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"Come wit it now!!"
Feeling inspired... made it to the gym at lunch time and did 185 crunches after my workout. Actually looking forward to finishing 'em up at home tonight. Nice to have some energy back - dormant for too long!!
Hope everyone's doing well - I'll check back with ya tomorrow - Joe
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VERNONHEATHER
5/24/06 3:11 P
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Oh man Joe - I'm even an English Lit major!!!! Agh, I am shamed. lol. Although in my defense, I've never liked poetry (with the exception of some music lyrics, and most of Dylan Thomas' work). Some of the more inspirational 'poetry' for me is Rage Against the Machine lyrics, honestly they are so passionate and clever.
Heather 
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You're killing me Heather... MJ sings Man in the Mirror... Man in the Glass is a poem... it's on my sparkpage... check it out when you get a chance.
Congrats on getting in a good workout
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VERNONHEATHER
5/24/06 12:50 P
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My report: YAY finally managed to work in some pushups!
20 swiss ball pushups
150 crunches (up from 125)
Heather
PS Isn't Man in the Glass a Michael Jackson song? lol, keep it up y'all.
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I know what you mean about the arms like rubber, sore abs and wanting a day off!!!... I'm hurtin' today.
Yesterday's total tally for me was:
100 pushups (about 25 from the knees)
325 crunches
I thought about taking today off... but the Man in the Glass is telling me to keep the momentum going (he's obviously not as sore)... I'll keep you posted on who wins the day.
I felt guilty last night sitting on the couch... Thanks for the support and motivation.
Joe
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Awsome job you guys,
My stomach and arms were like rubber after the first day, painful rubberized arms and stomach. I gets alot easier. My hope is that by doing all these crunches when the gut is finally all gone I might havesome defined muscle under there. Keep up the great work.
Jeff
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ZAPPADAWG
5/24/06 12:53 A
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Wow, well who would have thunk it, I guess I do have abs under there somewhere,,they are surely hurtin' today. I got my 100 pushups but have only gotten to 300 crunches thus far.
Congrats Joe and Heather for gettin' them in,,,only day two and these pushups and situps were on my mind all day at work (bad kinda of on my mind that is, like, "hell I deserve a day off from all this working out stuff....ha,,ha.."
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Was able to fit 125 crunches in at the gym at lunch today... I will pound out another 200 tonight. As for the pushups I will get to 100 tonight even if I have to go to the knees to get'em done (Thanks for the idea Zappa). This is a great challenge
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VERNONHEATHER
5/23/06 1:19 P
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K, so it's actually my Monday up in the North (long weekend woo!) so here's my report for the day.
125+ crunches done
10+ min stretching (my new goal)
I ran out of time for the pushups, I'm going to try them on the swiss ball at the gym tomorrow am.
Heather
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Thanks Joe,
Took me 3 hours to do all of it, plus I had to resort to hitting the knees after first 40 pushups.. Tomorrow I'm planning on doing the first 3rd in the morning..Great challenge though...
Keep up the Keeping up!!!
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50 push ups
285 crunches
My chest and arms are feeling weak... I'll keep at it though. I will be at 100/500 by the end of the week and then there's no turning back.
Nice job Brian, Jeff and Zappa - Keep it up!!!
Later,
Joe
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ZAPPADAWG
5/22/06 10:04 P
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| Half way through my 100/500...I'm more out of shape than I thought. I'm gonna finish the second half during the Clippers/Suns game....
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Hey Brian,
100 pushups
150 full blown situps, those are back killers, not doing those anymore.
1.5 hrs of basketball scheduled for tonight
Jeff
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BJFLITCRAFT
5/22/06 8:36 P
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Crunches- 500
Pushups- 100
Squats_ 45
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Busy weekend, but was able to start working towards the 100/500... Friday I did 50/125 and went on a 3mile jog. I was planning to take the weekend off because we had family staying at the house, but by Sunday Night after they all left I needed some stress relief so I did 20/75 and went on another 3mile jog... man did it help!!
I'm planning to be at 100/500 by the end of the week!!!
ZAPPADAWG... welcome to the challenge and good luck. Thanks for the card idea... right now I'm just trying to pound out as many sets of 10 as possible... this may be a good way to break-up sets (although I will have to remove the diamonds for at least two weeks)
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100 push ups and 500 crunches...I officially start my workout sessions tomorrow (well later today I guess, it's 12:58 am here in Cali) I know I'll have to split everything out throughout the day.
We use to do a "fun thing" in the Marine Corps with push ups and a deck of 52 playing cards. Organized into 2 groups and flipped the cards over one by one. Whatever card your group got was the # of pushups you had to perform. Cards 2-10 was that respective number, Jack was 11, queen was 12, king was 13, ace was 15. If you got any card in the diamond suite then U did your set in the diamond pushup position (hands together in the shape of a dimond). Doesn't sound like much but really a great workout.
Anyhow, nice to meet everyone and hope you see a lot less of me (in the form of mass and flab) in the future...
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100 is good. It's killer man, I'm tellin ya. :)
Later you'll be walking down stairs with jello-legs, hanging on the banister and laughing.
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BJFLITCRAFT
5/21/06 9:09 P
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Crunches- 500
Pushups- 100
Raining today so I didn't get any club ride to help my weekly miles.
How many on the free squats 100, I believe that sounds like a good challenge, at least for me to work up to.
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Same guy. The whole book is bodyweight exercises. A lot of his stuff seems rediculously hard to me, but I like a lot of it too.
Plus, I travel a lot- so I'm always looking for stuff that I can do without weights, machines, etc. I also cannot stand being on the ground, so I try to find ab workouts that let me use a flat-bench. (The leg-lifts, hello dollys, and flutter kicks I do from a flat bench) :)
My newest 'find' is a real kicker (though unforunately requires a bent knee), it lets me get a great burn without touching the ground:
A strange sit-up/crunch thing-
Lie on your back, and put one ankle on your opposing thigh, like a half 'indian style'. Do the situps with your hands touching near your temples (I'd say behind your head, but pulling against the neck is a really bad idea). Only lift your legs toward you slightly while crunching. I try to extend my straight leg out on the 'down' and bring my thigh to vertical on the 'up'. After about 25, I switch sides. This one hurts. Bad. :)
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VERNONHEATHER
5/21/06 7:16 P
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Hey Ward, thanks for the suggestions. Some I already knew from my kickboxing days, but there are some that I'll be trying tomorrow for sure. I flipped through the combat conditioning book a little while ago I think - he's got a real focus on calistenthics doesn't he? Or am i thinking of something else?
Heather
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Thanks for the compliment. Haha. But really, I'm not trying to compete for an ego boost or anything. Competing is the American way! Go capitalism! :P
I'm also on www.thepresidentschallenge.com. To be quite honest, I'm about average to my military bretheren. They keep me in shape by trying to keep up, and- well I'm getting out of the military, so I need a new community. :/
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Wow.... can see why 125 of those would tire you out! I'll have to try those once my back gets better. Currently no one has set up any true "competitions" that I've seen. I'm sure we could get one started if any guys really felt like it. Most of our competitions tend to be to try and improve on our own times and numbers. I thinkg right now you'll probably destroy all of us in any contest. If you can think of something that we can try I'm always open to ideas.
matt
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Is there a way to compete in ability groups?
The Hindu squat is something I picked from Matt Furey's book, 'Combat Conditioning'. You start feet slightly closer than shoulder width apart.
1. Put your hands straight out in front of you.
2. Pull your hands in, aligned with your chest, forearms parallel to the ground.
3. Squat down, dropping your hands down, letting your knuckles touch your heels.
4. Stand, and raise your hands to the starting position.
That's 1. You really don't notice the burn (aside from generally tired cardio) until you're finished. For anyone without injuries, I'd say give it a max set. For anyone unsure of how this'll affect their knees, I'd say do 25 and walk around- see how you feel.
All other squatting rules apply, of course. Back straight, head up. I don't remember where Furey says to breath, but I'm inclined to think the exhale is on the lift like everything else. Come to think of it, I think I've been doing it backwards. haha.
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Ward,
The challenge is actually just against yourself. There is no "one" time to beat. If you do 12 minutes today, then try to do 11 tomorrow. But we're not trying to be better than any certain number or time. Just a way to push ourselves and get a little more exercise. Heck, most of us don't even get the 100/500 done in one session. We'll do 20/100 5 different times throughout the day.
Great suggestions on the alternate ab workouts. What is the "Hindu Squat"?
Matt
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Heather,
Have you tried using a sit-up bench? I don't know anything about your surgery, but hooking just for feet under a couch Vs having your knees supported by a situp bench might help.
Other options might be:
Leg-lifts-
Lie on your back, hands under your tailbone (for leverage). Start at 6" off the ground, up to 90 degrees, and back to 6" (That's one. Try for 50.)
Hello Dollys-
Same position as Leg lifts, only your feet don't go above 6" off the ground. Legs come apart past shoulder-width, then back together (that's one. Try for 100). [Also, sorry if that's a misogynistic military term, it's the only one I know]
Flutter kicks-
Similar to leg lifts, only with one leg at a time, similar to swimming. Try for 100.
[Leg lifts, hello dollys and flutter kicks are great to chain together into one set]
Alternating toe-touches-
More for warm-up than anything, stand feet a bit more than shoulder-width-apart, hands and arms outstretched (as if making a standing snow angel). Keep the knees straight, and twist down from right hand to left toe. Back up. Do as many as you like.. like I said, it's more warm-up than exercise. It makes me too dizzy to put any real effort in. :P
Chain-breakers, aka press press flings-
Feet shoulder-width-apart. Fists in front of you, elbows up at 45 degrees. Pull your fists apart until they're parallel with your shoulders, aligned with your chest. Back to the front. This is a 4 count exercise, so you'll do that 3 times. On the 4th time, extend your elbows, and let your hands go way back while coming up on your toes, chest in the air. This is the 'fling' part of ‘press press flings’ (which should actually be press press press flings). Again, this is a 4-count, so you'll be thinking (1,2,3,fling). I KNOW IT SOUNDS CHEESY! But trust me, do enough of them and you'll feel burn.
trunk bends-
Again, more of a stretch, but a good warm up. Hands on your hips, feet shoulder width apart. Bend forward, left, back, right. Like a 4-count, you're thinking 1,2,3,1. 1,2,3,2. 1,2,3,3. etc. After awhile, reverse.
V-ups-
Similar to a sit-up, these things are a pain, but interesting. Lay flat on the ground, arms to your sides. Raise your knees about 45 degrees while also lifting your torso, bringing your hands toward your knees. Back to the start. (I've also heard people starting with hands outstretched above their head, and lifting their arms overhead to their legs while lifting the torso.)
So yes.. it appears I've written them out of order, but if you do some stretching, some warm-ups, and some of these, you can put together a great ab routine without bending your knees at all. Courtesy of the USMC. :P
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What's the current challenge? 100 pushups and 500 cruches? I'll give it a try first thing tomorrow. :)
But, as was mentioned- what if there was a time limit? For example, if someone can do two sets of 50 pushups in 2 minutes, and 5 sets of 100 crunches in 10 minutes- the time-to-beat is 12 minutes. Efficient people might even do 20 pushups between reps of 100 crunches. :) Just a thought.
I'd also like to challenge people at 'free squats'. (I actually do a variation called hindu squats.. same thing). I can do about 125 straight. After that the legs turn to jello. Hehe. Seriously, it's hard to walk for days. :P
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| Heather, can you do the wall push-up as a replacement?
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VERNONHEATHER
5/21/06 2:17 P
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Thanks Jeff, but because of my injury, I can't bend my knee. It's not my arm strength that's stopping me, it's my leg strength. I guess I just want something that I can do a bunch of reps with daily.
Heather
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125 pushups
200 crunches yesterday
I do feel much stronger than I did say 1 year ago. I do know what you mean about core exercises though, I think part of it is that they tighten you up.
Have you tried a modified pushup?
Jeff
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VERNONHEATHER
5/20/06 7:20 P
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Upped my daily crunches today - I'm hoping to see some more improvements. The other bonus of core work is I just feel stronger. . . anyone else get that?
Anyhoo - 125 crunches. Any ideas for pushup replacements?
Heather
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BJFLITCRAFT
5/20/06 6:19 P
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Crunches- 500
Pushups-100
Well the scales have been nice to me for a couple of days now, and the crunches are taking some of the butter off the abs. When the waist measurement goes down even a little bit it seems to put a smile on my face.
JBELLI
Come on in and start posting, I believe you will find that you will get some good results.
Half the time I'm just showing up, then after a couple of sets I'm into it. Seems to be working!
Good luck!
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