Really surprised

After 6 weeks of working the planche progression (advanced frog), I got lazy and slacked off all of last week. I started back this afternoon and was real surprised. Usually I start my regime with 10-15 minutes of handstand play. I started a free handstand and held a solid 8 second handstand. Not much but my handstands are very amateur. I was able to hold three more 8 second handstands.

This really surprised me because I did nothing last week. My advanced frog however suffered a bit but not much.

Just wanted to post 'cause I'm pretty psyched.

Thanks

Recovery weeks are just as important to progress as training weeks. For my advanced athletes, I schedule every fourth week as a 50% reduction week.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I agree a week of light activity can do wonders. On my "light weeks" I up my visualization and work more on things that require more technique than raw strength, like circles. After that week everything seems just a little bit better or more coordinated. Since I am in college I usually just line my light weeks up with breaks but I think I am going to try every 4 weeks (right now its about every 6-8 weeks), because I have started lifting again, as per another topic, so I am going to need the added recovery time.

So, animalhands , your experience after a light period is not abnormal at all. For me at least this is an expected occurrence after a week of light activity. Just try to do up keep on skills like handstands, dont work heavy its just to keep the feeling in your head.

I really want to make good use of my light week (sometimes I just feel like I am being lazy) so I have a question for you Coach.

You said its a 50% week, is this a literal 50%? So for my lifting instead of doing 3x4 I should do 3x2 and maybe drop 10 or so pounds off the lifts and when I work skills would it be best to work, for example, 30 seconds total time for the static holds and 5 minutes of handstand wall walks.

In other words, keep my workout schedule as (ie keep my steady state on track) and just reduce the reps/sets by about 50%.

Thanks

My adjustment for advanced athletes is based on overall volume, rather than intensity. During the fourth week, they drop from 6 days a week training to 3 days for that week. The intensity of their training and conditioning remains relatively high for the days that they are in, but their recovery is increased by a factor of four.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Ok, thanks a lot Coach.

This is great news. I find taking time off in climbing and yoga have helped with my progression=so I am stoked that time off is a proven benefit to training. As I stated before I've been stuck at the advanced frog. Yesterday in a yoga class we did a pose that is pretty much a tuck planche except the ankles are crossed. I was able to hold it for a count of 12 with ankles crossed. Today in my workout I tried the tuck planche and held it for ten seconds. Should I perfect the advanced frog or step into the tuck planche from here on out?

Thanks y'all

Just curious, but does anyone know why taking time off is important (scientifically speaking)?

Is taking time off just an educated guess on the athelet's part or is there more info on this sort of thing?

I believe its just additional rest and recovery for both the body and the CNS, because no matter how well structured your workout is you will still get beat up both physically and mentally over time. So, a break every 4th week is a chance for your body to catch up. But like coach said these "breaks" are simply a lightened training load for that particular "break" week not a complete break where you do nothing.

I agree nifty. I've noticed with my yoga practice that two days of intense backbending followed by two rest days yields tremendous gains on the 5th day. On another note, my tuck planche is now at a solid 10 seconds. I added the German Hang Pulls and tuck front lever pullups to my routine hoping to get my low back and shoulder girdle going.

Thanks y'all