WOD - 101217

K7DaRCQh0lY

Perform:

1x10 Cast Wall Walks

1x5 Pike Box Press HS

1x10 Straddle Box Press HS

10 minutes of HS Wall Runs

Finish with 2x10 Wrist Pushups

notes:

1) Rest 1-2 minutes between Press HS sets.

2) If Cast Wall Walks are insufficiently challenging, you may perform PL Wall Walks instead. The key difference between these two variations is that the hands will remain behind the shoulders at all times during the descent and ascent of the PL Walks, whereas in the Cast Wall Walks the hands are directly under the shoulders.

3) Remember to adjust the height as necessary during the Box Press HS variations to ensure that the presses are sufficiently challenging.

4) If you cannot press to HS, then press to HeS.

5) If you are strong enough, replace the Box Press HS variations with Press HS from an L-sit on parallets or PBs.

6) If you exceptionally strong, perform the Press HS variations on the XR.

7) Rest 3-5 minutes

Doing some shoulder rehab... skipping this today!

I'll do 3x10 Wrist Pushups still

Does anyone think that doing press handstands with a slight elbow bend would be an acceptable intermediate step between press HeS and HS or is it preferable to do HeS presses until sufficiently strong to do HS presses? I have done HeS presses with my head elevated on a block which seems to be a good intermediate step as well.

cheers,

ted.

tbushnel said:

Does anyone think that doing press handstands with a slight elbow bend would be an acceptable intermediate step between press HeS and HS or is it preferable to do HeS presses until sufficiently strong to do HS presses? I have done HeS presses with my head elevated on a block which seems to be a good intermediate step as well.

cheers,

ted.

Hey there...

I'm not the authority. But i coach my kids to Never bend their arms. I've seen this bad habit grow to infect many a kid to the point where they can't stop doing it. On the Rings maybe. But not on floor. Stick with wall Press HS or box Press HS with absolutely straight arms. You can do it.

I am no expert either, but it is my understanding that bending the arms is not an appropriate way to scale the exercise. Since I cannot do a press in a handstand, but I can easily from a headstand, I am practicing the press in a handstand while using the wall for support. There are some other threads on this method.

I love the pressing and handstand workout days. I am still a relative neophyte, so here is how I scaled things to make it a manageable, but still challenging.

Morning:

FSP before the kids get up. I only finished my planche work and was starting on my L-sits when my youngest woke up. It was hard to do L-sits when she kept trying to sit on my lap...

Lunch time:

WOD

10 easy minute run at 5:00 min/km pace.

Basic stretching WU

4 x 3 reps of Cast Wall Walks with 1 minute rest in between. I really like this element, and some advice if possible. I find the very hardest part is the last two feet before my feet touch the ground. Should I 'unload' when I hit the bottom, or keep things under tension before starting back up at the top?

5 x 3 reps of Straddle Press to HS with 1:30 minutes rest in between. In my gym the wall space for handstands is very limited, as are the facilities to do it from a box. Added to that, a straddle press is the only thing I can manage anyways! Some advice: I brace my shoulders against the walls, but my head also wants to get involved. It makes things a bet easier when I also press my head against the wall, but is this a big no no? I am trying to work away from doing that, but if I am developing bad habits now, let me know. (I was only really doing it on the final sets when I was getting tired.)

2 x 40s HS Wall Walks. I have had some wrist pain recently. With the wall walks as well (I did the presses on dumbells) I started to feel a slight twinge, so I backed off. Shame, I also really like this element.

No wrist pushups due to the previously mentioned wrist soreness.

cheers,

David

David Barclay said:

It was hard to do L-sits when she kept trying to sit on my lap...

think of it as a natural progression, a la "atlas and his calf -> cow".

I used to do pullups with my youngest hanging from me... started when he was about 20kg (just less than a 1/3 of my bodyweight). if I had have kept it up (which unfortunately, I did not) I'd be a beast, pulling over 2/3 (40+kg) of my bodyweight now!!

David Barclay said:

some advice if possible. I find the very hardest part is the last two feet before my feet touch the ground. Should I 'unload' when I hit the bottom, or keep things under tension before starting back up at the top?

I don't know for sure, but... I think with most every element the idea is to maintain tension throughout.

David Barclay said:

Some advice: I brace my shoulders against the walls, but my head also wants to get involved. It makes things a bet easier when I also press my head against the wall, but is this a big no no? I am trying to work away from doing that, but if I am developing bad habits now, let me know. (I was only really doing it on the final sets when I was getting tired.)

again, don't know for sure, but... given that the ultimate goal is to obviate the need for any anchor point, it would be better not to do so. if it is the only way you can get through the reps, I would still do it (keeping volume consistent with the WOD is important), but perhaps if it truly is a bad habit (others chime in?), you could break the reps into smaller sets to allow better form.

David Barclay said:

I have had some wrist pain recently. With the wall walks as well (I did the presses on dumbells) I started to feel a slight twinge, so I backed off. Shame, I also really like this element.

No wrist pushups due to the previously mentioned wrist soreness.

ok, something with which I can more authoritatively assist. I was experiencing wrist soreness also... persistent wrist soreness. I decided to stop training for a week, but this may not be necessary for you, as I had a few other niggling strains also.

during that week I did only mobility and active stretching work (which I have continued with since). this included wrist prehab, consisting of plank leans in each different orientation of wrist position. I also consistently iced my wrists.

I used to experience quite some discomfort when doing wrist pushups (from knees - can't do full version), but now I can do them almost easily.

anyway, if you aren't already doing prehab work, particularly for wrists and shoulders (and perhaps elbows if you want an iron cross one day), start now!!

thanks all for the feedback. straight arms or nothing it is.

cheers,

ted.

This was hard work for me but did the best I could.

WU

Shoulder, hip and scap mobilisation

4 x15 sec L-sit, hollow holds, arch holds. HeS (first time I did a freestanding HeS and raised into it well controlled)

WOD

5 x cast walks - couldn't get the last couple of feet to get my hands to the wall, feel like I lack strength in the whole movement and flexibility

5 x tuck HeS presses from floor

8,2 x pike HeS presses from floor

5 mins of press up position wall runs.

Stretching

Was just wondering if it is worth perservering with the cast walks despite not getting enough reps and the full movement or if substituting HS FSP is better?

Also for the 10 min wall runs if it is better to do 10mins of HS practice instead or just perservere and improve in what I am doing?

Thank you in advance for the advice,

Regards,

Dave

@ DBeckerman

Was just wondering if it is worth perservering with the cast walks despite not getting enough reps and the full movement or if substituting HS FSP is better?

Keep up with the cast wall walks, in as many sets as it takes to get the 10 reps. Try to extend and straighten as much as possible - is the handstand position not possible?

Also for the 10 min wall runs if it is better to do 10mins of HS practice instead or just perservere and improve in what I am doing?

By "press up position" do you mean inverted shrugs? I think coach recommends around 2 minutes of a handstand on a wall to be able to be held, prior to working on the wall runs. But, if you can do the HS wall runs do that for the 10 minutes (again, even if you're splitting it up - you'll improve with time).

Cheers

Hi,

Thank you for the advice! Yeah basically it is getting into the handstand position that I start to really lose strength, but that probably comes with time.

Also thank you for the advice on the wall runs, I'll scale them down to some HS work Just to clarify by press up position I mean in the top part of a normal press up on the floor with the arms straightened. I then tried to keep that position and in effect do the wall runs from there. Touching one arm to the opposite shoulder.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave: You are best off using the range of motion that you are able to use. As was mentioned, it is perfectly fine to do sets. Eventually the goal is to do them all in one set, but that will take a while so don't feel bad about not being able to do all the reps as one set!

Over time you will get stronger. It may help to try and do negatives by walking both hands out a few inches and then sliding your feet slowly down the wall a few inches and only moving at the shoulders, and walking out as slowly as you can. Obviously there will be a point at which you will have to stop trying to be slow, and that's ok, but focus on that lowering. You can build a lot of strength relatively quickly that way.

As far as the wall runs go, a 60s wall handstand with a straight body, shoulders near the ears and the wrists closer than a foot to the wall is the bare minimum for someone trying to start practicing HS wall runs. Ideally you would have a 60s or better wall handstand with your wrists 4" from the wall or less, hollow body and fairly open shoulders (preferably completely open, but I won't be there any time soon!). If that doesn't describe your current level of HS work you will be best served by doing sets of 1/2 your max wall HS hold time. Start with a reasonable goal, like 3-4 total minutes. Do that each HS workout that comes up this month, and then next month try for 4-5 total minutes! Before you know it you'll be doing 10 total minutes and from there you will probably be able to manage the wall runs with no problem, beginning them the same way. Slowly scale things, you won't do yourself any favors by working so hard that the rest of the week suffers!

My WOD: 7" elevation for all my HeS Presses.

4,3,3,3 Cast Wall Walks. I went down fairly slow, like doing a slow negative HS press kind of, and this was very hard on the shoulders. I do not know what the results will be, but it feels good. 60s rests, very good form these days.

5 pike HeS presses

5 straddle HeS presses

4 pike HeS presses

Ok, these went WAY better than last time. My active flexibility is getting better. I can almost touch my nose to my knees in a seated pike without using my arms for leverage. My back is fairly curved, but I am able to lengthen a bit each week it seems. Excellent progress. Negatives were fairly slow, 4-5s each. I had intended to do my last set as straddle, and for some reason I just did pike. It was the best set of the night.

Some overhead thick bar work followed by 4 minutes aggregate wall HS, more or less freestanding. I am learning to use my deltoids... it is weird. 8x30s, 60s rest. Pretty good, I could do more.

slizzardman said:

Dave: You are best off using the range of motion that you are able to use. As was mentioned, it is perfectly fine to do sets. Eventually the goal is to do them all in one set, but that will take a while so don't feel bad about not being able to do all the reps as one set!

Over time you will get stronger. It may help to try and do negatives by walking both hands out a few inches and then sliding your feet slowly down the wall a few inches and only moving at the shoulders, and walking out as slowly as you can. Obviously there will be a point at which you will have to stop trying to be slow, and that's ok, but focus on that lowering. You can build a lot of strength relatively quickly that way.

As far as the wall runs go, a 60s wall handstand with a straight body, shoulders near the ears and the wrists closer than a foot to the wall is the bare minimum for someone trying to start practicing HS wall runs. Ideally you would have a 60s or better wall handstand with your wrists 4" from the wall or less, hollow body and fairly open shoulders (preferably completely open, but I won't be there any time soon!). If that doesn't describe your current level of HS work you will be best served by doing sets of 1/2 your max wall HS hold time. Start with a reasonable goal, like 3-4 total minutes. Do that each HS workout that comes up this month, and then next month try for 4-5 total minutes! Before you know it you'll be doing 10 total minutes and from there you will probably be able to manage the wall runs with no problem, beginning them the same way. Slowly scale things, you won't do yourself any favors by working so hard that the rest of the week suffers!

Thank you for the tips and motivation.

Where can I find a good video demonstrating exactly what a good Pike Box Press HS & Straddle Box Press HS looks like? I new to the world of gymnastics an would like to begin things with a good foundation. Anyone's help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

sapperjr06 said:

Where can I find a good video demonstrating exactly what a good Pike Box Press HS & Straddle Box Press HS looks like? I new to the world of gymnastics an would like to begin things with a good foundation. Anyone's help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Unfortunately i don't know of one though it would be useful for many new to the WODs.

WOD done on Monday

Warm Up:

4x10 s Half Lay FL

4x10 s Adv. Tuck PL

4x10 s HSMH

4x10 s Straddle L

1x10 Cast Wall Walks

rest 2 min

1x5 Straddle Wall Press HS (head off wall)

rest 2 min

1x5 Pike Wall Press HS (head on wall) + 1x5 Straddle Wall Press HS (head on wall)

rest 5 min

1x2 min HS Wall Run

8x1 min HS Wall Run

rested 30 sec between sets on first 5 min then 45 s on last 5 min

Finsished with 2x10 Wrist Pushup with ft elevated

Hey Treemantyler. For your FSP warmup, do you pair any of your FSP's or do you do four sets of one FSP then move on to the next one? Just curious. Thanks man. I am jealous of your advanced tuck planche! I want to get there so badly! God bless

Ooden, yes I do them in round fashion, that is, 1 round of each one then another and so on. This way I can rest the muscles responsible for a particular FSP while finishing the other ones before I come back to the first. I don't know if this is the best way or not but it seems to make sense. lol Thx, took forever to get the adv. tuck PL and I feel really close to being able to start straddling my legs out a little for a straddle PL I hope!