Marlon's Circus Training Log

Well, I completely failed to keep this training log for the second or third time now but I'm gonna give it another shot. I dropped out of L'Ecole Nationale de Cirque de Montreal and came back to my previous circus school at the beginning of October. I wasn't getting as much handstand training as I wanted in montreal so I decided to see how I would do training on my own again outside of an actual circus training program.

Just before I left montreal some wrist tendonitis I had been ignoring finally caught up with me and kept me from really hand balancing for about 3 months :x but since january i've been back into it, and during all that down time when I couldn't hand balance i started training on straps and I'm making some ok progress. I've also recently gotten back to work on hand to hand with my old partner and it's been kind of a rough ride getting back into the swing of things but that too is back on track now.

I've got a bunch of goals I'm trying to achieve by next october (one year since I got back from Montreal) and a much more stable computer situation so hopefully I'll actually be able to be consistant about this training log for the first time.

@Handbalancer Thanks for the input on my hand balancing training, I'm definitely going to switch some things up to bring it more in line with what you described

@akrajen Thanks to you as well for the support, I hope your training goes well too.

I took today off from training because a bit of pain showed up in my wrist in the same place I had had tendonitis issues just a few months ago. Tomorrow I'll be training again.

Ok, Training today was a bit frustrating, I missed my alarm by a good two hours in the morning which threw me way off and training was really scattered as a result.

Training:

Coach Sommer Wrist warm-up

3x 1 minute wall handstand

1x 20 second dead hang

2x 10 second single arm dead hang each arm

I'm getting near the end of my training cycle so I spent my usual PL and FL static time experimenting with flat tuck Pl and Straddle FL.

Also Played around with some hanging Leg lifts a muscle up or two (which bothered my wrist) and three negative HSPUs

Later in the day I had a hand balancing private lesson with one of my circus school's coaches. They pointed out some things about my form, helped me get an idea of how to keep progressing with my side flag work and assisted one arm press negatives as well as the one arm position I think HandBalancer referred to as Figga.

Overall it was a very very light training day which might not be a terrible thing because my wrist is bothering me a bit.

Tonight I'm going to be performing some dance and hand balancing at a little show a the local dance studio i take classes at is putting on, so that'll be a bit more moving as well before the day is done.

the Performance went pretty well, I got off timing with some of the dance choreography :oops: but the hand balancing went well.

Flexibility work :

straddle, pancake, pike, splits, + supplemental stuff + active flex before bed.

Yesterdays Training

Warm-up:

-Ido's shoulder mobility warm-up

-Ido's scapula mobility warm-up

-Coach Sommer's wrist series

handbalancing (2 hours):

-10 Second handstand

-10 second tucked handstand

-handstand tuck > straight >tuck

-Straddle-up to handstand >straddle > straight > straddle etc.

-Pike-up to handstand >pike >straight

-Straight one-arm attempts / holds 6 each arm (3 on floor, 3 on blocks)

-Partial straddle one-arm attemps / holds 6 each arm (3 on floor, 3 on blocks)

-Full straddle one- arm holds 6 each arm (3 on floor, 3 on blocks)

-Some one arm's on canes can't remember just how much

-3 sets of 2 Tuck Side flags (one on each side) in handstand

-Played with pseudo one arm press negatives (straddle side flag to floor in handstand), 3 attempts on each side, not much luck. I don't really understand the movement and none of the coach's at my circus school really know enough hand balancing to do more than point me in the right direction so I'm just kinda stumbling around with it and trying to figure it out from youtube. I might put up a video soon to try and get some advice.

-1 set 5 straddle presses

-2 presses from Straddle L-sit and 3 more negatives from handstand down to straddle l-sit

my presses are getting better but the form isn't quite as good as I want it yet.

Flexibiliity Work:

Stretched my straddle, pancake, pike, splits, and shoulders along with some other supplementary stretches and active flexibility work before bed.

Todays Training

Warm-up:

-Walked into the gym and a friend wanted to do some hand to hand so we did some laying down and standing up, we tried pressing up to straight arms while standing and didn't quite succeed.

-Coach Sommer wrist warm-up

Hand Balancing (2 hours +):

-10 second straight handstand

-10 second tucked handstand

-handstand tucked >straight >straight

-handstand straddled >straight>straddle etc

-handsand piked > straight>piked.

-6 straight one- arm attempts / holds each arm (3 on floor 3 on blocks)

-6 partial straddle one- arm attempts / holds each arm (3 on floor 3 on blocks)

-6 full straddle one- arm holds each arm (3 on floor 3 on blocks)

-I have a twist in my right hand one arm that I've been fighting with for a while now, I think I'm making a little progress fixing it, but it just amazes me how such a small problem with my form can be so damn hard to get rid of.

-3 tucked side flag one arm attempts on each side on blocks, I was surprised that i was able to actually find the balance on one arm for a couple of them. i'm not flexible enough to actually get my hips at a 90 degree angle from my shoulders yet, but It's not that far off. and it was nice to find out that when i actually shift all of my weight over one hand the supporting arm is still perpendicular to the floor and without any of the lean angled that comes into play when I've been training the flags from a handstand.

-4ish pseudo one arm press negatives with assisting arm on a block. I think i made some real progress with this today, I certainly have a long long way to go before i can actually do a one arm press but the movement actually seemed plausible to me by the end of this training session

-2 sets 1 pike press +one straddle press then one more single straddle press

-two negative pike presses to - L-sit. I'm trying to work up to a pike press from L-sit on the floor, right now I'm doing negatives with two blocks stacked on top of each other to give me the clearance to get my legs through.

Straps (45min - 1hr):

- piked 360 pulls? not sure what to call them, (sometimes I get really confused switching back and form between circus and gymnastics terminology :| ); dead hang > leg lift > german hang >skin the cat back.

-Leg lifts to inverted hang > lower to right side meathook > switch to left > repeat.

-jump to meathook > switch to one arm straddle hang >back to meathook both sides

-Some side planches / arm breakers

-3 x one arm back planch each arm ( I was shocked to find out I can do this, but apparently i can actually get some very clean holds for 3-5 second )

-One arm tempo changes (meathook > side planche) This is my second training session being able to do these

3 solid ones on my right side, I missed the first two attemps on my let side, but then got the next two (the first ones I've ever done on my left side)

Prehab:

3x12 external rotations each arm 5lbs

Todays Training

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer wrist series

-Ido Shoulder stabilization and ROM routine

Hand to Hand (~45min):

-Some laying down, some standing up, some sitting down. Mostly just messing around, a coach that was nearby helped out with our form a bit

Hand Balancing (2hr):

-10 Second straight handstand > 5 sec tuck > straight

-10 second tuck handstand

-Straddle-up to handstand >straddle > straight > straddle etc.

-Pike-up to handstand >pike >straight

I'm having issues with opening my shoulders too far in my handstand and piking at the hips to compensate, I can find the right position, but moving back into it from a tuck straddle or pike is difficult. i also tend to slip back into the bad habit when I shift into my one arms.

-Straight one-arm attempts / holds 6 each arm ( 3 on blocks, 3 on floor) A coach basically just reminded me to keep pushing through my shoulders and after implementing this obvious advice I had the best straight one arm hold I've ever gotten.

-Partial straddle one-arm attemps / holds 6 each arm (3 on floor, 3 on blocks)

-Full straddle one- arm holds ~ 6 each arm (~3 on canes, 3 on floor)

-8 tucked side flags, 4 on each side in handstand. Todays is the first time I managed to actually be in a side flag position, I was just a hair away from being a perfect 90 degree angle in the tuck.

-More work on the pseudo one arm press negatives, 3 on each side. I still feeling like I'm stumbling around in the dark with these.

-one Pike press, one straddle Press

-2 Pike presses from L-sit

I was hoping to get 6 or more presses in but I was exhausted and my form was breaking down to much to make it work continuing.

Straps (1 hr):

-3 tucked 360 pulls

-3 piked 360 pulls

-3 windshield wipers

-inverted hang > right side planche legs tucked >invert hang > left side planche legs tucked.

-jump to meathook > one arm straddle hang > meathook > tucked meathook >pseudo one arm lever (both sides)

-2x Side planche 5 seconds each side

-I decided to try doing one arm changes without the tempo today, just through strength, and after playing around with holding a counter balance with my free arm I just decided to drop the weight and go for it. The result; I now have my second type of one arm changes on straps I did one on each side and decided to move on. The technique needs a lot of work, but they were solid.

-2x tempo one arm changes on each arm. I tried to do three on each arm, but failed on the first attempt for each arm.

-After having done the strength changes earlier in practice I kinda felt like i might be able to pull directly into a side planche, so I gave it a shot and voila, another new trick on straps One arm slow inlocate > one arm skin the cat-ish thing > side planche. On both arms.

-3 Assisted pulls to meathook.

This week on straps is going really really well, and I hope it stays this way. all of my technique needs a lot of work, but I've got 2 tricks in the past week that I thought were still months away, and 2 others that I thought could take more like a year to get so I'm very very happy with my progress. I'm also really surprised, i was under the impression that the one arm pull to side planche was much more difficult than the one arm pull to meathook, but I guess my body is getting them in the wrong order.

Finished training with 3 rounds of Ido's Scapula mobility routine.

Flexibility work (30-45min):

-Passive Straddle split, Pancake, Pike, Front splits, and supplemental stretches

-Some active flexibility work in straddle, pancake, and pike

holy s*** you train a lot man! :shock:

thanks Mikael, I'm trying to do as much as my body will let me and I think I'm riding that line pretty well right now.

Todays Training:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer Wrist Routine

-Ido Portal's shoulder mobility and ROM routine

-Some spinal mobility work

-A very small amount of passive stretching

Gymnasticbodies conditioning:

-3 x 1min Handstands Freestanding

-2 x 30sec Dead hang with shoulders engaged + 1 x 15sec single arm dead hang with shoulder engaged (both arms)

-4 x 15 sec Embedded Tuck FL

-4 x 10 sec Embedded Tuck PL

-4 x 15 sec L-sit

-4 x 15 sec Bent leg Straddle L-sit

-4 x 20 sec Straddle Powersplits on rings

-3 x 20 sec embedded tuck BL

-4 x 15 sec MSH bent

-3 sets of Basic Ring strength series

-1 x 5 Flat tuck Front Lever pulls

Hand Balancing (2hr):

-10 Second Straight hand balancing

-10 Tuck handstand

-Tuck handstand > straight > tuck

-Straddle handstand > straight > straddle etc.

-Pike handstand > straight > pike

-8 Full Straddle one arm holds (5 on blocks, 3 on bench)

-6 Partial Straddle one arm attempts / holds (3 on blocks, 3 on bench)

-6 Straight one arm attempts / holds (3 on blocks, 3 on bench)

-4 tucked Side flags in handstand; these are really feeling much more solid, but my hips are still just slightly too high

-One set playing with tightly tucked on arm handstands.

Notes:

-I'm making good progress really understanding the alignment in my one arms. I managed to completely remove the twist that had been happening on my right side in quite a few attempts, and even felt the twist happen and fixed it while in a straight one arm. My left side is still very inconsistent, but I'm seeing progress there too, especially in my full straddle.

-After playing with tucked one arm handstands today I think I'm gonna take a break from the pseudo one arm press negatives i was doing and focus on those, both in normal alignment and twisting to where I believe my hips need to be at the bottom of a one arm press handstand done from standing. I think the active shoulder flexibillity I'll develop from that should help with one arm presses, and I'll get back into them once I have a better foundation of strength and control on one arm.

-I've got some pain in my left shoulder from straps yesterday, I trained on it today but if it doesn't feel any better tomorrow I may have to take the day off from straps

Yesterdays Training:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer wrist series

-Ido Shoulder stabilization and rom routine.

Hand Balancing:

-10 Second Straight hand balancing

-10 Tuck handstand

-Tuck handstand > straight > tuck

-Straddle handstand > straight > straddle etc.

-Pike handstand > straight > pike

-6 Full Straddle one arm holds (3 on blocks, 3 on floor)

-6 Partial Straddle one arm attempts / holds (3 on blocks, 3 on floor)

-6 Straight one arm attempts / holds (3 on blocks, 3 on floor)

-3 Tuck one arm arms with assisting hand still on ground

-3 tucked side flag handstands each arm

-5 straddle Presses up canes

-4 Pike Press negatives to L-sit (managed to pike through only elevated on a single block for the first time without dragging my feet, it's nice to know I'm actually making progress on these even if it is only the tiniest amount.)

Straps:

-3 tucked 360 pulls

-3 piked 360 pulls

-3 windshield wipers

-2 x inverted hang > right side planche legs tucked >invert hang > left side planche legs tucked.

-jump to meathook > one arm straddle hang > meathook > tucked meathook >pseudo one arm lever (both sides)

-2x Side planche 5 seconds each side

-2 Tempo changes each side

-1 strength change each side

-1 One single arm pull to side planche each side

-3 one arm assisted pulls to meathook each side

Flexibility work:

-Passive stretching in straddle, pike, pancake, splits and supplemental stretches

-Active flexibility work in straddle and pancake.

Notes:

-My shoulder is still bothering me a bit, I talked to someone at the circus school and it turns out what i thought was a bit of tendinitis is more likely rotator cuff stuff, probably my supraspinatus. Which makes sense, since I imagine that side planches and pretty much everything to do with them require a whole lot of abduction under a whole lot of load in a very extremem range of motion. I'm going to take everything related to one arm sequences on straps very very slowly and hope i don't have any recurring problems.

-On a better note, my one arm sequences on straps feel totally solid. The tempo changes are easy, and while the more strength related stuff certainly isn't a walk in the park, I managed to pull to do the other things today without any leg bend or blatantly obvious form issues as far as I can see.

Todays Training:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer wrist series

-Ido Portal Shoulder Rom and stability routine

Gymnasticbodies Conditioning:

-2x 30 sec dead hangs, with shoulder engaged

-2x 15 sec single arm dead hangs, with shoulders engaged

-3x 1 min handstand

-4x 15 sec Tuck FL

-4x 10 sec Tuck PL

-2x 20 sec Ring Support

-Lowered from meathook till toes touched hand and pulled back to meat hook, 3 times on each arm (with counter balance)

Hand Balancing (1 hr 45 min):

-10 Second Straight hand balancing

-10 Tuck handstand

-Tuck handstand > straight > tuck

-Straddle handstand > straight > straddle etc.

-Tuck handstand > pike> straight >tuck >pike

-6 full Straddle OAH (3 on bench, 3 on canes each arm)

-6 partial straddle OAH (3 on bench, 3 on canes each arm)

-6 straight OAH (3 on bench, 3 on canes each arm)

-3 Figga OAH, with assisting arm on support each arm

Some random messing around:

- handstand on single cane

- twisting in handstand

- kip from two handed crock to handstand

- couple of crocks

Notes:

- I felt a bit lazy today for the first time all week, which isn't too bad since my shoulders can use the rest.

- My form in my one arms is definitely improving, constantly filming myself while I train is actually paying off I think.

- I'm struggling a lot with moving my free arm in one arm handstands, even in my full straddle on canes I can't get it up by my side without losing it.

Todays Training:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer Wrist warm-up

Conditioning:

-2x 30 sec dead hang with shoulders engaged

-2x 15 sec single arm dead hang with shoulder engaged (each arm)

-3x 1 min handstand freestanding

-4x 15 sec L-sit

-4x 15 sec straddle l-sit

-4x 15 sec tuck FL

-4x 15 sec MSH bent leg

-2x 5 Leg lifts to inverted pike hang

-3x 5 Flat tuck FL pulls

Notes:

-Today was more or less a rest day, I'm giving my shoulders some time to heal, so no straps work or anything else potentially heavy on the supraspinatus.

-I'm gonna put more effort from now on into making sure I'm using proper recruitment patterns, especially on my left side during pulling movements. Today was the first day i really was able to feel front lever work in my upper back on my left side, In general after workouts, no matter what I'm doing, my right side feels much more worked than my left, and I hope to change that and find more balance in the near future.

Saturday's training:

-2 hours of hand balancing.

-30-45min stretching

Notes:

- It was a really good day actually, some very nice holds in all 3 of my primary positions. Didn't do any side flag training as my right side has been bothering me. I did do some mexican work for the first time in a while, and it's gonna be a while before I figure out how to train that skill consistently without ruining my back and shoulders. Also did two consecutive stalder presses on the floor which isn't anything too impressive but it's good to know that my strength is back on par after the months I had to take off of training because of tendinitis. I think my endurance is back to about where it used to be as well, the 3 one minute handstands i've been doing the past week felt very easy like they used to.

-my shoulders are still bothering me a bit, but thats ok because I probably wont be training again till Wednesday with the exception of some strerching.

Sunday's training:

-rest day

it's cool you can take that much time off and get your skills back that fast

the way I train now, I feel off if I take even one complete rest day. At least in hand balance.

I completely agree with mexican handstands. I work them so rarely, it is hard to find a good time to fit them into training.

Do you do more work on floor or canes?

Hey yuri,

I'm definitely in the same boat as you when it comes to taking time off from training. Just a day or two throws me off quite a lot, and it takes a day or two to get back in the groove.

Long term though, i feel like my body has always been prettty forgiving about breaks from training. The three months i had to stop for just recently was the longest I've had off since i started hand balancing, but it didn't really hurt me that much. I lost a good bit of endurance and strength, but part way through the three months I was able to get back on two hands without any pain. So i spent a lot of time working on my body line, and by the time i could do one arms again my technique had actually improved a bit.

I spend the majority of my time on the floor and on blocks, and a very small minority of my time is spent on canes. I do love training on canes though, they make one arms so much easier than they are on the floor.

Marlon you should post another video soon that is like the first video you have posted on here.That first video was hands down one of the coolest things i've seen on this forum and i still go back to it for motivation

Thanks, Element , I'm gonna make another video sooner or later, but probly not till later. I'm thinking by this september I'll be happy enough with my progress to put something else up, but in the meantime I might have several training clips put online to ask for advice and what not.

Mondays Training:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer Wrist series

Hand Balancing (~2hr 15min):

-Straddle, partial straddle, and straight one arm work (on floor and canes)

-Alignment work

-spent a god half an hour learning how to twist in my handstand.

Notes:

-This was the single weirdest training session I've ever had hand balancing. I was training in a cold room near midnight, but the first several one arms i did in the session were the most solid holds I've ever had on the floor. later on in the session I finally found out why I haven't been able to fix the twist that happens in my right side one arm. My perception of right and left rotation while upside down has literally been backwards for i don't know how long (months, maybe years, maybe as long as I've been hand balancing) I spent a half an hour going back and forth between filming myself twisting in my handstand and being absolutely shocked that I was twisting in the opposite direction that I thought i was. It was honestly kind of scary to see just how backwards my perception of reality / spacial awareness can be. I could sit in my handstand and try to reason out which direction I wanted to twist, finally do it, and then look at the footage and see that I twisted the opposite way :shock:. By the end of the session I had figured it out finally, but It's going to be a long time before I can consistently apply this understanding to my actual OAH position I'm sure.

That is super cool!!! Sounds like a fantastic training session!

That's pretty interesting to hear. Happy to hear you have figured it out. Is this something that never came up when you did have coaching on your handstand?

Thanks slizz

Yea, It's never an issue that came up when I was with a coach. The twisting bad habit is a fairly new thing for me, something that's cropped up in the past few months when i haven't been working with a coach, and twisting intentionally like i have been isn't something that you do very much when training hand balancing

Tuesday March 1st:

-Rest day

Wednesday March 2nd:

Dance (1hr):

-Got to class a half hour late, but still got a good hour of dance in, mostly ballet technique and what not.

Hand Balancing(2hr):

-The usual Straight, tuck, straddle, pike, handstand position warm-up

-Full Straddle OAH work

-Partial Straddle OAH work

-Straight OAH work

-Tucked Side Flags, with assisting arm lightly on floor

-Negative OArm Press handstands, with assisting arm solidly on floor :?

-1x2 Straddle L-sit press handstand

-3x standing Straddle Press > handstand > straddle L-sit > handstand > Lower feet to floor> standing straddle Press

Hand to Hand(1hr):

-Some standing in hands

-Some hand to hand

-Some sequence work with more contacty dynamic stuff

Straps(1hr):

-3 piked 360 pulls

-3 tick tocks (flat tuck FL > Back Lever)

-Meat hook sequence

-side planche warm up

-Some tempo changes

-One Strength change on my right side

-slow one arm inlocates

-Some roll-ups

-Flat tuck FL static holds (29s) + Back lever static hold (19s)

Notes:

-This was a really frustrating hand balancing day, couldn't do much in my straight or partial straddle one arms. My press handstands are getting more solid consistently so that's nice though.

-Hand to hand is fun and frustrating at the same time.

-My girlfriend is back in town (the reason I haven't found time to update my log in 3 days) which means that I'll be training hand to hand consistently again.

-Straps changes bother my shoulders. the tempo ones are find, but any of the tougher one arm work is just asking for rotator cuff issues right now, I need to go really slow and build up the strength to do them safely.

Thursday March 3rd:

GymnasticBodies Conditioning:

-3x 1 min 15 sec wall handstands

-2x 30 sec dead hang with shoulders down

-2x 15 sec single arm dead hang with shoulders down

-4x 15 sec L-sit

-4x 15 sec straddle l-sit

-4x 15 sec Tuck FL

-6x10 sec tuck PL

Hand Balancing (2hr):

-handstand position warm-up

-Straddle, partial straddle, straight one arm work

-5x1 stalder presses

-1x5 standing straddle presses

Hand to Hand (1hr):

-hand to hand.

-standing in hands.

-Working on a new drop that we've heard people call falling star.

Notes:

-Not too much of interest happened this day

Friday March 4th:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer wrist series

-Ido Portal shoulder stabilization and ROM routine

-some other mobility drills

GymnasticBodies Conditioning:

-3x 1min 15 sec wall handstands

-2x 30 sec dead hangs with shoulders down

-2x 10 sec single arm dead hangs with shoulders down each arm

-4x 15 sec L-sit

-4x 15 sec straddle L-sit

-4x 15 sec horse stance

-4x 15 sec tuck FL

-6x 10 sec tuck PL

-3x 20 sec Tuck BL

-4x 15 sec bent Leg MSh

-Some Muscle-ups to back lever

Hand Balancing ( 1hr 30min):

-coach Sommer wrist warm-up

-a good bit of handstand alignment work

-Tuck, straddle, pike position warm-up

-Normal one arm work

-3x tucked side flags with assisting arm lightly on ground (each arm)

Notes:

-hand balancing went really well today, one arms felt solid, and form is better than ever. Strangly enough my form in my straight handstand is a little off though, I've been learning slightly over my left arm, and i'm fixing that pretty well. but my feet are hanging slightly in front of my hands in my handstand, and i can't quite figure out how to fix that without sacrificing my body position in some other way.

-couldn't finish my handbalancing session because I got kicked out of the gym :cry: The schedule changed and i didn't find out till i was already there.

Saturday March 5th:

Warm-up:

-Coach Sommer Wrist warm-up

-Shoulder stretching

Hand Balancing (2.25hr):

-Straight, tucked, straddle, pike handstand warm-up along with a a bit more working on my handstand line than usual.

-Straddle and Straight OAH work on floor and blocks

-I Got frustrated during this session so I decided to have some fun and try to do a handstand on the tight wire . Turns out it's not that hard, and in about 15 minutes of messing with it i managed a very short hold. It was just a second or so, but i could feel the balance and corrected back and forth 3 times before falling out of it. I'll keep playing with this till it's solid i think just for fun.

-3x tucked side flags with assisting arm lightly on floor each side (i'm basically at horizontal now, time to start working on making it a OAH i think)

-3x Figga each side

-5x1 Stalder presses

Notes:

-I did about an hour and a half of walk around performing work at a VIP fundraiser event for the circus school I train at today. Mostly handstands here and there, a few one arms, some presses and a little bit of hand to hand with my partner.