start from scratch

it seems that I talk too much lately but not training enough, I have to plan my training window better, things aren't working very well. I wanted to increase training load and frequency but after a couple of weeks with daily trainings I've found myself unable to keep up with it and ended up with just a couple of proper workout in the past ten days.

fri, sat, sun: practically no workout.

mon:

warmup (quite long and intense),

4*15s german hang, 4*15s XR l-sit, 4*15s FL, 5*5 pullups, 5*5 XR Dips, 5min assisted bottom squat hold.

well, things aren't going that bad after all

by swarovski on Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:53 pm

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

...

so, it was time to test my back lever progression, surely it's not perfect or solid but now the first impressive gymnastic feat it's under my hat, even if it's just for 3sec. glad I'm hitting goals just as planned...

I can now set myself for a FL by october.

HMo3MytFEMU

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awesome!! very cool to see you progressing.

thanks pat!

btw, I haven't forgotten about the video I offered you, I'm still not sure how to go about it, just executing the routine, trying to explain it, write it down, etc. I've tried a couple of times and it's not as easy as it seems...

what do you think will be a good way to proceed? I just shoot the vid and we then see if you're left with any question?

haha... I *had* forgotten!! but I shouldn't have... I'm only just this week back at any kind of training after rather a long (and even then only on/off) break. I've stuck at "playing" with a few strength skills to see where I am... encouraged by still being able to do certain things (slow MU, ring HS with feet barely touching straps still no problem) but I haven't tested the statics which I suspect will have regressed far more than I'd like.

still adamant that my return will be gradual and laden with prebab/mobility work.

re: the vid? ye, keep it simple I reckon - just shoot and we can take it from there. this reminds me again that I've been meaning to vid my progress (not that there's been any lately). would probably be a good time for it given that I'm at another "starting point".

I haven't been logging much lately, but the reason is that it's always the same!! I mean I'm still unable to progress to wall HeSPU, russian dips, box SLS and so on. I'm just doing my best and taking it as it comes, I'm convinced that by being consistent and having a good work ethic I'll keep progressing even if I can't keep up with 4 weekly workouts.

Anyway as for last week.

tue:

just 1/2hrs testing and recording vids

wed:

gym class. still struggling with those PB bucket swings, it destroys my shoulders and grip.

thu:

15min rope skipping, 2 super easy track lap. Achilles tendon is still unconfortable.

fri:

none

sat:

worked hard on the plot. Had "fun" with a sledgehammer!

sun:

motocross track was closed and a friend offered me one of his downhill bikes. WOW that's scary, it's sooo steep!!! I crashed quite few times, luckily nothing bad or serious. One of the most dangerous sport I've ever tried. Thought I was good on bikes...

mon:

was just sore everywhere from downhill runs, but managed to squeeze a full home gym workout, usual stuff. Was national holiday, had plenty of time.

not much lately, been sick, been busy and been lazy!! hahaha so easy to find excuses...

anyway last night at the gym I played a bit with FL pulls, MU, pullovers, BL pulls, I mean I was done in 10 mins!! probably due to not enough training frequency, but an achillis tendon strain and a big toe sprain aren't helping to keep motivation high.

Still the idea and will is to keep progressing... we'll see!

same as last post, I may stop logging until I can get things back on track.

well, still enjoying the type of training and trying to make the most out of any gym session I can get access to. This week has been a lucky one, had the chance to go there on both mon and wed. My grip is fried!!

I can now use MU as working set, 3*3 is my best shot given that I add l-sit, german hang, 360 pulls, kinda ring strength series 1.

Anyway it leaves me pretty empty of gas.

I'm keeping my focus on a simple plan of basics, FSP and FBE, like I've done untill now, complex training still seems beyond me. I'm able to perform a Full BL only as a maximal feats, at the very beginning of training for a couple of sec. It's very hard on lower back and elbows. My strength has still a looong way to go before a FL...

but I'll get there eventually!

It's official now, I'll be coaching a local rugby sevens team. Who knows I may get back at playing it as well...

We'll be starting training from monday 25th. I now may start shifting from gymnastic, rugby fitness is quite different, but I'll try to bring in my new knowledge. I've developed a GPP based on GB, nevergymless and brianmac.co.uk the aim is to make a plan that is short and convenient so that motivated players who wants to get fitter will have a good plan available. I'm now testing it myself, I truly believe in the leading by example philosophy. I have to make it simple and pretty accessible for newcomers. This is for a ramp up cycle of 10-12 weeks, 60-70 workouts within 3 months.

Mon: maximal strength + tabata

Tue: endurance + core

Wed : isometrics + minute drill

Thu : explosive strength + tabata

Fri: endurance + core

Sat: isometrics + minute drill

Sun: active rest (sport of your choice, taken EASY)

Mon:

Strength:

Supersetting (no rest between A & B)

A1 – 3*5 Pseudo Planche Push Ups (hands as close as possible to the hips)

B1 – 3*10 Single leg squat (each leg - negative on box)

1’ rest between sets (after B)

3’ rest after the third series

A2 – 3*5 Dips (deep to shoulders - challenging progression)

B2 – 3*10 high step climb (between knee and waist, each leg - 212 tempo)

Same rest protocol

A3 – 3*5 Pull Ups (challenging progression)

B3 – 3*10 walking lunges, 5each leg (deepest possible)

Tabata:

high knee rope jumping (if not proficient at skipping switch to hill sprints or burpees).

20sec maximal effort (as fast as possible) 10sec rest, repeated 8 times. 4min total work.

Tue:

Warmup:

6*20mt agility drill

Endurance:

2(series)*3(reps)*200m on tartan track 2’ rest between reps, 5’ between series (30-40 sec run), Active rest between reps. (possibly with spike shoes to learn correct ball foot strike – no heel strike).

Core:

5 v-sit; 5 Hanging leg lift; 5 windshield wipers; 5 leg circles. As a circuit, rest 1’-2' at the end. repeat 3 times in total.

Wed:

Warmup: 5min rope skipping

Isometrics:

- 1’ each of: plank (extended arms), reverse plank, arms support (top position of a dip), bar hang (bottom position of pull-ups), superman, hollow. 6minute total no rest between.

- 6*20’’ wall handstand (30’’ rest)

- 4*20’’ L-sit (30’’ rest)

- 3*1’ wall squat (1’ rest)

Minute drill: 30sec each exercises, no rest between, 1min at the end of the circuit, repeat 5 times. 20min total

- Burpees

- Mountain climbers

- Jumping jacks

- Burps (burpees without the jump up)

- Split lunges jumps

- Squat (like burps but without the pushup)

Thu:

A1 – 3*5 clap Push Ups

B1 – 3*5 log jumps

1’ rest between sets (after B)

3’ rest after the third series

A2 – 3*5 clap bodyrows

B2 – 3*5 stone throw (behind the back)

Same rest protocol

A3 – 3*3 monkey bar hang walk

B3 – 3*5 squat jump

Tabata: high knee rope jumping / burpees / hill sprints

Fri:

Warmup: 6*20mt agility drill

Endurance: 2*3*400m 2’ rest between reps, 5’ between series (60-80 sec run) , Active rest between reps.

Core: same as tuesday

Sat:

Warmup: 5min rope skipping

Isometrics: same as wednesday

Minute drill:

- Burpees

- Mountain climbers

- Jumping jacks

- Dive bombers

- Crab walk

- Bear crawl

All workout should be completed within one hour, passive stretching isn’t necessary as mobility is worked through bodyweight full range of movement (ROM) exercises. Cool down can be an easy 2 laps barefoot run around the pitch and 5min passive stretching if you really like doing so

I've done mon and tue so far, no bad I should say.

Did all the planned trainings, had to scale down few things like core and minute drills.

core is now a circuit repeated 3 times performing 5 each exercises one after the other with no rest.

minute drill is repeated 4 instead of 5 times and every exercise is performed for 20sec not 30.

Anyway working out 6 days out of 7, even if for less than 1 hour, seems too tiring. I don't know, I had a very busy week, managed to do everything as planned, even went motocrossing on the 7th day and did well, but I'm for a much needed rest. tonight I'll have the first coaching/playing session with the new sevens rugby team. I may rest tomorrow, hopefully...

Last week I only managed one strength day. I had to do some heavy shovelling for a couple of days on the plot (still have lots of work to do there) so I ended up very exhausted on sunday, didn't have the juice to control my bike on sunday motocross and crashed... nothing bad luckily.

As for this week so far, I rested on monday, last night did some circuit training at the fitness trail, some stair sprinting and scaled down one of enamait's interval training. It's a very good workout pretty suited to rugby sevens, here's what:

5 burpees

50m sprints

5 clap pushups

(this takes around 30sec and count as one rep)

50m backward jog and rest to 02:00 (more or less 30sec active recovery 1:00 rest)

repeat 7 times, total time 14:00. Unable to perfom the 8th, the 7th was already with very poor quality and intensity.

I'll do my best to hit the rings twice this week.

logging is becoming somewhat difficult lately, I haven't decided yet on what to log but I'm still training as best as I can.

Gym class has started a couple of weeks ago, and it's now on wednesdays and fridays. Overdid on the first friday, playing too much with levers, ended up with left elbow discomfort. It's been now 10 days since I backed off from strength training. More focused on running and anaerobic conditioning due to sevens commitments anyway.

I set a new goal: sidesplit by june. Mobility is still what's slowing down my progresses, I want to focus more on this now. But in order to be successful I've learnt to only focus on one skill at time.

thanks to danvanzandt I have a good PNF plan to follow. I'm at level 4 now.

I warm up with bottom squat hold (3min shoulder width 3min feet togheter)

3*30 assisted sumo squat (feet as wide as possible with correct form)

20-20-20-15-15 lying adductor flyes.

pnf for the day.

mon-wed-fri

here's the program:

1) 1 set x 0:30 (1)

2) 2 sets x 0:30 (1)

3) 3 sets x 0:30 (1)

4) 4 sets x 0:30 (1)

5) 5 sets x 0:30 (1)

6) 5 sets x 0:45 (6)

7) 5 sets x 1:00 (6)

8) 5 sets x 1:15 (6)

9) 5 sets x 1:30 (6)

10) 5 sets x 1:45 (6)

11) 5 sets x 2:00 (6)

12) 5 sets x 2:15 (6)

13) 5 sets x 2:30 (6)

14) 5 sets x 3:00 (6)

15) 5 sets x 3:00 + 1.25 kg (6)

16) 5 sets x 3:00 + 2.50 kg (6)

17) 5 sets x 3:00 + 5.00 kg (6)

18) 5 sets x 3:00 + 7.50 kg (6)

19) 5 sets x 3:00 + 10.0 kg (6)

20) 5 sets x 3:00 + 12.5 kg (6)

21) 5 sets x 3:00 + 15.0 kg (6)

22) 5 sets x 3:00 + 17.5 kg (6)

23) 5 sets x 3:00 + 20.0 kg (6)

24) 5 sets x 3:00 + 22.5 kg (6)

25) 5 sets x 3:00 + 25.0 kg (6)

26) 5 sets x 3:00 + 27.5 kg (6)

27) 5 sets x 3:00 + 30.0 kg (6)

did the bleep test among others: level 11. I've could have gone a bit further, maybe to 12 but I didn't want to wreck myself for days, I was the "winner" anyway. my teammates are SO unfit!!

last week ended up with 1 training each of rugby, gymnastic and motocrossing.

I had to take few days break from isometrics side split training due to adductor pain. I started back today from where I left, level 5, but holding the isometrics a bit before the pain threshold (not going down as much as possible), let's see how it goes the easy way.

Left elbow is still not 100%, I have to avoid muscle ups for a week or 2 more I think. Very difficult.

Gymnastic strength training has been pretty much the same since the beginning, basics fsp and fbe.

started level 6 stage 1 today. Just a day later than planned. It is HARD.

went for gym class last night, got back at FSP and straight arm work, threw few MU along the way though... elbows seem fine for now.

It took me longer than I thought to recover from motocross and rugby practice (sun & mon).

motocross didn't go very well this weekend, a storm flooded the track, tried anyway but I'm not that good yet.

this morning did 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 20-20-20-15-15 adductor flies and level 6 stage 2.

05-09-11

morning as above

eve: rugby practice

07-09-11

morning: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 20-20-20-15-15 adductor flies and level 6 stage 3.

eve: gym class

09-09-11

mor: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 20-20-20-15-15 adductor flies and level 6 stage 4.

09-09-11

eve: 6min prerequisite, 3min total handstandwork, L-sit 4*20''

10-09-11

motocross

11-09-11

some outdoor sports

12-09-11

mor: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 20-20-20-15-15 adductor flies and level 6 stage 5.

So you've started isometric split training level 7 is HARD!!! I didnt trained it during the summer so I'm still there...

Be aware of your (eventual) hip pain.

Remember that the goal is the split, not the program itself, so if you still progress without changing the level you can wait another day, and if you dont progress it's better to do a lower level for a week or so. Well the fact is: just change the level when it's the right time - and that's the hard thing

Also always wear shoes, when you are very low it will help your ankle, and help with the surface where you are practicing.

ciao felipe!!

thanks for stopping by, I very much appreciate it.

yeah, just had to postpone it few more months than expected, I wasn't ready back then.

hahaha... just this morning I was asking myself: "how in the hell I'm gonna be able to add 15sec???"

thanks for the hints, I came to the same conclusion as it seems an excessively linear program, I'm not afraid of modify it or make it longer. I'm still in doubt about tension, I do my best to keep contractions at the highest possible intensity, but I wonder all the time if I'm recruiting and contracting properly every muscle involved, very difficult to say as it's not like an l-sit where your legs (form) drop.

Do you have any idea on how to test to change level? I mean with FSP you test for max hold and then divide by two to have the working set. How about isometrics for PNF? how can I measure progresses? how do you measure yours?

I've been working out like this, I start the timer, lower myself keeping my back up & straight at all times, then begin the contraction at 55sec on a timer, hold it until 1:45, then come up to take few steps, then lower myself at 2:30, start contracting at 2:55 and repeat for 5 sets. What do you think of this (coming up)? how about rest time?

this is different from what he says in his blog, going down, hold it, going further, hold it, going more to the very maximum, actually over it. I don't cycle like this as when I tried I then had to stop for a week at level 5 due to adductor strain.

As for shoes I'm still comfortable being barefoot (hence, not so low to worry about...)

12-09-11

eve: rugby practice

13-09-11 (edit wed 14-09 not tue 13th)

mor: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 30-20-20-20 adductor flies and level 6 stage 6.

When I need to add reps I start adding them one at a time in the last set, example from 5-5-5-5-5 to 5-5-5-5-6, then 5-5-5-6-6 and go on, it's the same for seconds. In this way you're sure that you have the energy to conclude the workout.

The only possible way that comes to mind to measure progress is to hold a meter and see how much low you are. For me it's easier since I use palms to measure the distance or the feeling of getting the ankle on floor. I also feel very easly if I'm contracting at max intensity, when I am near the end I get spasm and just cant continue!

When you're high on the ground the stress is not too much, it's like an iron cross, the lower you get the harder it becomes.

In the first set dont take time: just do some mild contraction of 5 sec and relax to get to the lower you can, then start the real thing.

I usually do 2,30 mins - 3 mins of rest between sets.

The way suggested on Van Zandt is too stressing! If I dont see it, I can't believe that someone could do a set of 5x3 mins near to the ground!

PS: I noticed that you do 4 exercises in which adductors are involved. That's too much! I dont know what asian squat at various amplitude are (passive stretch? in that case do it at the end), but I would do adductor flies at the end of the workout and using the trick I wrote up for the reps, also doing fewer sets so you should do isometrics then 25-25-35 flies.

What about sumo squat? Well I would do it as a warm up, or during the other days, or during the morning.

thanks again felipe.

why would you bother with isometrics when you already have splits and pancake? I'm way way higher than that, I guess roughly at 110degrees.

I'll try to add seconds that way then and come up with something to measure progresses.

yeah, it feels very hard to me as well, I do sometimes start shaking and feeling exhausted.

The thing with this plan is, I've been doing isometric training first thing in the morning on mon/wed/fri at 6 a.m. right out of bed, I then want to be sure that I'm properly warmed up and awake before max efforts.

I start with asian squat (that is a static hold and should be done at the end as you suggest) because I wouldn't then be able to perform sumo squat properly, too stiff to reach that bottom position.

I then do flies as I feel it a completely different way to work out on adductors and mine are soo weak/stiff. In the end it's 2 exercises before the isometrics. Honestly sumo squats are hard on my lumbar muscles and flies on my abs, not on adductors, probably because I can't spread my legs that much.

I'm sure that if I lower myself into splits straight away from bed it won't take too long to get injured. I take it all as a warm up /endurance because only isometrics are at maximum intensity.

thanks again for your support.

ps

back lever seemed effortless for you and your hspu are very impressive. well done

For your morning warmup I would suggest this

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and this

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Sumo squat should not be hard on lower back, check your form or stop the movement before curving the back (I know that flexibility is the goal, but it cannot be done at the expense of other important muscles)

The abs should absolutely not be tired by the flies, I would expect the ileopsoas which is smaller and usually undertrained. Can you do 100 crunches?

Best time for flexibility following a circadian rhythm is at 13,30 (Kurz on Science of Sport Training)...but I never ever did a workout in these days which didnt started before 19,00 so it doesnt mean you should.

For me training in the morning is great, but only after 1h or longer I've been awake. I know it's hard getting proper time space, but flexibility is alot mind and warm up dependent.

I responded to you compliments in my log

Excellent analysis by Felipe.

I like the Cossack warm up, the only thing I don't do (because I haven't seen it before) was the twist into the pretzel TFL stretch. I like it, looks fun! I do this while waiting for the train. This seems like it would go well with Floreio flows too...

I hate the form the guy in DeFranco's video uses on almost everything he does except the quadruped hip circles, but that's a great set of movements! Incomplete, but very nice!

thanks for the vids felipe, we do most of those at the gym class warm ups though. Don't know, but I don't feel agile at all in the early morning, tried the cossacks this morning but weren't neither good form or less stressing than the other exercises.

Anyway, things seems ok, I'm not getting injured, I can keep up with the plan and I'm very determined to get to this goal before anything else as upper body strength and flexibility is now definitely above average and I prefer to focus on weaknesses instead. Just like you told me once I take it as a strength training, hope DVZ plan will work at my age though.

as for my training log:

14-09-11

gym class: felt weak mostly

16-09-11

mor: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 30-20-20-20 adductor flies and 4*45sec + 1*1:00 split level 6 stage 7.

lunch: rope skipping + tabata, FSP and few FBE at the fitness trail

17-09-11

motocross. rode well, pretty happy with it.

19-09-11

mor: 10' assisted asian squat (wide, medium, narrow), 3*30 sumo squat, 20-20-20-15-15 adductor flies and 3*45sec + 2*1:00 split level 6 stage 8. Didn't go as low as I used to to on sumo squats in order to keep my lower back straight at all times.