Breaks' Lunch Time HS Routine

Thought some of you might be interested in my lunch time HS routine, I am taking HS work very serious atm, as coach says it is one of the best skills to develop all round gymnastics strength, I am seeing fast gains in strength and balance and loving every second of head rush inducing, wrist ache causing HS work

I do this series of exercises 5 days a week on my lunch break (unless something comes up, darn work gets in the way). Feel free to advise me if you feel I would be better to do something else and, of course, feel free to do the same (if you do then let me know how it goes).

Obviously all exercises are ones you will be familiar with from the WODs if not then check the forum and the stickys for details it is all on here.

All Exercises done in as few sets as possible:

60s Free Standing HS (Currently doing 2 sets of 30s on a good day)

10 Pike Press HS (Currently doing Pike Press HeS)

10 Straddle Press HS (Currently doing Straddle Press HeS)

10 HS Cast Wals

10 mins of HS Wall Runs (Tend to do these as 5 sets of 2 mins)

10 HeSPU (Tend to do these as very high box HeSPUs)

Obviously I am already scaling these exercises but as they stand (not in brackets) is what I want to be able to do, REALLY can't wait until I can Press HS.

You do 10 mins of HS wall runs everyday??? After doing all the other exercises that seems like a lot to me. I have approached the wall runs as a once, rarely twice a week endeavor...

Wall Runs are an amazingly tiring exercise, but I am really keen to develop the HS strength I need and from reading a lot on this forum there really is no substitute for time spent on hands.

This is probably the part of the work out that is most difficult but I am almost always fully recovered by the time it comes to my WOD in the evening and I barely notice any muscle fatigue when it comes to lunch time the next day. If in time I do start to notice a detrimental effect, this would probably be the first area to be trimmed in time but I really want to avoid doing that.

jl5555 said:

You do 10 mins of HS wall runs everyday??? After doing all the other exercises that seems like a lot to me. I have approached the wall runs as a once, rarely twice a week endeavor...

I agree with this. Coach's athletes also tried five days of wall walks I believe and found it to not be optimal. Just because you aren't tired the next day doesn't mean you have given your shoulders sufficient time to rest. Keep in mind that recovery is the actual part where they get stronger. Besides that, I would also wonder what you are doing for the other side. As in your posterior deltoids and your lats and biceps. Any front lever work? Rows or pullups? Sometimes the best way to advance is to balance first. <--Lame handstand joke. I'll try to refrain from that in the future. Hope this may help a bit.

This is only my lunchtime workout routine, i'm by no means suggesting someone should only do this as their only workout, hence my posting in the handstand section. I do all of Coach's WODs and lots of ring strength and all FSP work plenty of FL and BL work. Check my log in my sig for further details. I don't log all workouts but a fair few.

EDIT: P.s. I don't do Wall runs every day just 5 days a week and as I said I will not stick to this religiously if I feel it is detrimental.

Breaks said:

EDIT: P.s. I don't do Wall runs every day just 5 days a week and as I said I will not stick to this religiously if I feel it is detrimental.

Yeah but they were saying that 3 days a week is too many

I could quote, if I had the time, countless posts by others on the benefits of hours spent on hands everyday, Ido Portal for one as well as others, but i'm not going to waste all my time debating, other than to say this; I believe that Coach's athletes were training between 10mins continuous and 30 mins continuous wall runs between 2 and 5 times a week whilst coach was working out the best amount of time spent in this exercise, deciding 10 mins continuous and 2 times a week being optimal. As I have made clear I am not doing 1 set of 10mins thus the intensity is greatly reduced, however due to decreased intensity I am able to work this exercise more frequently.

10 1minute sets of hand stand wall runs =/= 1 10minute set of hand stand wall runs

the latter in my opinion (although Dillon can give an answer from experience no doubt) is exponentially more difficult. When I achieve this level of strength and endurance in my shoulder girdle I have no doubt that my workouts will not be the same as they are now. However until I do, frequent and dedicated time on my hands is, in my opinion and based on many months of reading this forum, the best way to developed my desired HS strength.

I always got the impression that "time on the hands" meant exactly that; doing handstands not something more active like wall runs. Were I you I would just work on building my freestanding HS times and maybe playing a bit with one arms, legs apart, tuck, all that jazz. I hope you don't burn yourself out before your trip to Palma.

Well as I say, I am pretty sensitive to my body's needs (7 years experience of serious training in one form or another) so I will certainly cut back if necessary.