Back-to-Basics: Update #1

I started my back-to-basics workout a couple weeks ago, as I explained in my last post. I had originally planned on doing Squats in the morning and Pushups in the evenings on a Mon - Wed - Fri schedule; and then Crunches on a Tue - Thu - Sat schedule. However, within the first 3 days I made some significant changes to that routine.

The first thing that I realized was that breaking up the exercises like this kept me from really pushing my entire body hard. Sure, my chest, arms and shoulders were shaking after the pushups, but I wasn't breathing hard and could barely work up a sweat. On the other hand, I never quite felt like I was "rested" because of the way the exercises were spread out.

So beginning this week, I pulled all of the exercises together into supersets and have been doing a good total-body workout on a Mon - Wed - Fri schedule. The way the program is set up, you complete 5 sets of an exercise with each workout. Thus my combined program has me completing 5 supersets, which consists of Pushups / Squats / Crunches with no rest in between exercises. I rest for a minute or two between supersets and focus on good form and steady breathing.

Here's what Day 1 looked like:

Superset 1 - 10 Pushups / 13 Squats / 15 Crunches (rest)
Superset 2 - 12 Pushups / 16 Squats / 18 Crunches (rest)
Superset 3 - 7 Pushups / 9 Squats / 10 Crunches (rest)
Superset 4 - 7 Pushups / 9 Squats / 10 Crunches (rest)
Superset 5 - Max Pushups / Max Squats / Max Crunches

Believe me, by the time I was finished with this 20-minute workout I was breathing heavy, sweating like crazy, and my heart was pounding like I'd just run a race. Obviously you can go a little easier by resting between exercises and resting a bit more between supersets, but the point is that you can also get a great workout with these basic bodyweight exercises.

One final thing I noticed is that having a full day "off" really helped with my recovery, and I did feel stronger on each new workout day. I don't know that I'll hit 100 pushups, 200 squats and 200 crunches by the 6-week mark, but 50/100/100 isn't out of the question!

Train hard and pray harder,
~Brandon