FSP/ Back lever and front lever question in last post

Hello!

I have been interested in gymnastics + bodyweight training for a lot of time. I never really liked the idea of lifting weights, and gymnastic training is way more fun. Anyway, I am of the "twig" category - 187cm and 68kg, and my bodyfat percent is about 6%. Now, I don't have almost any strength, and I've always been more of an endurance type - preferably running. Some strength would be useful, though, and that's why I am going to start gymastics training - I've already done it for a month or so, though without a routine and just some levers + l sit + handstands.

I was thinking about doing only the FSP for a few months, as a kind of "Starting Strength". The progressions would help me with other kinds of exercises and they'd build a good base for more advanced stuff later on. Has anyone else only done the static holds at first?

Now, I was wondering about a routine. I've thought about the stuff and I'll start with four holds, Back and Front Lever, Planche and L-sit. What kind of routine would be good? I was thinking about two: A workout with all the holds for 60s on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or a workout with two exercises on monday, two on tuesday, the same two as monday on thursday and the same as on tuesday on friday. Which one would you prefer, or would you try a different solution altogether?

Thanks in advance.

I would recommend you to do the WOD together with the FSPs.

The FSPs will mostly stenghten your tendons and keep you from injuries if done right.

You should strive to perform the WODs with the prescribed repetitions but in the beginning you'll need to scale them down - for most you scale them down quite a bit

Listen to your body and dont overdo it. Your tendons and ligaments need a lot of time to be strenghtened - dont rush, it will just push you further back.

For inspiration you could take a look at this thread, last page:

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4497

Look around on the forum - lots of threads from beginners.

Feel free to ask if needed

'Rasmus'

I would prefer the MWF with all 4 vs just 2 exercises a day for 4d/week.

Currently, as I'm attempting to build myself back up, I am only doing the FSP besides FSP WU MTuThF. On MTh, I have been doing a supersetted ring pullup/PB dip that is focused on density/capacity but I will go back to the WOD or a SSC for the FBE soon.

I had taken off nearly 2 months, gained some weight, so I'm fairly weak somewhat now which is annoying but I want to take things real slow as I'm sure if I have to do another injury it will just make me want to quit.

If you were hesistant about the WOD, I would do SSC for the FSP and FBE. Rotate the FBE like Killroy does for vertical, horizontal, and inverted pressing/pulling and combined press/pull on one day. Rotate one core lift from day to day.

Should be simple and fairly quick.

But why not take advantage of Coach and his knowledge. The WODs are designed to be the best program with rest and variation - dont know much about it but it is some "complex training". Injuries can come from regular training doing, from the Killroy training plan and from the WODs. You "just" have to learn you bodies limits and not rush through the progressions whether it is FSP or FBE.

Whether you are beginner or advanced the WODs are designed to give you the best and most efficient training.

I would do the scaled WODs and FSP with prehab work 4 times a week as Coach recommends.

Go slow and you will see results.

I have now done the MO/WE/FRI split on FSP. WODs seemed too hard for now, even when scaled. However, I have a small question on the back lever: Is it normal that my ribcage and sternum start to hurt very much after doing back lever work? It's happened every time. The pain goes away in two days. I have filmed my form and it seemed good, so that can't be an issue.

yes, like a ring support, a back lever pulls on the sternum.

are you working the tuck BL?

Advanced tuck back lever. I practiced gymnastics when I was a kid, and it seems to have carried to this day.

Okay, I guess it's just normal. I was just wondering because the pain was really intense, and the sternum cracks a bit when I cough or sneeze.

Are you doing 2 per day M/W/F, or all 4?

Back off the advanced tuck BL and go back to tucked until you can hold tucked for 60s. As well work on your german hangs and ring supports.

Are you doing 2 per day M/W/F, or all 4?

4 per day.

Back off the advanced tuck BL and go back to tucked until you can hold tucked for 60s. As well work on your german hangs and ring supports.

I can already hold the normal tuck for 50-60 seconds. As for ring supports, I haven't done them, so maybe I could work on them at the beginning of my workout or something.

Do some german hangs, assisted or not or even while just sitting and having your hands behind you with straight arm besides some ring support or dips to help loosen things out. Hanging out at the bottom of the dip is another good stretch.

Thanks a lot for the replies, everybody. I broke my homemade rings at the beginning of february (it was -25°C, apparently PVC doesn't like that much ), and since that I haven't been able to practice anything other than handstands and L-sit. However, I stopped doing L-sits because I had no parallettes, and those that I ordered at a carpentry shop are still on the way. Today, I realized that the snow had finally melted enough for me to get to a nearby tree, and I tried gymnastics again.

My adv. tuck back lever times are about 4-6s, so I decided to go back to tuck or now. However, somehow my tuck front lever has gone to a minute and a half - and before I could only do twenty seconds! Probably grip strength with the slippery PVC rings was holding me back. Anyway, I also tried adv tuck front lever, and I could do 18 seconds of it! it was simply weird as heck. As I said earlier, I haven't worked any strength for years. I've been able to do over 20 chin-ups, bu8t nothing else. I always thought I had bad core strength, 'cause I couldn't even do 15s tuck L-sit on the floor.

How come that my front lever is so much better than my back lever, when back lever is A and front lever B? Has anyone else had similar experiences? It seemed so bizarre to me

(And sorry if my English is bad, it's my third language and I don't use it that much)