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Old Forum TGU month long challenge

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crash123

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this week I started a TGU challenge, my goal is to do 500 get-ups with the 32 over 20 workouts within the month of October.  my TGU training days will look like this:

joint mobility warm up

13 TGU's per side (makes 26)

25 swings

on non TGU days I am either resting, or doing a complex of single leg deads, goblets, armbars, burpees, battling ropes, jump rope, standing long jumps - not all on each day but a mix based on how I feel.  the essential days are the TGU days.

I am doing the getups on sat, sun, tues, thurs  - mon is a rest day, wed, fri and sat I mix in the other exercises mentioned depending upon how I feel.  I also need to add 2 Wednesdays to get the 20 days of TGUs in within the month of Oct, so this week I did Tues, Wed, Thurs, will rest tomorrow then hit Sat/Sun.

these 3 days were difficult but very satisfying - I am taking my time to make sure my technique stays sound and I have been taking exaggerated pauses to rest ( 15 seconds or so) after doing 6 per side.  it has taken me between 18 and 21 minutes to complete the 13 getups per side each morning this week.  the 32kg is new to me, I have only been using a 24 for the past few years, i recently completed the 10,000 swing challenge with the 24, which prompted me to purchase the 32.  so this challenge is taxing for me, though I recognize for many of you on the forum this challenge might not be that "challenging", but I am using it to get to my ultimate goal of a TGU with the 48.  my thanks to those who participate in this forum for providing continuous motivation and ideas on ways to GET STRONG!  today is a great day to train.
 
Over the last few weeks I have seen a lot of high rep swing programs.  This is the first high rep TGU program I have seen.  Did you write this program yourself?
 
i did - i wanted to make it challenging, but manageable.  and the 1 month challenge seems to be a theme around here lately. someone had written in the forum that all they had done for a year was get-ups and i thought that was interesting.  then i came across an old writing from jeff montrose that stated that Pavel had told him that in the early 1900s weightlifters were instructed to do nothing but TGU's until they could get up with a 100 pound kb.  this got me interested in that challenge, so i figured if i could conquer the 32 for 25 reps per day that i would start to get comfortable with the weight and that the beast might be attainable down the road.
 
Sounds like quite a challenge! How did you arrive at 500 for the number?

By the way, I believe Dave Whitley (Iron Tamer) is one (at least) who said he did practically nothing but TGUs for a year and a half, I think.
 
at first i was thinking of 1,000 but 50 per day seemed like too much to handle.  i needed a number that would be challenging, but still do-able otherwise yanking myself out of bed early in the morning to do something that broke me the day before would be too hard to overcome mentally.  25 ( really 26 or 24) per day seemed like a good number and it has been - i am not totally smoked when i am done, but i am sweating and i know that i worked hard, but i feel great when i am finished, not like i want to puke at all.  my arms shake a bit on numbers 12 and 13 if i dont pause a bit first - so i pause and make sure i can finish with good form.  i needed a number that had me psyched about the next days training so i could think about it with confidence the night before and not be in a state where is was fearing the workout.
 
I understood the TGU more as something to practice.

 

Ideally taken like a meditation, a martial art kind of practicing a form reaaal slow, listening into your body and continously questing for improvements.

For my understanding one should avoid driving for numbers or speed.

Hence many including Pavel are encouraging to simply time it (if at all required) and focus on best quality possible.

 
 
Michael, that sounds very challenging, a lot of volume. All the best with it, would be interested to hear your updates on how you are getting on.

I've just done 5 weeks of TGUs with a 24kg... Mon-Fri and aiming for 5 a side each day but did more on few... I did about 240 TGUs in the last month and that was challenging but very rewarding. I'm planning to move to the 32kg from Monday but will keep the volume low.
 
Hi Sven,

 

the focus here is on strict form, slow and deliberate movement.  i like numbers so i put a number tag on my goal.  the 13 getups per side takes roughly 20 minutes.  it is not a "try to get as many done in a certain time period" challenge and i am not looking to get the 13 per side in at 15 minutes the next go round.  it is still a practice and a meditation as you state and the focus is first and foremost on trying to make each get-up in perfect form.  the second focus is on building strength and i thought that this challenge would be a good way to go about that.
 
thanks Faisal - first three days went well - looking forward to the weekend.  overall feel great and very stable.  my hands are tired.  but otherwise feel great.
 
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