My Goals and Workout (Need input still)

[Gavin]

Okay, my current goals are:

To be able to do 60 consecutive pushups (in the following styles: triangle, standard, knuckles, and divebombers)
To be able to do 20 consecutive pullups
To be able to do 100 consecutive bodyweight squats

Eventually, I want to be able to do:

To be able to do a one-armed pushup
To be able to do a one-armed pullup
To be able to do a one-armed chair dip
To be able to do a one-legged bodyweight squat

After I have the "strength" and "endurance" to do all these things, I'm want to start translating my maximal strength into functional strength; via plyometrics and drills, I want to work up my work capacity and start working on my punching speed and power.

My current workout so far looks like this:

Monday - Upper Body
--Chair Dips
--Fore arms/hands
--SOME pushups

Tuesday - Lower Body
--Bodyweight Squats
--Lunges (front and sideways)
--Single-legged, full-range toe presses

Wednessday - Rest

Thursday - Upper Body
--SOME chair dips
--Fore arms/hands
--Pushups

Friday - Lower Body
--Bodyweight Squats
--Lunges (front and sideways)
--Single-legged, full range toe presses

Weekends - Rest

Is there anything else I should include into my routine?
I already know that dips and pushups are "redundant", but for some reason I can do more dips than pushups. I have no idea why.
When would be a good time to start working on my plyometrics?
I was thinking of following my routine for 2 weeks, and then having 1 week where I just did burpee conditioning. Would that be a good idea?

I would like to make sure that my front muscles stay in balance with my back muscles; what are some good excersizes I can include into my routine for that? So far I've been trying to put in supermans and back extensions.

After I'm able to do 60 consecutive pushups, I'll probably incline my feet and work up to doing 60 more, and then try a standard 1 armed pushup. Does this sound like an effective plan?

[kawana]

Im not sure what you mean when you say 'SOME pushups' Im pretty sure you shouldn't aim for a set # but instead go as many as possible till failure, same with squats. I gotta go so i dont have time to look through it carefully but ill check it later.

[Gavin]

Well, for instance I might do my dips (4 sets of 12 now) and SOME pushups... like 1 set of 20... on Monday. But on Thursday, I might do (or try to do) 2 sets of 20 and a few sets with lower reps, and only 1 set of dips...

[koltz]

so are thoose chair dips or normal dips , ?

cause if they are normal nes you might as well drop the pushups since there ineffective

[Drunken Panda]

Personally, I advise caution against the advice to perform maximum repetitions all the time when training. Continually training the body to failure will not yield greater strength. The body must be stimulated, not annihilated.

If, however, you were to perform sub-maximal sets, you would be able to perform more sets, and your body would be taxed but not obliterated by repeated muscular failure. By being able to perform more sets, you are almost certainly able to increase the total volume of work. Further, your body will be capable of responding to further exercises more efficiently, as it has simply been tested, and not destroyed. You will be able to recover faster, and train those areas of your body mulitiple times a week without risking injury or not seeing development due to lack of recovery time (which is when you get stronger - not during the workout, but during the rest).

That is not to say that you should never train your maximum repetitions or effort - they are certainly useful, eg. to see what your maximum is - but they should not be done exclusively as it seems many people seem to advocate. Remember, less is more. Work hard when you do the sets, but be sensible when you do them. By working multiple sub-maximal reps, you can train more frequently and gain strength more efficiently than if your constantly torturing your body with maximum effort.

On a completely different topic, I really like chair dips where the hands are close together at the back (as if they were handcuffed together behind you) - great way to isolate the triceps!

[koltz]

Personally, I advise caution against the advice to perform maximum repetitions all the time when training. Continually training the body to failure will not yield greater strength. The body must be stimulated, not annihilated.

If, however, you were to perform sub-maximal sets, you would be able to perform more sets, and your body would be taxed but not obliterated by repeated muscular failure. By being able to perform more sets, you are almost certainly able to increase the total volume of work. Further, your body will be capable of responding to further exercises more efficiently, as it has simply been tested, and not destroyed. You will be able to recover faster, and train those areas of your body mulitiple times a week without risking injury or not seeing development due to lack of recovery time (which is when you get stronger - not during the workout, but during the rest).

That is not to say that you should never train your maximum repetitions or effort - they are certainly useful, eg. to see what your maximum is - but they should not be done exclusively as it seems many people seem to advocate. Remember, less is more. Work hard when you do the sets, but be sensible when you do them. By working multiple sub-maximal reps, you can train more frequently and gain strength more efficiently than if your constantly torturing your body with maximum effort.

On a completely different topic, I really like chair dips where the hands are close together at the back (as if they were handcuffed together behind you) - great way to isolate the triceps!
I secund that , the effect you get from training to faliure is not worth the time recovering.

[Gavin]

Yes, they are chair dips; my hands and feet are up on chairs.

[Gavin]

Wow I'm actually improving!

I usually do 3x20 bodyweight squats... the other day I tried to do a one-legged squat on each leg... and I was just about able to! My form was really bad but I still do 1 full rep on each leg. I couldn't do that before.

And it's getting easier to do my 20 pushups. I think I owe this to taking a week to rest.