Kyle's relentless pursuit of maximal relative strength

I made an awesome discovery yesterday. I use an Iron Gym pull up bar in my closet doorframe, and I have a fairly wide closet almost six feet wide. I now have a good enough straddle to reach each wall with my feet. This will help me to progress from flat tuck to straddle in Front Lever, Back Lever, and eventually Planche much quicker. When in a straddle front lever or back lever I can use the walls for light assistance. This is perfect because on my front lever I am approaching the point where i can hold a straddle lever for time. With the wall I can use light assistance and get much better shoulder lean and activation.

Not too much gymnastic training lately, but I have been doing a thorough scapula/shoulder routine every morning. It is working wonders. If I have adequate energy after I will do a short gymnastic oriented strength workout.

Main areas of focus

-scapula shoulder strength/mobility

-floor l-sit (form is the biggest focus)

-German hang

-planche leans

-front lever

I would also like to add that a good way to work planche leans is with your head just short of touching the wall. That way you can mark where your hands are and use that mark to repeat them with the same amount of lean from set to set and throughout a SSC.

I decided I would update my log. Thankfully, I finally have a week off from football workouts. I am really frustrated at the kind of stupid training that they have us doing. Just about everything is 3 sets of 10 even power cleans and deadlifts. I also have to deal with some stupid coaches telling me not to squat below parallel. It is terrible. I don't even care to comment on conditioning. I have gotten much slower and weaker since I started working out with the football team it makes me want to explode on some of those ignorant coaches. I stagnate/deteriorate when put on a high rep bodybuilder type routine, and respond best to high intensity training. (Charles Poliquin wrote an entertaining article that perfectly describes me as a "fire type.")http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/384/The_Five_Elements__A_New_Training_Paradigm.aspx

It really sucks to watch my body get weak,slow, and fatigued because of such stupid people. I feel like quitting so I don't screw up my baseball season next year, but I don't want to because the head coach is a really great guy. I respect him and don't want to quit because he put in a lot of time developing me as a player. It would be like slapping him in the face. I really don't know if I should put up with such horrible training.

Maybe you can see if they will allow you to do something slightly different since you are getting weaker and slower. Maybe not, a lot of coaches don't know shit. If nothing else, try to half-ass the training they have you do without them noticing so you can do something more productive at home.

slizzardman said:

Maybe you can see if they will allow you to do something slightly different since you are getting weaker and slower. Maybe not, a lot of coaches don't know shit. If nothing else, try to half-ass the training they have you do without them noticing so you can do something more productive at home.

Thanks for the advice Slizzardman. I thought it over and realized I made a commitment to the team to be the best player I can be. If that means slacking off at "training" to boost on-the-field performance than that is what I will do. I would talk to the coaches but I don't see that going over well; prior experience tells me that would be unwise.

Yea, talking to the coaches is usually a terrible idea. I hate to say that, but it's true.

slizzardman said:

Yea, talking to the coaches is usually a terrible idea. I hate to say that, but it's true.

I don't really care for too many coaches at my school. Most of them are stubborn and dogmatic. I must admit though that we have a really good track coach who understands programming/periodization and is a great guy. I hope he returns this school year so he can help me with my sprinting form.