High Rep Without Failure

 Merry Xmas, Happy Hanukkah, etc. I hope everyone had a good holiday because now it's time to get back in the program.

 The title seems contradictory but is possible. I know because I did that today.

  After I ran 1/4 mile hill sprints this morning ,I had time to kill. I also wanted some aerobic exercise as well as improving some of my main exercises, especially high rep push ups and pull ups. For the last couple of months I've been doing a program similar to Marine officer Greg Donahue , doing a set of pull ups and push ups, about 50%-75% of my max, once or even twice a day when I'm really pumped. Currently that means 7 pull ups and 20 pull ups ( my most recent max , done last Fri. Dec. 21 was 13 pull ups and 25 push ups in 1:00, plus another 7 in more 1:00. Remember , pressing motions require strong shoulders, something that's going to take me a while).

  Remember an earlier post on circuit training? You know, one exercise after another with no rest. Well that's what I did. First, military presses with two 15 lb dumb bells x 5 reps, followed by 3 pull ups, then 10 push ups, and finally 15 kettle bell swings. While the reps were definitely low, they were all done with good form ( though I must admit my push ups did start to struggle later in the work out). I also was able to mix sub maximal strength ( presses), strength endurance( push ups and pull ups ), and explosiveness ( swings ). Did I mention that I did 25 sets? That's right. Add it up. That's 125 military presses, 75 pull ups, 250 push ups, and 375 kettle bell swings in a single work out! It took 1:13:34, but it was worth it.

  High reps without failure, maintaining relatively good form. Obviously, a work out like this should only be done once or twice a week at most,if even that.This was a very high set work out. The next time I try this again one other variable I'm going to add is try to beat the time, even by :01. Other than that I'm glad I did this. So if you have the time , and the endurance, give it a try.