Need some help

Hello,

Well Firstly, i'd like to thank you for reading my message, and i hope that the things i'm wondering on will be clear and i can improve and progress. And sorry for my english but hope you understand me, its just like 10 minutes of your time and i'll win so much time if you help me..

So first, I will first introduce myself,

So yeah, I'm Axel, i'm 16 years old and I'm from France and I want to change my life .. I know 16 is quite old but hey, better to start old than never..Well recently ( during summer ) i discovered a hobby which became a passion, i'm talking about parkour, freerunning, tricking, gymnastic, strenght and bodyweight performances ... At first I watched video and then I wanted to start it, But If I write to you today it is because i have a lot of questions, and hesitations, and i hope you can help me on this.

This year, i practice tricking in a gym so no problem for this...

But well, I'll be honest, before the summer i wasnt fat at all, but i had 0 muscle, and i had belly fat even if i wasnt fat, strange I know.. So i decided that i had to change, i couldnt stand my body, i did " homemade " musculation for 3 month for now, and here is the " before / after " :

before : > http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/9691/bobtv9.jpg

After : > http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5391/dsc02843zd.jpg

Well i can't say i'm not happy with those results, but i have no force, no power, strenght at all..

Well i also want to congrats Coach sommer for what he have done, and his career, really amazing and inspirational. His book was absolutely awesome and i learnt alot with it, even if there is things which was not very clear for me as i'm not English.

Well this said i can now talk about my goals. As said, i'm very fond of bodyweight performance, since summer, it means, freerunning, parkour, tricking ( mix between gymnastic and martial arts ) and also any kind of gymnastics exercice, especially handstands, human flags, this is really a passion for me and I hope that one day i will say, i have done it, i mean, achieved my goals, and able to do the things i wanted to. I'm not in a hurry and When i start something i finish it until i'm self satisfied, i have a lot of discipline as you can see my hard work for my little body chance during summer.

So yeah, here are the goals i plan to achieve, i have no time to achieve them, it can take 2 month, 1 year, 3 week, it doesnt matter, i'll do everything i can to achieve them. And all my goals are sort of linked, about strength, flexibility , hard work and repetition.

Be good at freerunning/parkour , which means, able to perform the thing i want to make a sort of own style

> various kind of flips ( i'll practice them at my tricking lessons ) many bodyweight performance, such as handstands, planches, l-sits to handstands, tuck planche to handstand, human flags which mean i have to gain a lot of strength and power… Various kind of kicks ( martial art , which i'll also learn at my tricking lessons and again, flexibility and power will be needed )

Be good at tricking, which is pretty same as freerunning, just that i'll perform thing in a gym, and again strength, power, and flexibility will be needed, and about the skills, they will be learnt during the lessons

Be strong, a lot of strength, for myself, for my personal enjoying, and performing bodyweight performance on pull ups bar, rings, floor ( planches, l-sit, straddle planche, handstand, press, tuck planche, l-sit to handstand.. levers, muscle ups, one hand chin ups, pull ups, and so on )

So here are my main goals, divided into 3 points, and i think they are linked cause they all are about : hard work, flexibility, strength, power and skills.

To achieve these goals, i thought during a long time of what i have to do, how, during how much time... And one day i wondered on the gymnasts strength and found that book, i ordered it and read it and i was like «  thats what i need, why i havent thought of it earlier .. » Before i go into why i wrote this message and my questions i want to say that i have ordered what will help me to achieve my different goals : pvc parallettes, and xtreme rings i already have the weight at home.

Well this said i can now tell you what i'm asking for and my hesitations, questions..

As I said before, my main goals are all about increasing my strength, my flexibility, and so my power.

But i dont really know what i have to do to achieve them, i mean, i dont know what program, which workout i should made so it works efficiently and it help me building the strength needed for all my goals.. I'm not sure about the sets and repetitions i should do either.. 3X5 or 3X10 or whatever, i hope you can clear things on that point. In the book of coach sommer, there is something i dont understand too, Do I have to work on a static position and one exercice of strength, and so i will work on it and progress on the different progressions during the period of 8 week or can I workout for different static positions and different muscles, in the static strength training ? I really want to know, what i exactly have to do to be sure i'll achieve my goals of increasing strength and flexibility, like which exercices, which progressions, how much time holding the positions, how much sets and reps.. I want to know if it's possible to do a «  whole body » workout which will help me to achieve ALL of my goals if yes, i'd like to know which exercices, how much sets/reps, how much time per week doing the workout ? Or i'll have to do different workout for each goals ? This isnt clear in my mind..

That would be really awesome for me, to know, after like 2 monthes of researching, know what i have to do, like a routine and so i can be sure to achieve the goals i said.

I have thought of this program but i dont know if it will really help me to achieve all my goals and give me the strength i need.

Divided in 4 days

DAY 1 :

First exercice : planche progression, 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

Second exercice : planche pushups progression 6 x 4-5

Third exercice : Front lever progression 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

fourth exercices : Handstand pushups 6 x 3-5 ; Dips 6 x 4-5; pullups 6 x 4-5

Fifth exercice : Various planks ( side, front.. ) 3X 1 min holding.

Sixth exercice : Ab workout special gymnastic strength : http://www.shapefit.com/6-pack-abs-gymnast.html

Seventh exercice : some exercice from dominic lacasse for the back

Day 2 :

First exercice : planche progression, 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

Second exercice : planche pushups progression 6 x 4-5

Third exercice : One arm pull ups negative progression 6 x 3-5

fourth exercices : Pull ups progression ( weighted, one hand catching a towel .. )

Fifth exercice : Legs exercices such as calves raises, squats .. dont know really

Sixth exercice : handstand pushups ? Or whatever

Seventh exercice : some exercice from dominic lacasse for the back

DAY 3 :

First exercice : planche progression, 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

Second exercice : planche pushups progression 6 x 4-5

Third exercice : Front lever progression 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

fourth exercices : Handstand pushups 6 x 3-5 ; ; pullups 6 x 4-5 dips 6 x 3-5

Fifth exercice : Various planks ( side, front.. ) 3X 1 min holding.

Sixth exercice : Ab workout special gymnastic strength : http://www.shapefit.com/6-pack-abs-gymnast.html

Seventh exercice : some exercice from dominic lacasse for the back

DAY 4 :

First exercice : planche progression, 6 x ? seconds ( depends on me )

Second exercice : planche pushups progression 6 x 4-5

Third exercice : One arm pull ups negative progression 6 x 3-5

fourth exercices : Pull ups progression ( weighted, one hand catching a towel .. )

Fifth exercice : Legs exercices such as calves raises, squats .. dont know really

Sixth exercice : handstand pushups ? Or whatever

Seventh exercice : some exercice from dominic lacasse for the back

Flexibility :

Everyday in the evening, stretching one hour, stretching for passive active and dynamic flexibility holding position from 20 to 30 seconds and for the dynamic flexibility i'm doing some 3X15 moves.

Also stretching before and after training but holding 10 sec the positions.

Well thats what i thought but i don t know how it is at all

Well about the flexibility, i dont know which exercices are best and how much time per weeks or day i have to do them ? How much time holding the exercices positions .. ? Either for the strength or flexibility i have time in my schedule i can do some long workout it's not a problem. So yeah if you could help me on that point and help me making the perfect workout, i have to follow each week to perform the things i want, tuck planche, planche, l-sit , etc.. that would be awesome and extremely kind from you. Because the program i can change the program i said before, i dont know at all how it is, so yea if you could tell me another program or whatever to change to be sure i'll achieve my goals that would be awesome and i can start after many many wait.

I also know that the diet is very important in gaining strength, i try to eat the max proteins i can, it means, meats, chicken, milk, jam, cereals.. i also try to eat fruits and veggies even i really dont like them. Any advices on that point would be great too.

Well, thanks again for reading and considering my message, i hope i havent asked too much and i hope you can help me to sort out all my problems and to clear things so i can start on a good way and improve surely !

And again , i hope you understand me because of my english.

Greetings,

Makzo.

bump this

Congrats on your improvement from skinny-fat to skinny.

While the parkour stuff is probably keeping your legs strong, I still think some SLS work would be good for landings.

You can probably throw out the planks and substitute body levers and L-sits or skin the cats or reverse leg lifts.

Alright thanks!

So my program looks ok ? i think i'ma add some SLS and good exercices for legs.

Any other recomendation?

Hi. Maybe you can tell us what system you have? I just started on my first *real* cycle. My system is to have a push, pull, legs, and core variation every workout. So basically a full body workout. I superset horizontal movements together like flat tucked planche pushups with flat tucked front lever rows and same with the vertical push and pull movements. I also superset core movements with legs. Try supersetting because it will shorten the workout way more. I recommend doing 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps as recommended in the book. And rest for 2-3 minutes. Decide how much you want to rest and record that time. Don't jump from 2 min. to 3 min. then 2.

And also pick one main goal and work on that. The others will come in play as you persist and work hard. For example. you mentioned you want to gain strength and flexibility. You will very likely get those side effects from doing your movements. SO whether you want them or not they will come eventually. Pick one main goal and let that be your motivation.

As for you stretching for flexibility, I know a guy who was flexible and he said qoute: "I just did short sessions of static stretching (10-15) minutes several times a week for a couple years. You could probably get much better results in much less time than I did if you had a good program" So I am basically doing this right now.

As for diet. Just eat good clean real food. Follow this motto: "If ya can't kill it, ye don't eat it!" Eat lots of protein. When I say lots I don't mean go overboard. Just eat chicken and lean red meat and fish and all sorts. Get your carbs from fruits and vegetables. And your fats from the meat and other foods. It's simple just eat clean. And if you spend more on good foods instead of all the craps that are selling now a days you will save a lot of money and your health. Just eat. Don't worry about how many calories or how many this. If it is clean it will do you more good and will most likely get you more lean.

Hey thanks for that answer!!

Not sure whats the system though :s but i think its pull, push and core too, as i do pushups variations, pullups variations and static position variation and abs workout in my training ?

what is the system then ?

As for the flexibility, yeah, i'm going to work well on it to increase my flexibility it will help me for tricking and martial art and so, flexibility + strength = power.

Also, whats supersetting ? :S

And yeah for the food, i'm eating clean, and what i need, not much, not more, i only try to eat " lot " of protein, and the rest is yeah, vegetables, fruits, cereals, egs, meats, chicken, milk...

Peace

Supersetting is combining two antagonist exercise and doing them back to back without rest and then after you done them both rest for a certain time and then repeat until you have done your sets.

For example you combine a variation of push and pull and do them pack to back. You wont' be tired for the pull since the push works a different muscle hence the antagonist and vice versa. This saves a lot of time And you would do a pull variation wile the muscle for the push rest.

As for a system. Some may do a something like a day dedicated for all push variations, a day for pull variations, a core day, a leg day, technique and skills day, conditioning day, etc. etc. Do what is best for you and for you goal.

Cereal might not be ideal as it contains loads of sugar. I'd want to stick to something more natural and less man-made.

Hey,

Cereals i'm eating are muesli, mainly fruits in it ^^

For the system i dont know which is best for me .. ? But what do you think of the program i said in my first post ? what would you add/delete ? or is it good ?^^

thx

Well first take out the side plank holds. You don't need that because you already have static holds for the core like the L-Sit and the Straddle-L. If you don't have that add them.

Tone done your sets to 3-4 sets x 3-5 reps. You should be working with strength exercise here to get stronger. You can do more reps and endurance type on rest days if you want. But on workout days you work hard. Make sure that you stop at 3 reps because you can't do any more. Not because you say to do 3 reps on push ups if you can do 50. Start slow. don't jump to like with like 4 sets with 5 reps. If you have the book follow the steady state cycle.

Just do what you have right now. You can add or change some stuff but just do it. Just do the workout and see where you go at the end of your cycle. And then make a new cycle based upon your previous workout experience. Don't change the whole workout. Just change the stuff I advised above. No one has the perfect workout routine. Only you can make it perfect for you.

Alright thanks dude,

Ima add those l-sit and straddle-l progression in my workout days. Should i add them in every workout day, or like 2 times ?

And, i did before some 6X15 exercices, during like 2-3 monthes, it gives me some kind of endurance, and i can do lots of pushups yeah and doing 3X4 do not looks really hard ? what can i do to make it harder ? go down very slowly and up slowly ?

thanks again Titan.

You start doing harder pushups. Look up Pseudo Planche Pushups.