Back to Basics on a Snow Day

I really enjoyed Phase One of the Bodyweight Blueprint for Fat Loss. I got kinda' off track before starting Phase Two. It has been eight days since I did my final Intu-Flow workout. I was starting to feel like a slug and I could feel my weight starting to creep back up. Shoot, I haven't even weighed myself in two or three days.

Now we're in the midst of winter storm Pax. We could be stuck at home for a two or three days. I felt like I had to get some exercise in. I had also been thinking that I want to get myself stronger and more fit with some basic calisthenics rather than the esoteric moves of BB4FL.

So, I've put together a simple, quick routine based on a combination of hundredpushups.com, fiftypullups.com, twohundredsquats.com and some elements from The Four Hour Body.

Plan: 5 rounds with 60 second rest between rounds.

Chin-ups: 3,4,3, 1 negative, 1 max hold
Push-ups: 6,6,4,4,13
Squats: 8,8,5,5,16

Then

Myotatic Crunches 1x10
Cat Vomit Exercise 1x10

I arbitrarily chose level 1 of the pull-up routine and level 2 of the push-up and squat routines. That was a good choice for the chin-ups. BTW, the chin-ups in the 1st three rounds were assisted with one foot on a stool. I should bump it up to level 3 for the push-ups and squats on my next workout. I stopped at 16 on my max set of squats but probably could have done more. My so called "max hold" on the chin-ups was like one pitiful second. It can only get better right?

I then did Tim Ferriss's two favorite ab exercises. Following the minimum effective dose, just 1 set each of 10 reps. Oh, I chose to do chin-ups ( palms facing my body ) rather than pull-ups ( palms facing away from my body ) this time. Chin-ups are 10-15 percent easier than pull-ups because they involve the biceps more strongly. This should do two things, give me a quicker sense of improvement and help pump up my arms.

After a week or two of this, I'm going to add in kettlebell swings to accelerate fat loss ala the 4HB. I also need to scout out a grassy hill for hill sprints. I really should keep doing Intu-Flow as a warm-up and Prasara Yoga as a cool down. The core of this routine works all of the big muscles and many of the small muscles of the body with three simple compound movements. Simple, direct and quick! I finished the whole thing in fifteen minutes. No gym required.

That last bit, that the current routine is so short is also an argument against adding anything. I find it extremely hard to carve out an hour to workout especially on days when I drive to Clemson for work. No excuse, but it is true.

Oh, and I did this work out in doors because it is so cold and snowy outside. And unfortunately, I don't have anywhere outside in my yard to do chin-ups. So, I'm probably going to be doing my exercise mostly indoors for the next few weeks.