Akrajen's workout log

There's a set near my house with 202 steps, they are gnarly.

202 stairs... I LIKE it! Great minds think alike :wink:

I'm a little late in posting yesterday's super-easy day.

Various plank poses on the Power Plate.

Working some stretches in that upper thoracic region with the "prayer stretch" and the "counter stretch." These are very nice for the shoulders and for ungluing the lats from the serratus anterior.

"Rolling hills" type intervals; 1:20 on the StepMill

5 minutes, level 5

10 minutes, level 8

10 minutes, level 11

5 minutes, level 5

10 minutes, level 10

5 minutes, level 5

10 minutes, level 11 (I started to fade here and began riding the rails for about the last 2.5 minutes)

1 minute break

5.5 minutes, level 4

9.5 minutes, level 7

5 minutes, level 5

5 minutes, level 4

7.51 miles covered

easy stretching

My unit is used only by me. Gym units typcially see more wear and tear and in my experience the "levels" on my machine are easier than the corresponding levels on many fitness center units.

Mine [stepMill] is mechanically in pretty good shape so it runs smoothly. I see a lot of variation in the ones at the fitness centers.

Static holds and experimental static holds

(This was a day of experimentation, some good, some not so good).

Warm-up, including rubber-band work and 2x10 wrist push-ups from knees

10 x

-10 second support

-10 second push-up support with feet elevated

trying to work best form here.

Experiment # 1: 5 x ~ 5+ second ab-sling cross. Fulcrum is outside the elbow [about the middle of the forearm].

This was ridiculous getting into, the camara couldn't find its range so I was forced to hold this position much longer than I really wanted to, and I'm terribly lopsided, which means one side is doing something a little different from the other. I have to figure out what that is and why. Bottom line, I'm not quite ready for this one yet.

4 x ~ 10 second low L-sits on parallelettes

A couple of front lever holds not for time, but working on form. I managed a flatter tuck than before. I can hold this cleanly for about 5 seconds before I start arching my back again, but it's a step forward.

Experiment # 2: Pseudomaltese on the medicine ball. The fulcrum is at the knees.

3 or 4 for no particular time, I'm estimating at least ~ 3-5 seconds each.

This experiment turned out much better. I got a clean pullout as well - no cheating by bending the elbows.

2 x Back lever stretch (with photo for Brandon)

The stretch is entirely controlled by the depth of the squat and the width of the grip.

stretching and 2 x 10 wall extentions

When I study the picture up close, I think I may see what the problem is with Ex # 1.

I have 5 pictures of this, and in almost all of them, there is some degree of lopsidedness. In this particular picture, the fulcrum might be slightly farther out on the right than on the left. Second, I attempted to roll the shoulders into a locked-forward position and it seems that I was consistently more successful in doing so on the right. That would engage the right anterior deltoid more, while the lat would be doing more of the work on the left side. My lats are a lot stronger than my deltoids, thus resulting in that lopsided position. Feedback and comments appreciated.

That stretch is called shoulder extension and is the same as http://drillsandskills.com/stretching/Shoulder/sd005. It actually can be a more mild and it's similar as well to the German Hang on Rings ( bottom of skin the cat while being stretched out ).

Morning: 3 x 5 natural leg curl

Afternoon: 2 x

- 5 deck squats (non-jumping) with 36 lbs kb

- 5 non-weighted jumping deck squats

4 x 5 hip extensions, 1 set to the front, the second two sets to about 45 degrees between front and side, the last to just under 90 to the side.

StepMill

5-minute warm-up, level 4

40 minutes "Aerobic training" preset program, level 14 (preprogrammed workout levels are much easier than the same level on manual). 1 minute pause (rest break) with 8 minutes left in program.

4.92 miles covered

5-minute cool-down, level 4

light stretching

Training in the gymnastic academy today.

We did all sorts of things, including (I didn't write this down, so this in an approximation):

Running around, duck-walking, squat jumping, general stretching and warming up.

Rope climb x 1

30 sit-ups on pommel horse.

30 back-extensions on pommel horse.

1 x 5 reverse Yewkis on PB in flattish tuck position.

10 pull-ups on bar (slight spot here and there, probably more than I needed).

7 or 8 or so spotted bar MU.

2 sets of 3-4 spotted ring MU (with an aweful lot of spotting going on).

2 sets of 5-7 box ring MU (self-assist using the box).

1 x 5 reverse Yewkis on PB in flattish tuck position.

PB L-sit low.

12 body levers with one leg extended (6+6 each side, continuous).

6, 4 full body levers.

4-5 spotted straddle handstand to staddle planche.

4-5 spotted handsand to planche (very spotted on both).

Ring pulley work including cross pulls and 10 maltese pulls, the latter with feet propped up on the trainer's shoulders.

At the top of the last few reps of the cross pulls, I tried to come all the way up into a straddle, but I wasn't too successful holding that.

There was one exercise he showed me to help with balance that reminded my of Laney's octi-roller-handstands. I call it the "octiplanche"

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I have been focusing on Bulgarian dips recently for strength, but today, I realize I need to work standard dips more as well to help develop the MU.

Round out those shoulders in the planche like "cat".

Round out those shoulders in the planche like "cat".

Will do, thanks.

I was sort of sick for a few days and took it easy.

Sunday 22

Easy walk with one hill

Monday 23

Power Plate shrugs 5x45 seconds

3 x 8 kb bottom up side press for form (I think with 9 lbs)

All kinds of hanging stretches and foam rollering

Training in the Gymnastics academy

All kinds of running, stretching and warming up.

rope climb x 1

30 weighted situps on pommel horse

30 weighted back extensions on pommel horse

20 semi-ppp on the PB with feet on trainers shoulders. Hands not quite as far back as for PPP.

10 body levers

20 reverse leg lifts for the back (shallow movement)

10 jumping MU on rings

10 spotted MU on rings

8 bar MU, starting in kind of a front lever and coming up from under. This was done on the low P uneven B with trainer spotting by holding feet.

10 (5 on each leg) spotted candlestick to one leg front lever on the rings.

7 spotted candlestick to front lever.

10 spotted planche extensions (These are like the octiplanche demonstrated earlier, but today they were done on the PB with the trainer holding the feet).

10 spotted dive bomber planche (for lack of a better description): Imagine the combination of dive bomber pushups and planche, moving through the range of almost a handstand to planche and back up with a slow swooping motion. These were mostly done in a staddle.

4-5 shallow back lever tuck to extending feet to a box (spotted).

7-8 band assisted crosses

4-5 spotted jump to cross.

10 maltese flies on pulley rings with feet on trainer's shoulders.

Hold straddle L on pulley rings. Still not terribly successful.

Today, I was still feeling a little under

Typical warm-up, but a little truncated. My warmups usually take between 20-30 minutes; today it was on the low side of 20.

This includes about 4-5 awful front lever holds.

3 x 10 regular ring dips

9, 8, 7 ring pull-ups

2 x 5 front pulls (I started with skin the cats, but these were so terrible I substited front pulls instead with FL in tuck position).

5, 5, 4 rubber-band cross

5, 10 box muscle-ups

I tried two sets of tuck FL rows, but I had already pooped out by this time. I had 5 and 4 sorry reps so I don't really count these.

stretching

I plan to do about 30 minutes of StepMill climbing tonight (I'll update when that happens).

Cardio on the StepMill (30 minutes)

quick warm-up and joint prep

5 minutes, level 5

20 minutes on preprogrammed "aerobic training" routine, level 15 (2.6 miles covered)

5 minute cool-down, level 4

stretching

Static hold day

About 10-15 minutes of warmup including 1x10 wrist pushups from knees.

5 x ~10-20 second static basic support, once I tried adding a tiny little swing (like Gregor).

5 x ~20-35 second static pseudoplanche support

2 x ~20-30 second pseudomaltese on the medicine ball (fulcrum at the hips).

experimented with pseudovictorian (fulcrum at the butt) but this didn't work out like I had hoped because I was able to support much of my upper body weight using my lower back. By the time I leaned back enough to feel real work in the triceps and back of shoulder girdle, my head was already touching the floor. I'm not really working towards either a maltese or a victorian at this moment, I've just always used static holds for fortifying joints and am constantly exploring possibilities to hit new angles. 2 x ~20 seconds on the pseudovictorian.

All times are approximate; it was just me counting.

Half-way decent cardio day

1 hour StepMill climbing with seven, 3-minute embedded intervals:

levels 12, 12, 13, 12, 13, 13, 13

no cheating or rest breaks.

6.1 miles covered.

additional 5 minute cool down

post workout-stretching

warm-up: substantial rubber-band work, static holds and 2 x 10 wrist push-ups from knees

4 x 5 front tuck lever rows

3 x 5 rubber-band cross

Pushups:

-1 x 9.5 Bulgarian push-ups coming out wide at the top, feet elevated on box. The 10th one wasn't so pretty.

-8, 7.5, 6 semi-pseudoplanche push-ups on rings, feet on floor. Start in PPP position, end with rings almost under shoulders.

-1 x 5 PPP on the parallelettes, feet on medicine ball to keep even with the bars. (These are relatively new for me and it's still kind of hard for me to keep weight forward).

2 x support, drop to 45 degree cross and hold ~2-3 seconds.

sprinkled throughout the workout were the following static holds: invert pike, 3 front tuck lever, 2 bent-L in support position

stretching, including hanging stretches

1 x 10 wall extensions

No particular workout today, walked about 5 miles.

Warmup including rubber-bands, plate ext. rotation, wrist push-ups from knees, static holds and pushup variants

11, 8, 7, 7 ring pullups

9.5, 7, 6, 8 Bulgarian dips. The last set occured after a conversation, so I was more rested.

5, 4 rubber-band assisted crosses

2 static support holds (to failure). This is actually kind of hard after crosses.

9, 7, 7, 5 box assisted MU. These I felt were kind of sloppy.

2 static pseudoplanche holds on parallelettes with feet on box. Here I tried to keep shoulders as if doing "cat" and weight as far forward as I could before I felt I would tip over on my nose unweighting the toes.

Stretching

1 x 10 wall extensions at home

Very impressive DL numbers. I think that would place you pretty high on the Rippetoe WL charts.

After yesterday's workout, I was feeling seriously tight, so I had a deep tissue massage and after that, I felt like a truck ran over me. I guess that's a pretty good sign to skip training and go take a nap or something (which is what I did).

There was one exercise he showed me to help with balance that reminded my of Laney's octi-roller-handstands. I call it the "octiplanche"

Nice!

I wish I had a deep tissue massage today.. need it!

Cardio-endurance on the StepMill

Duration: 1h, 30 min (including warm-up and cool-down)

3 embedded 10 minute intervals, level 11

distance covered 9.02 miles

additional 4 minutes cool-down

stretching