How is my program?

Yo guys I discovered this forum nearly a month ago and everyday I read here a lot of posts

and gained some knowledge. I read Building The Gymnastic Body by coach sommer too.

I started my own SSC nearly a month ago and want some opinions because I am planning

about my next cycle and I want to get aditional knowledge to make my next program better.

I have several questions:

1.I decided that I want to focus on my Back Lever and L-sit so I think about making my next program

Just consist of L-sit Back Lever and for the leg Pistol squats.

What bothers me is that will I lose my strength in other holds if I will only train these 3 exercises

for my next SSC? My hope is that by getting better in this 3 I will improve my other holds

and FBE's, do you think it will be like that?

2.I heard coach sommer talked about straightening the back in L-sit but I wonder how can

I straighten my back when I need to arch to be able to lift myself because I am doing L-sit

on my palms flat?

3.I want my next program to consist of only 3 exercises because I hope to progress faster this way.

What do you guys think this will make my BL and L-sit progress faster?

4.I discovered that the BL has to be dont with suspinated grip and I dont the Pronated grip.

Did I waste time or the pronated grip is helpfull too?

For now its all my questions, hope to get some answers and here is my program and I know it's

not perfect especially that I want to focus on my BL and I put it last but it's ok I started my routine

and I won't change a thing but next cycle I hope to not make such mistakes:

Workout A

Wide Pullups 6 reps 1 sec hold at the top.

Frog Stand 20 Seconds X3       

Advanced pb L-sit 10 Sec. X2

Negative Single Leg Pistol Squat 3 rep Each leg and change leg Every rep. X2

Flat Tuck Back Lever Wide Grip 4 Sec Hold. X3

Light Jumping Rope several minutes.

Workout B -20.3.2013

Regular Pushups leaning on a desk 3 reps X2.

Narrow chin ups 2 sec hold at the top 4 reps.

Tuck Front lever wide grip Straight Arms 8 seconds. X3

Single legged squat leaning forward with another leg behind. change leg every rep and each leg 3 reps.

Tuck Back Lever Wide Grip 10 Sec Hold. X3

Bump anyone?

I seriously need advice \

I would strongly recommend you to consider starting the Foundation One program and building from there.

Cole Dano said:

I would strongly recommend you to consider starting the Foundation One program and building from there.

I know about the Foundation One but because of personal reasons I can't afford to buy it right now.

My recommendation would be to look into the Killroy template: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/1532-killroy-70-beginner-template/

It's what most people around here were using before F1 came out; some people had pretty good results. 

Ok guys I see you don't have anything to say about my program, so please answer the questions if you can.

It's a program full of holes, so you've been given some comprehensive alternatives. Killroy's template is nearly straight from BtGB and covers all your bases, and is free. What's to consider?

Without seeing where you are at I think it is going to be very difficult to get what you are asking from folks. All of your questions seem centered on getting such and such movement "as quickly as possible" - why, and at what cost?

I don't think it makes much sense to just train BL and pistols. The L-sits make a pretty good stand alone element as I don't think I have ever encountered anybody with a too-strong of a core imbalance. But just working the former movements is very likely to lead to imbalances that can lead to injury.

The Killroy template is your best bet if you insist on going it alone and trying to pound out your own program. However, many of us have done just that and many are now using the Foundation series - including Killroy.

- Chris

I didn't say that I won't use killroy's program I just want you to answer my questions because I want to clarify several things

and if there is someone who can explain what is bad in my program?

No one's slamming you, we're just trying to save you time.

1. If you don't train it you will lose it. You might not lose much depending on your particuar strengths and overlap, it might be negligible particularly at your level. Lsit + BL is a pretty good combination **on the face it, provided you can handle quality work**.

2. It's a slightly more advanced variant of an Lsit; I personally find this noticably more difficult than a full BL, even on the floor. If your palms are flat you need to develop some strong scapular depression to lift yourself up further; this is quite a bit harder than basic Lsit.

3. Lsit and BL is pretty good balance to begin with. If you're only doing the 2, then you can probably do more sets, or more often. It's not doing them alone that will speed up progress exactly, it's using the resources (concentration, recovery etc) that would go into other exercises and apply them to your area of focus.

4. Pronated grip is much easier on the elbows/biceps/shoulders, and I believe also makes it easier to cheat by leaning on your lats. Supinated is more intense, so be cautious making the switch. You should make this switch, provided you don't have elbow or shoulder issues to prevent it; you'll benefit with time.

Edit; As Ewe said, pre-reqs will make all the FSP's a lot easier more productive.

SuperMan said:

Yo guys I discovered this forum nearly a month ago and everyday I read here a lot of posts

and gained some knowledge. I read Building The Gymnastic Body by coach sommer too.

I started my own SSC nearly a month ago and want some opinions because I am planning

about my next cycle and I want to get aditional knowledge to make my next program better.

I have several questions:

1.I decided that I want to focus on my Back Lever and L-sit so I think about making my next program

Just consist of L-sit Back Lever and for the leg Pistol squats.

What bothers me is that will I lose my strength in other holds if I will only train these 3 exercises

for my next SSC? My hope is that by getting better in this 3 I will improve my other holds

and FBE's, do you think it will be like that?

2.I heard coach sommer talked about straightening the back in L-sit but I wonder how can

I straighten my back when I need to arch to be able to lift myself because I am doing L-sit

on my palms flat?

3.I want my next program to consist of only 3 exercises because I hope to progress faster this way.

What do you guys think this will make my BL and L-sit progress faster?

4.I discovered that the BL has to be dont with suspinated grip and I dont the Pronated grip.

Did I waste time or the pronated grip is helpfull too?

For now its all my questions, hope to get some answers and here is my program and I know it's

not perfect especially that I want to focus on my BL and I put it last but it's ok I started my routine

and I won't change a thing but next cycle I hope to not make such mistakes:

 

 

1. This is a bad idea. You want to have a balanced workout. Just working the L-sit and Back-lever will result in over-training of those movements, or not enough overall training volume.

2. Unless you have abnormally short arms or long torso, you should be able to do an L-sit with a straight back. You can try using parallettes if it helps. Also if you haven't read this thread, see here: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/337-l-sit-lifts/

3. You will not progress faster that way. At best, your other skills will stagnate. At worst, you will injure yourself. 

4. You didn't waste your time, because you developed some strength. But you will have to go back and re-learn the back lever with the other grip if you want the elbow conditioning that prepares you for more advanced strength movements. 

SuperMan said:

I didn't say that I won't use killroy's program I just want you to answer my questions because I want to clarify several things

and if there is someone who can explain what is bad in my program?

Hopefully you will find the above answers helpful.

Please be clear that my answers were directly to your questions and your curiosity, not suggesting that if you implement those suggestions your program will be awesome.

The other 2 are giving you better advice for cleaning up your approach.

ewethestuff said:

Since you want your questions answered.

 

1. Will you improve overall by just training BL, L-Sit, Pistols? Not really, especially looking at your program. 

 

2. You are having trouble with straightening your back because you lack sufficient strength/mobility and have not gone through the proper progressions to do advanced L-Sit. You need to drop your ego and move back progressions.

 

3. This is the same question as question #1

 

4. Only do BL in supinated grip.

 

 

Forget your current program. You will get nowhere with it. That is why people are recommending alternatives. Also, you are attempting holds too difficult to build strength at your current level, If you want to do an SSC, pick a hold you can do 3 sets of 25-40 seconds of. 

 

 

Read this post, it doesn't seem to be a sticky anymore. Make sure you can do 3x60s of hollow, arch, plank, reverse plank, PB support, and dead hang with perfect form. If you can't do that, you have no business training any of the FSP.

Wow man you really answered me to my questions as I asked! And now seriously 

you gave me a half assed answer that didn't help at all.

Charm said:

No one's slamming you, we're just trying to save you time.

 

1. If you don't train it you will lose it. You might not lose much depending on your particuar strengths and overlap, it might be negligible particularly at your level. Lsit + BL is a pretty good combination **on the face it, provided you can handle quality work**.

 

2. It's a slightly more advanced variant of an Lsit; I personally find this noticably more difficult than a full BL, even on the floor. If your palms are flat you need to develop some strong scapular depression to lift yourself up further; this is quite a bit harder than basic Lsit.

 

3. Lsit and BL is pretty good balance to begin with. If you're only doing the 2, then you can probably do more sets, or more often. It's not doing them alone that will speed up progress exactly, it's using the resources (concentration, recovery etc) that would go into other exercises and apply them to your area of focus.

 

4. Pronated grip is much easier on the elbows/biceps/shoulders, and I believe also makes it easier to cheat by leaning on your lats. Supinated is more intense, so be cautious making the switch. You should make this switch, provided you don't have elbow or shoulder issues to prevent it; you'll benefit with time.

 

Edit; As Ewe said, pre-reqs will make all the FSP's a lot easier more productive.

Thanks man you are the first who answered to my questions and explained.

Really helped!

Can you tell me what exactly is wrong in my current program?

Hari_Seldon said:

1. This is a bad idea. You want to have a balanced workout. Just working the L-sit and Back-lever will result in over-training of those movements, or not enough overall training volume.

 

2. Unless you have abnormally short arms or long torso, you should be able to do an L-sit with a straight back. You can try using parallettes if it helps. Also if you haven't read this thread, see here: https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/337-l-sit-lifts/

 

3. You will not progress faster that way. At best, your other skills will stagnate. At worst, you will injure yourself. 

 

4. You didn't waste your time, because you developed some strength. But you will have to go back and re-learn the back lever with the other grip if you want the elbow conditioning that prepares you for more advanced strength movements. 

 

Hopefully you will find the above answers helpful.

Tnx man your answers helped me!

But can you explain why this 2 exercises don't balance each other?

And can you tell me what exactly is wrong in my program current program?

Charm said:

Please be clear that my answers were directly to your questions and your curiosity, not suggesting that if you implement those suggestions your program will be awesome.

 

The other 2 are giving you better advice for cleaning up your approach.

 

Again tnx man you really helped.

If you can 

 

Actually I think EweTheStuff gave you the best advice for stuff to do right now-- start at the beginning and don't try to skip steps. You'd do yourself a favour by considering that advice twice.

If you read BtGB you'll know there are six basic upper body planes for FBE-- Horizontal pressing and pulling (pushups vs rows), vertical pressing and pulling (HSPU vs pullups) and curls/dips. Working all of them helps keep you injury free and agile. For legs there are single leg squat progressions, dynamic leg exercises, and GHR progressions given.

The reasons we are giving you the Killroy template, other than what I said above, are that;

1. It puts a spotlight on static exercises. An Lsit is not an easy version of a front lever, a back lever is not (only) planche prep. The four different FSP progressions in BtGB, together, balance you out pretty well.

2. It integrates FSP's with FBE's. This is to your benefit, you get stronger from it and you get better.

3. It cycles through the planes I described a moment ago, which keeps you from over-working one area.

4. It's almost straight from BtGB. We have learned to trust Coach's programming.

If you're going to use SSC read up on it and make sure you are not working holds you aren't ready to-- there's a *lot* on the forum about this.

And seriously, you should give the pre-reqs a good look. They go a long way.

The first 6 steps of your program are really very simple:

(1) find someone with a problem (for example not enough time to mow the lawn - this is spring, there are plenty of these guys around! )

(2) solve the problem (mow the lawn)

(3) get paid.

(4) save the money and repeat until you have 75$

(5) purchase Foundation 1

(6) start training

Sorted!

FredInChina said:

The first 6 steps of your program are really very simple:

(1) find someone with a problem (for example not enough time to mow the lawn - this is spring, there are plenty of these guys around! )

(2) solve the problem (mow the lawn)

(3) get paid.

(4) save the money and repeat until you have 75$

(5) purchase Foundation 1

(6) start training

 

Sorted!

Ok I immediately skipped to the 6 step.

SuperMan said:

Ok I immediately skipped to the 6 step.

hahaha... but are you on Foundation?

FredInChina said:

hahaha... but are you on Foundation?

Yes. The only problem for me is the rope climbing variations because I don't have rings so I will probably

will have to skip to the 6 step(I know its not good but can't do the others) and train until I master it.

SuperMan said:

Yes. The only problem for me is the rope climbing variations because I don't have rings so I will probably

will have to skip to the 6 step(I know its not good but can't do the others) and train until I master it.

I would recommend getting rings. You'll need them later on. 

Also, rows can be done with a bar in a pinch. You just need something to prop your legs up onto. 

Hari_Seldon said:

I would recommend getting rings. You'll need them later on. 

 

Also, rows can be done with a bar in a pinch. You just need something to prop your legs up onto. 

I know I need rings and I will try to get them but right now I don't have them and about your idea

I thought about it too but the problem I can't find something stable and in a good height.

Tried a chair but it isnt stable and fell.

SuperMan said:

I know I need rings and I will try to get them but right now I don't have them and about your idea

I thought about it too but the problem I can't find something stable and in a good height.

Tried a chair but it isnt stable and fell.

LOL.  But seriously, if I had to chose Foundation 1 or rings I would pick rings.  You need rings to do Foundation 1 but you don't need Foundation 1 to do rings....