Well, it's yet another rainy day here in Delhi - been raining intermittently all night, sometimes heavy, sometimes light rain. Reminds me of Seattle when I lived there for a very brief period. . .or London, for that matter.
Anyway, my first thoughts upon waking up were along the lines of "It's raining, it's pouring. . .", but instead of the "the old man's snoring", my thoughts where "there go my pull-ups. . .".
Now, for the uninitiated, I do my pull-ups and other assorted movements out in the park - so a rainy day makes it impossible for me to get those exercises in. Which sucks, as pull-ups are an exercise I love, and one of the major movements in my routine.
So, I guess I could have done what a lot of folks would have done in that situation - which would be to say "ah, can't do the pull-ups anyway, so screw the workout - will get to it tomorrow". And that sort of thing is more common than you think it would be - and what's sad is that tomorrow never seem to show up for these good folks either.
Anyway, no such thoughts on my end - I actually got a workout in today that not only had me pouring with sweat - but my fingers and forearms feel like mush right now. And even more importantly, I got the bulk of my strength movements done via STATIC holds - meaning you simply hold your body in a certain position.
How hard can that be, you ask? Well, do them right, my friend, and they can be as hard as you want to make them - harder than anything you've ever done before if you so prefer, and thats no joke.
So, I got in a solid 5-6 minute jump rope session in interspersed with jumping jacks done at a fast pace - 500 reps of the former, and 250 of the latter - that alone would be enough to kick most people in the can.
Then started off on handstand pushups and finger tip pushups - except this time I didn't concentrate only on the reps - I made it extra hard by doing fingertip HOLDS, and by doing the exercises slowly.
By slow, I mean I pause at the bottom of a handstand pushup for a count of 10, and then pushup up - then pause another 10 - and then start the second rep. YOW!
By slow, I also mean I do my fingertip pushups in slow motion, while pausing at the end of each rep. YOWZ!!!!
And so forth. By the way, I talk extensively about fingertip pushups in Fast and Furious Fitness and you can get "yer mitts" on it right here: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/articles/83-fast-and-furious-fitness-the-book
This type of training will cause you to HURT. It will cause you to SWEAT. And most of all, it will constantly ask you to give up - but the point is, you DON'T GIVE UP!
Of course, that is hard to think about not giving up when your shoulders are shaking like tree leaves in a level 5 hurricane - but hard is what makes us tough - and thats what it's all about at the end of the day.
Finished off with some bear crawls and alligator crawls - some of these done on my fingertips - and that was that for the day.
So you see, my friend, you can literally get your workout in anywhere, irrespective of weather conditions, how you "feel", whats going on next door, or what the boob tube has to offer - no excuses, period. Just "git 'er done", and get on with the rest of your day - and you'll be amazed how GOOD you feel after a routine like I just described.
All for now - back again later!
Best regards,
Rahul
PS: I speak about handstand pushups in the above email - for those that are interested, my new course "Shoulders like Boulders" teaches you EVERYTHING you need to know about this wonderful, wonderful exercise: - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/products/87-shoulders-like-boulders