Quick statics question

Alright so, after some time of reading and inspecting the situation, I've decided to seriously start training the basic static positions and go all the way with them. I don't know about manna and straddle l-sit, do you first have to be proficient in the basic l-sit for either of these?

My only question is how to best program them, because I'm not sure since I don't have the book, and I won't be able to buy it for a long time. Can I train the PL, FL, Handstand, BL and l-sit all at the same time, back to back, like in a circuit? Or should I do, for example, at one time PL and FL back to back, at another time BL and HS back to back, etc.?

Coach says you can train statics everyday, that's fine by me. I'd probably do only 6 days a week though, or whatever maybe every day depending how I feel (tired, etc.).

So another question is, how much total time should I be doing for each static each day? I'll go SSC with all of them, only doing 50% of the total time I can with each because they say here it's better that way for several reasons.

Right now I can hold the frog stand, tuck FL and HS for 30s max with correct form, so I can be doing sets of 15s for these. L-sit I think is 20s max, and BL I haven't tried yet.

Any help is appreciated.

The first thing you need to know is that every day means every workout day, not every day of the week. 4 days a week is what we are looking at here. M,T,Th,F.

You should absolutely work them all together, and they should be part of your general warm up. My personal favorite pairings are straddle L and FL, meaning that I do one set of 20-30s straddle L variation (bent leg for my warm up) and one set of 20-30s FL(advanced tuck for me). I repeat that once more, and then I do PL and manna(currently reverse push up hold), and then I do german hang for 30s and L sit for 20-30s. Each time I'm racking up 40-60s of easy-ish work for me. It's a good general warm up.

After that I'll usually do 1-2 sets of easier exercises after a 2-4 minute rest. Then I take a 2-3 minute rest and start my work sets!

FOr YOUR holds, I'd do 3 sets of 15 seconds for warm up, alternating the pairs like I do. You could run a full circuit too, but I feel more productive with the pairs. That's just a personal choice. I'd do 10s L-sit holds. Test your max once every 6-8 weeks for a single hold on these, just to see where you're at. Don't bother doing that more often, it's draining. Don't re-adjust your hold times until the end of the SSC, even if you notice your max holds have gone up.

slizzardman said:

The first thing you need to know is that every day means every workout day, not every day of the week. 4 days a week is what we are looking at here. M,T,Th,F.

Oh haha :shock:

slizzardman said:

You should absolutely work them all together, and they should be part of your general warm up. My personal favorite pairings are straddle L and FL, meaning that I do one set of 20-30s straddle L variation (bent leg for my warm up) and one set of 20-30s FL(advanced tuck for me). I repeat that once more, and then I do PL and manna(currently reverse push up hold), and then I do german hang for 30s and L sit for 20-30s. Each time I'm racking up 40-60s of easy-ish work for me. It's a good general warm up.

After that I'll usually do 1-2 sets of easier exercises after a 2-4 minute rest. Then I take a 2-3 minute rest and start my work sets!

FOr YOUR holds, I'd do 3 sets of 15 seconds for warm up, alternating the pairs like I do. You could run a full circuit too, but I feel more productive with the pairs. That's just a personal choice. I'd do 10s L-sit holds. Test your max once every 6-8 weeks for a single hold on these, just to see where you're at. Don't bother doing that more often, it's draining. Don't re-adjust your hold times until the end of the SSC, even if you notice your max holds have gone up.

Ok. But how much total time should I do? Would doing a lot be bad?

And when I start with the SSC, I have to stick with the same time in sets for 4 weeks or 6-8? And then what?

Steady state will be 12-16 weeks, which is 3-4 months. many times 12 weeks is enough, especially if you did a good job of selecting work set times.

At first, 60s total time per static position may be too much. I'm personally a bit wary of doing more than 4 sets in the warm up, but they should be fairly easy sets so it shouldn't matter too much. Eventually you should be doing 60s total per hold, so 6 minutes of total work time for warm up. Doesn't sound like much, does it? You should be able to complete this part of your warm up in 15 minutes or less, realistically. If you can't, it'll be because you need more rest, and that will be because you are working too hard.

In the beginning, you'll have to be realistic about what you can do. I'd suggest starting off with 4 sets of everything, meaning you'll be doing 60s total each hold of PL, German Hang, and FL. You'll be doing 40s total of L sit, and probably 30-40s of straddle L sit. For Manna, start off with reverse push up holds. That's just a push up position with your back facing the floor instead of your stomach. You'll be trying to lift your chest to the ceiling and push against the floor with your hands and straight arms. I suggest doing this with fingers backward for stability and preparing the wrists for heavy loading in the future.

Keep in mind that if you aren't feeling super hot and saucy on a particular day, you can split your warm up sets between the progression you usually use and something easier. 2 sets L sit and 2 sets bent leg L sit is much easier on you, and while that shouldn't be standard practice you should absolutely listen to your body when it is fatigued.

slizzardman said:

Steady state will be 12-16 weeks, which is 3-4 months. many times 12 weeks is enough, especially if you did a good job of selecting work set times.

3 to 4 months? Coach says on his article Building an olympic body: "Be prepared to spend at least six months at these exercises to work through the various progressions. What?! Six months?! Yes, that’s right, at least six months."

He says in 6 months you'll be "working through the various progressions", meaning that you will be doing more than 1 progression/variation during that time period, and it doesn't sound like doing the exact same thing for 3-4 months will do that. Are you sure about this? I know I don't know anything about this, but this looks contradictory.

slizzardman said:

At first, 60s total time per static position may be too much.

You kidding me? When I first tried doing it 50% I did more than 4 sets, I did like 6.

slizzardman said:

Eventually you should be doing 60s total per hold, so 6 minutes of total work time for warm up. Doesn't sound like much, does it? You should be able to complete this part of your warm up in 15 minutes or less, realistically. If you can't, it'll be because you need more rest, and that will be because you are working too hard.

When will this eventuality be, exactly? After 3-4 months? Or after a month?

3 to 4 months? Coach says on his article Building an olympic body: "Be prepared to spend at least six months at these exercises to work through the various progressions. What?! Six months?! Yes, that’s right, at least six months."

He says in 6 months you'll be "working through the various progressions", meaning that you will be doing more than 1 progression/variation during that time period, and it doesn't sound like doing the exact same thing for 3-4 months will do that. Are you sure about this? I know I don't know anything about this, but this looks contradictory.

That's 3-4 months per steady state cycle, not per progression. At the end of the SSC, you retest hold and either increase hold time or move to harder progression. For me, it took several SSC's before I was ready to move to the next varation.

Enchiridion said:

slizzardman said:

Steady state will be 12-16 weeks, which is 3-4 months. many times 12 weeks is enough, especially if you did a good job of selecting work set times.

3 to 4 months? Coach says on his article Building an olympic body: "Be prepared to spend at least six months at these exercises to work through the various progressions. What?! Six months?! Yes, that’s right, at least six months."

He says in 6 months you'll be "working through the various progressions", meaning that you will be doing more than 1 progression/variation during that time period, and it doesn't sound like doing the exact same thing for 3-4 months will do that. Are you sure about this? I know I don't know anything about this, but this looks contradictory.

slizzardman said:

At first, 60s total time per static position may be too much.

You kidding me? When I first tried doing it 50% I did more than 4 sets, I did like 6.

slizzardman said:

Eventually you should be doing 60s total per hold, so 6 minutes of total work time for warm up. Doesn't sound like much, does it? You should be able to complete this part of your warm up in 15 minutes or less, realistically. If you can't, it'll be because you need more rest, and that will be because you are working too hard.

When will this eventuality be, exactly? After 3-4 months? Or after a month?

He is introducing to people the concept that you can not become superman in one year. Certain progressions can go fairly quickly, like L sit and for stronger people like me the Front lever. Planche and back lever go slowly because they are all about bicep tendon conditioning, not just muscular strength. That goes at different rates for different people. Those who are starting from scratch should not expect to master either of those in less than 2 years, realistically, though BL will almost certainly come before planche. There are some supremely gifted athletes who can learn a proper planche in less than a year, perhaps, but that is extremely rare.

You will spend however long you spend. There is no answer except the one YOU find for that question. There are people here who have been struggling to advance to straddle Front Lever for over a year, and I have achieved full lay in less than 6 months. There is no way any of us could have predicted that. Your experience will not be like anyone else's here. The best advice you can take is to focus on mastering the position you are currently working on and to not think about moving to the next position at all. You can not move to flat tuck until you master the tuck. You can not move to straddle until you master the flat tuck. If you focus on getting to straddle when you are in tuck, you will always feel frustrated. You must focus on mastering the tuck, and enjoying that process. Then, when you've mastered the tuck(meaning you can easily do a 60 second set) you can start working on the advanced tuck.

slizzardman said:

Enchiridion said:

slizzardman said:

Steady state will be 12-16 weeks, which is 3-4 months. many times 12 weeks is enough, especially if you did a good job of selecting work set times.

3 to 4 months? Coach says on his article Building an olympic body: "Be prepared to spend at least six months at these exercises to work through the various progressions. What?! Six months?! Yes, that’s right, at least six months."

He says in 6 months you'll be "working through the various progressions", meaning that you will be doing more than 1 progression/variation during that time period, and it doesn't sound like doing the exact same thing for 3-4 months will do that. Are you sure about this? I know I don't know anything about this, but this looks contradictory.

slizzardman said:

At first, 60s total time per static position may be too much.

You kidding me? When I first tried doing it 50% I did more than 4 sets, I did like 6.

slizzardman said:

Eventually you should be doing 60s total per hold, so 6 minutes of total work time for warm up. Doesn't sound like much, does it? You should be able to complete this part of your warm up in 15 minutes or less, realistically. If you can't, it'll be because you need more rest, and that will be because you are working too hard.

When will this eventuality be, exactly? After 3-4 months? Or after a month?

He is introducing to people the concept that you can not become superman in one year. Certain progressions can go fairly quickly, like L sit and for stronger people like me the Front lever. Planche and back lever go slowly because they are all about bicep tendon conditioning, not just muscular strength. That goes at different rates for different people. Those who are starting from scratch should not expect to master either of those in less than 2 years, realistically, though BL will almost certainly come before planche. There are some supremely gifted athletes who can learn a proper planche in less than a year, perhaps, but that is extremely rare.

You will spend however long you spend. There is no answer except the one YOU find for that question. There are people here who have been struggling to advance to straddle Front Lever for over a year, and I have achieved full lay in less than 6 months. There is no way any of us could have predicted that. Your experience will not be like anyone else's here. The best advice you can take is to focus on mastering the position you are currently working on and to not think about moving to the next position at all. You can not move to flat tuck until you master the tuck. You can not move to straddle until you master the flat tuck. If you focus on getting to straddle when you are in tuck, you will always feel frustrated. You must focus on mastering the tuck, and enjoying that process. Then, when you've mastered the tuck(meaning you can easily do a 60 second set) you can start working on the advanced tuck.

Alright, I almost get it now. But now it seems I don't fully know what the SSC really is. I googled it and all I found was what I had already read in a thread here, which doesn't say much. So what exactly is it?

I just need to know when to start adding more time, and when to check if I can hold it perfectly for 60s. You confused me when you said I should stick with it for 3-4 months. Does that mean that I should stick with for example doing sets of 15s FL and PL for 3 months?

Please be patient with me! I'm new to all this lol.

You do the SSC for 8-12 weeks, then you retest your maxes and adjust your worksets by that.

Enchiridion said:

I just need to know when to start adding more time, and when to check if I can hold it perfectly for 60s. You confused me when you said I should stick with it for 3-4 months. Does that mean that I should stick with for example doing sets of 15s FL and PL for 3 months?

Please be patient with me! I'm new to all this lol.

Yes, you will do 15 second holds for 2-3 months. You may find that is not enough time. Those numbers are GUIDELINES, not solid rules. You do the 15s holds until they feel way too easy for a month or so. For most people that's around 12 weeks. For some, 8, for some it's longer than 12. Do not try to improve your position, just keep holding the exact same position. That's why it's important to use good form when taking your max. Every improvement you make increases the difficulty, and the idea is to let your body adapt to a CONSTANT difficulty. Remember, you're doing a bunch of other work. This is not the focus of your effort.

Obviously, everyone who start gymnastic training want to know how exactly time he need to spent to master some of the exercises. But this is a matter of patience, hard work, individual physics and of course a good program to stick with. If you rush, you will injure yourself. In order not to repeat it, read again the last Slizzardman answer. Believe me, in the beginning i try to find some shortcuts but instead of making progress, I was walking backwards, so there is no such a thing.

slizzardman said:

Enchiridion said:

I just need to know when to start adding more time, and when to check if I can hold it perfectly for 60s. You confused me when you said I should stick with it for 3-4 months. Does that mean that I should stick with for example doing sets of 15s FL and PL for 3 months?

Please be patient with me! I'm new to all this lol.

Yes, you will do 15 second holds for 2-3 months. You may find that is not enough time. Those numbers are GUIDELINES, not solid rules. You do the 15s holds until they feel way too easy for a month or so. For most people that's around 12 weeks. For some, 8, for some it's longer than 12. Do not try to improve your position, just keep holding the exact same position. That's why it's important to use good form when taking your max. Every improvement you make increases the difficulty, and the idea is to let your body adapt to a CONSTANT difficulty. Remember, you're doing a bunch of other work. This is not the focus of your effort.

So how did you almost get a full FL in less than 6 months?

He injured himself

I was strong as hell already! lol! I'm totally serious.

I had been doing body levers for well over three years, just for fun, I actually thought I made them up until I read a bruce lee training book a while back. I was pretty strong in pull ups, I mean my personal best was BW+120 lbs for 10 reps. I was benching 235 (10 lbs more than my bodyweight) for almost 20 reps, I was deadlifting 505, and I was curling 165. I was far, far from being a beginner in strength training.

This actually worked against me, because I saw everything purely as strength, when there are other concerns as well. I had a momentary straddle planche around the same time, and my elbows were nowhere NEAR ready for the strain. My biceps tendon was simply not strong enough yet, and I rapidly built up some serious tendonitis/osis that prevented me from working hard FL and ANY BL, German hangs, or planche work for a little more than 6 months. I have spent the last 5 months taking it slow and building my bicep tendons up. I still don't have a perfect advanced frog stand, but I can do them with arms straight for 20s sets without pain or any kind of discomfort or other weirdness. That's a big step forward. Because I WAS so strong, my muscles were capable of holding positions that I had not prepared my connective tissue for. You'll have to do some independent study on joint angles and forces if you want to really understand the specifics, because that's just too long of an explanation and requires a lot of background knowledge to do you any good, and that is simply something you have to get for yourself.

I remember you asking me about advanced frog before and I don't know if I answered. It wasn't in Coach's article, but it is a really great position to train before trying tuck planche, because it is much easier on the shoulders and elbows. The advanced frog stand is the beginning of straight arm conditioning. It's different than the planche lean, which you should also practice, because you are ONLY on your hands. This builds a lot more balance and wrist strength than the planche lean.

Lavastine said:

He injured himself

Lol, hell yea I did, and a pretty bad one too. But that was from being way too aggressive with the planche and always trying to push forward instead of mastering the position I was in. Front lever had nothing to do with it.

slizzardman said:

I was strong as hell already! lol! I'm totally serious.

I had been doing body levers for well over three years, just for fun, I actually thought I made them up until I read a bruce lee training book a while back. I was pretty strong in pull ups, I mean my personal best was BW+120 lbs for 10 reps. I was benching 235 (10 lbs more than my bodyweight) for almost 20 reps, I was deadlifting 505, and I was curling 165. I was far, far from being a beginner in strength training.

This actually worked against me, because I saw everything purely as strength, when there are other concerns as well. I had a momentary straddle planche around the same time, and my elbows were nowhere NEAR ready for the strain. My biceps tendon was simply not strong enough yet, and I rapidly built up some serious tendonitis/osis that prevented me from working hard FL and ANY BL, German hangs, or planche work for a little more than 6 months. I have spent the last 5 months taking it slow and building my bicep tendons up. I still don't have a perfect advanced frog stand, but I can do them with arms straight for 20s sets without pain or any kind of discomfort or other weirdness. That's a big step forward. Because I WAS so strong, my muscles were capable of holding positions that I had not prepared my connective tissue for. You'll have to do some independent study on joint angles and forces if you want to really understand the specifics, because that's just too long of an explanation and requires a lot of background knowledge to do you any good, and that is simply something you have to get for yourself.

I see.

I'm not that much of a beginner either, I mean, I'm not like those people who can't even do 3-5 dips or pullups with correct form, or that can't even begin to imagine doing a partial HSPU (the one done on the floor, I can do like 4 of these right now since it's been a while since I did them), or that can't even do an l-sit, and I'm talking about relatively "normal" people, not fat or weaklings that obviously won't be able to do any of that; that's just not the case with me. Obviously my levels are zero compared to any of you guys, but what I'm just trying to say is that you shouldn't think that I'm a complete beginner, which may cause you to maybe tell me to go too slow or softer than what I really should be doing.

slizzardman said:

I remember you asking me about advanced frog before and I don't know if I answered. It wasn't in Coach's article, but it is a really great position to train before trying tuck planche, because it is much easier on the shoulders and elbows. The advanced frog stand is the beginning of straight arm conditioning. It's different than the planche lean, which you should also practice, because you are ONLY on your hands. This builds a lot more balance and wrist strength than the planche lean.

Yeah, you hadn't answered, it was in one of the PM's. What I had said was that, you said that this position (adv. frog) was a "must" before even attempting the tuck PL, and I pointed out that Coach didn't even mention it in Building an Olympic Body, he just said to go from frog to tuck.

Speaking about biceps conditioning for the PL, will the PL progressions really work them a lot? Won't this depend on your hand positioning? I mean, is there really that much strain on them if your fingers are pointing straight forward?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Sorry to be a bug up the ass, but just to clarify: you said I should be doing only 60s of total time in the work sets for each static, meaning 4 sets for some and 6 for others, for each day that I train them? That's all I'm going to be doing each day I train them?

And another thing. Let's say that for whatever reason I decide to only train 1 static for that moment in the day (not for the whole day obviously), without pairing another one. Let's say I only do the FL (or either one for that matter): how much rest should I take between sets? Tonight I tried this, because the floor in the place I just installed my rings is very dirty and I'll clean it tomorrow so I didn't want to be doing the frog on that floor tonight, so I only did the FL. I just took 1 minute between each set and I did like 7 sets, 15s each. I felt like I could do a few more but I stopped there because I had to go.

Enchiridion said:

I see.

I'm not that much of a beginner either, I mean, I'm not like those people who can't even do 3-5 dips or pullups with correct form, or that can't even begin to imagine doing a partial HSPU (the one done on the floor, I can do like 4 of these right now since it's been a while since I did them), or that can't even do an l-sit, and I'm talking about relatively "normal" people, not fat or weaklings that obviously won't be able to do any of that; that's just not the case with me. Obviously my levels are zero compared to any of you guys, but what I'm just trying to say is that you shouldn't think that I'm a complete beginner, which may cause you to maybe tell me to go too slow or softer than what I really should be doing.

No way man! I'm doing EXACTLY what I'm passing along to you. It works! I think that when following the WODs correctly it won't really even be necessary to screw with the volume. In the past, I have recommended that when people hit a sticking point they up the volume a bit on certain holds, but that turns the hold itself into something of a workout. You could do something like that once a week if there's a particular position you're interested in, but I would limit that to the L-sits and FL. PL, BL, and manna work are really hard on the elbows and I would stick with 60s. I firmly believe, both just from training knowledge and a week and a half ( not much) of following the WODs that you will build the balanced strength that you NEED to keep making steady progress with the holds.

slizzardman said:

I remember you asking me about advanced frog before and I don't know if I answered. It wasn't in Coach's article, but it is a really great position to train before trying tuck planche, because it is much easier on the shoulders and elbows. The advanced frog stand is the beginning of straight arm conditioning. It's different than the planche lean, which you should also practice, because you are ONLY on your hands. This builds a lot more balance and wrist strength than the planche lean.

Yeah, you hadn't answered, it was in one of the PM's. What I had said was that, you said that this position (adv. frog) was a "must" before even attempting the tuck PL, and I pointed out that Coach didn't even mention it in Building an Olympic Body, he just said to go from frog to tuck.

Speaking about biceps conditioning for the PL, will the PL progressions really work them a lot? Won't this depend on your hand positioning? I mean, is there really that much strain on them if your fingers are pointing straight forward?

Yea, adv frog wasn't in Coach's article. Why, no idea! It has helped a LOT of us here make the transition to tuck. I was strong enough to go straight to tuck when I first started, but look where that got me lol! I'm almost 230 lbs. That's just a lot of strain on the elbows, and I should have been smarter about transitioning to the tuck. I hurt my elbows with my fingers forward, if that gives you any idea. Take your time, especially with straight arm work that depend son the biceps tendon.

Oh, PL works them pretty good even with fingers pretty forward, but there IS a huge difference between fingers forward and fingers to the sides, and fingers back. Back lever is also very hard on the biceps tendon when done properly (palms down), and when you get your book you'll see what Coach has to say about BL. It is important.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Sorry to be a bug up the ass, but just to clarify: you said I should be doing only 60s of total time in the work sets for each static, meaning 4 sets for some and 6 for others, for each day that I train them? That's all I'm going to be doing each day I train them?

And another thing. Let's say that for whatever reason I decide to only train 1 static for that moment in the day (not for the whole day obviously), without pairing another one. Let's say I only do the FL (or either one for that matter): how much rest should I take between sets? Tonight I tried this, because the floor in the place I just installed my rings is very dirty and I'll clean it tomorrow so I didn't want to be doing the frog on that floor tonight, so I only did the FL. I just took 1 minute between each set and I did like 7 sets, 15s each. I felt like I could do a few more but I stopped there because I had to go.

You've got it! 60s total, per hold, each day that you train them. That's it. That will seem weird and perhaps wrong until you get rid of the idea that you have to work out as hard as you can in order to make progress. Don't worry, it's something that most everyone here has to deal with. It was hard for me.

Sounds like you've got yourself a good schedule if you felt good with 1 minute rests! I would stop at 4 sets of 15s if I were you, because you should be doing other work during the day (WODs), and when you're working 4 days a week it adds up quickly. You may not feel it the second week, but by the end of the month you'll feel yourself wearing down, and that shouldn't happen. You're supposed to be doing all the statics to maintain strength balance, so if for some reason you can't just put down towels or something on the floor you'll want to hit what you missed on an off day. Doing them all in one session also forces you to use the correct intensity. When you're doing FL by itself it's easy to work a bit harder than you should, because you're not using any energy for anything else! I've been there and done that, and short term progress can be good, but it's not the best for long-term. You give up a lot of progress in other areas, and that leads to unintentional imbalances that slow you down in the long run and make it easier to get hurt.

FL, L sit, and straddle L are going to be the statics you can afford to hit with extra volume like that once in a while, if it makes you happy and doesn't interfere with your overall progress, but not at the expense of training balance. Do not add extra volume on exercises that require the biceps tendon to carry the load in a straight arm position. That's asking to get hurt.

Also, make sure your shoulder blades are retracted in the FL!

Alright so now I understand how this works, but there's another thing:

- Let's say that you try your max holds after a month, and let's say that you started with 30s max but now you can do 45 or 50 seconds tops: how will the sets be now that you can hold it for more time?

- And, Coach says that you should stick with just 60s total for each static for each day, just 1 minute a day for each, but what if you decide to do 3 minutes a day? or 2 or 4? In the case of the FL, doing the 4 15s sets 3 or 4 times a day? Would that be too much? Would you get hurt? What could happen?

Stick with around 1 minutes total for each FSP. Every once in a while you can do more but again the statics themselves are not supposed to be the workout.

For the other question, that's when you move onto a harder progression and start over with 4x15 or 6x10 or however it ends up being divided.

Lavastine said:

Stick with around 1 minutes total for each FSP. Every once in a while you can do more but again the statics themselves are not supposed to be the workout.

For the other question, that's when you move onto a harder progression and start over with 4x15 or 6x10 or however it ends up being divided.

Well what if you want to make the statics the workout or a workout too? Does that work?

If you want to have those positions as part of workout then go to the basic, ring and dynamic strength sections and look up cranks,360 pulls, bowers and gallimores and do those instead. They will build a much more balanced and useful base of power.

Enchiridion said:

Lavastine said:

Stick with around 1 minutes total for each FSP. Every once in a while you can do more but again the statics themselves are not supposed to be the workout.

For the other question, that's when you move onto a harder progression and start over with 4x15 or 6x10 or however it ends up being divided.

Well what if you want to make the statics the workout or a workout too? Does that work?

If you want the statics themselves to be the workout then you do not understand the purpose of the statics, the inherent limitations of the body, and/or you are not intending to make good long-term progress in your fitness quest.

slizzardman said:

Enchiridion said:

Lavastine said:

Stick with around 1 minutes total for each FSP. Every once in a while you can do more but again the statics themselves are not supposed to be the workout.

For the other question, that's when you move onto a harder progression and start over with 4x15 or 6x10 or however it ends up being divided.

Well what if you want to make the statics the workout or a workout too? Does that work?

If you want the statics themselves to be the workout then you do not understand the purpose of the statics, the inherent limitations of the body, and/or you are not intending to make good long-term progress in your fitness quest.

So the first progression of the statics, can't be used as a workout? You have to wait till you can do the harder variations?

You can do the statics as a separate session, but they should still be the same low intensity. It doesn't matter what progression you are on, if you can't do it for at least 15-20s max you really shouldn't be training it, with the exception of the very first progressions. They are so easy that even if they are challenging at first, they will not drain you too bad. Besides, if all the first progressions are a challenge to where even that is difficult, you're not strong enough to do very much of anything and have to focus on even easier work. Basic beginning push up progressions, etc.

Ok I just had 1 final question: is it also alright to train the statics separately, like 1 at a time? FL at one time, PL at another, etc.? Does this work the same as opposed to doing them all at one time?