2 May (Day 20) – 5 x 47, 4 x 47
3 May (Day 21) – 4 x 53, 4 x 53
Comfortable with 47 secs so extended to 53 as an experiment. Used 130 secs rest but it was tough.
4 May (Day 22) – 2 x 35, 14, 8 x 42
I was trying to mix it up here, the first 3 reps were with a lateral swing, briefly letting go with each hand. I wasn’t sure how much harder it would be (the answer: quite a bit) so I swiftly abandoned it and dropped to 42 secs for the remainder.
5 May (Day 23) – 3 x 30, 3 x 42, 2 x 42, 30
More experimenting, again 3 sets (90 secs total) using the lateral swings. It certainly works the grip more and I feel it improves single arm stability, but I’m still at the stage where I’m not taking it for granted that I can accumulate 7 minutes.
6 May (Day 24) – 5 x 42, 5 x 42
I did some more background reading about other people’s experiences and they spoke of staying away from long duration single holds in favour of more frequent ones (a popular protocol was 14 x 30 secs). The progressions like lateral swinging and eventually single arm holds tend to be attempted when you’ve reached the milestone of 2 minutes dead hang. While I’m clearly progressing, I feel like I’m starting the day no better than yesterday and it only takes about 10 seconds before I feel uncomfortable having to hold on.
7 May (Day 25) – 10 x 42
I should break it up, but some days I can only afford a single visit to the gym.
8 May (Day 26) – 5 x 42, 5 x 42