Something Static

Hi everybody,

I'm Matteo, a 23 years old martial artist from italy and a "wanna-be-spare-time-gymnast".

This is my first post here on Gymnastic Bodies and I instantly beg your pardon for my english.

I came accross Coach Sommer's "Building the olympic body through bodyweight conditioning" article on DragonDoor.com and became interested in gymnastic training. Finally I've put my hands on "Building the gymnastic body" and all that I can say is..amazing.

I've read it in a single day and I've read it again, but I still have got some questions. Hope that someone on this fair community can give me some help.

1 - Reading the book, I assume that first I've to train the Fundamental Static Positions, then move onto Fundamental Bodyweight Exercise, and then eventually combine them into Integrated Training. I'm not completely new in strength training, although I am in Gymnastic Strength training; Is this Progression the right approach?

2 - Assuming that I've to begin my training with the FSP, how many days per week should I train them? I was thinking about alternating my M-W-F endurance-explosivity-cool-martial-art-stuff with a T-Th-Sat Gymnastic training. Or have I to shape my training in a more "Pavel way", like five days on five of strength training, two days off etc.?

3 - Have I to train in every workout just one FSP or can I pick one from any category? i.e. A front lever, a Back lever, a L-sit(or straddle L or manna), and a planche variation? Should I superset them?

Thanks in advance for your attention!

Matteo

Hey Matteo! It's great to have you on board.

Here's what I think;

1 - In short, no. If you work only static exercises you will make nice gains in static positions. You will make even better gains if you pair the statics with the appropriate FBEs(fundamental bodyweight exercises). Start with them at the same time.

2 - Personally I do Strength training six days a week, with one rest and one light day. But, I think this answer will vary for each individual. My schedule has FBEs on Mo, Tu, Th, Fr, Sa. Statics Monday - Saturday. Rest on Sunday. I do two statics a day.

The only thing really is you must avoid overtraining, but not under train.

3 - (A lot of this depends on your goals and personal preference)I mentioned this a little bit in 2, I'll go into more detail though.

Coach Sommer has explained that Front and back levers are a very, very useful set of strengths for rings. I would also assume that a planche fits in that category as well. So I work one of those three every day that I do statics. Along with one of the other three.

ie. Monday - Planche and LSit(alternating between sets), Tuesday - Front Lever and Manna progressions, Wednesday - Back Lever and Straddle L.... etc.

Again, a lot of these things are based on opinion and your goals.

Hope this helped, good luck!

Hi Matthew, and thanks for your quick and useful reply!

So I should start immediately with the Integrated! Perfect, it sounded so funny when I look at it!

May I ask you if your static work and your Fundamental strength Exercise are mixed together during your workout, or if you first complete the static portion of the session, moving on the dynamic one in a second moment?

You wrote that "ie. Monday - Planche and LSit(alternating between sets)", so I assume that you "superset" the static movements and once they're over you move through the (i.e.) 3x5 sets of push up variation, moving then on the complementary core movement to the L-sit, or supersetting the core with the push up...or something like that...?

If you do statics six days a week and dynamics five days a week...there's a dynamic movement every week that you have to cycle in order to pair all of them?

Thanks again!

I would tell you to go look at my training log but that needs to be updated.

I do all of my statics immediately after my warm-up(running, stretching, handstands, and pre-hab)

For monday it would be something like:

Tuck Planche - 8seconds

Rest 60 seconds

XR L-Sit 10seconds

Rest 60 seconds

etc.. until my l-sit is done, then only do the planche for however many sets it takes to make 60s total work.

Then I would go on to a circuit(sort of). Do a set of pull-ups, rest for a bit, set of HSPUs, rest, Set of HLLs, rest, repeat for desired number of sets.

matthew.percussion said:

I would tell you to go look at my training log but that needs to be updated.

I do all of my statics immediately after my warm-up(running, stretching, handstands, and pre-hab)

For monday it would be something like:

Tuck Planche - 8seconds

Rest 60 seconds

XR L-Sit 10seconds

Rest 60 seconds

etc.. until my l-sit is done, then only do the planche for however many sets it takes to make 60s total work.

Then I would go on to a circuit(sort of). Do a set of pull-ups, rest for a bit, set of HSPUs, rest, Set of HLLs, rest, repeat for desired number of sets.

And what about this passage of BtGB "In integrated training, the steady state cycle established for your static

strength work will be set aside in favor of either the PTTP or the steady state

cycle that you will be following for your basic strength work."

In my opinion this means that you must not follow the usual steady state cycle of your static strenght training, but you must train one set of static holds for any subsequent set of basic strenght exercise, with one reps held for its normal amount of time.

For example: I can hold a front lever flat tuck for 8 sec; I divide it by 2, and then obtain 15 sets of 4 seconds each hold; once I want to implement them into integrated training, I pick up the related movement(i.e. Single leg squat, 5x5) and pair it with the FL, BUT instead of doing 15x4 sec AND then moving onto SLS 5x5, i'll do:

[1x4 sec FL-45 to 60 sec rest as Coach says-1x5 SLS-45 to 60 sec rest] x 5, the actual amount of sets of my Basic Strenght training.

So I reduce my Static Strenght work to pair it with a basic strenght training. The number of sets for my static holds is based upon the number of sets of the subsequent exercises, so that I can pair them correctly.

These are the conclusions I came up last night...instead of sleeping!

The opinion of Coach Sommer himself would be enlightening!

So far I've only played with some static positions, and in 3 days my CNS seems to be quite active...I can perform a support hold of about 5 secs, which last week I wasn't able to mantain with straight arm.

Matteo,

The WOD's provide a good example of pairing your static with your strength. For example, look at the WOD for February 2, 2009:

Perform 3 giant sets of each of the following:

embedded BL (1-2 reps) + OAC assisted (3-5 reps)

embedded PL (1-2 reps) + Strap HSPU on the XR (3-5 reps)

embedded FL (1-2 reps) + Body Lever (3-5 reps)

The static stuff you should be able to hold from 5-10 seconds. If you followed that, you would end up with a static hold time anywhere between 15s and 60s. If you're doing the bare minimum, 3 sets of 1 rep at 5 seconds, you'll get 15. If you do the maximum, 3 sets of 2 reps at 10 seconds, you'll get sixty.

Maybe you could work the tuck FL instead of the flat tuck, when your maximum hold on the flat tuck, or advanced tuck, is only 8 seconds. And if you're doing 5x5 SLS, maybe it's time to move to the next harder progression.

mark

I've got only two words to say: Enlightening!Thanks!

I'm off from training by now:my enthusiasm for static training took me to a light elbow tendonitis...

But, following the precious Coach's advices on how to handle with this problem, I'll be soon back on rings, bar or whatever I'll get my hand onto.

...Just Ice&Rest for me now!

And maybe I'll take some inspiration from the European Gymnastic Championship that will take place here in Milan this Sunday!

Thanks Mark! Very useful!

Just to add to the subject: If I'm doing embedded static holds am I still dividing my maximum hold time by 2 for each rep or simply dooing my max hold time for each rep?

alimac said:

Just to add to the subject: If I'm doing embedded static holds am I still dividing my maximum hold time by 2 for each rep or simply dooing my max hold time for each rep?

Hi!

If you're training the embedded static positions alone you must divide per 2 ecc.

If your embedded static training is performed as a part of integrated training, you should pick up a position that you can hold from 5 to 10 seconds x rep, performing from one to two reps.