Personal Learning Challenge Update – Post #2
For the second week of the personal learning challenge, I was really hoping it would start off well. Unfortunately, I only got to train twice this week as I got sick mid-week. When I did train on Friday and Sunday, I still didn’t feel 100% so I know the data I have gathered so far should be a little higher. As for my preliminary test for the muscle up, I didn’t get quite far up and was no where near close to being able to fully turn my wrists and pull my body over the bar. Overall, it wasn’t a great week to begin my challenge but I still took the time to begin my workout log spreadsheet in excel (screenshot link provided below), and also compiled a list of exercises that I am hoping to progress to as the weeks go by, and two exercises that I will immediately implement into my routine. One of these exercises is the band pull apart. When done correctly, this exercise greatly improves muscle control within the shoulders. As previously mentioned in last week’s blog, this is something I need to already work on so it will be a perfect fit into my routine for more than just training for the muscle up. The other is the Australian pull-up, which is a pull-up, but yes you guessed it, “down under”. You do this by hanging below a bar around waist height with your feet still on the ground, and you pull your chest up to the bar. This exercise is great to do because it targets different muscles than a standard pull-up or chin-up, and yet it will help to complete more reps of a pull-up, something I need to work on greatly.
For the exercises I will be incorporating and progressing to into my routine these include:
Variations of the pull-up
- explosive pull-up
- wide pull-up
- chest to bar pull-up
- rack pull-up
Variations of the push-up
- clapping push-up
- push-up on small exercise ball
- decline push-up
- weighted push-up
As mentioned in Destin Sandlin’s “Backwards bicycle” video, knowledge is not understanding [1]. This can be applied to my situation about knowing how to do a muscle up versus actually understanding how to do a muscle up. Yes, I already know how to do one. You pull yourself up over a bar, extending your arms, and come back down. But do I fully understand all of the mechanics and proper technique involved? No, not yet. This involves actually putting in the effort of researching about the movements involved, and then doing them. Which brings me to the learning by doing teaching approach seen in this weeks reading. This is one of Daniel Pratt’s five teaching approaches, and certainly applies to my situation as I can’t just watch videos of people doing pull-ups, push-ups, etc, etc. I need to actually do them, learn about them, progress to the next exercise, and repeat [2].
To finish off, I really need to push myself this week to get on the right track. I will need to complete a minimum of 4 days of training to catch up. This is something I am looking forward to being able to do, so I need to fully put the work in.
Workout Log Update #1
References used for this blog