Ok, so I'm trying to come up with some good goals for myself. I'm not really the body builder type, but I do like to get out and do stuff outside. I also participate in a kung fu class 3 times a week. So I was thinking that I should come up with some good functional strength goals.

Here's what I'm thinking so far:
1. Pullups: 20 (right now I can do 6) ultimate goal is 40.
2. Pushups: 100 (I could probably do 50 right now)
3. Handstand Push ups: 10 (right now I can do 3)
4. Full side split suspended on chairs.
5. Full front splits suspended on chairs.
6. Dips: 35 (right now I can do 13)
7. Run a 10k in less than 50 minutes on Jan 1.
8. 9% body fat

Stats:
Male
36 years old
5'11"
173lbs
11% body fat

What I'm looking for is some suggestions or comments. Are my goals too lofty or are they too easy? Should I add some more or replace some with other exercises? I'm going for all body weight exercises or do you think that I should add squats, deadlifts and bench press?

Thoughts?

AMR,

What type of Kung Fu ?
How are you working toward the splits what type of streches and how often ? And how far are you off getting to the goal ? Whats the timescale for al these ?

You need some hindu squat targets
And you need some Abdominal conditioning / Core strength targets in there aswell.
Widers

AMR,

What type of Kung Fu ?
How are you working toward the splits what type of streches and how often ? And how far are you off getting to the goal ? Whats the timescale for al these ?

You need some hindu squat targets
And you need some Abdominal conditioning / Core strength targets in there aswell.
Widers

The date for all of the goals would be on or before Jan 1st 2005.

At my school we study 3 different types of kung fu. 7 star praying mantis, Northern Shaolin Long Fist, and Hung Gar.

How about 500 hindu squats? I've never really tried to push past 100.

Splits: I've got a book by Thomas Kurz called "Stretching Scientifically" He outlines a program in there to achieve the suspended side splits. If you practice kung fu, you are all too familiar with the horse stance. After some warm up stretching his method basically has you do lower and wider horse stances while flexing your inner thigh muscles. So I intend to follow his method every day until I can do the side splits. I'm pretty close on the front splits. (about 12 inches off the floor)

Core strength: How about hold a plank position for 10 minutes?

What do you think?

500 seems to be a bench mark for hindu squats so yeah that sounds good.
I have never had any contact with Northern Shaolin Long Fist but i have sparred with people from the other two. All good fun

Hmm plank for ten mins not sure on that one its one of those isometric ones that makes me shake trying to hold it past about 2 mins. I have no idea how hard 10 mins is going to be to hold
Widers

20 pullups is going to take a really good strength to weight ratio. My best is 15 (chinups/pullups; I do whichever one has palms facing - it is easier than palms away), at at weight of about 180, and my back is my strongest bodypart. I don't imagine I'll ever get more than 20, because to add an additional rep on once you get well into the teens can take a while. 20 is a good goal though, but 40 real full ones I imagine only a puny minority of guys could ever do :cool:

20 pullups is going to take a really good strength to weight ratio. My best is 15 (chinups/pullups; I do whichever one has palms facing - it is easier than palms away), at at weight of about 180, and my back is my strongest bodypart. I don't imagine I'll ever get more than 20, because to add an additional rep on once you get well into the teens can take a while. 20 is a good goal though, but 40 real full ones I imagine only a puny minority of guys could ever do :cool:

When I was in high school we did the standard physical fitness tests and at that time I could do 13 pullups. There was a kid in my class who could do 35! He wasn't puny either. He was about 6' tall with a muscular build and very low body fat. The reason I came up with the number 40 as the ultimate goal was because I was on a website the other day
CROSSFIT.COM (http://www.crossfit.com) and i saw that two girls had just completed the 40 pullup challenge. So I figured that 40 would be a good ultimate number. Eventually. For now I'm just going to concentrate on doing 20.

When I was in high school we did the standard physical fitness tests and at that time I could do 13 pullups. There was a kid in my class who could do 35! He wasn't puny either. He was about 6' tall with a muscular build and very low body fat. The reason I came up with the number 40 as the ultimate goal was because I was on a website the other day
CROSSFIT.COM (http://www.crossfit.com) and i saw that two girls had just completed the 40 pullup challenge. So I figured that 40 would be a good ultimate number. Eventually. For now I'm just going to concentrate on doing 20.Heh, I must be doing something wrong! Palms facing going to full extension (arms totally straight, all the way 100% to the bottom), and full contraction (chin over the height of the bar), I'd think that this stuff would require a lot of strength. Teenagers are generally weak, but also pretty light. Is there a video of those chicks?

Heh, I must be doing something wrong! Palms facing going to full extension (arms totally straight, all the way 100% to the bottom), and full contraction (chin over the height of the bar), I'd think that this stuff would require a lot of strength. Teenagers are generally weak, but also pretty light. Is there a video of those chicks?

I couldn't find video of the girls doing 40 pullups but I did find a video of two girls, one doing 25 while the other one does 36 pullups. Here's the LINK (http://www.crossfit.com/cf-video/pull-up_8.mov) . They both kick up a lot as they are doing them so it's not total arm and back strength but still pretty awesome.

I couldn't find video of the girls doing 40 pullups but I did find a video of two girls, one doing 25 while the other one does 36 pullups. Here's the LINK (http://www.crossfit.com/cf-video/pull-up_8.mov) . They both kick up a lot as they are doing them so it's not total arm and back strength but still pretty awesome.Is pumping the legs like that allowed in official competition? I imagine it would raise up the reps quite a bit. Still, pretty impressive for girls ;)

40 pull-ups is insane, but definitely possible. Work on your grip as it usually is a huge limiting factor.

The most I've ever done was 24 when I was around 126-128#. The most I can do now is between 18-20 with a body-weight of around 140#.