Finding my (Ed's) grove (workout schedule/routine)

Hey everyone,

I've hit a bit of a snag with my training, I've lost a bit of motivation. I can put it down to a lot of things but the main and biggest problem is I get really motivated to workout get over-excited, workout (too) hard for a week maybe 2 then I am over-trained get annoyed and stop training for a week or two, rinse and repeat.

So I've decided to put my ego aside and go for consistent training at the level I'm at. First thing I've decided is to cut back on the amount of exercises to 6 (some extra, different, fun exercises thrown in occasionally) exercises. Those exercises are:

- planche, I've thrown away the ego and reverted back to straight arm frog stand

- front lever, I'm thinking of reverting back to tuck (I can hold the tuck for 60 seconds or close to [adv for 5-8 seconds max) should the aim be getting proficient at a 60 second hold or just once you get a 60 second hold you move on?

- press handstand variations, at the moment weighted raised(head only) headstands and sometimes straddle downs

- hanging leg raises and ab wheel, I'm gonna move back to mainly static L's and V's I need to better them off

- muscle ups, I'm gonna follow coach sommer's recommendation pull ups and dips and negatives (this is two exercises)

My other big problem is what days to train? I'm only gonna train three days a week, for two reasons, because I have so many other things on during the week (rugby, karate and gym) and I have gym training which we already some strength stuff. I really want some peoples ideas on what days to train, I'm thinking along the lines of Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. But I have some questions with this-

1. Would it be better to have only one day between workouts (follow more of a traditional M,W,F routine)?

2. Would it better to workout on days where I do cardio (sparring, rugby, etc) so my body can have complete off days (do absolutely no work except perhaps stretch) or days without?

Well I think that's all for now. Please feel free to write anything I'm not looking only for scientific stuff (though I am interested in it) if you have any personal experience with a hectic schedule like this please share. I'll implement my new program tommorrow (saturday) and post to see how I feel after each session and then at the end of the week to say how I found the rest of the week (karate, rugby, gym),

Ed

I come from a powerlifting background, so please bear with me. What I would do is to set a clear and most importantly achievable goal. Then you need to figure out how to get there, which should not be that difficult with so much great help around here. But the hardest thing then is to follow your plan to the letter. This will ensure that you are not overtraining. With so many things to do, like karate, rugby, and whatnot, you might even consider a cut in other areas depending on your possibilities, preferences, etc.

I prefer to have at least one day between training days, so a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday schedule would be fine. I would also prefer to train on cardio days. Personally speaking, I do strength training in the morning and cardio in the afternoon on the same day. I also do cardio on off days, but only because I really need to lose some more fat. So if that’s not an issue for you, lucky you who can have some real no-workout days.

This is pretty unscientific and merely based on my (limited) personal experience. But it takes so long for the CNS to recover from overtraining that getting even close to overtraining is really not worth it.

Hi Ed,

I'll follow that up with an analogy:

A man has a pile of three books on his bedside table. Sometimes less, but never more. He switches between them depending on his mood, but because there are never more than three, his attention is not spread too thinly. Any more than three, and he finds he doesn't spend enough time on each to read any of them properly. However, when he finishes one, he may add another. If he wants to read a new book before he's finished one of his three, he has to decide which one will leave without being finished. He notices it's usually the one that has been read the least ...because when the chips are down, he's simply less interested in it than the other two.

I must confess to having a whole stack of books on my bedside table, and a small pile on the floor too. I never get to read any of them ...because I spend so much time on here rambling away.

Cheers,

George.

P.s. I'm not suggesting that I think you need to ditch some of your sports to make way for your gymnastic training ...simply that you might experiment with how many 'books' that you can read at once before things start to go awry.

Thanks guys, I just had my rugby match (lost ). My main goals for the moment are a muscle up (I'm pretty close to it, just need to work transition more), just improve my planche and front lever, get a standing straddle press (well for now get a good 3-5 negatives) and of course be consistent.

The main reason I chose Saturday, Monday, Tuesday is because it fits my schedule nicely and it leaves flexibility (Monday is the day I'm most likely to be too tired so I'll still have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday [sunday is rest). Don't feel to bad after the Rugby match (I think having school, then an activity and then strength training make it the real drainer). Anyway I'll have a bit of lunch, a nap or read and then go workout

Very nice analogy, George. According to your analogy, I only have one book. I am reading it so carefully that I'm sure it will take years or even decades to finish. I won't skip pages because I might miss something very important. But sometimes, I have to go back to remember the basic things and some other details I have overlooked during the first read. The more I read this book, the more interesting it becomes. And things that seemed useless to me at first suddenly make sense. I prefer to excel at one thing than being average at three things.

Haven't posted any of my workouts, I've been busy with school (tests and exams coming up). I did my workout on Saturday, can't remember exact numbers but it was something like:

-ab wheel 5x2

-headstand leg raises (head raised) 5x2

-adv (straight arm) frog stand 3x20

-tuck front lever 3x25

-wall/freestanding handstand 4x5ish

Anyway I didn't do anything on Monday and Tuesday but I'll be doing a workout tommorow (Thursday), I'm taking the cross-country team for a strength training session

Saturday I didn't a workout routine just rings work, also did this tonight (Sunday). A bit of a series. I mainly focused on muscle up work and 360 pulls. I am feeling a bit of soreness so I'll see how I feel tommorow and whether its just soreness from my arms being under tension for so long or I've actually done something

Monday 12th May

No training tonight, I had a rugby refereeing course (two parter, second part next Monday). It was at school and I stayed there, didn't go home not worth it. I ended up spending near 13 hours straight at school :shock: . Then again for some people that's just a regular workday. Anyway this "Finding my grove" is proving harder than imagined it (started when exams started :roll: , well I don't seem to have done anything to my arms though I feel it is better that I did have a day off today.

Ed

Well I did do a workout today/tonight. It went something like this:

-headstand leg raises 5x2 (head was elevated, trying to get used to open shoulder angle)

-ab wheel 4x2 (mainly just for some ab work and so I could get etra rest between sets)

-straight arm frog stand 4x10, and 2x5 (last two sets felt a bit tired so I cut down)

-tuck front lever 3x20

-tuck 360 pulls 1x2

-ring strength series (jump into support [using as little jump as possible], support hold [rings turned out] for 3 seconds, 2 dips [working on getting to transition point], muscle-up negative, pull to inverted, basket hang, back lever, german hang, front lever, L-sit, the end) 1 set

I felt pretty good throught out. I did get a tired after the ring strength series though. More to come,

Ed

No no! I have not stopped posting on my workout log or stopped working out/exercising. I have a couple of set backs, firstly had a slight cold last week and just wanted to get over it quick so I rested (as much as possible on my schedule), then on friday at gym (gymnastics) I hurt my back, nothing really serious just took a major rest period, I even skipped rugby (did go down and cheer the team on though).

The back injury seems to be getting better, still not 100% so I'll back it off another week. Anyway I've got some reading to catch up on, Power To The People, Naked Warrior and Super Joints (thank you Danni). So I will have atrue and proper read through those, I'm thinking of adding some of the super-joints exercises and methods into my stretching/mobility/pre-hab sessions as well as perhaps having Super Joints sessions in the morning.

Ed

George said:

Hi Ed,

I'll follow that up with an analogy:

A man has a pile of three books on his bedside table. Sometimes less, but never more. He switches between them depending on his mood, but because there are never more than three, his attention is not spread too thinly. Any more than three, and he finds he doesn't spend enough time on each to read any of them properly. However, when he finishes one, he may add another. If he wants to read a new book before he's finished one of his three, he has to decide which one will leave without being finished. He notices it's usually the one that has been read the least ...because when the chips are down, he's simply less interested in it than the other two.

I must confess to having a whole stack of books on my bedside table, and a small pile on the floor too. I never get to read any of them ...because I spend so much time on here rambling away.

Cheers,

George.

P.s. I'm not suggesting that I think you need to ditch some of your sports to make way for your gymnastic training ...simply that you might experiment with how many 'books' that you can read at once before things start to go awry.

Very creative! I had an interesting discussion about what I call "information overload" and "paralysis through analysis" with a trainer friend of mine.

I believe my "books" are spread across my floor as well. I have some pages torn out... possibly stuck to my feet. Also, on occasion, I have accidentally eaten some of the pages.

Ortprod said:

I have some pages torn out... possibly stuck to my feet. Also, on occasion, I have accidentally eaten some of the pages.

...I now have to clean tea out of my keyboard!

Well my back wasn't feeling a 100% by the end of last week so I went to the doctors on Monday, he just said it would take 3ish weeks to heal fully and that I should refrain from twisting movements and then on Wednesday I went and got an ultrasound (yes everyone's been joking I'm pregnant) for a lump in (no not on) my leg, the GP (from Monday) thought it was most likely just a swollen fat pad but the doctor at the hospital thought it might have something to do with my bones/joint after seeing my ultrasound so I got an x-ray as well. I'm waiting on the results.

For my back I'm gonna stop major strength work (for 3 weeks) and try the Vitamin C and fish oil remedy Coach Sommer suggested. With training (strength) I might do some sprints and pull ups and dips but that would be it, wait! except for some sledgehammer levering I think I might chuck into my training (for wrist strength and cos it's a cool party trick) cos there quite low impact on the back.

I haven't posted any of my workouts in a while, but I've been a bit here and there with my training (not much of a routine/schedule) and a few things going on. Well lots to report.

Firstly, and best of all, I just did my first muscle-up. It was at gym and we were on rings, the coach had two rings set up and on one we did simply long swings and dismounts, on the other he said "let's do some muscle-up work" and I said I was really close to a muscle-up and I jumped on the rings went for it(expecting to stuck just at the top of the transition as I had been) and it happened I made it. I repeated it again several times (not consecutively). It wasn't great but I'll get there. Anyway this is such great news for me cos it means I've accomplished one of my goals and its given a much needed dose of enthusiasm.

Secondly I found out I have an osteochondroma. An Osteo what? It means I have a bit of bone/marrow growing off my actual bone (in my case my left femur, down near the knee joint), it does not seem to affect my running or any such (doctor said just to steer away from things that cause pain). But the main thing I'm concerned about is stretching (side splits and straddle), I would not want it to cut my muscle or especially my tendon. I'm seeing an osteo surgeon on the 4th of July but if anyone has an experience with a situation like this please share.

Finally I have built myself a piece of equipment, I got the design from forum member of DragonDoor. It a Back Pressure Device, it's an arm-wrestling piece of training equipment, it was cheap and easy to make plus it looked (and is) like a bit of fun. So I'll check a set or two of that into my trainings.

Hope my news of my muscle-up inspires you,

Ed

oww and how could I forget thank you especially to Coach Sommer for hid simple yeteffective approach to training the muscle-up

NICE JOB EDX!

Glad to hear about the muscleup!

Best of luck with the bone issue,

-J

Well I'm giving up posting all my workouts it's too time consuming, plus I feel it's unnecessary. Anyway the Muscle Up is coming along nicely (note: thanks to Ortprod for the thanks), I can get 1 with near to no kip when fresh and sometimes 3 (heavily kipped).

Well I've changed my routine AGAIN slightly but only slightly. Now I'm doing something like this:

Pull Ups: 3x3 (developing transition)

Dips: 3x3 (developing transition)

Headstand Leg Raises: 5x3 (head raised, opening shoulder angle)

Hanging Leg Raises: 5x1

Side Arches/Hollows (oblique work): 4x3 followed by 5 second static hold

This a Quad set (i.e I get more rest between exercises)

Pistols: 4x1 (weighted, probably about 60% of my 1RM)

GHR: 4x2 (first rep is a hamstring curl the 2nd rep is a glute raise)

Frog Stand: 6x10secs

Tuck Front Lever: 6x10secs

Wall Handstand: 2x15sec

360 Pulls (advanced tuck) with Back Lever static (full): 2x2 (3 second static

I"m going to try going with this, if I start gettingover-worked (in a certain workout or overall) I'll drop the handstand and 360 pulls. A couple of things that arise from this current routine, firstly do you think it plausable to do muscle ups at the start of my workouts or do I not have the volume to properly work it by itself? and I will have to get a video of me doing a back lever to figure out the angle, cos I don't know from feel.

anyway have a good one,

Ed

Hello Ed,

You say that when you do GHRs one rep is a hamstring curl and the other one is a glute raise. Could you please explain me the diference in execution? I'm asking you this because when doing GHRs I do not feel much my glutes working; I don't know what I could be doing wrong.

Thank you.

Hi Moe,

Ok, so

the GHR. The GHR (glute-ham raise) is a hamstring curl and glute raise in one. As I do not have anything a training partner or anything I can pike on (pivot at the hips) and be anchored with. So I have to perform mine on the ground, I perform a hamstring curl which is from a kneeling position, keeping your body straight lower yourself down PIVOTING with your knees, there should be no movement in your hips and raise back up. The glute raise, is from a kneeling position pike/pivot at the hips, maintain a straight body (torso) and raise up.

The kneeling position I am referring to is, shins flat on the ground, thighs at a right angle (90 degrees) to your shins/floor with your body straight as well. Look at the video, the position the athlete is in at the end of the video that is the kneeling position. See how the first part of the movement (on the way down) is from the knees, that is the Hamstring Curl, then he pivots at his hips, that is the Glute raise. I perform my Glute raises from the kneeling position. There is probably a leverage change having bent knees instead of locked knees, you may have to hold a weight plate to make it harder.

Hi Moe,

Ok, so

the GHR. The GHR (glute-ham raise) is a hamstring curl and glute raise in one. As I do not have anything a training partner or anything I can pike on (pivot at the hips) and be anchored with. So I have to perform mine on the ground, I perform a hamstring curl which is from a kneeling position, keeping your body straight lower yourself down PIVOTING with your knees, there should be no movement in your hips and raise back up. The glute raise, is from a kneeling position pike/pivot at the hips, maintain a straight body (torso) and raise up.

The kneeling position I am referring to is, shins flat on the ground, thighs at a right angle (90 degrees) to your shins/floor with your body straight as well. Look at the video, the position the athlete is in at the end of the video that is the kneeling position. See how the first part of the movement (on the way down) is from the knees, that is the Hamstring Curl, then he pivots at his hips, that is the Glute raise. I perform my Glute raises from the kneeling position. There is probably a leverage change having bent knees instead of locked knees, you may have to hold a weight plate to make it harder.

Many thanks, Ed.

My pleasure

So I've gotten through my first complete cycle, which is awesome for me. I developed mild tendinitis in my wrist which I believe was a result of false grips and not stretching my wrists. So for the overload week I did weighted pull ups and dips instead of trying to reach the transition point. Which was a bit annoying, but not the end of the world. I am gonna take it easy on my wrists for the moment. Anyway I'm still following that general routine.

Ed

My latest routine:

- Headsatnad Leg Raises 4x2

-Pull ups (working transition) 2x3

-Dips 2x3

-Muscle ups 1x2

-Body levers 3x2

-Superman holds 3x20secs

-Pistols 2x2 each leg

-GHR 2x2

-Straight Arm Frog Stand 4x15secs

-Tuck Front Lever 3x15secs

Every second workout I do a 30 second wall handstand

Ed