WOD - 100803

My fellow Josh, I pair my statics. I actually filmed it not that long ago, so that I could put it up as an example. I just haven't edited the film yet.

I do straddle L and FL together, so I'll do one 20-30s set of straddle L( bent), then a 20s set of advanced tuck FL. Usually not 90/90 unless I'm feeling super good. You'll be surprised how far below your max you can work and still actually make good progress on strength. After two rounds of that I'll usually take 30-60s breather, then I do planche and manna which translates to advanced frog x 30s followed by 60s reverse push up, followed by another 30s advanced frog. Then I take another minute breather or so, even though I'm not particularly tired. Last up is German Hang(back lever pre-req) and L-sit. I do 30s German and 20s L-sit.

Sometimes at the end of the workout I'll do one more set of FL and L-sit, if those muscles weren't wrecked. Today ( August 5th), I will not be doing a third set of FL because this is a pulling workout and I don't think it's necessary OR particularly helpful.

Wow, ok. So, if I read correctly, you are doing much longer sets of easier variations, making the 60s much faster to get to. I was doing very short sets of 6-10s for most of my holds, going by half of my max, and then intending to switch to the next variation when hitting the 15s mark. What are the benefits/cons of doing longer sets(more than 15s) at an easier variation?

I'm planning on doing L-sit(18s max), FL tuck(15s max), BL tuck(20s max), and Tuck PL(12s max). I'll probably pair Lsit with FL, and BL with the PL, but should I go back to adv. Frog for a longer set since I'd only be doing sets of 6s with a tuck? It's so helpful to receive alternate views/ideas of implementing coaches stuff.

If I were you, I'd do 1-2 sets of half your max at least 2 of the days for those harder variations, and then finish the 60s with 1-2 longer sets of an easier variation. What you're talking about (10 sets of 6 seconds, for example) will consume an awful lot of your energy, and your WOD, which is where your strength gains are primarily being made, will suffer.

I've found that all of my abilities are getting better faster, and I am not experiencing any undue tiredness, by taking this approach. I do not believe this to be the result of some sort of freak genetics on my part, though there is obviously SOME possibility of that. This approach has worked for a lot of people once they've tried it, from what I've gathered through discussions over the last few months since the seminar. Because the same positions are being performed so often they should be approached with a GTG mentality, meaning that you are not working on something that is in the An-1 category, because that's too intense. You'll overburden your CNS and your training will suffer. I think, but I do not know for sure, that one day a week of just doing that harder static work may be good for you, but if you do that the other three days should absolutely be 100% lower intensity, no hard sets at all. It is warm up. Remember that! Warm up!

As far as trying to progress at the 15 second mark, I'll go ahead and pencil you in on the injured list. You'll be there if you try that. For everything through Advanced tuck on FL, BL and PL you need 60s before moving on. Once you're working straddle, one steady state cycle of 10-15s work sets may be enough to prepare you for half lay or maybe full lay, but that's a whole different world. Right now you're in the foundational stage of development, and the straddle and full lay are past that. Gymnasts consider them all foundational since they are much easier than the advanced ring strength, but that is within the context of gymnastics. As far as your body is concerned, you need to take it slow and allow the tissue adaptations to take place. To give you an idea, it took Dillon 3 years to condition his biceps tendons to the point where he was ok working the full lay straight arm stuff without pain or anything. He's 145 lbs. I expect it to take me, at 225 lbs, closer to 5 years. This is not something you can do overnight, or in half a year, or anything like that. If you don't prepare your body properly, you'll get hurt and stay hurt until you get things straight, and you'll lose a lot of training time in the process.

These are not alternative ideas, this is pretty much how Coach has his athletes progress. 60s through advanced tuck, and at that point they are well conditioned enough to where straddle isn't a huge burden on their tendons, and 3-6 months later it seems that a lot of them are ready to start implementing the full lay work. That isn't going to hold true for everyone, and you shouldn't expect it to, but it is good to know what the time scales are for the younger athletes. Their bodies heal faster than ours and they are lighter than we are, so there is less stress in these extreme positions. It is very important to remember that, and adjust your expectations of yourself accordingly.

I studied up on that last post today at work . Tons of good, and more importantly, useful information. I was confused about the 15s vs. 60s graduation time as the BtGB essay coach wrote says 60s, but in the program design portion of the book he states, "When you are capable of performing a static hold for longer than 15s, you should proceed onward to the next harder variation; provided you can hold that new variation for at least 3-5s." So, needless to say, I was a little lost there. This also goes in line with the age thing however, as the very young might be able to handle a much shorter hold time for moving up.

As for me, yes when I was doing those 10x6s sets of tuck planches it was harsh. I was doing a complete static day alternated with a strength day then so it wasn't too awful. Anyways, I had a quick eccentric question for you. I'm doing most of my dipping at work and today I did negatives about 8s with only a little extra weight(small bag and shoes) as I'm still working on stretching my chest/shoulders at that bottommost point. You mentioned to only do about 3 of these....does that mean it's ok to do more than 1 set, just keep it to 3 reps, or just 3 reps total? I'm doing gtg so my sets aren't back to back. I just don't want to overdo it as you said these will destroy me without letting me know .

always gracious,

tanstaafl

TANSTAAFL said:

I studied up on that last post today at work . Tons of good, and more importantly, useful information. I was confused about the 15s vs. 60s graduation time as the BtGB essay coach wrote says 60s, but in the program design portion of the book he states, "When you are capable of performing a static hold for longer than 15s, you should proceed onward to the next harder variation; provided you can hold that new variation for at least 3-5s." So, needless to say, I was a little lost there. This also goes in line with the age thing however, as the very young might be able to handle a much shorter hold time for moving up.

As for me, yes when I was doing those 10x6s sets of tuck planches it was harsh. I was doing a complete static day alternated with a strength day then so it wasn't too awful. Anyways, I had a quick eccentric question for you. I'm doing most of my dipping at work and today I did negatives about 8s with only a little extra weight(small bag and shoes) as I'm still working on stretching my chest/shoulders at that bottommost point. You mentioned to only do about 3 of these....does that mean it's ok to do more than 1 set, just keep it to 3 reps, or just 3 reps total? I'm doing gtg so my sets aren't back to back. I just don't want to overdo it as you said these will destroy me without letting me know .

always gracious,

tanstaafl

I am pretty sure you can not successfully GTG negatives, for one thing. Just doing negatives defeats the purpose of GTG, for one thing, and submaximal negatives are not very productive. Performing a long stretch at the bottom of the dip is the best way to prepare your chest and shoulders for that end ROM.

I would keep your volume low on negatives when you do them. They are only going to help when you're working past your concentric or static capacity, which means they're going to be fairly high intensity. You're going to have a lot of healing to do after the slow negatives, which is why I don't personally use them. I have never found that practice to be useful in my training, but then again I'm not a bodybuilder. They are the only people who really have a "thing" for negatives in training. I wouldn't do more than two sets of 3 negatives, personally, but I encourage you to experiment on your own. Just don't push too far, you aren't trying to prove anything.