Questions and critiques needed

Just a quick bit about myself, I'm 32, 5'6", and about 132 lbs. I'm looking for something different than the standard lifting weights and came across this site which has piqued my interest. I just got the XR yesterday and put together a pair of pvc parallets.

After looking through a number of posts, I decided to follow killroy's starting routine http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1586&p=9669#p9669. If I can't do a particular exercise, I'll go down one progression. So here's what I was thinking of doing:

1) Warm up consisting of the exercises from this post http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5265

2) 5x5 wrist push-ups. I found I have to do these on my knees currently

3) Depending on the day, doing one of the routines listed by killroy

4) Stretch

A few questions:

a) Should I be doing any stretching between warming up and doing the actual routine for the day?

b) I'm not very flexible at all (hamstrings and back mainly), are there any recommended stretch routines that I can do to help increase my flexibility?

c) Should I move to the next progression if I can hold the current one for 60sec?

d) Based off the book, the current FSP routine would be max hold/2, and then that value/60 for the number of sets. Is that right? I know killroy does his in 6 sets. Is either more beneficial?

e) Are there suitable replacements for the exercises he uses weights (front squat and trap bar dead lift)?

I'm pretty excited about doing something different than simply lifting weights. Someone said something along the lines of, almost anyone can lift weights, but gymnastic works will build skill and coordination as well. This was a big factor in deciding to give this a go. It looks fun too

Just finished a routine and am definitely being too ambitious :oops:

For wrist push-ups, maybe 2 sets of 5 reps is more suited for me. I was able to hold a normal frog stand for 60 sec and went on to the advanced frog stand. I do fall out of this stand occasionally, but I guess I'll get there. I didn't do the back lever as I'm not comfortable inverting myself until I hang the rings from a beam instead of a pull-up bar. Tucked front lever is pretty difficult as well, I don't have the strength to lean back all the way. SLS - negatives I need a chair for assistance.

These exercises are pretty intense. Is it normally like this for someone just starting out? Don't get me wrong, I'll be sticking with it

Welcome to GB! I'm fairly new here as well, but like you, I wanted to do something other than weightlifting, which I had become bored of. I'll try and answer your questions based on my experience

a) Your stretching should be the last thing you do. Holding long stretches will actually decrease the ability of your muscles to perform at their maximum strength for a short (15 minutes or so) period of time. Stretching muscles that are already tired is also a good idea because you will find that they will provide less resistance, so you can stretch the tendons more fully.

b) I'm pretty inflexible as well. You'll just have to do your standard single and double legged hamstring stretches and give it time. If you were flexible at any point prior to this, it might come back quicker. Before I started, I did 5 years of powerlifting with zero stretching. I could barely touch my shins, and after 6 months of consistent stretching, I can finally touch the ground. It's a long process

c) Yes, move on to the next progression if you can hold the current one with perfect form for 60s.

d) You have the right idea for structuring your FSPs. If your max hold time is less than 20s (ie your hold time per set would be less than 10s) consider doing few sets overall, depending on how you feel. Since you're doing these FSPs every day, you don't want to be burning yourself out every time you're doing them.

e) There are some leg exercises you can do with just bodyweight. This is going to build a lot of explosive power with bodyweight and is similar to plyometrics. If you play a lot of sports, this will be pretty handy. I still train with heavy weights for my legs at least once every two weeks to keep my pushing power high because I play rugby. Some bodyweight exercises for legs are the the single leg squat, 2 legged squat, lunges and jumping variants of all 3 of those exercises. Some hamstring exercises include the natural leg curl (NLC) and the glute ham raise (GHR). You can also do stiff legged single leg deadlifts. You probably won't much weight to make those hard at this point (bodyweight is probably enough for the first month). Those will also help your hamstring flexibility.

I started off pretty strong from powerlifting, so I was able to move through the progressions fairly quickly. My progress is slowing down as I get into the FSP variations that involve extending my legs due to a combination of several factors (leg mass and comparatively low core strength and terrible flexibility). Everyone starts off somewhere - the first time I did a frog stand, I wound up with a mouth full of grass because I face-planted.

The key is to train consistently, but not so intensely that you end up overtraining. Listen to your body, eat healthy and get plenty of rest - you'll see results soon

Thanks for the advice rmandawg1. I've always thought that you should stretch before exercising. At least that's what I've done when lifting weights. I'm more worried about cramping up while working out.

Much like you 6 months ago, I can barely reach my ankles. Guess I have a long road ahead of me in terms of touching the ground. Thanks again

I just wanted to clarify that you should do SOME stretching before working out, but it should be of the dynamic (moving) variety, not the static (holding) variety. Dynamic stretches you may be familiar with are things like high knees, kick-your-butt, arm circles etc. If you have one of those physiotherapy elastics or any of the workout elastics, you can use those to warm your muscles up, since they are typically fairly stretchy and won't tax your strength for the upcoming workout.

Ideally before you start your workout, you have a light sweat going, and your heart rate is around 100-120 bpm. This will ensure that your muscles are warmed up and the blood is pumping

Sounds good. I'll do a light warm up with some dynamic stretching before doing all the 60 second holds. Guess I'll be doing a double warm up in a sense