I packed the family up and headed to upstate NY for Christmas right after our Friday workout. Andrea took charge and led a couple of great classes! The 12 days of Christmas workout was a smashing success; lots of great feedback this morning in class. Awesome job Andrea! Thanks for opening the doors and providing the opportunity for some quality Holiday training sessions.
While in NY I managed to sneak in a couple of workouts and have to share my story...
My wife and I have been together for 15 years. Right before we were 'official' and still just 'friends' she asked me to write up a workout routine she could do at her Mom's house. I wrote it up and of course there were chinups involved but also no chin-up bar in her Mom's basement...so I rigged one up for her.
Flash forward 15 years; when we go to visit family we stay at her Mom's house. When visiting I usually get an outdoor workout in or make a trip to the local gym, but time was really short AND my Mother-in-law had just redone her basement...it was shiny clean and super organized so I snuck down early one morning for a quick sweat...to my surprise guess what was still mounted? That Chin-up bar!
Now, I have no idea how my wife used to get chinups in on that thing...it was super-thin and made of what seemed to be aluminum or perhaps a slightly stronger metal, but man did it have serious bend to it when I grabbed a hold...throw into the mix that it was hung between 2 rafters with barely enough space for my head, I knew this could be an adventure...what would happen first; a fall and land on my tailbone after the bar snaps mid-pullup or a quick blow to the head from the danger close rafter above?
I decided to play it smart...I padded the concrete floor with anything soft I could find and abandoned my usual kipping pullup for a slow and smooth L-sit pullup. I figured this would put less pressure on the bar and make the "rafter drive-by" less deadly.
This was hard for me to do, I love the kip, it's so powerful...and despite being told by others my entire life; "Jerry, you can't power through everything"...well, I still disagree.
In my opinion Power is everything. The most powerful athletes generally rule supreme. Sure strength is good...and speed, well speed is a killer so it's great to have it also. But most overly strong athletes need more speed and most speed athletes need more strength...POWER is that perfect blend. As an undersized athlete I realized this at an early age...there is nothing better than having an opponent size you up, under estimate your abilities, and watch them quickly experience their mistake.
But I digress...
So yes, for safety on this Holiday workout I opted away from the powerful kip and went with some slow strength; I coupled the L-sit chins with Handstand pushups, 5 reps each for 10 rounds. It was fun! Especially since I rarely do these 2 movements and felt strong despite.
Ah, lessons everywhere...all I know is I'm glad I've built so many chinup bars!
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###It was great to see so many of you out for this Friday workout!
Remember, we have 2 more workouts this year:
Saturday at 0900 and Monday at 0900
We are off on Tuesday and Back on schedule on Wednesday
1 comment:
Adorable picture!
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