TESTING RESULTS. Help + guidance needed.

Hey Guys!

I just completely second testing day after my first 12 week SSC. I've posted a video to get everyone's feedback regarding form e.t.c.

Here are the results compared with my first testing:

LINK TO THE VIDEO -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC-Lepxbz6M

PLANCHE - before - 30 second frog stand NOW- 30 second Tuck Planche

FRONT LEVER - Before - 20 second tuck front lever Now- 20 second flat tuck front lever ( not sure about form)

L-SIT - Before- 30 second pb low NOW- 30 second pb horizontal.

Back Lever - Before - 20 second tuck Now - 55 second tuck ( I'm really struggling with this, the 50 second tuck is pretty easy, but the flat back is too much for me atm)

My new FSP warmup will look like this:

Planche - 4 sets of 15 second tuck planche

FL - 6 sets of 10 second Flat tuck front lever

L-SIT - 4 sets of 15 second horizontal l sit

Back lever - 2 sets of 30 second Tuck back lever

Straddle L-sit - 4 sets of 15 seconds on pb (chairs for me)

I'm VERY happy with my planche and L-sit progress, But I need a lot of guidance on FL and BL, I find these very awkward movements to self-monitor. is my form for the flat tuck fl correct? What should I do in terms of back lever If I'm finding it difficult to progress to a flat back?

Thanks so much in advance to anyone who finds the time to respond, I hugely appreciate it!

Tom.

Good work! point ur toes on the L-sit tho, and I think u should start doing them on the floor as ur probably ready for it and it ensures good form.

The FL is hard to tell the form cuz of the camera angle but it does look ok in the video. In terms of self monitoring form for the levers this is somethin u just get better at as u go, after awhile u'll know when ur horizontal. In terms of progressing I think back lever has a lot to do with body control, knowing what to tense and how. For example pushing the bars down, squeezing your butt and extending your toes towards the wall, once you can co-ordinate these things together its not too hard.

Nice job

Good job dude! Jealous of your planche progression. Quick question though, your planche work is 6 x 10s and your most of your other sets are 4. If you are working these in pairs and you dont have the same amount of sets, how do you finish them up? For example, I am working PL with reverse pushup, my tuck PL sets are 8 x 8s and my reverse push up is 3 x 30s, do I finish out the PL sets on their own or pair them with another exercise? Also, my PL progression is not moving very fast, do you work anything else for PL? Demus what else do you work for PL outside your FSP - SSC?

Looks like there is some slight rounding on your FL.

Push hips forward on L-sit. This is a matter of hip flexor active flexibility. If you were to try L-sit on ground, you would probably have to do it on your fingers instead of flat palms.

Looks good otherwise.

Hey guys,

First off, thanks everyone so much for all your helpful replies!

After todays fsp's I've decided to change my arrangement somewhat.

I've been reading alot about fsps being a warmup and therefore not supposed to be very strenuous. And I came to the realization, even though I CAN DO a 15 second l-sit, by the 4th set It's quite a struggle to maintain.

My question is, do you think i should adjust my times (10 second l-sit as opposed to 15) or do you think I should stick it out as it will get easier over my ssc (period of overload, underload e.t.c)

My confusion comes from all the talk about fsps being a warmup and not too strenous, I feel like I'm still working fairly hard during my holds.

Should I just stick to the protocol and do half my max times no matter what?

Thanks so much for everyones help!

Yes, keep it at 50% of your max hold. It should be difficult at first. It will get easier as the weeks go on. What slizzardman and everyone else means about treating the FSPs as a warmup is, you should not be going to failure or breaking perfect form on any of your holds. It is still strength training that you should put a valliant effort into, but they are so technical in body position that they need to be worked in a very controlled manner and for a certain duration that will allow you to have perfect work every set. This means your sets should be like "warm up sets". For instance, if you were warming up on bench press, you would put a lighter weight than you would use for your working sets, and perform some good quality reps but stop before you get tired. That is how this is designed, almost like each set you are stopping before you get too tired. Like I said though, at first these will be significantly harder than your 8th week of your first cycle. You might need more rest in between sets and it might take a little longer but it will get easier and turn into a quick 20 min warm up. Correct me if I am wrong about any of this men.

Now answer my question above!! If you are working your FSPs in pairs (as suggested) and they are not even numbers 8 x 8s PL and 3 x 30s Reverse Push up, how do you finish them up?? Do you do the 5 sets of PL by themselves, pair it up with something else, or does it not matter? Thanks!

Hey EDDIE,

Thanks so much for clarifying all that, and I apologize for not responding to your question!

I don't pair my statics, I prefer to do them one after the other L-sit, Planche, Front Lever, Back Lever, Straddle L (Repeat) and if I'm doing 6 sets of one exercise, and 4 for the others, I just continue for 2 more sets of only that exercise with a little bit of rest in between.

This has been working great for me! I hope that helps,

Tom.

Haha no worries bud! I was just messing around! Thank you for sharing your method. I will experiment with this. I am not very happy with my planche progression. I was just curious of your method since you had such great progress. I went from 35s adv frog to about a 15s tuck PL. But the form was not impressive, my hips dropped after 8-10s. I am a little frustrated with it but i am going to keep working hard. You are welcome for the explanation. I hope it is accurate, this is my take on the matter. Thanks again!

Hello.

Just some quick questions:

1. How do I know when a SSC ends (doing the WODs)

2. When should i test my max?

the GB WOD is not a SSC. It's pretty different.

GB WOD has a 28day cycle. SSC is 8-12 weeks. Test after 8 or 12 weeks and the cycle has finished.

Eddie said:

Haha no worries bud! I was just messing around! Thank you for sharing your method. I will experiment with this. I am not very happy with my planche progression. I was just curious of your method since you had such great progress. I went from 35s adv frog to about a 15s tuck PL. But the form was not impressive, my hips dropped after 8-10s. I am a little frustrated with it but i am going to keep working hard. You are welcome for the explanation. I hope it is accurate, this is my take on the matter. Thanks again!

In a situation like this, I have found that working on your tuck planche once a week and continuing to work the advanced frog for the three other days seems to be working much better. You have to remember that if you can only hold a 8-10s max tuck planche with perfect form then it is a VERY hard exercise for you. You should not and can not expect to work on that 3-4x per week and make progress because it is just too hard on the nervous system. Instead, even if you have a 60s advanced frog keep working that adv frog at 25-30s sets x2-3 sets on your three other days. That should be very easy work that you can simply do without really noticing it. This allows you to keep training the connective tissue while your muscles and tendons recover from the extreme stress of the tuck planche. You should notice pretty good progress with your tuck planche over the next few months if you do this, and before you know it you will be able to hold tuck PL long enough to use it 2-3x per week, and maybe 1 SSC after that you can work it all 4 days. I have recommended this to a few people who have PM'd me about this problem and they have all seen excellent progress.

Many times lack of progress comes from doing too MUCH, not too little.

+1 on Slizzardmans advice. You could also do some 20-30s planche leans on the other days if frog stand is wayyyyyy to easy. Planche leans can be scaled 100% to any ability level but it may be hard to redo the same lean angle each time.

That is a great idea! Due to the shoulder pain and the fact that I don't have 3x60s L-sit yet, everyone has told me to stop PL work. But this is where I have been a little confused. I definitely agree with holding off on the tuck PL but, I have continued working PL leans 5x12s and replaced tuck PL with 3x5 PPP in my SSC.

1. Is this ok to continue and add back in the Avd. Frog like yall just suggested? Although this is technically PL work (which I have been told to hold off on until the L-sit pre-req is achieved), but I would like to maintain Adv. Frog and continue working the connective tissue. It's very easy to me and causes no pain, it can't hurt right? As long as shoulder allows??

or

2. Should I wait on L-sit pre-req to continue any PL work and start what yall are suggesting?

*I am trying to keep in mind my strength level and shoulder health at the moment. Thanks dudes!

You have shoulder pain? I mustve missed something.

Yea, that's why I was curious about your prehab and rehab shoulder work. Sorry I didn't explain. I got my threads mixed up. My post will make more sense if you read this real quick:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=5122

Razz said:

+1 on Slizzardmans advice. You could also do some 20-30s planche leans on the other days if frog stand is wayyyyyy to easy. Planche leans can be scaled 100% to any ability level but it may be hard to redo the same lean angle each time.

To replicate the angles, have the heels against a wall or something similarly immovable and mark the hand position on the floor!