To Hell and Back (mel's log Act II)

[RacerBill]

Whoa, HS pushups! It's the influence of that Chris, isn't it? Next thing you know you'll be a Crossfitter, too.

Very impressive work, Mel.

[Karen411]

Originally Posted by mel

B1) Push ups
bw decline, 6th peg of the rack
8 handstand pushups
9 handstand pushups
B2) seated rows
95
100
105

AWESOME! I wanna do those someday, too.

[GG300]

HANDSTAND PUSHUPS !!!!

Thats *&^%$*@ Impressive. Nice job Mel sorry about the foul mouth.

[DanceDiva]

Hope you're having a good time out of town.

I want to request that you put that handstand push-up on the short list for your next avatar.

[mel]

Answering the Mail

Anyway, good job girl.

Thanks Deb. You are always so good about encouraging me! I really appreciate it.

I am still waiting to have the same epiphany.

T, I still am struggling with it, even though I know it is true. But just think about how much more dense muscle is than fat....and when you have a lot of muscle, your are just going to weigh more, even though you'll be smaller than if you had fat instead. I am going to drive this point home to me if it kills me, but the bottom line to me is if I'm all ripped up and carrying muscle around on my frame, how on earth could I weigh a tiny amount? It's just not possible.

I would say go with the 25s and push-press the remainder of the set.

Cynic, that wouldn't be cheating the exercise? I thought that would just be changing the exercise. Yesterday I split set my first set with 20s and 25s and felt like I did a ton of work, so that was good. I think I might be too lazy for the plate mates.

Handstand push-ups??? Wow, girl, you rock!!! I 'm still not mastering the regular push-ups...

Thanks Climban. I was there once too. Just keep going, and you'll be writing about your handstand pushups before you know it.

How flipp'n cool is that?!!! A handstand pushup. I wonder if....... OMG I am totally going to work towards this one.

K, you should totally work towards it, but you and I both are going to have to do it as an extra, as Lisa notes below. It works the shoulders and not the chest.

In Never Gymless, Ross Enamait shows the progression of how to do just that.

Awesome link, Tom, thanks!

handstand pushups rock! - I love seeing the xfit vids that feature them -

but i was thinking that they aren't really a horizontal push at that point are they - more a vertical push - so if you are really trying to increase difficulty of pushups in the program I think you have to go another way. just my opinion of course.

You are, as usual, totally right. I just got so excited when working with my feet higher, that I had to try them. I guess I'll do them as extras here and there just to get better at them. Ever since I saw that girl on xfit doing them from the ground, I've wanted them really badly.

I will probably start subbing the T-push ups with a weight that are in the book.

Whoa, HS pushups! It's the influence of that Chris, isn't it? Next thing you know you'll be a Crossfitter, too.

Very impressive work, Mel.

Thanks Bill! He is definitely trying to infect me....and there is a lot of it that is very appealing. I did a tabatas section the other day...

AWESOME! I wanna do those someday, too.

Thanks Karen....give it a try. And check out that great link Tom gave below.

HANDSTAND PUSHUPS !!!!

Thats *&^%$*@ Impressive. Nice job Mel sorry about the foul mouth.

Thanks...and I don't mind as long as you are cursing with me and not at me

Hope you're having a good time out of town.

I want to request that you put that handstand push-up on the short list for your next avatar.

Thanks Diva, we had a very nice time. And I am going to work on that avi today. I really wanted to change it, but couldn't think of what to change to, so I'll play with that today. Thanks for the idea.

mel

[mel]

Okay, now to post the workout I did Friday before we went out of town.

I thought back to backing it with A from Thursday would kill me, but it didn't.

Here's the numbers:

This Was Stage one, Workout B #6.

All exercises are 3 sets of 10 with 60 seconds rest in between, and all except for the deadlifts were alternating supersets.

A) Deadlift
130
135
135

B1) Dumbbell Shoulder Press
5/25s and 5/20s
5/25s and 4/20s
8/20s
B2)Wide grip lat pulldown
14 plate
14 plate plus
14 plate

C1) Lunges
5/30s and 5/25s
25s
25s
C2 Swiss ball crunch
17/4 plate plus on cable tower
5 plate on cable tower
5 plate on cable tower

Finished with HIIT on the treddy. Used the second intervals workout from the book.

Thoughts:
* deads were exciting. feeling strong. can't wait to do 8 reps and push the weight. Definitely going for 140 next time.
*split setting the shoulder presses. it was brutal. I feel like a wimp on those, lol.
*pushed lunges too....wow did my heart start racing. Form was crappy with the 30s, so only did that for half a set
*True HIIT is a cool, cool thing. Thanks to a thread by Natalia in NROLW forum, I figured out what I was not doing, and now I'm having a blast with the real thing.

Yesterday I spent the day stuffing my face at the inlaws, so today I will do some HIIT. Thinking of trying a body weight program posted in that same thread.

mel

[dillytl]

NICE avi Mel!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOO on the handstand pushups!

[sveta]

That is one powerful avatar!!!!!!!!!!!

[Littlemermaidklb]

Holy crap, handstand pushups?! Color me impresssed! I can't do handstands OR pushups... let alone put them together!

[tkinsley]

Coooooool avi, Mel!

[mel]

Thanks Ladies! The avi was DanceDiva's idea. I used the shot where my hair is hanging down on the step so you could see that I actually was up in the air, LOL. One of these days I'll get that step out of there and be able to do them from the ground.

So this afternoon I decided to try the bodyweight HIIT workout posted over in the NROLW thread.

This is what I did:
Bodyweight Interval Workout
• Go through the circuit up to 3 times without resting between exercises.
• Rest 30 seconds between circuits.
o Prisoner Squat (15 reps) (hands behind head)
o Decline Pushup (15 reps)
o Underhand-grip Inverted Row (12 reps) (on the squat bar) and ball, like a backwards push up
o Plank with Elbows on Ball (30 seconds)
o Bulgarian Split Squat (12 reps per side)
o Jumping Jacks (60 to 100 reps)

It was hard, fast, a real challenge. Glad I did it.

mel

[Biskit]

Hey Mel,

those HS pushups look awesome! How did you learn em?

Your work looks great. The HIT stuff is good stuff, I love it!

Keep up the great work.

Deb

[Espi]

Great avi with a very impressive hand stand pushup! You can be very proud of yourself.
Also,wonderful physique. Your abs are showing

[liftintexas]

The avi brings back horrible memories for me from phys ed in elementary school. I couldn't even do a handstand! But nice work!

[rhauser44]

I'm reading the results of your workouts and I'm thinking this girl is a MACHINE!!!

Awesome job!

[DanceDiva]

Mel,
You've been playing while I've been away. When you say you're going to do something .... you do SOMETHING! Avi is great.
Tracey

[marygrace]

Hi! Thanks for visiting my log! The handstand pushups are so impressive. I hope I'll be able to do those eventually. I've just recently mastered regular pushups and am really excited about that!