Have You Ever Surprised Yourself and Mastered Something?

I've repeated FL/PE3 block 3 for about 4 times now and based on the last few weeks I never thought this would happen today.

Straddle rocking next!

best feeling ever.

Not really surprised but the first few dip variations after PPP were a piece of cake. No idea why PPP isn't PE5-6.

Murray Truelove said:

Not really surprised but the first few dip variations after PPP were a piece of cake. No idea why PPP isn't PE5-6.

Coach said in a podcast that is a pushup variation, that's why is so early in the progressions. After PE3 the plane of motion changes and we go from horizontal pushing to vertical pushing, so it makes sense that PPP is not in the middle of others dip variations. With that being said, PPP are veeeeery hard! hopefully we'll gain tons of benefits from all this time spent working on them

EdStand said:

Coach said in a podcast that is a pushup variation, that's why is so early in the progressions. After PE3 the plane of motion changes and we go from horizontal pushing to vertical pushing, so it makes sense that PPP is not in the middle of others dip variations. With that being said, PPP are veeeeery hard! hopefully we'll gain tons of benefits from all this time spent working on them

That makes sense, though I can't imagine someone spending even a micro cycle on PE4 after finishing PE3.

I mastered on a RC/PE3 on a very good week. Dunno I just had that week. Been struggling almost as much with RC/PE4 though.

This one week I half mastered old SL/PE1, got it on one session but not on the other.

Murray Truelove said:

That makes sense, though I can't imagine someone spending even a micro cycle on PE4 after finishing PE3.

I think it's more about mobility than strength. Bench dips can cause all kinds of problems for people with tight shoulders.

With regular dips you can cheat and just limit your ROM. In fact, a lot of people think bending your arms more than 90 degrees is dangerous!  Bench dips on the other hand really force your arms to go behind your back and will expose problems you might have.

Yes, and by putting Pushups and PPPs before that you would have plenty of time with Xiaopengs and other F/H exercises for your should to be ready. 

Murray Truelove said:

Not really surprised but the first few dip variations after PPP were a piece of cake. No idea why PPP isn't PE5-6.

This.

I'm still stuck working PPP but I know I can dip and dips will be easier. Though korean will initially be hard to get the movement down. Also I've been adding ring dips at the end of my F7 workout, not following the template just doing as many as I could for a couple of sets. Randomly I've been pretty consistent adding another rep each week, whilst not necessarily progressing on my F7 elements

I've been able pass mastery all the way up to PE7 (no where to do them at home) while still working on PE3, currently working on reducing test time and the lean but hitting 5x10r consistently.

No doubt they've made me stronger and I'm going to keep them in my warm up probably up until the SE elements.

But then again MN/PE2 and PE3 require a solid pancake and pike but PE4 is lifting your knees a bit and even PE5 requires less mobility than PE2.

And SLS/PE4 is probably easier for most adults than the first 3 elements (I'm looking at you deck squats!).

I don't know anything about training which is why I'm following it as written but I am surprised when I look through the progressions and see easier things further in.

Murray Truelove said:

Not really surprised but the first few dip variations after PPP were a piece of cake. No idea why PPP isn't PE5-6.

 

The dips variations are definitely easier , but they've more ROM or shoulder extension at the bottom than PPP. I think it was designed this way in order to prepare the connective tissue and avoid risk of injury.

I can't think of another reason, unless PPP is ,in fact, easier..

Recently I had a stomach virus and was unable to do training of any kind for four days. This was after a weekend so I had six days with zero training. My first day back I mastered a RC PE, and I wasn't even planning to go for mastery until I started and felt like I had so much excess energy in the tank, so I went for it. The next day I did HS dislocates and I got my hands significantly closer together on the bar, again with much less perceived effort.

So not only increase in strength after a week off, but mobility as well. This made me realize just how important the rest days and deload weeks are.

Stephen M said:

Recently I had a stomach virus and was unable to do training of any kind for four days. This was after a weekend so I had six days with zero training. My first day back I mastered a RC PE, and I wasn't even planning to go for mastery until I started and felt like I had so much excess energy in the tank, so I went for it. The next day I did HS dislocates and I got my hands significantly closer together on the bar, again with much less perceived effort.

So not only increase in strength after a week off, but mobility as well. This made me realize just how important the rest days and deload weeks are.

Hmm, that's quite interesting. Were you previously following the 3 week loading, 1 week deload cycle? If so did this fall on a deload week or a loading week? If not what schedule were you following?

What were your reps on RC before you were ill?

Stephen M said:

Recently I had a stomach virus and was unable to do training of any kind for four days. This was after a weekend so I had six days with zero training. My first day back I mastered a RC PE, and I wasn't even planning to go for mastery until I started and felt like I had so much excess energy in the tank, so I went for it. The next day I did HS dislocates and I got my hands significantly closer together on the bar, again with much less perceived effort.

So not only increase in strength after a week off, but mobility as well. This made me realize just how important the rest days and deload weeks are.

Stephen, where did you catch that virus from? If you ever do get it again, can you please sneeze into a lab tube and send it over to Texas?

The week I was sick was a regular week, not deload. I had attempted 4X5 twice the week before getting sick and failed both times on last set. I was gonna try 4X5 again when I came back from week off, but felt strong after four sets so I went for the fifth set and boom - mastered! Granted, not a giant leap in sets/reps, but the 5X5 was EASY. That's what surprised me most.

Nash, apparently it's not a hard virus to catch, eight extended family members of mine caught the same thing, all of whom attended the same party.

I was going through FL PE4, hating every rep.  Even just ten felt like hell.  Maximum discomfort.

Anyway, I missed a workout, so as punishment I made myself do 60r of those abominations.  It sucked, but it didn't really hurt more than the 30: it just lasted longer.  I did two more sets.  My mind begged for me to stop.  So did my abs.  But then I thought, if I give up now, I'll have to do them again next workout.  If I do two more sets, I'm free forever.  Hanging onto that thought, I burst out the final two sets, collapsed, celebrated and vowed never to do another one again.  That's not true, as I eventually added them in my warmup, but the spirit remains the same.

I'm currently on PE6, where the same thing happens: doing just a few reps really burns, but the burn remains constant.  I tried for mastery, but my form gives out and I don't so much rock as collapse on my back.  So, sadly, the same trick didn't work twice.  Maybe next month

Sensei JP said:

It sucked, but it didn't really hurt more than the 30: it just lasted longer.  I did two more sets.  My mind begged for me to stop.  So did my abs.  But then I thought, if I give up now, I'll have to do them again next workout.  If I do two more sets, I'm free forever.  Hanging onto that thought, I burst out the final two sets, collapsed, celebrated and vowed never to do another one again.  

My thought process and feelings exactly!

Sensei JP said:

I was going through FL PE4, hating every rep.  Even just ten felt like hell.  Maximum discomfort.

 

Anyway, I missed a workout, so as punishment I made myself do 60r of those abominations.  It sucked, but it didn't really hurt more than the 30: it just lasted longer.  I did two more sets.  My mind begged for me to stop.  So did my abs.  But then I thought, if I give up now, I'll have to do them again next workout.  If I do two more sets, I'm free forever.  Hanging onto that thought, I burst out the final two sets, collapsed, celebrated and vowed never to do another one again.  That's not true, as I eventually added them in my warmup, but the spirit remains the same.

 

I'm currently on PE6, where the same thing happens: doing just a few reps really burns, but the burn remains constant.  I tried for mastery, but my form gives out and I don't so much rock as collapse on my back.  So, sadly, the same trick didn't work twice.  Maybe next month

I've had that feeling many times in my mastery for multiple static holds too.  Get through it today so you don't have to repeat an entire month again

Stephen M said:

Nash, apparently it's not a hard virus to catch, eight extended family members of mine caught the same thing, all of whom attended the same party.

Yup, I got that too. I'm still not fully recovered (bowel movement wise) 13 days later.

Being surprised is like shaking; it invalidates mastery.  Mastery is like sinking the 8-ball in pool; you have to call it first or it doesn't count.  

Sven Ravnstag said:

Being surprised is like shaking; it invalidates mastery.  Mastery is like sinking the 8-ball in pool; you have to call it first or it doesn't count.  

 

dislike, dislike, dislike, dislike.

(warps the space time continuum by liking your dislike)

See, that's the problem with you guys right there: you don't have an appreciation for things unnecessarily, unrealistically, and most important of all, arbitrarily difficult.

Love the training log... How'd you do that?

Somalie said:

Love the training log... How'd you do that?

I'm using Evernote. It's a better version of what I was doing before: writing down the workouts by hand, but it has some drawbacks.

I think I'm just going to create my own personal web-app so I have auto-scheduling and some statistics of my workouts.