Doing the RR twice a week for 6+ years: a review (average guy, 32yo)

egspirit

New member
About me and the RR: 32 years old, 65kg, 180cm

tl;dr: A look back at how a 30-something dude implemented the RR in his life and what helped and happened.

Yo!

I've stumbled upon the RR when I was researching calisthenics. I think I was around 25 years old and while I was never overweight, I've certainly never been "fit". I started out doing the "old" RR (following along with the "old" BWF-App), which had a lot of planks/isometric holds. That was the first time I've ever done something fitness-y in my life, besides the sports I did as a child. With many of the excercises I had to start in low "progressions"; in the beginning - for example, I barely managed to do 3 sets 3 dips (let's not talk about form, haha).

Progress was slow, but steady. I made some good investments in the first year or two, and bought all of the equipment mentioned at the end of the post. To me, they have been of incredible value; it was great having to buy only a handful of stuff for a low price (compared to, say, a gym subscription) that didn't take up much space and I like being able to use it differently as I progressed. For the last few years I've switched to the "Progressive Workouts" app and do the "new" RR-Routine. (iOS-Link)

What has been an extremely important factor in my BWF-journey: Consistency! I've realised early I won't be able to do 3 or more workouts per week (which would've been ideal, but oh well...), so I said to me: You "only" gotta do the RR twice a week, but you have to do it twice a week, no matter what. Since I work in education, I'm lucky to have 12 weeks of "holidays" per year (not all of them are actual vacation days, mind you). Those are rest-weeks, where I'm neither fasting intermittently nor do the RR. I think that helps for recovery and to not put too much pressure on myself. In the last 6 years, I've done the RR during those 40 (out of 52 yearly) school weeks twice weekly, with about 95% consistency (rough guesstimate).

I've plateaued with some of the exercises; I've been considering going for the "weighted" progressions, but I don't feel very inclined to do so. And in the last years I've made attempts to work towards the full planche, but I can't seem to muster the energy, time and dedication...

...which is perfectly fine, because here's one of the reasons I'm writing this post: To me, the RR is a well-thought out, very efficient and very impactful tool to stay fit, both physically and mentally. I'm happy and grateful to be as fit as I feel right now and be without injury for so many years - and I don't want to make it a race. This subreddit can be quite intimidating, since many of you guys seem to be young, eager to challenge themselves greatly, and have started out doing sports early and seem to progress/build muscle quickly. I'm aware that that's a skewed perspective, and comparing myself only to the sucessful "pros" is a recipe for envy and unhappiness. But I wanted to use my voice as an "average guy" who made humble gains and probably won't turn many heads when going to the beach - but that's very much okay. Right now, to me, the RR is about maintaining a certain level of fitness - a routine that keeps me fit, not one that pushes me to my absolute limits. I intend to do it like this for the rest of my life. Sometimes this infuriates me, since it is and will continue to be a lot of work and effort. And despite it being a non-negotiable routine for so many years - it still requires willpower to start the workouts. Almost.Every.Time. But I'm glad I've found the RR, since I like what it does and how good it works - and how easily it fits into my busy life.

I'm so incredibly thankful to all the good people who contributed to the RR, be it by helping to conceive and improve it or by making apps or knowledge free and available to all of us. The RR and this sub continue to make an tremendous positive impact in my life and I'm grateful every week - it has made my life better in many ways. After my post blew up a few years ago, I've been approached by many redditors who started out as insecure and hesitant as I was back then. Hopefully I've helped nudge some of them toward a healthy (and consistent!) approach to something that's often sorely lacking in our "modern" daily lives: physical exercise.

Cheers!

(Here's a photo, since you folks seem so eager to get some visuals to compare yourselves to :D. The picture was made after lunch and I did not workout on this day, so it's as "authentic" as it gets):


[sup](I don't have any neat comparison photos from many years ago, sorry...[/sup]\*)*

Other important things to note:
  • Intermittent fasting (16:8) during workdays (Mo-Fr)
  • 7.5h sleep minimum
  • Protein shake (always) + creatine (sometimes)
  • Diet: None
Equipment:
  • Lebert Equalizer XL (for rows and dips)
  • Ab-Roller
  • Stretching band
  • Gym-Rings/Pull-Up-Bar
  • Yoga-Mat
Current Routine (3 x 8 each:)
  • L-Sit-Pullups / Intermediate pistol squat
  • Dips / Nordic Curls
  • Planche Push-Ups / Wide Rows
  • Ab-Roller-Rollouts / Banded Ballof Press / Reverse Hyperextension
Routine when I started out (rough guesstimate):
  • 3 x 4 Pull-Ups / 3 x 8 Squats
  • 3 x 3 Dips / 3 x 8 Single-Legged Deadlifts
  • 3 x 5 Push-Ups / 3 x 6 Incline Banded Rows
  • 3 x 6 Rollouts / 3 x 8 Banded Ballof Press / 3 x 6 Reverse Hyperextension
 
@egspirit Good for sticking to it man! That’s the most important part. Slowly building on yourself.

It doesn’t quite sound like you enjoy the workouts that much or care about progressively challenging yourself much. So I do have to wonder. Why not try a sport like bouldering, yoga, squash? Or a teamsport? You’ll still get the mental and physical benefits but you might enjoy it a lot more.
 
@lddlells
That’s the most important part. Slowly building on yourself.

100% agree. Thanks for the feedback! I enjoy doing the RR immensely, I just wanted to point out that it's not something that's always coming easily. On some days, I dread having to do it, while on others I "just start". When I start, it's a very fun thing to do. I guess I'm still a lazy fuck at heart :D So I'm happy with where I'm at; having won over my inner lazy bastard. I do team sports once a week and I enjoy hikes. I appreciate your suggestions a lot, though :)
 
@egspirit That’s good to hear man! It’s easy to get caught up in the very fast progressions some people make and compare yourself to it.

I used to train 6x a week and was one of those people. I did enjoy the process and working out. But never looked forward to it much like I do with yoga and bouldering now. Has made working out so much easier for me. Sounds like you’ve also tried other things though. Just wanted to check if you were not one of those people who drag themselves to the gym every time.
 
@egspirit Great summary, I love to see a fellow long hauler :) I switched from occasionally doing the gym thing (with the "big" lifts, like deadlifts / bench / squats / rows / overhead press) to some variant of the RR about 5 years ago myself (plus or minus a few different things to mix it up somewhat, if I feel like it).

The big win for me is also consistency. Not having to go anywhere cuts out a lot of the justifications you might give yourself to just skip a day. I've knocked it out 3x a week almost every week since I started (minus vacations and the like). Progress is slow going at this point, and it suits me fine. Every now and then I add a rep here or there but it's not common. I can't even remember the last time I switched to a harder variant of anything.

I'm not even close to doing L-sit pull-ups, congrats on that! I'm only up to 5x ring pull ups after all this time.

Like you, I don't always get excited to start doing the workout... but I'm always glad I've done it at the end. Exercise (whether calisthenics or cardio or even just going for a walk) always makes me feel better, it's always worth it to get over the mental hurdle and get moving!
 
@egspirit Great post, I'm the same way, been doing the RR once or twice a week for over a year now and I'm happy with my consistency more than anything.

I'm also curious, how long would you say it takes you to do your routine start to finish usually, and do you do any of the reoommend stretches and wrist warmups before it?
 
@egspirit great post indeed, it was very inspiring for me, I'm also struggling with consistency a lot. One thing that discourages me a lot is how long I need to perform the full routine, and that a much lower level than you. I need about 1h40min for it and sometimes I feel like I'd need even longer breaks.

Did you get faster/need shorter breaks as you progressed?
 
@jrod98 Do you do the new RR? I just use the timer in the RR-App and set so I get 3mins of rest between "same" excercises. With the pairs I set timers for 1min20sec. Example: I do 8 dips, set the timer for 80secs, do 8 pseudo planche push-ups, set a timer for 80 secs and the the 8 dips again (and so forth). If you need longer breaks, you might try lowering the repetitions (do only 5 instead of 8)? :)
 
@egspirit I do the new RR and even use Progressive workouts like you do. I've set 90sec between sets and also between pairs. I'm either really slow during the set or I'm cheating (myself :) during the pauses. I do need at least 20min to do the full warm-up (need to warm up that mind muscle most of all). I do lower reps on the exercises I find harder, like dips (7x) and pull-ups (4x+3x eccentric).

I've been trying to get a smooth movement, specifically avoiding using momentum, and pausing for a sec at the ends. Maybe that's where I'm going wrong. How do you do it?

I'm really glad you posted, it's great food for thought and very inspiring.
 
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