Program Design

[Guest Andario]

Hi everybody,

I believe this might be my first post, although I have been a member for quite a while. I bought the book right when it came out, read it through, and planned my workouts according to embedded static holds and steady state training. I was sort of on and off with it, but am now in full force.

Here's a little idea about my goals. My main sport is rock climbing, primarily bouldering, so I put a lot of awkward stress on the joints of my upper body, especially the fingers. After a small finger injury, continuous elbow tendinitis, shoulder, hip, and various other problems I decided to focus more on improving the strength of my entire body before hitting the rock hard again.

Following is the program I am currently using:

Circuit rounds of static holds, holding for each progression for 10 seconds, and about 30 seconds rest between each hold for, performing 6 rounds (60 seconds for each hold): ring support hold, tuck front lever, tuck planche, tuck back lever, mana on parallettes with legs straight and parallel to ground, and straddle L-sit on parallettes with legs straight.

I prefer to do static holds before basic strength because I feel a bit worn out, and quite shaky attempting them after. I also feel warmer and more prepared for basic strength after static holds. (questionable design flaw)

This is my basic strength program...alternate push/pull, 3 sets 5 reps, no rest; legs/core, 3x5, no rest

1. ring pushups/tuck bodyweight row; GHR/leg lifts

2. HeSP/L-pullups; SLS/obliques (windshield wipers on floor)

3. ring dips/starter ring curls; GHR/lower back (headstand position, lowering and raising legs to and from floor, against wall for safety)

4. MPP (L-sit on paralletts to tuck planche and back to L-sit)/MPPu (from inverted hang to a sort of half front lever with legs still pointed up, alternated with inverted hang to tucked pullup position, for 3 reps each); SLS/V-up lifts

---each number represents a different workout, ideally performing all 4 during a single week---

Any comments, critiques, and constructive criticisms are appreciated, but here are specific questions I have. This week I started to cut the the sets of static holds down to 3 instead of 6 (which I like, but is it nearly as effective as 60 seconds for each hold?), mainly because 6 was taking longer than I liked, and was a bit too taxing before the basic strength workout. So, should I just keep it at 3(or 6) sets before basic strength, add an extra 3 sets at the end, do 3 or so sets of static at the end instead of prior to basic strength?... or totally rehash my statics, possibly doing fewer positions during this training period, or doing a few different holds on different days. Say, 3 (out of the 6) holds for 6 sets, each twice a week...or keep 3 rounds of each of the 6 holds every workout. It works out to the same amount of time each week, but I'm not sure how the body would actually respond to each way.

I follow workouts with some prehab and stretching, but that is for another post, another time.

It's a long post, so I hope you have the time and patience to read and understand it all.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Guest Andario]

The answer is yes...it was too much work on static positions. I have had problems with tendinitis in my left elbow on and off, and it's gotten a lot worse the last week or so. I also feel it slightly in my right elbow too. This load was obviously too much for me to just jump in on. I'm on spring break now, so it's a full week to concentrate on resting, and fixing up weak spots, though I'll most likely rest closer to two weeks. I think my basic strength program is fine for now, but I will probably cut my static work to one, maybe two positions per workout...instead of six, heheh.

Also, I have a Powerball http://www.powerballs.com/, that I used a lot last time my elbow was bothering me and it really helped. If I continued to use it consistently I probably wouldn't be having such elbow trouble now, but I'll get back with it and let you know how things turn out.

[Guest Andario]

Just an update. A week of rest, some ice the first few days, and daily, but easy use of the PowerBall has my elbows feeling good. You can really feel it working all the little muscles surrounding the elbow that other exercises might miss, or may be too rough in the beginning. I recommended for anyone with wrist or elbows aches. Back to training next week.

[Ortprod]

I would have said yes, had I caught this post in time. I thought the same thing when I first set up my training program.