A Few Exercises

So, I was originally going to train for track up until I graduated from high school on May 28th, then switch over to a gymnastics-based program during the summer... But then I broke my big toe yesterday, so... With running, deadlifting, snatching, etc. being out for a while I figured I may as well start now.

I was practicing a few exercises today, to get a benchmark for where to begin, and I'd just like to get some comments on improvements I can make from the start.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jcfTzf1Le0g

1. Ring Rows - My feet are at ring height, though you cannot see them. It looks like I bent my upper body on the last three reps in order to meet the rings.

2. Psuedoplance Push-ups - That's not NEARLY anywhere far enough back, is it? I'd probably do better if I moved the boxes for my feet up a little bit.

3. Ring Dips - Attempting to turn the rings outward, but not really getting it. I can do 7 full ROM dips keeping the rings parallel. At this point, to build strength, would it be better to do weighted dips, or RTO dips?

4. Seated Press - Not a gymnastics move, but I'm doing it anyway until I can do parallette wall HSPU. It looks like I moved my torso too far out, but I'm not sure.

I'm ~6'2, 175# (aiming for ~195# by the year's end), and have novice/intermediate strength (eg. 5RM backsquat 180#, 3RM chin-up 50#, 2RM deadlift 285#). In terms of equipment, I've got a home gym with rings, a weight vest, and almost everything CrossFit uses, except a GHD.

Thanks for your time,

Patrick Donnelly

Hi Patrick,

Nice video (left a comment on youtube also). It's good to see that you are training around your injury. I am basically drilling the same movements as you in addition to some deadlifting, shrugs, and kb swings and snatches.

Had a look at the video and id say -

The ring rows didn't look to bad.

The pseudo planche push ups are a long way off. Rather than doing them with very bad form on the rings I'd maybe switch to doing them on the floor until you build a good foundation. Aim for starting with hands by hips and coming up to straight arms while leaning as far forward as possible. Then work on raised feet varieties, do them on parallettes for a further range of motion.

The dips looked ok but a little shaky. Rings turned out are a lot harder. Weighted dips may help but rings turned out dips just feel a lot different so not sure what the carry over would be. The pseudo planche push up varieties will help. Maybe various position static holds in the rto dip.

The seated press - work on keeping a straight back, don't arch it. You look like you are taking a deep breath and holding it so work on breathing throughout which applies to any exercise. For hspu's you can do partial range reps and gradually increase the range of motion over time. Using a stack of books under your head helps and just take away books as you improve. Hold various bent arm handstands as static holds.

Paul.

Thanks, Paul.

Paul said:

The pseudo planche push ups are a long way off. Rather than doing them with very bad form on the rings I'd maybe switch to doing them on the floor until you build a good foundation. Aim for starting with hands by hips and coming up to straight arms while leaning as far forward as possible. Then work on raised feet varieties, do them on parallettes for a further range of motion.

Could you get a video of the proper hand position for ring PPPU's? It would really be appreciated to just see what I should shoot for.

The seated press - work on keeping a straight back, don't arch it. You look like you are taking a deep breath and holding it so work on breathing throughout which applies to any exercise. For hspu's you can do partial range reps and gradually increase the range of motion over time. Using a stack of books under your head helps and just take away books as you improve. Hold various bent arm handstands as static holds.

Mark Rippetoe advocates the use of the Valsalva maneuver to maintain internal pressure, and he gave a very good explanation of the safety of the thing. Is there any reason why you should breath out? To me, it seems the only reason to yell/hiss during the movement is to attract the attention of everyone else in the gym so they can watch you quarter-squat 225# and feel like a badass. (Hello, high school football team.)

Re: Jon

I can't wait to get back to deadlifting...

I would do as suggested and do the PPpushups on the floor or some paralletes until you get stronger. As far as the correct hand position im guessing that your rings are hung over something like a pullup bar or something similiar...the thing that makes turning the rings out difficult when hanging them over something like a pullup bar (mine are hung over a pullup station) is they dont twist very easy like real ring setups making it akward...atleast in my opinion.

casey

Patrick Donnelly said:

Could you get a video of the proper hand position for ring PPPU's? It would really be appreciated to just see what I should shoot for.

Mark Rippetoe advocates the use of the Valsalva maneuver to maintain internal pressure, and he gave a very good explanation of the safety of the thing. Is there any reason why you should breath out? To me, it seems the only reason to yell/hiss during the movement is to attract the attention of everyone else in the gym so they can watch you quarter-squat 225# and feel like a badass. (Hello, high school football team.)

The Valsalva Maneuver is something I'm very familiar with. I have a heart condition called SVT. That means that sometimes without warning my heart can race off at around 250 beats per minute and I have to perform the Valsalva to make it kick back into it's normal rythm. My heart has an extra electrical pathway and sometimes the electrical impulse that makes everyones heart beat will take a short cut across my extra pathway and this produces an abnormally fast rythm. I perform the Valsalva to greatly increase my blood pressure and that in turn makes my heart jump back into it's normal rythm.

For every one person that you may read about that says it's safe to hold your breath in weight lifting you will find 100 others that say it's not. The obvious one is it raises blood pressure where as breathing throughout will keep blood pressure much lower.

An advanced lifter may use these methods maybe at a meeting to push for a personal best etc but I can't see it's benefit for a beginner. If you are going to do it then I'd only do it briefly for the pushing part of the movement, no more than a couple of seconds at a time. Pause at the top and bottom of each rep to breathe which is good practice anyway. Pausing between each rep will recruit more muscle fibre than going straight from one rep to the next.

For the pseudo planche push ups you need to aiming fo this sort of position. http://www.drillsandskills.com/images/d ... planch.jpg

That's why I say to build up to it on the floor and then with parallettes. You wont be targeting the right muscles/tendons with the way you are doing them on the rings at the moment. I do them on parallettes and place my feet (in the position as in the link) on a mat that allows them to slide easily and you get a good rythm going. The straight arm, leaning forward positon with a good straight back (no bending) is what you want to be doing. Anything else isn't a pppu.

Paul.

Paul said:

For every one person that you may read about that says it's safe to hold your breath in weight lifting you will find 100 others that say it's not.

I trust Rippetoe more than I do a hundred other lifters. A hundred lifters each with a year of experience combined may have more than three times the number of years Rippetoe has, but they don't have a hundredth of the experience. Now, as for pausing at the bottom of each rep, that's something I ought to consider.

Parallette PPPU worked much better today (as I had done them before, but not extensively), but when would be a good time to switch over to the rings?

Re: Langdon

My rings are attached to eye-bolts screwed into the rafters. They don't have any swivels on them, but they swing pretty well.

There's no doubt that performing the valsalva can increase tightness in the body wich can help support the back etc depending on the lift. It's just whether or not you think that greatly increasing blood pressure during lifting is worth it. Personally I have over 25 years experience and my own sources of info doesn't come from novice lifters. Plus I've been performing the valsalva for nearly 30 years for my heart condition so I know what it does and I've never had the need to perform it while lifting heavy weight. You can lift a serious amount of weight before you need to try doing stuff like that just to lift a few more lbs. Louie Simmons of West Side Barbell says to hold your breath for a max effort attempt like going for a personal best but for sub maximal training just breath naturally. Their method also teaches you to wear a loose belt, done up maybe one notch. Then take a deep breath deep into you belly and force your abs against the belt for the rep. Slightly different to the valsalva which is forcing pressure much higher up.

For the PPPU where are you at with regards to reps/sets. Can you crank out an easy 10-15 reps? Once they get easy then try raising your feet onto a box, aim for parallel or above parallel. It's lean forward with straight arms that's important, your toes should feel like they are almost lifting off the ground.

Paul.

I know i guy called Arnold :wink: who said that the best you can do with your breathing is just dont think about it.

Perhaps coach or someone else could talk about breathing because i found that doing some ring exercises (holds specially where you need a very tight body) difficults my breathing, and tell us how to manage this.

Possibly breath technics can improve your lifts but i dont think is necessary at a fitness level of training. But thats of course my unexperience opinion.

I must say that I agree with Paul. Rather than focusing on holding the breath, I would recommend learning to maintain complete body tension during an element. In addition, holding the breath during extreme exertion can lead to some spectacular pressure induced headaches that will take some time to dissipate.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer