Fitness Experiments #1

Three and a half decades into life, and having been interested in fitness for most of those years, I feel like I have more or less "seen it all" when it comes to workout ideas. I've encountered every fad and every approach that's likely to come along - and when you've been doing it as long as I have, you come to realize that there really is nothing genuinely new out there in the fitness world. The fads ebb and flow throughout the years. You might think CrossFit and "total body training" is where it's at right now, but eventually that fad will be replaced by a rebooted version of the same old fitness fads that have been circulating the fitness world for at least a century.

All that is to say, it takes a lot to surprise me. So when I tell you that the workouts Jason Altidor posts on his YouTube channel are some of the most exciting and innovative exercises I have ever seen, I really mean it. Here's a slice:

Call it what you will. I'm calling it incredible.

Introducing Fitness Experiments

Now, when I see a video like that, it makes me want to do a little fitness innovation of my own. So I started thinking to myself, "What if I took a workout regimen designed for building muscle size, and then converted all the exercises into strength-building calisthenics workouts?"

Sounds crazy, but that's the project I intend to undertake, starting today. The general idea is simply this: I've located a solid, reliable online body-building trainer. Every day (or at least, every day that I am able to do so), I'll be applying that trainer's principles to the creation of a workout. But, where that regimen provides a daily send-up of weights workouts, I'm doing what I imagine to be the equivalent in calisthenics.

The result is something I'm calling "Fitness Experiments." I would caution against considering this a "workout regimen," because I'm not certain it will work. I want it to, but I don't really know. So, instead, consider it more like a "workout of the day," with an underlying guiding light hovering behind it.

Without further ado, here's today's workout:

• 4 sets of 15 standard push-ups*
• 3 sets of 15 incline push-ups*
• 4 sets of 15 rolling push-ups* (Hold dumbbells in each hand, in push-up position. Slowly roll your arms out, keeping them straight until they are fully extended. Then, push inward until you rise to starting position again.)
• 4 sets of 15 dips*
• 10 sets of jumping rope as follows: (a) Jump twice between each revolution of the rope for as long as you can until missing a jump; (b) Jump once between each revolution for as long as you can; (c) Jump twice on one foot, then the next, as though in a skipping motion, for as long as you can; (d) Jump once per foot per revolution, as though in a running motion, for as long as you can. [All of this should take you approximately 30 minutes to complete.]

Try it out, then let me know how it went in the comments section when you're finished.

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* I may adjust the exact number of sets and/or repetitions as I go, based on how I feel.