skills vs. strength training

[Justin Andzel]

I was wondering what everyone's opinion was on training exercises every day? How do you differentiate between skill and strength work? Isn't every gymnastic move a both a skill yet requires great strength?

 

I have been training handstands every day and in the past month have gone from being able to barely hold a free hs for a couple seconds, to well over 20 seconds consistantly, and still improving every day. 

 

So for an exercise like the FL or L-sit, is the same type of training and results possible, or are they more demanding on the body and nervous system?

 

I am transitioning from pb l-sit to training them on the floor, and have a great deal of work and improvement to make. Are working floor l-sits along with hand balancing appropriate to train every day?

 

I know that's a lot there, but I would appreciate any advice I can get! Thanks!

[Joshua Slocum]

It depends on your strength level relative to the skill. If strength is the most difficult part of the skill for you, you're only going to want to work on it a few times a week. If the strength is no big deal for you, your best bet is generally to work on it a little every day. 

 

 

I would not do long L-sits every day, unless it's at a volume well below your maximum work capacity. OTOH, if your L-sit is very strong (60s+) and you want to hold a few L-sits on floor for just 5-10 seconds to build up familiarity with the position on floor, that's probably ok. 

[Justin Andzel]

Thanks Josh. The strength for handstands is not a problem at all. I have been gtg for them over a month now and now practice several hours a day, the days I have a lot of free time (a lot lately lol). For l-sits since I am transitioning to the floor, I feel pretty lost, with hand placement and balance, almost like it's more a skill I need to work on. How do you recommend I approach the l-sits? 

[Joshua Slocum]

Thanks Josh. The strength for handstands is not a problem at all. I have been gtg for them over a month now and now practice several hours a day, the days I have a lot of free time (a lot lately lol). For l-sits since I am transitioning to the floor, I feel pretty lost, with hand placement and balance, almost like it's more a skill I need to work on. How do you recommend I approach the l-sits? 

 

If you're weak in the l-sit, and the floor l-sit is also difficult skill-wise, I'd recommend getting stronger on p-bars l-sits before moving to floor. 

[Karri Kytömaa]

You can certainly gtg with L-sits (and everything really) depending on your other core work. However I don't see skill involvement with L-sits unless you are working presses and such, so I don't think daily training will do any miracles.

With HS you have the balancing component you may easily lose even though the strength is there. 

 

Overall doing just one short set of exercises you are working on or want to keep will nicely strengthen the neural pathways required for the muscle activation and shouldn't tax too much.