start from scratch

Not much new to report, I'm sticking to my reserve plan 3 times a week. I'm improving pretty well on HLL, first reps can easily go to 120°. L-sit is also getting better, I can hold a quite decent supported 90° one on rings for few seconds when fresh but still working it on PB. Dips and pullups are also getting easier, still it seems impossible to nail a FL or PL at this rate of progression. I tested BL and FL, I think I can start introducing BL work soon though I'm not ready to implement FL work or PL. Ring support are now not so shaky and I have to dig the forum to see what's the next IC prehab work.

In the past 2 weeks I didn't have much energy to work out, too busy packing, moving, unpacking stuff, assembling furniture and so on, moving to a new flat is probably the worst way to spend 2 weeks off from the office.

Too much overeating as well, I've gained 1-2 kg and I still don't see my body supple, I'm so very stiff. I need to pay much more attention to flexibility and agility.

frankly, I was hoping for better improvements, let me articulate better. I started focusing on strength and gymnastic training since the end of august, I had (actually having) many physical issues (back, wrist, shoulder) which forced me to put some modification to the planned program both in terms of frequency and exercise, still if I take pull ups as a guideline I'm disappointed.

I started not being able to perform 5*5 strict full ROM PU (it was 5-5-3-3-2) back then, yet 3 months later in this very exercise which I performed in most of the work out, I'm pretty far from finding 5*5 not even challenging, as this is the requirement in order to progress to the next harder variation. The last few reps are still a struggle!!

This, talking about one (among the very few) exercise I could perform right from the start, things like box hspu are still so hard and so bad in form that I haven't included in my routine yet.

At this rate of improvements It will take me ages, if ever, to only accomplish a back lever, three months of hard training and I'm not even on step one of the progression, I'm still on prerequisites like german hang and supported hold.

Though even if I'm not able to train like a gymnast and performing like one is the wildest dream, looking like one seems pretty much a reality. Which probably what keeps me going...

here's today work out, lunch break at the fitness outdoor course as it stays below 0 most of the day and day light time is so short.

biking there and along stations (pretty rough and muddy, fun!)

10' rope skipping

3*30 assisted full squat

5*5 PB dips

4*15s PB L-sit (not square yet)

3*30s ring support (easier as ring's chain are short)

4*15s ring hang L-sit (square)

4*15s 360 piked pulls to german hang hold

5*5 Pullups with 5s chin to bar hold

5*10 hanging leg lift to 90°

exercises' recovery with various mobility and stretch

In the end, start following GB WOD is still beyond my abilities. I have no clue on how to be effective in finding doable substitutes.

as I just posted in answer to a question on overtraining:

I see overtraining and underrecovery as 2 sides of the same coin. you have to balance the two, or injuries are inevitable. I primarily fight the lack of quality sleep in my ability to recover. for you, it seems it's primarily the ravages of time and a somewhat... enthusiastically aggressive sporting history!!

for all of us though, you can only do what your body will allow. if you're using all of the recovery techniques available to you to the best of your ability, the only thing left to maintain balance is reduce volume and/or intensity; doing one's best to listen to your body along the way.

I've also been dialling things back somewhat intuitively to try to keep the balance; so I think you're on the right track. while it'd be nice to be busting out all the "cool tricks" ASAP, it's not a race, so... who cares if it takes a little longer? :|

thanks for your support pat, is just that I'm looking so forward to the moment that I'll be able to do things like FL and PL that I'd like to work out more and more.

I did wed and sat WO at the local primary school gym (where I teach kids to play rugby), which happens to be just the perfect place for GB WOD, that's also why I'm so impatience to get over my back issues...

some warm up cycling there plus joint mobility.

playing with statics for WU, nothing really structured, just throwing in wall HS, PL frog stand, FL tuck, hollow, etc

3*30 full ROM supported squats

5*10 HLL half

3*30s RTO support

4*15s PB L-sit

5*5 PB dips

5*5 XR curl

4*15s RTO german hang /360 piked pull

4*15s XR hang L-sit

5*5 PU

(only wed)

5*5 box HeSPU

5*5 XR PushUps

5*5 XR row elevated

(only sat)

4*15s BL tuck

today (monday) gym class starts after the xmas break, so, tonight another intense work out, I have to try out my new ring grips, hope not to look ridiculous (pro grips but ability of a 6yo kid) still my hands are begging for mercy...

I enjoyed getting back at the gym class, having the opportunity to train along siro bortolin (the former junior swiss champion), alessandro dang (an accomplished gymnast-freestyler) and some other outstanding guys is always inspiring and humbling. Doing my sets of dips, pull ups and german hang while they're flying around is like being po in kung fu panda!!

I didn't get a chance to join the class on monday and I didn't work out last week-end as well, still I want to get 3 done this week starting with gym class tonight.

As for my back things are bad, yesterday the neurosurgeon told me that MRI showed clearly what's causing me pain, it's a quite big cyst beside the herniated L4-L5 disc which is pressing against the dural sac. It's seems that I have either to live with it or to remove it surgically, which frankly scares me. Let's see how it goes from now on as conservative measures are pretty useless. WOW... I AM A WRECK!! Listing my injuries and health problem will make me look ready for Charon...

Anyway thinking of giving WOD a try at this point, just to test how far I can go... I then start building intensity and frequency for the next 6-8 weeks as I guess I'm not ready to jump in after taking it so easy for the past few months.

Damn!! Mate, that really sucks!! I can understand the reluctance with respect to spinal surgery. But I guess the decision needs to be balanced with just how much mobility you're giving up without the surgery and how willing you are to accept that.

Personally (given I'm no longer a youngster) a long and healthy life are more important to me than athletic supremacy, so I'd err on the side of caution, also.

I think the WOD would do most everyone more good than trying to piece things together oneself; but many, including myself, do struggle sometimes to intelligently scale things down appropriately to our strength and skill levels. If you do start it, you might want to do as I'm considering and run a week or so behind, so that you can leverage other people's discoveries regarding scaling.

cheers mate for your kind words, I like to share this journey with someone, especially a qlder.

yea, I'm thinking that if I won't have to swallow tons of painkillers every few months it's then something I can live with. I mean I can manage ordinary task, I'm more active than most people at my age and fitter then I think it's wise to leave surgery as a last resort.

that's for sure, at least a week behind, maybe even more, proper scaling is one of the reasons why I thought I wasn't ready for WOD when I started GB work out back in september.

last night I run, jumped, roll, stretch I mean I trained freely and luckily today I'm not in pain, which isn't a bad sign after all.

so if everything goes fine, my on-ramp weeks will eventually lead me to the point where I'll be doing skill work at gym class on mon and wed (fixed days and time) and 4 GB WOD, probably scheduled as tue-thu-sat-sun, which will leave me fri as a rest day.

Hopefully.

wow it seems that instead of getting fitter I'm getting weaker!!

I only had the chance to join gym class once a week for the past 2 weeks. I then last friday had the very bad idea to join my rugby club for a training, something I really miss emotionally, well, besides looking good and not having back issues (the important thing), ain't anymore the one I used to be. SAD!

I had to recover both on sat and sun which meant no 3rd workout in the week. Doesn't matter though, I will workout 3 times this one or even 4 if I fell good on sunday. To summing up this week:

monday:

gym class. mobility, PB and SR skills, then stretching.

thursday (today lunch break):

@fitness parkour

biking there and up the hill to the PB, then running around 3 times stopping at PB, HB and SR to do the usual strenght exercises. Kinda of a easy GB WOD's rounds. the fun part was biking downhill!!

saturday:

I will workout at the gym where I coach kids.

sunday:

same as saturday if not too tired.

good, everything went as planned, I did workout both on sat and sun. Tonight I have gym class as well.

workout were the same as usual:

4*15s on BL tuck, FL tuck, PB L-sit, and german hang (improvments are just on form of execution)

5*5 on PU, dips, XR rows, XR pushups, XR inverted curl, box HSPU

5*10 HLL

today I don't have timeto write a detailed log.

I am improving, tonight at the gym I've nailed my FIRST MUSCLE UP!! yuppee I'm very happy, lets say that it took me six months from some dips and pull ups to the mighty muscle up. next step: BACK LEVER.

Congratulations!!!

Awesome!! Congrats, mate.

Congratz mate!!! That is some bragging rights

thanks guys, that's been just my first goal, I'm now aiming to BL by june.

Wednesday gym class was a bit disappointing though, I wasn't able to repeat that effort, I felt weak all night just like today. Unfortunately I was far too late last night, consequently I practically had an almost sleepless night, which means that I'm going to skip the planned work out. Hope to be ok for tomorrow.

It took me few days to bring back my sleep-awake cycle to a substainable level. Had to skip the weekend workouts as well and I ended up doing just 2 training last week. Good news is that I finally move my gym from the garage to the flat, I'm very happy with it, it looks neat and pretty cool. Just in case I'm now able to post vids for digital coaching.

Mon and Wed training at the gym went well, I mean I didn't get injured or had to skip it so I'm happy just by doing those. I'm not very much in a position to do WOD or anything else on my own when I'm there, I then have to work out at home, after all that's why I have moved the gear up in the flat, it's now all set. I'm going to do some exercise-equipment testing in the next few days to gather info and plan a new GB program. Pretty excited about it.

Good, now that I can consider my home gym complete, I'm willing to put it at work. I started a mobility morning routine since monday, still working on that, it comprises:

a few minutes yoga routine (sun salutation) - to actually wake up my body

a few minutes pilates (mat curriculum for beginners) - I take it as a warm up.

mobility:

- wrists' stretch and pushups routine (very difficult, I'm very much piked at the hips, things like coach's wrist pu seems impossible right now)

- shoulder with bands (based on both you tube ido's vids) and wall (floor actually) extensions

- ankles with bands (based on hartzell video) I want to implement some foot work as well.

- hips stretch and mobility (adductor flies, sumo squat, lunges, hip extensions, etc)

- back stretch and mobility (short bridge, reverse planks, etc)

things that I would like to put in as well:

-burgener warmup or something similar to get me started (some day in a year or two) with oly lifts.

-rope jumping ('cause I really like it and I want to get better at double unders and criss-cross)

-static work like handstand, L-sit, frog stand, etc.

I'm working my way to a 2hrs workout. I have to both adapt my body and my circadian cycle. I'm at 50min now. I think It will take me 2 weeks.

But the reason for my gym is obviously to be used for an evening/weekend strenght routine with both FSP and FBE. 4 days a week, not very scheduled at the moment. I really have to focus on flexibility right now, and I want to work on that on a daily basis, once I'll be supple (6 months?) and a bit stronger (an intermediate gymnast?) I'll start doing WOD as rx'd.

So I'm very hooked, I'm getting good results and above all, I'm feeling better physically. The reason why I decided a year ago to get fit once again and stay there. Honestly I'm becoming ambitious, I now want to become the fittest I ever been, I have the knowledge to reach new heights. It will take me few years, but I'm not in a hurry. It all started from crossfit basic principles on GPP, but I'm evolving the idea in my personal way, very thrilled to walk the way.

ok enough with the mental side, last night at the gym I felt pretty strong, 7 muscle-ups (singles, not very good form) still pretty happy with it.

I practiced swinging dips last night at gym class. Not easy at all I'm completely out of time, I'm working on those, I think it's a very good skill to master as a beginner.

I don't like sun salutation routine very much, feels like passive static stretch which I think isn't very good as a warmup, I'm very stiff in the morning,I need mobility not stretching so I like pilates better, I'll expand that routine instead.

Swinging dips; mmm, one more thing that "should" be on my daily skill list, but unfortunately that list keeps getting longer. Have to pick and choose a bit. Anyway, I suffer from the same lack of coordination with this; coupled, I suspect, with a strength deficit.

Interesting re: the sun salutations. I started adding a couple to my morning "wake up" and they make me feel a whole heap better. They always have in fact, but I've procrastinated with all things stretching for a long time.

I've had a couple of "a-ha" moments with the sun salutes even only after a couple of days. They're only as "passive" as you allow them to be. I'm getting a much better stretch in my shoulders (open, damnit!!!) in the downward dog than I ever have before, by actively pressing into the floor. I'm sure there are many other areas in which the same could be true.

hi pat,

Yesterday I saw that you mentioned sun salutation in your morning routine, it's pretty good that we can share experience.

Well, if as passive as I want means gettting in a position that resemble what shown, it's gonna be a very stretched one, though there are a couple like cobra, cow and cat that I just moved after the pilates routine (I have replaced downward dog with 10 hindu pushups, similar but dynamic). If helpful to you I will post the exact list of my morning routine, It's pretty long but I'm sure you remember that I have to live on a sleep restriction modality... it starts at 5 am.

What the gymnasts explained me about swinging dips it's to lower myself when I have swinged all the way back and my body is parallel to the floor, then when swinging in front I have to follow through, less pressing more momentum, what they showed me seemed effortless, but I was struggling instead!!

haha... yes, there isn't a whole lot of pressing going on when I try it either, but I'm pretty sure that's largely because I'm completely screwing up the timing. I don't have parallel bars (there are some up at the local park so I might try up there sometime this weekend), so I've only tried them on rings. bit of a mess, really.

as for the morning routine; I'm up at somewhere between 4-4:30am every morning (often earlier), so I've usually got plenty of spare time too.

swarovski - your dedication is impressive and inspiring.

I'm not ready to start the WOD - one thing that is difficult here is finding/setting up a preliminary program.

It's here, but takes a quite a while to tease out from the threads. Shouldn't it be rather obvious?

In any event, I also joined a club - first before landing here. It's a small, laid back, do your own thing, go at your own pace

adult class. Just to see if this is for me. So far so good.

But with the volume of training you've done, after about 4 months, may I ask if you able to perform any

substantial gymnastics routine on any apparatus with fluidity and relative ease? I'm trying to guage how much effort it will take

to get to that point ...

Best,

FIN

wow FIN, thank you very much for your nice words, I really appreciate, so I'll be happy to help you out with my experience so far. Don't hesitate to ask. Honestly I don't know what you mean for "substantial gymnastic routine" but I'd say that I'm pretty far from anything like that. I made good progress and as far as my look goes I'm fit and muscular, but when I'm at the gym I feel like poo among the furious five, pretty much out of place as there's no adult class, they're all very young ranging from intermediate to advance and FLEXIBLE.

I mean I'm stronger than few teens there, but flexibility is what doesn't allow me to advance on any skill and unfortunately the older you are the longer it will take to gain it. From my experience one can become pretty strong and slim in as little as 6 months, given the right attitude and dedication, but with flexibility I think we're talking about many many more months.

There's no way to perform any gymnastic skill without a substantial degree of flexibility, unless risking injuries or executing it with unbearable form.

My biggest achievement so far are muscleups, which is pretty much all I need to keep my motivation high, but you have to consider that it's just a strenght skill, technical skills are still very distant in the future. But you know, I'm no longer a competitive athlete, so time isn't a constraint. I'm taking it as slow as I need to. All I want is to be fit (and that means at my best) for recreational sport and personal satisfaction. I have a main long term goal in iron cross, I'm sure it will keep me busy for years to come...