups needed one short break, but took more than 3:30 to finish the pullups. was a mixture of pullups and chinups. sometimes it wasnt quite all the way to the chin, its those past few inches that kill me.

[trapperjohnme]

was excited to start level 2 monday of this week, unfortunately some serious low back pain has kept me from it, maybe tomorrow or thursday!

[trapperjohnme]

finally got to where i thought i could hit it again. L2D1==19 rounds. Again its the pull ups that are the challenge. squats are still a breeze at this level. Pushups were slightly more challenging than L1. Some of the pullups I was short an inch or 2, in those cases i lowered real slow and tried to focus on the lats.

[Ruli]

i also do this:

Some of the pullups I was short an inch or 2, in those cases i lowered real slow and tried to focus on the lats.

[trapperjohnme]

did L2D2 today, time was about 310" or 5'10". I say about because i had "little helpers" working the timer. in the middle of R3 my 3 yo son pushed the reset button. Hate to admit but i did some kicking on the pullups. last set i fell short of the last pull up getting up very high.

[trapperjohnme]

did L2D3 today in 6'03" not as bad as I expected but i obviously need to stay at this level for another week or more. One thing I noticed is the pullups/chinups really hit my front deltoids , I wonder if i am doing them wrong or if my shoulder is just a very weak link.

[trapperjohnme]

l2d1 24 rounds, better than last week by 5 rounds. pullups are still the issue, the later ones were coming up short.

[cheapo]

5 rounds is a BIG improvement (26%)!

[Ruli]

[trapperjohnme]

did L2D2 today in 5'34" I can not say i did it as fast as I can. I guess my experience in weight training tells me to do them slowly and t really work muscles by going super slow on the negative aspects of the exercise. Pullup strength is getting much better. I think next time i can come in on D3 under 5 minutes.

[trapperjohnme]

L2D3 4'59" Made it! but barely, on to level three in a few days!