What do you do for "skill" work

[Craig Mallett]

For me, a big part of what makes someone move well is coordination, or working on a particular skill set.  So gymnasts have all these skills that they are required to learn, such as acrobatics on the floor and the vault, this kind of supported work on the horse and pbars, and this swinging work on the high bars (did I miss any? oh wait - trampoline too!).  Most of what gymnasts do is very high level coordination, spinning multiple times in the air, coordinating huge weight shifts while supported, etc. Circus performers have similar practices with trapese and hand balancing and their various stunts and tricks, martial artists have very complicated forms, parkour people have crazy skills for moving through the environment.  

 

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I kind of strive to be this "expert generalist", someone with the best and most practical all-round ability.  In terms of conditioning, Coach Sommer's material is by far the best out there for this, with the greatest boost to overall ability compared to other conditioning programs I've tried.  I am also reminded that gymnastics is traditionally a practice where the skills came first and conditioning was this kind of "built in" thing that just came as a result of practicing skills, however Coach found out with his athletes that instead of this 90/10 split of skill/conditioning, that somewhere closer to 50/50 produced much better results.  That being said, Coach obviously still has his guys practicing their skills a lot and doesn't focus purely on conditioning.  

 

From a practical standpoint, I find the parkour/movnat idea of being able to move skillfully through the environment very useful in day to day life, so the majority of my "skill" practice is this.  I also use my martial arts to practice some lower body physical elements and my internal skills (once again very useful in a number of practical situations, in particular rest & recovery, and of course in fighting).

 

What does your skill work involve and why?

 

 

[Philip Chubb]

MMA because being able to defends ones self makes the rest of life worth living.

 

Handbalancing because it's awesome and you don't need anything to show off except your hands.

 

Tumbling because screw you Isaac Newton. . Really though, how cool is it to flip around in the air? And once again, you need nothing but yourself and some space.

 

Floreio, I really believe that at the highest level of any movement, you have to work on putting things together and making them flow. This is what floreio is all about.

 

Acro because there are only a few better ways to spend time with your wife than risking her life by throwing her through the air.

 

Dance, because if I ever do want to join the circus I guess I have to know some.

 

Bouldering. Great for putting all this pulling strength to use!

 

I do all these on a regular basis. And yes, I do have a lot of free time on my hands...Haha!

[Joshua Slocum]

You missed rings! Gymnasts learn skills on rings. It's not all strength moves, just mostly. 

[yuri marmerstein]

hand balance, juggling, rope, dance(ballet and contemporary), capoeira, tumbling, flying trapeze(though not recently), tricking, rings, straps, chinese pole, not to forget teaching(this is a skill in itself)

I practice these because I find them all interesting to some degree.  It is a perpetual journey to get better and I want to learn everything I can.  T

 

Remember strength is a skill as well, and a lot of "skills" have overlap in strength. 

 

I try to think of constantly learning/refining, even through repetition.  Treat everything as a skill and every rep is another attempt to try to make this skill more effortless. 

[Oldrich Polreich]

Parkour/Freerunning training occupies majority of my skill work, because i'm trying to be very complex. In some ways, it is quite similar to all around gymnastics: Different apparatus requiring different skill sets. And I'm greatly inspired by gymnasts (especially all around) so i train everything: vaults, precisions, flips (precision flips are my obssesion now ), bar work, low gate movements, bits of breakdance etc etc. 

It is hard work, but a lot of fun. And i have found my best friends in this disciplines.

 

Handbalancing is also big part of my training. Hard, sometimes extremely frustrating but in the end extremely rewarding. 

[Craig Mallett]

thanks for the responses so far! keep em coming

 

does anyone train any "internal" elements...yoga/qi gong/tai chi/meditation/whatever?

[adrienl]

Nice thread Craig.

 

One thing I would be interested in seeing from the posters above would be how they lay out there skill/conditioning work. I too love moving, although my lists also includes water and ball sports, and would be interested in seeing how they combine it all.

 

For the last question Craig while I am looking to get back into more breathing focused work one thing I particularly enjoy is feldenkrais/somatic based practices upon waking. Very good I find for building body awareness, at least at slower speeds.

[Maximilian Schmahl]

I'm currently only working on gymnastics. I'm still competing junior all-around, but by next year, I have to compete senior where I probably won't win anything in all-around because I just don't have the possibility to train enough, so I will focus on my stronger events and look for a team in the german league system. 

I also want to get a little more into "handbalancing", nothing professional, only some basic one arm handstand variations.

[Philip Chubb]

My day tends to be go like this.

Wake up and train my first strength workout.

The next few hours are spent on skill work and mobility/flexibility during the break.

Second strength workout.

More skill work.

Working at my job.

Is that what you meant?

[Joshua Slocum]

Nice thread Craig.

 

One thing I would be interested in seeing from the posters above would be how they lay out there skill/conditioning work. I too love moving, although my lists also includes water and ball sports, and would be interested in seeing how they combine it all.

I do skill work five times a week (rings, high bar and floor). Depending on which part of the season it is, my strength training ranges from two to four 1-hour sessions in a week. 

[Oldrich Polreich]

My day is similar to Alex's

 

Morning strenght workout, mainly statics. Mobility related to particular workout (hips, shoulders etc)

Than I usually do handbalancing + prehab and mobility for wrists etc. . I actually found out that i feel stronger in my handstands after the first workout.

 

Than comes parkour/freerunning, two to five hours. This includes mobility and prehab drills especially for ankles, knees etc.

 

Second strenght workout

 

Than limbering/stretching, mobility, more prehab...sometimes little bit of handbalancing, but nothing major.

[adrienl]

Thanks to those who replied. 

 

Yes Alex that's exactly what I meant. Just interested to see how everyone lays out their days/weeks, as most training information I have read is based on specialised athletes, instead of those pursing more generalist goals.