My calisthenics, September 2018

October 5, 2018 by Joshua
in Fitness, Freedom, Habits, SIDCHAs, Visualization

I’ve kept my twice-daily calisthenics routines nearly the same for a few years.

Now you can see them. I settled onto through trial and error and some research, not through a trainer, so I welcome comments and suggestions.

My morning routine

  1. 27 burpees (last 3 with with diamond push-ups)
  2. Hamstring stretch for 60 breaths
  3. Pike for 10 breaths
  4. 10 lying hip raises
  5. 10 45-pound weighted crunches with legs up
  6. 10 45-pound weighted crunches with feet on floor
  7. 5 45-pound weighted bicycle crunches
  8. Bridge stretch for 9 breaths
  9. 6 53-pound one-leg one-arm row
  10. Water plants
  11. 6 35-pound curls

The routine usually takes about 13 to 15 minutes.

Though my shoulders didn’t look like they came off the ground in my crunches with the 45-pound weight, they did. For reference, I recorded the crunches I do without weights on a different day. (The pressure cooker was steaming in the kitchen, which messed up the sound.)

Replacing steps 5, 6, and 7 above:

  1. 50 crunches with legs up
  2. 50 crunches with feet on floor
  3. 25 bicycle crunches

My evening routine

  1. 3 sets of 9 burpees (last 2 of each set with diamond push-ups), 8 breaths between sets
  2. Hamstring stretch for 60 breaths
  3. L-sit for 5 breaths
  4. Front plank for 28 breaths with 3 alternating leg lifts, holding for 2 breaths
  5. Side plank for 12 breaths with 2 leg lifts of 4 and 3 breaths
  6. 5 ab wheel rolls, 1 to each side
  7. 4 62-pound one-arm rows
  8. Bridge stretch for 9 breaths
  9. 6 35-pound curls

The routine usually takes about 13 to 15 minutes.


I vary how I do burpees between 26 straight, 3 sets of 8 when I do diamond push-ups, 3 sets of 9 as my basic, and sets of 5-5-5-6-6 with faster sets and higher jumps. I recently added the leg lifts to the front and side planks.

The transitions between exercises are important. They pace me and make them flow one into the next so it becomes one routine, not a series of disparate exercises. They create mental freedom, relieving me of trying to motivate myself. They allow me to focus on my breathing, body, and so on. If anyone asks, I’ll share the transitions. Most are about starting the next exercise on the next breath or flowing my body into the start position for the next exercise from the end position of the last one.

Oh yeah, since I haven’t seen myself do them, I saw that even after all these years (since December 2011), I still have plenty of room to improve my form.

My main improvements to come are

  • to bring my heels down after jumping forward after the push-up in the burpee
  • to keep my elbow from moving backward at the start of the curls. Without the cheating I didn’t realize I was doing in these videos, I can only do sets of 5, not 6.

While I have some definition on my abs, it’s not where it could be, but that’s mostly diet and a topic for a different post.

bicycle crunches

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