Stephen's and son's workout logs

We missed the workouts for March 10, 12, and 13. But since that time, we've been active but I've been unable to set aside time to blog them. Here goes:

My son and I each did, for 3/16-

3x5 Jumping Deck Squats. He held (2) 5lb dumbbells and I held (2) 25lb plates (both plates tied together). For me, at least, lifting them above my head became tiring. I'm not sure if we're doing the right thing. We hold the weight out in front, squat down, roll onto our back, roll back onto our feet, and then jump up into the air pushing the weight over our heads with a military press. Comments?

3x5 Natural Leg Curls (feet tucked under the couch)

3x10 Hip Extensions

For 3/17-

We each timed up 10 minutes in a strap handstand. We finished with 2x10 Wrist pushups.

For today, 3/19-

We were both pretty tired and did only 3 rounds.

For the Front lever circles, he is still working on his ability to hold a tuck lever because of his adolescent leggy-ness and so he did assisted skin-the-cats very slowly. I did tucked/straddle front lever pulls until I was inverted starting with my chin above my hands, dropping into a straddle FL, and then continuing until inverted straddle hang. We each did 10 reps. I don't have the book yet, so this is the closest I could think of.

I was able to get the 30 second negatives. I timed it so that at 15 seconds my arms were at 90 degrees. This helped me do it at a good rate. My son did them also, with a spot from me the whole way down as he is working towards a pullup.

Our rings were low enough to the ground so we could mount into a back lever hang. My son and I each did 5 negatives.

Our tax return is coming soon so I hope to be able to get the rings and a book soon.

Blessings,

Stephen and son

Stephen, you can make up some rings with some tow straps and rings you can get at a boat/fishing store. I've seen a lot of other different ways to make the rings themselves as well.

Blairbob,

Yeah, we're using homemade ones right now with tow straps and some chain link threaded through some rubberized/flexible electrical conduit. The problem is that adjusting the tow strap ratchets takes so much time that I can't quickly adjust between any exercises which require different height adjustments. It also means that my son isn't that able to quickly put them up without my help (to facilitate him working out at home when I'm at work) as the quick slide adjustment is a bit easier than making sure the ratchet is attached properly. But we're making do with what we have, though, so I must practice the discipline of being content, a trait not often practiced in our "I must have it now" consumer-ish culture.

Thanks for the response and advice. I appreciate the graciousness you and others have extended to us on this forum.

Blessings,

Stephen and son

no workouts for the last 2 days b/c of late worknights and the need to spend time with my wife and kids. But, I do have a good report. 8) My son was in a group of teens hanging out with their mentors this weekend. They were playing a game sort of like "horse" where one person does something and those following must replicate it. My son, who in the past has needed a spot to fully kick into a wall handstand, popped up into one and held it for 50 seconds :!: I was so proud when I heard. (And for those curious folks, the guy who followed him, apparently older and bigger, couldn't do a handstand but had to settle for a spotted headstand for 15 seconds.) While I don't see it as dramatic from day to day, this positive "snapshot" report proves that the Gymnastic Bodies programs work--even for folks like me and my son, who have ectomorphic body-types to deal with. Kudos, Coach Sommer, for your work here!

Stephen and son.

hope you're still working out.

Yes,

Sorry for the haitus. We had an extremely busy two weeks. I received an alumni award from my undergrad, have been working on a local political campaign, and we went out of town for about a week. Also, an extremely caring and generous GB blogger gave me and my son each a set of rings. Woooo hoooo! Now we're set! Tomorrow we are back on.

While we were gone, I was doing occasional handstand practice against the wall and found that that an extended break gave me a bit more control in my static positions. Is this typical? I felt that I was able to "feel" the balance better in the handstand, and when I was showing the progressions to my fellow alums, I could hold the static positions a bit longer and with better control.

that is really cool of them.

it's funny how some things work better after a break. well, sometimes. it can go the other way as well.

Yeah, it was pretty cool. (Shout out to akrajen!)

Yesterday my son and I, at separate times, did the 3x5 SLS and 3x5 Single Leg Arch ups. Afterwards we did the 3x10 Hip Extensions.

As for me, I'm pretty sore having taken off about 2 weeks or so.

Today, we did the 12 cycles of Ring handstands. For me and for my son we became fatigued at about the 8th cycle and went to handstands, but for different reasons. I hung the rings on a tree downtown but they were about mid to upper thigh height. This prevented a large kick-up so I inverted in a deep handstand press, lower position, and had to press up into the hold. This made me pretty tired after a bit. I did 7 cycles and then did the other 5 in a handstand against the tree. I finished with 2x10 wrist pushups.

My son hung rings on a pullup bar on an interior door and was able to get inverted and did 8 sets but fatigue set in as well. He finished against the wall in handstands and completed the wrist pushups.

We're in the process of ordering the Gymnastic Bodies book, so we're getting pretty amped about reading it through. :!:

Have a blessed day all!

Stephen and son.

I, as well noticed that having the rings just off the floor instead of having to jump off a box and having to press more to the handstand helped my hold times. It could have been what I did before but I don't recall what I did before the ring HS workouts offhand though it is logged.

We messed around on the rings today, starting off with mounts from a reverse hanging position (I think it's called a German). I tried holding L sits and then lowering into a cross until my strength gave out. I got to about a shaky 45 degree position and it was a fast downhill from there. :!: Then while my son was edging the yard I did muscle up transition work and he came back and did inverted hangs.

Blessings,

Stephen and son

We got the BtGB book today!!!! In the words of my young daughter when she finds out we're having pizza for dinner, "Woooo Hoooo!" :!: I looked through it and am pretty excited. Since we had company the past 2 nights and little sleep we didn't get to do much but I do see a good workout tomorrow based on today's WOD.

Blessings

Stephen and son

Yes, we got the book and reading through it has been great. I sped through it last night and about 11 pm had to put the rings up in a doorway and try some skills :!:

Today my son went to ride go carts, and I played a round of golf across lunch. But after we got home I put the rings in a tree and did the 4/10 workout.

I did a small kip on the first set of muscle-ups. MU (kipping) - Ring L-sit advanced - Tuck PL - roll forward to 1-leg extended FL - MU (kipping) - Bulgarian dip - roll back to 1-leg extended BL.

The second and third sets on the muscle-ups I had to assist with my legs. The rest of the sequences was as above.

Then I did 3x5 of Tick Tocks in a advanced tuck position.

Next was 2x10 Wall Extensions.

I'm looking forward to the later books now.

Blessings,

Stephen and son

(I'll post my son's workout as soon as he gets to it this weekend.)

Stephen here. New format to our posts. My son and I will log on the same entry, but type separately.

I did today's workout with the rings on a tree at work.

3 sets of the following:

Did the embedded BL with 1 leg out and 1 leg tucked, then 5 Bulgarian rows at about a 20 degree angle (my back was just above the ground when extended) with legs on the ground.

Next, embedded tuck planche on the rings (man, were my arms wobbly!), then 5 Bulgarian pushups.

After that, embedded FL followed by hanging leg circles. I had my knees at 90 degrees for these because my form was terrible with the legs extended.

Then I went to my office and did the Bridge Wall Walks.

Son's workout:

It was late when I got to do my workout, so I did 2 rounds of this:

I did the BL with my legs tucked in, then 1 set of 5 Bulgarian rows on each and the second time I also did 5 negative rows.

I did the frog stand and then 5 Bulgarian ring pushups.

I also did a tuck FL and kept using the tuck for 5 leg circles, making my knees go in circles.

I finished with 5 back bridges at the end.

Have a great day!

Stephen and son.

With a cold circulating around the house, my son was unable to workout last night. We also had to replace our modem/router, so I didn't begin exercising until late. Combined with my tiredness from the previous workout, (nice list of excuses, huh? ) I did 2 cycles of the WOD for yesterday.

I spent about 1.5 hours trying to make a Bucket to do circles with. I succeeded in breaking our 5 gallon utility bucket and destroying the handle of a smaller paint bucket, not to mention giving my legs a lot of "rug burn" trying different types of straps. Any suggestions on how to make a bucket setup would be appreciated greatly :!:

To substitute, I got in a reverse pushup position with my arms locked out. Then I spun on my axis to the left into a downward facing support position, rolled back into the reverse, spun to the right, and then back to the reverse position (to simulate all four quadrants of the bucket circle). That constituted 1 rep. I did it 30 times.

Next, I did 20 wheels. I was very happy that the first set I was able to do from a full pushup position. I had to go to my knees on the second set, but it was a progression as last time I was on my knees the whole time.

Then I did AG walks. My carpet isn't that slippery, even with my socks on or with my feet on a frisbee, so I have to make tiny creeping motions with my heels. I don't know a good substitute for that sliding motion, so suggestions here would be great, too!

I inadvertently did wrist pushups the previous workout, so today I practiced static progressions, holding the advanced L sit on parallettes for a few seconds (my core was pretty tired by then), the straddle L (which doing the roll into it makes it so much easier on the floor-found that out from the BtGB book which we just purchased) and the MSH hold (bent).

If you folks are the praying types, two of our boys took a spill off a kiddie wagon going pretty fast downhill yesterday. Mainly bumps and scrapes, and a typical childhood "hey, let's do this and it will be really cool!" idea which went awry. Please remember them. Thanks!

Stephen and son

So cool that you guys are partners.

Good luck with the bucket setup. I'm looking for a place to even setup for it.

I prefer to use a standard paint bucket and not use the handle but embed one of those metal rings into a bracket into the bucket. I drill 4 holes and bolt it down with washers and then duct tape over it on the inside of the bucket. I will then attach a caribeener to the ring and rope from it.

Ours at the gym is simply a higher set of rings with rope around the bucket. Works ok, but I haven't gotten around to replacing it as I would need to drill new holes and bolt it through the support beam on the roof. I want to use those higher rings in time but all I have is munchkins so there isn't a need to right now.

Stephen's workout from yesterday (my son will be posting his later).

The cool thing about the Austin capitol complex is that there are stone shelf-type structure all around my building. I didn't have weights, but this was my first workout with box jumps so I just tried to see how high I could go. I started out on the first set with a warmup of 2' jumps. The second set I went to 2.5 and finished at 3' jumps. The third set I pushed above 3' to about 3'3" or 3'4", about 2 to 3 inches higher than my hips. The grass I was jumping off sloped down, so it provided a good way to gradually increase my jump height.

I found a small ledge over some grass to hook my feet under and did 3x5 Half GHR's. Great exercise! I began spotting with my hands about 3 reps into the first set and on the next 2 sets.

For the 60 seconds of straddle work, I did 5x10 second cycles of a straddle on the corner of a brick structure so I could keep my legs flexed and off the ground the whole time. I also did a 2x5 second reps of a Middle Split Hold in the Manna progression.

Now to head out for today's workout.

Grace and peace,

Stephen

Son here,

Here's my workout from yesterday:

Our house is a 2 story so for weighted box jump I jumped up the stairs 2 steps at a time for 3 sets of 5 jumps. Next, I did 3x5 Half GHRs with my feet underneath my dad. Then I did the straddle work, doing six sets of 10 seconds with the straddle L-partial roll.

See ya!

A bit late because we're house hunting (which for first-time home buyers is a bear of a process).

Here's my (Stephen) workout:

Perform:

10 minutes of HS Wall Runs: At about 6 consecutive minute-long sets with about 15-20 secs. of rest, I had to go to handstand holds. I attribute this regression to lack of sleep.

2x6 Wall Pike Press HS: these went okay.

Finish the workout with 2x10 Wrist Pushups: I did these alternating hands.

Pretty tired.

My son's workout I'll blog for him because it happened late at night. He did the full 10 minutes of wall runs (spotted) in about 6 sets, with his last set at 2 minutes. I helped steady him and spot a little bit of weight, but he did wall runs the whole time. 8)

His Pike Presses were from HeS. Then he did the wrist pushups on his knees.

Grace and peace,

Stephen and son

We missed the Monday workout b/c of house-hunting. Here's yesterdays for me (Stephen).

Perform:

3 sets of XR L-sit, press to shoulder stand, lower to XR L-sit, press to shoulder stand, forward roll to MU, forward roll to MU, 2 Bulgarian Dips, forward roll to 2 Yewkis, BL, FL

I was able to do the first two sets of presses in a tuck fine :!: Time to move to straddle! I don't quite have the forward roll down; it was more of a forward flop. I don't know how to maneuver my arms so that I stay fairly high up on the rings. Suggestions? After the first set I didn't do those, but went to MU's (1st set alone, 2 and 3rd sets assisted). I nailed the Bulgarian Dips, then did the Yewkis (very sloppy form) and then 1 leg extended BL and FL's.

3x5 Reverse Cranks: These felt pretty good, extending into a 1-leg extended BL and cranking that form all the way up.

Finish the workout with 2x10 Wall Extensions: I have 10% disability on my left shoulder from the military. I notice that when I do these, I can "feel" the internal damage to my shoulder right about the point where my upper arm passes from below to above horizontal and my internal elbow and internal armpit angles go from acute to greater than 90 degrees. I pray that this exercise is perhaps wearing away some scar tissue or helping me to identify it. It is a good stretch, though.

Grace and peace,

Stephen

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=723

I dont know if you have seen this video. At the beginning of the ring series he rolls forward to support. Watch his hands closely, I focus on my hand rotation and keeping my arms bent when I do them and I glide right around back to support. If I dont focus on my hand rotation and keeping my arms bent my roll forward becomes jerky. When I do the roll forward to support I feel like my legs give me momentum and they power me back up above the rings.

Edit: added in the video!

Sorry for the dearth of posts. My son and I have been exercising; however, our time is flying by so fast with buying a house that we're up to our neck in errands which affects our ability to post our workouts.

Milestones: Straddle FL's and BL's for 10 seconds (shaky). My muscleups are going much better now that I'm intentionally keeping my elbows tucked in close. I had wondered why I was inconsistent with my MU ability; now it's progressing smoothly. Working on getting to an advanced tuck planche on the rings. I'm pretty shaky right now and can do a few second straddle PL on paralettes. I need to work on my lower back strength a bit more.

After doing more reading, I'm realizing that rings will show me my weak spot, which is my chest. My back is getting stronger, but my chest is lagging. I need to hit it more at the first of the workout.

My son's tuck FL and tuck BL are getting stronger. He is better about wall handstands and can pop them off pretty regularly, and can hold a frog stand for a while. His leggy-ness is the only holdback now. My younger kids are doing frog stands for a few seconds with spots. The 7 year-old can do them on his own.

I'll try to post updated workouts later.

Grace and peace,

Stephen and son.

Congrats on the straddle levers and planche!

Update:

While wrestling with my kids back on Tuesday I hurt my neck. I didn't really think much about it, but ended up with a pinched nerve and had to go to the chiropractor on Thursday and miss 2 days of work with pretty bad neck pain. I'm taking about a 2 week break. The chiropractor told me that my uppermost thoracic vertebrae and lowest cervical vertebrae had been shifted in opposite directions (kids jumping onto me from off of the couch). We'll see how it goes.

Stephen and son.

Get well soon.