Spinelli's log

well I'm about to restart my training again today and I'm looking forward to it. Going to attempt a full muscle up, not sure if I'll be able to do it but it'll be close. Feeling pretty strong overall but I still haven't been sleeping very well (mostly due to self inflicted reasons :oops: ) Decided that I will add in front lever and planche work but that I'll mostly focus on building up to a sold 30 sec floor l-sit first before I really start to wok them. Will post an update after training.

Didn't train yesterday in the end . Quite annoyed with myself about that, just didn't keep an eye on the time and then I had to go to work. In a way glad that I didn't as I was so tired. Really need to sleep more. Will definitely train tomorrow though after a good nights sleep tonight.

Also decided that I'm going to eat a lot more healthily in the new year and drink less. I'm going to try and only eat meat at most one meal a day and try to make sure that the meat is mostly fish and of good quality. So I shall be stocking up on beans and lentils.

First training in what feels like ages today. I'm very glad of the rest I had over christmas and looking forward to learning some new skills in the year to come

Felt pretty good today, a bit rusty as I'm out of the grove but pretty strong. During tick-tocks I still fell quite a bit of strain in my elbow, so I'll have to still be very careful with it for and not start on the backlever proper for a good while. Tested my l-sit the other day and I can now just hold one on the floor but the pain in my hip flexors was incredible so I'm still a ways off that yet. Managed a full minute hold of the low L-sit today (legs were actually fairly high) but I'm going to keep working the low l-sit for at least another SSC (until I can do a good 10 seconds on the floor I think)

Ohh also Found out that I'm a good bit heavier than I thought I was I'm actually actually around 170lbs! I was amazed as I used a pretty decent scale about 6 months ago and I was definitely more like 150 ish. Consistent training clearly leads to results

Today's training was fairly good, still a little bit tired from the last one. We've started working the L-sit and the german hang as the FSP and now only using the basic supports as part of the warmup. I've decided to halt direct muscle up work as I don't think my elbows can take it. For the time being I shall work my pull ups and dips as well as doing some supported russian dips to build up the transition.

I have a question as to the best way to build work capacity. I have quite a comprehensive prehab routine that works wrists, elbows, shoulders, back and hips and I don't think there are any major improvements I can make to it (we shall see about this when liquid steel™ is available) however if I try to perform the whole routine and then perform a killroy template style workout I find that afterwards I'm pretty tired and that I can't really push myself during the actual workout. So my question is, should I:

A) Alternate body parts with different days whilst continuing to push myself in the actual workout, or should I

B) Scale back my main workout and perform the whole prehab routine.

I'm sure with time my conditioning will reach a point where the prehab isn't a problem but until I do I want to progress in the best manner. I understand if this is seminar info or something and that you can't answer, thanks in advance anyway

Very good training session yesterday, really coming along with the l-sit and german hang now that I train them every workout. Tried to do the second step in the inverted pulling progression, could kind of do it but it I think I'll stick where I am for the moment and build up my level of conditioning and strength slowly. I've also stopped doing dips on the rings, really working on the russian dips, my dipping station isn't really tall enough, but I think it'll be ok for now and I'll build a better one once I have some time off.

Had to train three days in a row this week as I'm going to be busy next week and the end of this week, felt ok after doing it all. Scaled back on the conditioning work which really helped me with my recovery times. Had a slight neck strain at the start of the week but I think that's nearly better now and exercise doesn't seem to aggravate it (have until sunday off now anyway )

Really noticing a huge difference in my elbow strength this week. I tired briefly holding a tucked back lever and there was almost no strain in my elbows, maybe after next SSC I can start the backlever work proper .

Anyhow I'm going to enjoy my time off and seeing some friends I haven't seen in a while. Will write next week if I have time (two jobs and three bands take up all my time these days)

Missed my training on Monday as I wasn't feeling too great. Had quite a light training session today as I didn't have time for a full one. Felt pretty good. Found getting myself motivated for training has been quite hard these days, got a lot of stuff on my mind at the minute, hopefully I'll feel better after some proper rest (haven't had much of that lately). Good luck to the rest of you this week!

Training has been going pretty well since I last posted. Really feel like I'm getting some benefit put of the headstand presses now that I've managed to find a box to lower onto. I've found that pushing down hard with my hands and lifting my head slightly really makes it a much more effective exercise.

German hang is coming along nicely but it's going to be at least another 2 SSCs before I get off the floor properly with it. I have a couple of questions about L-sits. Does anyone know if I should attempt to keep my shoulders back in the tuck and low tuck version? In the book the athletes don't attempt to do this until they get to the advanced l-sit but I feel like I'm compromising my form learning it that way. I suppose coach allows this as it can be corrected later and allows sufficient strength to be built in the hip flexors and abdominals, maybe working both would be best? I think I may try working both and I'll let you know of the results.

I've put on a bit of fat recently which I'm finding odd as this is usually very hard for me to do. Probably drinking a bit too much :oops: so I've decided that after friday I'm going to really cut down on the beers. Also I've noticed that my shoulders are nearly balanced now and my posture is much much better, the condition of the muscle is quite good also, still a little weak and grainy feeling in places especially at the very bottom of the lats where they join onto the bottom of the ribcage. Gotta love prehab though

Well quite a good training. Really surprised with the progress I'm making, pullups felt good, russian dips are coming along nicely and I can now explosively press out of the bottom of the movement whereas the other week I could only do a negative. L-sits are progressing and I'm really shocked with the progress in the german hang, I can now do it unspotted for a few seconds and I don't feel any elbow strain whilst I'm lowering through the backlever portion. Got to remember to progress slowly with the statics though, I think I'll be ready to start on planche and frontlever work on the next SSC.

Only bad thing today was the headstand pushups which I felt quite weak on, ah well cant have everything and I'm sure they'll improve over the next few weeks. Got to train again tomorrow as I'm busy on friday Happy training everyone

Trained by myself yesterday as my brother had to work. Absolutely powered through the warmup and the FSPs and then really got stuck into the main exercises. At then end I tried the basic ring strength series and it was bloody hard! I think I'll try and do it once a week on a separate day along with some handstand work and see how it affects me for now. Really wanting to add in the planche work now but I'll wait unitl I test my L-sit on the floor in a few weeks time. German hang is still progressing very well (faster than I thought possible) and the old russian dips are coming along nicely.

I'm thinking that I haven't been including enough lower back work as it's feeling pretty weak today, I haven't really been doing any direct ab work other than headstand presses and l-sits, the rest has been just a consequence of straight body work. I'm going to change to WODs after this SSC and I trust coaches programming to keep everything pretty well balanced. I should really start including more bridge work but I really do hate it.

Good training today, feeling really good overall as I've been sleeping really well recently

Added in bodyweight bicep curls into my prehab and I'm really enjoying those. Got my brother to spot me through the first ring routine and it was a little better than last time. Not quite ready to move onto bulgerian push ups and rows yet but I think in a few weeks my shoulders will be able to cope with the stress.

Headstand presses are still really really hard but my flexibility is improving slowly, need to find something I can raise my head on so that I can slowly straighten my arms during this exercise.

L-sit is becoming pretty solid for 30 seconds now and legs are pretty high, I'm also really pleased with the clearance I'm getting over my hands which should make the transition to the floor in a SSC or two pretty easy.

Really looking forward to the end of this SSC and getting started on the WODs, also really hoping the new edition comes out soon so that I can make sure my back prehab is being done properly.

Not the best training today, felt really unmotivated and my shoulder has been aching a little so I tried taking it a little easier and I did nothing that caused any pain until right at the end when I was about to attempt a negative muscle up I did something to my shoulder whilst jumping up into a xr support. Going to have to be very careful with it until the end of this SSC at least. Ah well I suppose I've been quite lucky not to have any injuries so far what with how much I was pushing things last SSC. Headstand presses are feeling good as are wide pullups. So all in all good stuff. Really need to add in some work on my back, I think I'll work archups on my days off training and a few other bits.

Only a brief training session yesterday, got quite a lot done though. My shoulder appears to be ok but I'm still going to take it easy for the rest of this SSC. I did something to my neck in yesterday's training, not serious it feels fine today but II need to include some neck prehab from now on, any suggestions other than neck bridges?

I worked out how I aggrivated my shoulder, trying a XR bulgarin push up last monday is what did it. SO now I feel a little silly. It's only a very slight injury but it's in a place such that the muslce gets very tired and a little achy after a while of sitting. I have full ROM and it doesn't really hurt during exercises more of a very dull ache but it's very annoying.

I did a lot o prehab work yesterday with a elastic band and seemed to target the area quite effectively, I also reduced the intensity of my workout so that i was doing pushups on my knees and rows only on a slight incline. I had no real problems with performing headstand presses (might start working these more as I really do enjoy them and they don't appear to be too destructive). Statics gave me no problems whatsoever. Can't wait for this to be fully healed so I can get back into trining fully.

Me and my brother had a light wresting match the other yesterday also, trying to push each other down a corridor. Now I'm a good 4 inches taller than him but we both weigh almost the same and he is deffinetly stronger in oushing movements than me so I expected that he would win but in fact quite the contrary happened. Not only would I win every time but I could also let him start to push me backwards at a fair rate, stop pretty quickly (on a polished wooden floor in socks!) and push him backwards. Anyone got any idea as to why this is? He found it impossible to do the same to me. I am stronger in the core than him and I have done a bit of karate but I'd have thought with his lower COG that he would win.

A decent training today. Started working HSPUs with a box so that I can achieve full ROM which I think is probably the best way to go about things, but also throwing a set of proper HSPUs as well. I've reassessed my shoulder injury and I now think that it is only a dead arm, caused by my brother hitting me there the other week, took me a while to realise this but it's quite a nervy pain and I think it's propbably the muscle that has swollen a little and is pressing on a nerve, I think ice is the best way to reduce swelling so I will give it a go and let you know how it works out.

L-sits and German hangs are going fantastically, really looking forward to moving things up a notch in a couple of weeks time. I'm going to start working the Planche and front lever progression as well as doing some L-hangs and XR front supports (don't think I'm quite ready for a XR support yet).

Wide grip pullups felt quite good today, really focusing on minimizing the lean backwards which makes them so much harder. Strength throughout the ROM is pretty good with no obvious weak spots .

I can nearly do Russin dips unsupported and my handstands are coming along nicely, can easily hold 30 seconds on the wall at a time now so I'm looking forward to all the handstand work in the WODs also. Last training for this SSC tomorrow and then a week off which will be nice

Didn't train properly today or yesterday, I did do a little bit of bridge work and a bit of back and oblique prehab as well as some handstand work. I've got a really bad achey pain in my left thumb for the past two days. It really hurts and I don't know how I've done it , doesn't seem to affect my training but hopefully it will go away soon. Maybe I've overdone the fingertip pressups? I usually do about 5 in the warmup on my knees so I don't think it's that. Could have been playing piano the other day which I haven't done in a long while. Shoulder seems to be better so all is good there and I feel no pain on the rings so I should be back up to strength by the start of next week or so.

Had a dream last night where I got hold of a copy of the unreleased volumes of BtGB, which I remember were awesome to read but unfortunately I cant remember any of it now

Starting the WODs 4 days a week from tomorrow onwards which I'm really excited about . Feeling really good after my week off, shoulder seems to be almost healed, needs some soft tissue work though and I've been getting plenty of good food and rest.

I'll try and link the WODs here and mention my prehab somewhere so that you guys know how that and my FSPs are coming along. Tomorrow is going to involve a lot of testing my FSPs, I'm hoping to get about a 20 second german hang and a 20 sec L-sit on a set of pushup bars. I think I should be able to do a 60 sec frogstand but I'm going to spend at least a SSC on it regardless I'm not so sure about the front lever but I'm hoping for more than 30 seconds.

Also hoping to add at least once a week conditioning and stretching into the routine properly this time. Also going to do some foam rolling on my off days as I'm developing a couple of areas of overtensions especially in my arms and forearms. Will keep you lot posted as ever as it might be a bit too much work but it shouldn't be.

First time doing the WODs today and I have to say it was a lot of fun, especially the backward sled run (had my brother pulling me back with a rope) the straddle L work at the end was a real killer also as we haven't started working that yet but it might be a good idea to do it as part of the FSps. Here's the link to the WOD viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8275

Also tested all of the FSPs and I'm fairly pleased with them apart from the frontlever work which I thought that I would do better in but nevermind.

L-sit 15 seconds on very low pushup bars, mightily pleased with this

German hang 20 seconds

front lever tucked 20 seconds

frogstand 50 seconds

Seem to match up to my expectations from yesterday pretty well onwards and upwards now

My god today was hard! The sheer amount of volume we've added in the FSPs is making things take so much longer and we ran out of time so that we had to skip the last portion of the workout. Cast wall walks we did in sets of 5 and we only did one set of the presses due to time constraints. It really is going to be a very tough few weeks as we aclimatize to the demands doing all the WODs and FSPs is putting upon us.

REally pleased with myself as to how much work I managed to do on the L-sit, the last two sets were absoloute murder and I could barely keep my feet off of the ground. German hangs were also really hard. Kind of want this SSC to be over already so that I can breeze (mostly) through everything and know exactly how to scale the WODs and have the work capacity to be able to do all of them fully and such but until then it's going to be a really hard few weeks.

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/vi ... =12&t=8299

Today's WOD was hard! mostly due to me not scaling the exercises far enough back so we only managed two rounds instead of 4 but feeling pretty good afterwards. I'm finding that just working through the FSPs is really really tough. I guess the next couple of weeks are going to be tough until I develop the work capacity, I already noticing a difference though. The L-sit felt so much easier today and the german hang wasn't too bad. The front lever however was hard,f I think this is because I'm really focusing on pulling my shoulder blades back and down which naturally flattens my back forcing me to do the front lever flat tuck. I suspect in the long run this will yeild better resutls as I won't have to relearn my front lever form, just extend my legs out. I think I'll spend at least 2 SSCs in this position though regardless of how easy I find it to perform 60 sec max hold just to ensure the tendons are sufficiently strengthened.

Looking forward to tomorrow and then a few days of R&R

http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/vi ... =12&t=8309

Today's training went better than yesterday due to understanding how to scale the exercises more accordingly, it's going to take a while to get it all down though. As there were a lot of static holds in today's WOD we cut back on the german hang and front lever and only did the frogstand and l-sit as our regular FSP, is this the right way to do a day like today?

Feeling pretty good but tired afterwards, especially my elbows. My back is feeling good and some muscles that have clearly been neglected are suffering and some knots that have existed for ages are loosening up.

Forgot to say the other day I did some foam roller work with a gold ball. Some parts of my back still need a tonne of work even though it's so much better than before I started BTGB. Thinking of paying for a couple of sessions with a masseuse to get things kick started. It's weird how some parts affect others, I found a knot in my back between my scapula and my spine and when I rested the ball there I got this weird sensation at the top of my neck just where the neck muscles join the base of the skull where I found that I had another knot/weak spot.

Going to get some really good rest in this weekend and try to speed up my recovery as best I can so that I'm fully fit for monday

The past couple of days training has been good. The FSPs are steadily getting easier and I'm learning to scale more accordingly. Pretty tired after todays WOD which involved at lot more cardio than usual. Sleep has been a little lacking this last week, mostly due to me being distracted by things on the internet and not realising how late it is.

Really focusing on tensing my whole body into the hollow position with pretty much every exercise now, not sure if this is quite what is meant by building a proper body shape but it seems to be working. Not getting enough handstand work in at the moment either but I think I'll hold back on that until the end of this SSC, don't want to increase the workload anymore.

Didn't train last week, not so much because I was tired (although this didn't help) but because my brother was away, time constraints and just general apathy.

Good training today though, accidentally did last weeks training but never mind. viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8375

Statics are all feeling very much stronger and I actually enjoyed the cast wall walks, only manged two rounds but I think any more would have been a bit too much. My shoulder is still a little tender but I'm being careful (most of the time) with it so it shouldn't be long until it's better.

Realised the other day how stressed I actually am, it's weird I have nothing to stress about at the minute but I think over the course of uni I've gotten so used to being stressed that I now no longer know how to relax and on edge feels pretty relaxed to me. Just wondering if any of you guys or girls have had similar experiences to me.

Whenever I noticed my breathing it would always feel like I wasn't getting enough air and that my chest was tight, not short of breath really just not comfortable. Also when I was going to sleep I noticed that my heart rate wasn't even (when I breath in it would speed up and then slow down on my exhale) and also quite strong.

last Thursday at work I was reading and just started to breath much more deeply and evenly than normally and after about 10 minutes I felt really good and relaxed almost high in a strange quite pleasant sort of way. Since then I've tried to be conscious of taking deep and even breaths throughout the day and I feel so much better, my jaw feels so relaxed (almost painful as it's finally releasing all the tension I've had in it) all the time and I can actually open it properly, my heart rate when I'm going to sleep is also nice and even and much quieter, my chest still feels a little bit tight but I'm sure that this will go as I get better at relaxing. I think this might well be what's causing a lot of these minor ailments that I've been suffering from lately.

If anyone has a similar experience or tips they'd like to share they'd be more than welcome

Training was fairly good today, been trying to make sure that I pack my neck during the appropriate movements, planche, front lever and hollow hold am I right here? Should it also be included in the L-sit? I have to tell you my neck is quite sore tonight, really highlighted some weaknesses there.

Performed the basic ring routine three time today and did the statics. Was going to do some more statics as stated in the WOD but I think that would have been a bit much. Day off tomorrow and then back onto training. Damn just remembered that I can't train Friday... and I'll probably be quite tired on monday, we shall see if I get a training session again there.

Haven't been training particularly consistently these past couple of weeks. I've been really rushed off my feet and barley have time to do anything. Also I was trying to give my shoulder a bit of time to recover but I think I've worked out the problem. Lack of proper stretching post workout. My Delts have become all hard and knotty so I've been giving them a load of massage and stretching and they feel so much better now. Really going to kick in with the flexibility work now.

On another note I'm thinking of adding in the L hang and inverted hang to my regular routine. They really seem to target the weaker parts of my shoulders. Been doing them on and off over the past week and my handstand has improved a lot, although this might just be a coincidence. Going to have a light session tomorrow after work I think