Row and Pull

Workout 7 March 2009:

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
Row 250 meters
Sumo deadlift high pull 75lbs, 21 reps
Pull-ups, 15 reps

Results: 4 rounds
Previous best: None

This is a new workout and I went in hoping to get four full rounds completed. Although this workout utilizes just about every major muscle group in the body, it emphasized the arm flexors, shoulders, and back. It also was very taxing on grip. I can usually do 20+ kipping pull-ups in a row, but by the last round or two, I was falling off the bar at about 10 reps. I'm hoping for 5 rounds next time, but would be happy with even a partial 5th round.

I don't believe in isolation exercises. They serve no purpose in everyday life since just about any given human movement uses more than one muscle group. Muscles aren't meant to function in isolation. Accordingly, you are only wasting your time in the gym doing dumbbell curls, leg extensions, and calf raises. Of all the isolation movements, bicep curls are among the most useless. You will NEVER catch me doing a bicep curl. Instead, I do workouts that may emphasize the biceps, but always involve other muscle groups. Today's workout was brutal on the biceps, but in the same amount of time that I could have done 6 sets of bicep curls, I also worked my back, shoulders, abs, glutes, quads, and hamstrings and benefited from a very demanding cardiovascular workout.

Mark Rippetoe Quote of the Day:
"There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat."