Wednesday, May 22, 2013

When More Doesn't Feel Like More

My arms felt fine. Even though my chin wouldn't quite clear the bar on my last rep of pull-ups amid the mosquitoes, the final two upper body exercise stations at the Sand Run Parcours Trail didn't seem too difficult. By the time I had finished in near record time, it felt like I'd barely done any arm exercises at all.

Unlike last time, my arms survived 10 pull-ups and almost managed a chin-up, as those thirsty bugs swirled and swarmed about, taking any opportunity to drain my blood.

Three stations later walking on my hands over parallel bars was a breeze, and then 10 push-ups felt nothing like Perry or Moss. Despite four more pull-ups, my final time was only seven seconds slower than last week's par course circuit.

This must be the law of diminishing returns that I've heard about before. Does this mean I'll have to work harder to get that same satisfying sensation of a good workout? Well, crap. I don't want to do that. Maybe I need to go back to doing less.

The frustrating thing is that there has been very little improvement in my weight. Despite noticeable gains in fitness over the last month, the scale continues to vex me, but I'm trying not to get so hung up on a stupid number. Right now I'm just enjoying the act of running, and that's all that matters.

ADDENDUM: The pull-up station has four tiers of bars, and the one I've been using is just low enough for me to grab with my feet still on the ground. There is one higher that I should probably start using to make it harder.

2 comments:

Jess said...

So clarify for me: What's the diff between pull up and chin up?

That's for those who can do either. For me, there is no difference, since no matter what, I'm just gonna limply hang from the bar.

Jess said...
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