Introduction, routine, and a few questions

Hello there,

I am 16 years old and I am 170 cm (5' 7) and weight 66 kg (146 lb). I have been looking around here for about 5 months now, although not very thoroughly.

I have never been very athletic at anything, I was a rather shy, quiet kid when I was younger. About 16 months ago was when I decided to start working out and improve myself (inspired by street workout athletes), although I had no guidance.

Just about 9 months ago, I took an interest in gymnastics and then I came across this forum. All I have to work with is a homemade pull-up bar, chairs, and the floor. I admire the rings-specialists and dream of becoming an elite-level gymnast someday, unfortunately I didn't start as a kid. Maybe if I just dream- er, work hard enough...

Only until 3 months ago have I begun to organize my training and take it more seriously. I always feel that what the work I've done is never enough so I have quite a tendency to overtrain. I have never had any serious injuries, just roadblocks from lots of soreness and muscular fatigue. Oh I just wish I had the physical capacity and time to train all day, everyday.

My routine has evolved over the 3 month period from doing things too early and... well... pretty much consistant overtraining. It consists of a straight-arm day and a bent-arm day for 6 days every week. I plan to increase bent-arm sets by 1 every 3 weeks and straight-arm sets when I feel absolutely no challenge from them.

Here is the current routine I made and have been following for about 3 weeks now:

Straight-arm days (90 sec rest each set)

-3x20s Advanced L-sit

-3x20s Tuck Planche

-3x25s Tuck Lever

-3x4 Skin-the-cats

-3x30s HS Holds (chest to wall)

Bent-arm days (30 sec rest each set)

-4x5 Slow, Hollow Pull-ups

-4x8 PPP

-4x12 V-situps (not sure if this is the name, also I don't really know what other exercises to do so I do this)

-4x10 HeSPU (feet on platform, body in L-shape)

-4x8 Jumps (trying to jump as high as I can)

The reason 2 of the bent-arm exercises aren't actually directly working bent-arm is because I don't know any other good or recommended bent-arm exercises to do for my current level.

Throughout the day (yay summer time), I also workout with various other exercises of lower intensity to prevent myself from overtraining again.

My questions are:

-Is it ok to train towards Planche, Front Lever, and Back Lever at the same time? I have only begun working on the Back Lever very recently.

-Can anyone recommend other straight-arm and bent-arm exercises for my level?

-I plan to move on to Advanced Tuck variations when I get 5x30s, is this alright? Or am I just wasting my time?

I apologize for the long post and thank you for those who read through it.

Hold off on training back lever until you have mastered front lever.

Sure it is alright to move onto harder planche variations once you reach 5x30s for a previous variation.

LilRunt said:

Hello there,

 

I am 16 years old and I am 170 cm (5' 7) and weight 66 kg (146 lb). I have been looking around here for about 5 months now, although not very thoroughly.

 

I have never been very athletic at anything, I was a rather shy, quiet kid when I was younger. About 16 months ago was when I decided to start working out and improve myself (inspired by street workout athletes), although I had no guidance.

 

Just about 9 months ago, I took an interest in gymnastics and then I came across this forum. All I have to work with is a homemade pull-up bar, chairs, and the floor. I admire the rings-specialists and dream of becoming an elite-level gymnast someday, unfortunately I didn't start as a kid. Maybe if I just dream- er, work hard enough...

 

Only until 3 months ago have I begun to organize my training and take it more seriously. I always feel that what the work I've done is never enough so I have quite a tendency to overtrain. I have never had any serious injuries, just roadblocks from lots of soreness and muscular fatigue. Oh I just wish I had the physical capacity and time to train all day, everyday.

 

My routine has evolved over the 3 month period from doing things too early and... well... pretty much consistant overtraining. It consists of a straight-arm day and a bent-arm day for 6 days every week. I plan to increase bent-arm sets by 1 every 3 weeks and straight-arm sets when I feel absolutely no challenge from them.

 

Here is the current routine I made and have been following for about 3 weeks now:

 

Straight-arm days (90 sec rest each set)

-3x20s Advanced L-sit

-3x20s Tuck Planche

-3x25s Tuck Lever

-3x4 Skin-the-cats

-3x30s HS Holds (chest to wall)

 

Bent-arm days (30 sec rest each set)

-4x5 Slow, Hollow Pull-ups

-4x8 PPP

-4x12 V-situps (not sure if this is the name, also I don't really know what other exercises to do so I do this)

-4x10 HeSPU (feet on platform, body in L-shape)

-4x8 Jumps (trying to jump as high as I can)

 

The reason 2 of the bent-arm exercises aren't actually directly working bent-arm is because I don't know any other good or recommended bent-arm exercises to do for my current level.

 

Throughout the day (yay summer time), I also workout with various other exercises of lower intensity to prevent myself from overtraining again.

 

My questions are:

-Is it ok to train towards Planche, Front Lever, and Back Lever at the same time? I have only begun working on the Back Lever very recently.

-Can anyone recommend other straight-arm and bent-arm exercises for my level?

-I plan to move on to Advanced Tuck variations when I get 5x30s, is this alright? Or am I just wasting my time?

 

I apologize for the long post and thank you for those who read through it.

You should add some maximal strength training for your legs too. As Golden Eagle said; wait with back lever since it is very hard on your elbows. 5 x 30 secs seems like an accepable progression standard. When you are done with your PPP you can start working on dip progressions.

I would recommend that you make use of the digital coaching forum, since they make you aware of form issues that you do not know about (yet). I also recommend buying foundation 1. Other than that your program looks good. Check out the prerequisities thread - https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/3750-prerequisites/page-8#entry93503.

See if you master these elements. They will also help your overall progress. Some would say that they have to be mastered before training what you are training...

Good progress!

Thanks guys. Looks like I'm going to have a bit of testing to do with the prerequisites next week.

On the handstands, does it have to be free-standing that I have to master? My balance is not necessarily that great, my forearms would also tend to give up before my shoulders do from trying to keep myself up.

Also on Back Lever and step 5, does he mean before the full planche move itself or the full planche training?

With handstand it is recommended to start with your chest to wall, so that you can learn the proper body line. Ultimately freestanding handstand is what you will want to master and using the wall while you are learning isn't a problem at all.

Don't worry if your balance isn't "that great". Mine wasn't either, well it still isn't, but much better now then when I started. Don't get discouraged if you fail to balance on your first try, not even on your hundred try. Perhaps on your 1 zillion try, but I wouldn't say that would be the case. What I'm trying to say is that progress will come, but not the way you would like to. Just keep trying with the handstand.

Like GoldenEagle mentioned; start with chest to wall. You want develop wrist flexibility and strength first though. In the meantime, work on midline stability and PPT drills.

LilRunt said:

Thanks guys. Looks like I'm going to have a bit of testing to do with the prerequisites next week.

 

On the handstands, does it have to be free-standing that I have to master? My balance is not necessarily that great, my forearms would also tend to give up before my shoulders do from trying to keep myself up.

 

Also on Back Lever and step 5, does he mean before the full planche move itself or the full planche training?

Backlever should not be trained as of right now. There are many ways to progress in handstand, the most important thing though is that whatever progression you are doing keep your back straight and work on wrist and shoulder flexibility. If you want to know more buy this site's programs; this will ensure better progress almost no matter how well you train.

Freshpro said:

Backlever should not be trained as of right now. There are many ways to progress in handstand, the most important thing though is that whatever progression you are doing keep your back straight and work on wrist and shoulder flexibility. If you want to know more buy this site's programs; this will ensure better progress almost no matter how well you train.

Alright, will do. I'll see what I can do about saving up some money for them.