Unexpected Urban Paleo Workout

Location: Birmingham City, UK

Yesterday I arrived at the gym, having walked 20 minutes to get there, only to discover it was closed. Easter Monday I can understand. But Tuesday too?

Since time was of the essence, I seized the opportunity to do my workout on the way home. I had been eying various parts of the urban landscape on my way to and from the gym in recent weeks and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try them out.

So here, accompanied by photos, is the 35-minute workout I did. It was pretty much entirely Paleo - by which I mean that it mimicked the kind of activity a caveman might have engaged in.

Pull ups on pipe - 8 reps
Partial handstands against wall - 5 reps - going down as far as I felt comfortable given the glass and dirt underneath!
Stair Jumps - cleared this short flight in a couple of jumps.

Chin Ups on sign - 13 reps

Here I found a sandbag (about 20kg) lying around and carried it 300 yards to a spot where I could do some exercises:
Sandbag clean and throw - 10 reps
Pistols - 5 each leg

Partial Muscle Ups - 8

Hanging Leg Raise - using the tree branch upper middle of shot - 15 reps

Inverted Push Ups - 15 reps - feet on the top of the grey box, body as rigid as possible.

Stair sprints back to apartment - 3 flights

Back at the apartment - unable to resist finishing with some stiff-legged deadlift using dumbbells - 12 reps @42.5k per hand.
... Read more

10-minute Punisher - Stairs, Sandbag and Sprints

Location: My Apartment Block

Sprint - 20 seconds @90% effort - this was outside in the road
Dumbbell Stair Climb - 3 flights, @37.5kg each hand
Sandbag Clean and Press - 10 reps @28kg sandbag

I did this twice.

Total time: 11.5 minutes.

This hurt. I had planned to do 3 sets, but became aware that a third would have taken my legs into the failure zone, which I did not want to visit on this occasion. So I made the second round count by avoiding any rest. The sandbag is relatively light, so the pain came mainly from the combined cardiovascular effort of the successive exercises rather than muscular fatigue. ... Read more

Single Set, Low Rep Circuit Week, Day 2

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Ups - 2 failures.
Frog stand - 30 seconds, arms as straight as I cold get them.
Tuck Front Lever - 30 seconds, backs as straight as I could get it.

Single Set, Low Rep Circuit

Finisher: mixed tabata intervals - alternating between push-ups and burpees

Total time: 25 mins

This is the same routine I did a couple of days before. For the circuit, I used:

3 x 20kg plate raise for the raise-assisted handstand push ups
20kg for the weighted chin ups
30kg for one-arm dumbbell press
115kg for the stiff-legged deadlift

I managed to increase from 28 to 30kg for the one-arm dumbbell press. On the deadlift, I was able to complete the set more easily than last time. I really enjoyed this routine, and may do the same again next week to see whether I make any further gains. However, I will try to avoid the introductory planche, lever and muscle-up work, so I can do the handstand push ups from fresh.

My legs were feeling a little weak because I have doing a lot of walking recently - and the pistols left me pretty weak. For that reason, I went for the mixed tabata interval instead of solely burpees. Ironically, it was my chest and triceps that gave up. My final press-up interval looked more like a static exercise - the only way I could keep going for 20 seconds was to make the range of movement very small indeed! ... Read more

Single Set, Low Rep Circuit Week, Day 1

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Ups - 2 failures.
Frog stand - 30 seconds, arms as straight as I cold get them.
Tuck Front Lever - 30 seconds, backs as straight as I could get it.
Single Set, Low Rep Circuit

Finisher: Rowing intervals
- 1 minute @ 80% effort
- 1 minute rest
- 1 minute @90% effort
- 1 minute rest
- 1 minute @95% effort

Total time: 30 mins

The circuit was inspired by this and this from Conditioning Research. I am doing the same routine for each session this week. It's a circuit of major compound exercises, doing sets of 5 - but only one set of each exercise. So not really a circuit ;-) Couldn't 't resist a few bodyweight exercises first, just to keep my hand in.

For the circuit, I used:

3 x 20kg plate raise for the handstand push ups
20kg for the weighted chins
28kg for One-Arm dumbbell press
115kg for the stiff-legged deadlift

I was not close to failure for any of the sets, but I made sure I did each rep as slowly as necessary so that I did nevertheless feel I had worked hard. ... Read more

Conditioning Week Day 3: Improvised Cheat 300 Workout

Location: Millenium UN Plaza Hotel New York

Cheat 300 Workout

Since I was training in this joke gym, I had to improvise as follows.

- Instead of chin ups I did reverse-grip pull downs, selecting a weight I felt equated to bodyweight.
- Instead of stiff-legged deadlift with a 60kg barbell, I used the heaviest dumbbells, which were 50lbs.
- For the box jumps, I took my shoes off and jumped onto the seat of one of the machines.
- For the floor-wipers, I held the heaviest dumbbells instead of the 60kg barbell.

It was arguably more taxing than usual because the lighter weights meant muscle fatigue did not force me to rest as often mid-set, so my cardiovascular system was forced to work harder. ... Read more

Millennium UN Plaza Hotel, Mid-Town New York

Submitted By: Methuselah
Location: 405 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017, United States (map)
Website: http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumunplazanewyork
Workouts: from workout diary


The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that this is the same photo as I posted for the Roosevelt hotel gym. In fact this IS a photo of the Roosevelt hotel gym. But I am now so sick of staying in New York hotels and finding these cloned, semi-adequate, broom-cupboard afterthoughts that in protest I have posted the same photo again. Plus I couldn't find a photo on their website. I don't blame them - not even photographic trickery could make that gym seem anything other than cramped.

To summarise, they of course have a couple of rows of cardio machines. They have a set of dumbbells that go up to 50lbs, a selection of machines that allow you to hit most body parts, and just enough square footage to allow someone to do press ups. But if someone else fancies burpees, you'd better agree with that other person to cycle your sets.

One thing in thing in it's favour - being located on the 27th floor on the North-Eastern corner of the building, it does afford fantastic views of Roosevelt island to the cardio-heads. ... Read more

Conditioning Week Day 2: Compressed Volume Circuit (and new exercise invented!)

Location: Roosevelt Hotel, New York

CORRECTION (2/4/09) - before the circuit, I did:
- Frog Stand - 60s
- Tuck Front Lever - 60s

Circuit: Compressed Volume Upper Body Circuit

How I did it on this occasion:

- Ab exercise selected was Hanging Leg Raise
- I was unable to do the Dumbbell Snatch - for the laughable reason why, see below! So instead I did Single-Arm Dumbbell Cleans

Finisher: Stair Jumps. The hotel has many floors. I jumped two at a time from floors 2 to 10 in 2 minutes 15 seconds, before stopping. My legs we fatiguing and I want to save them a little for pistols on Friday. Lungs were pretty hammered too, but on balance it was the legs that were suffering more.

Total time: 25 minutes.

Today I inadvertently invented a new exercise: the 'Dumbbell Snatch Roof Buster'. My first rep on the dumbbell snatch punched a hole in the roof of the gym! There can be no better illustration of a gym designed by someone who does not understand the equipment they are filling it with. I will update the review to reflect this howler. ... Read more