Brandon's 60 Day Experiment Contestant Log

I keep an Excel file tracking my progress with different movements, but since Coach announced the Free Tuition Contest(http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1595), I figured I'd might as well give it a shot and post my notes here. I have roughly 2 months until the voting on April 15th, so begins the 60 day experiment.

Current Stats:

• Age: 24 years, will be 25 on April 27th
  Height: 5' 7" or about 170cm for our International visitors
  BW: 153lb, or about 69.4 kg

Can anyone explain why America doesn't follow the metric system :?: It's undeniably superior.

I'll post videos of my current abilities and goals for the end of the 60 days when I get home from work.

Thank you for reading!

Day 1 - Baseline Testing

L-Sit to Tuck Planche

XvmQn9hMNOY

60 Day Goal: L-Sit to Straddle Planche

Muscle-ups

OD2MZftr1pk

60 Day Goal: 10 Muscle-ups

Press to headstand

eVbaZoIVgMU

60 Day Goal: Press to Handstand

HSPU on Paralettes

dkOETnsiCbg

60 Day Goal: 4

Straddle Support

RFHuoXR3ee4

60 Day Goal: Get legs parallel! I have a big flexibility problem here

Basic Ring Series

9AxK-W5xP30

60 Day Goal: Full front and back lever

Tuck Front Lever on Pull-up bar

yxC_dN3kiV4

60 Day Goal: Full front lever

Pistols

tOxJV2vsx58

60 Day Goal: 10 on each leg

Physique

1wdX7-CXgq4

60 Day Goal: In addition to performance increases, I'd also like to see a physical improvement after 60 days. It is called Building the Gymnastic Body after all.

Summary:

I think my muscle-ups are pretty solid, but I have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the required strength for planche and levers. I also need to work on my flexibility.

Day 2

I tried the WOD today for the first time. I was unclear if you were supposed to do all the exercises straight in one long routine or if they could be broken up. Anyways, here's what I did today:

• 
  Press to Shoulderstand
  - I never tried these before so I spent some time practicing. My girlfriend kept messing with me when I was inverted, but I ended up getting it and doing 5 reps
  Front Lever Pull (Tuck) 5 Reps
  Yewki (Tuck) 5 Reps
  Muscle-up 4 reps
  Ring L-sit 10 seconds
  Bulgarian Dips 5 reps
  Ring Dips 5 reps
  Tuck Back Lever on Rings 5 seconds
  Tuck Front Lever on Rings 3 seconds
  - My arms were pretty dead at this point and I could barely hold myself up at all.

Instead of going back and doing 2 more sets of the previous exercises, I decided to practice more shoulderstands using the parallettes. My balance is pretty awful, but it's a really fun exercise to attempt. I gotta get up early for work tomorrow so thats all for tonight.

Day 3

It was my three year anniversary today, so:

Rest Day

Day 4

In the morning I did 2 sets of Pseudo-planche push-ups (p.63) on the parellettes for 10 reps each.

In the evening I did the WOD

WOD

Completed 3 sets of each:

Embedded Tuck BL (1rep) + Front Lever Rows (5 reps)

Embedded Tuck PL (1rep) + XR PPP Plus (5 reps)

Embedded Tuck FL (1rep) + HLL V to L (5 reps)

------------

10 Bridge Wall Walks. I could almost get to the ground by the last couple

------------

Finished with three sets of handstands on parellettes using the wall for stability for 40, 50, and 60 seconds, respectively.

Notes:

All of my embedded entries were basic jumps (p.172)

My HLL V to L's were rather pitiful. They were ok the first couple reps and then quickly turned into HLL halves.

All static holds were for 10 seconds. I recommend http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/ if you workout in your room like me and want to keep track of your timing. It's helpful for staying consistent with your rest time and for how long you hold levers and whatnot.

P.S. I can't wait for The Handstand Chronicles

Day 5

• 
  5 Pistols on each leg
  Handstand
  10 second L-sit transition to 10 second Tuck Planche
  5 Pseudo-planche pushups on parallettes
  3 Rounds

Notes:

My balance is much worse on my right leg when performing pistols. The handstands were the first time I tried them with my stomach to the wall. I was able to get my hands around 5 inches from the wall and I found them much harder than when I do the handstands on the parallettes and my back to the wall.

Edit: After the workout I decided to test my current OAC abilities. Pretty weak right now. The video is mirrored because I used photo booth on mac to record it, so my first attempt is actually with my left hand, which is a little bit stronger.

rPvv9n_TS7c

Day 6

3 Tuck 360 Pulls

1 HSPU on Parallettes

15 V-ups

3 Rounds

Finished with practicing shoulderstands on the rings and tried HSPU on the rings using the straps to help my balance. Failed on the first attempt, but got it on the second attempt. Very shaky though

zSOVk4Swv3k

Day 7

Played around with handstands a little bit in the morning, but today was mainly a rest day.

Day 8

In the morning:

3 Sets of 10 PPP +

In the evening:

I went to Crossfit Norcal and spoke to Robb Wolf about going there twice a week, which I'll be starting on Monday. I can't wait for that. Got home and did a short workout

2 Sets of 15 second support

Straddle Back Lever for a few seconds - 5 sets

---This was the first time I was able to advance from the tuck back lever to the straddle. I changed my grip and it takes a lot of stress off of my elbow and allows me to hold the lever longer

lYDGexSXuRQ

Good job on the straddle BL.

What in the world was that you were listening to in the background :?: sounds like a radio talk show. In any case, the audio on your camera is very good.

akrajen said:

Good job on the straddle BL.

What in the world was that you were listening to in the background :?: sounds like a radio talk show. In any case, the audio on your camera is very good.

thanks for the comments on the straddle BL. That's pretty funny about the talk show. It's a podcast I was listening to of a local morning radio show that is really entertaining. To film everything I've used the built-in camera in my laptop, so any audio I play on the computer is picked up pretty well.

Day 9

I was thinking about L-sits to Press Shoulderstands while I was at work so I decided to give it a try. I probably did 5 or so of those. The one I got on video was the best balance I had out of all of them

cjeqp4XTqN4

Then I tried the WOD (HS on Rings) and I could only hold it for a couple seconds so I substituted HS on Parallets.

P2hSC5j446w

I did 5 sets of those for about a minute each.

I finished with 5 sets of L-sit Lifts, 3 reps each.

r1Fmow5MhnY

Nice work!

From a technical note (not gymnastics) next time, you need better light. :wink:

haha thanks. and you're right it does look pretty dark. i have just the thing to fix it for next time

Day 10

Morning: PPP on rings 3 sets of 5 reps

Evening: It was my GF's bday so it turned into a rest day for me

Day 11

Morning: PPP 5 reps 3 sets

Afternoon: I went to my local gym for the first time in about 3 months because I wanted to do a little bit of Olympic Lifting.

Deadlifts:

Warmed up with the bar a little bit

89lbs 5 reps 3 sets

133lbs 5 reps 2 sets

183lbs 5 reps 2 sets

Split Jerks:

89lbs 5 reps 3 sets

Assisted OAC (assisted weight was on 12):

4 reps on each arm - 2 sets

2 reps on each arm - 1 set

I tried performing a negative on each arm at the end. I was okay with my left arm, but I couldn't really hold myself up with my right.

I came across info today on Greasing the Groove (GtG) by Pavel. I think I'm going to give this a shot with some of the skills I'm working on. I'm leaving my parallets out and doing a short 5 second advanced tuck planche various times throughout the day.

Brandon said:

Day 9

Then I tried the WOD (HS on Rings) and I could only hold it for a couple seconds so I substituted HS on Parallets.

How funny - I did the same thing that day! Great minds think alike, huh?

coachnate said:

Brandon said:

Day 9

Then I tried the WOD (HS on Rings) and I could only hold it for a couple seconds so I substituted HS on Parallets.

How funny - I did the same thing that day! Great minds think alike, huh?

haha yea, or we have fairly weak handstands I'm also sort of nervous to jump immediately into a handstand on the rings, even hitting the straps with my legs so I don't go too far. I picture jumping into the handstand and one of my arms shooting out forward or backwards and face planting into my floor. ouch. I've been pressing into a shoulderstand on the rings and then pushing up into a handstand, but by that time I'm pretty worn out. I think I just need to put a couple pillows down and give it a shot.

Day 12

Right after work I had to pack and then drive down to the SF Bay area for the weekend. We went out a comedy club down here and to some bar afterwards so...

REST DAY

Luckily my GF's brother has his own rings that we got him for his bday, so ideally I'll have some time to use those to keep the progress rollin.

Brandon said:

haha yea, or we have fairly weak handstands I'm also sort of nervous to jump immediately into a handstand on the rings, even hitting the straps with my legs so I don't go too far. I picture jumping into the handstand and one of my arms shooting out forward or backwards and face planting into my floor. ouch. I've been pressing into a shoulderstand on the rings and then pushing up into a handstand, but by that time I'm pretty worn out. I think I just need to put a couple pillows down and give it a shot.

Do you have a gym you can try it at? Or are you limited to home setup?

umm well I have a globo-gym I could try it at, but my landing would be much softer at home if I ate it.

Day 13

Another real busy day with no time to workout. I guess my joints will get some good rest at least

REST DAY

Brandon said:

umm well I have a globo-gym I could try it at, but my landing would be much softer at home if I ate it.

globo-gym?

coachnate said:

Brandon said:

umm well I have a globo-gym I could try it at, but my landing would be much softer at home if I ate it.

globo-gym?

Ya know...a big mainstream gym like 24 hour fitness or golds gym

Day 14

Just got home pretty late from out of town, so...

REST DAY

3 Rest days in a row is almost unbearable. Luckily, I start Crossfit tomorrow at Robb Wolf's place. I can't wait