First World Problems
So I've decided to go back to weights for reasons that can only be described as dumb. Or male. Which I suppose is synonymous.
There's very little you can do with weights that you can't do with calisthenics. There are variations of the pushup that are so hard, many people legitimately believe them to be impossible (see planche pushup, or a true feet-together one-arm pushup, or the nigh-mythical one-arm handstand pushup [note the lack of a link]). While front lever rows and one-arm pullups are a little more common, they're no less astounding. So bodyweight movements are pretty comparable when it comes to the comparatively puny upper body muscles.
The lower body, or more the whole body, is another story.
For as amazing as pistols are, and while glute-hamstring raises are the stuff of legend, in many ways, they still pale compared to the deadlift or the squat (mainly the deadlift). In truth, there really is no exercise that even compares to the deadlift when it comes to training the posterior chain (commonly known as the alpha and the omega of all athletic movements). And while my knees can handle tremendous weight; what they can't handle is reps. After about a dozen reps of pistols, my knees begin to politely inform "it's time for a rest". High-rep leg work, no matter how 'light' the load may be, is largely out of the question.
So I am returning to weights.
And I get to pick between half a dozen really stellar programs. I've sung the praises of Power! to the People in the past, but I find myself gravitating more towards Jim Wedler's 5/3/1 Training because of the diversity of the program and the slower progress. It seems counter-intuitive to want slower progress, but I've learned over the years that in many ways, so long as progress is being made, slower progress is actually preferable. The faster the progress, the more unsustainable it is. Huge, sweeping changes made over night (New Years Resolutions, for example) never stick. Never. But small, minute changes made one at a time, once every few weeks or once a month, add up to radical life transformations far sooner than people think.
So yeah. Weights, with some calisthenics and some kettlebells thrown in because why not.
Man, it's nice when these are the biggest problems one has to solve in one's day, isn't it? ^__^
There's very little you can do with weights that you can't do with calisthenics. There are variations of the pushup that are so hard, many people legitimately believe them to be impossible (see planche pushup, or a true feet-together one-arm pushup, or the nigh-mythical one-arm handstand pushup [note the lack of a link]). While front lever rows and one-arm pullups are a little more common, they're no less astounding. So bodyweight movements are pretty comparable when it comes to the comparatively puny upper body muscles.
The lower body, or more the whole body, is another story.
For as amazing as pistols are, and while glute-hamstring raises are the stuff of legend, in many ways, they still pale compared to the deadlift or the squat (mainly the deadlift). In truth, there really is no exercise that even compares to the deadlift when it comes to training the posterior chain (commonly known as the alpha and the omega of all athletic movements). And while my knees can handle tremendous weight; what they can't handle is reps. After about a dozen reps of pistols, my knees begin to politely inform "it's time for a rest". High-rep leg work, no matter how 'light' the load may be, is largely out of the question.
So I am returning to weights.
And I get to pick between half a dozen really stellar programs. I've sung the praises of Power! to the People in the past, but I find myself gravitating more towards Jim Wedler's 5/3/1 Training because of the diversity of the program and the slower progress. It seems counter-intuitive to want slower progress, but I've learned over the years that in many ways, so long as progress is being made, slower progress is actually preferable. The faster the progress, the more unsustainable it is. Huge, sweeping changes made over night (New Years Resolutions, for example) never stick. Never. But small, minute changes made one at a time, once every few weeks or once a month, add up to radical life transformations far sooner than people think.
So yeah. Weights, with some calisthenics and some kettlebells thrown in because why not.
Man, it's nice when these are the biggest problems one has to solve in one's day, isn't it? ^__^