Alexx's Workout Log

Week 6

Soft Tissue

Warm-up

Straight arm - 5x15

Front Lever - 12x5 - half lay

Archer hold - 3x30

External rotations - 3x15 red band

Abducted external rotations - 3x8 - 15 lbs.

Reverse wrist curls 3x12 - 45 lbs.

Finger extensions - 3x12 Blue band

Calf jumps 3x20

Stretch

Soft-tissue work

Warm-up

Straight Arm Work - 3x15

Fl Pulls - 3x5 - one leg

Iron Cross Pulls - 3x5

Side and back Kicks - 3x10/12 - Red+Orange bands

New Routine - Taking a week off from training so I'll be stopping my cycle here (just stretching). Having a prehab day has worked out really well so I'll be keeping that as well the alternating A+B format of programing. I also decided to include some bent arm work for this cycle for general strength training to keep everything balanced (and although the one arm chinup hasn't helped in straight arm work it's not a skill that I want to lose). Would have liked to include a pressing exercise for bent arm work but there really isn't any that I can do or think of without resorting to weights and I don't really have access to those. I suspect the lack of pressing work is going to haunt me in the future when I start working on higher level ring elements.

Warm-up - 12 Reps

Soft-Tissue Work

Wall Slides

Shoulder Dislocates

Thoracic Extensions

Wrist Mobility/Stretching - I noticed that my wrists are really pretty stiff and don't quite turn the way most people's wrists do. I think this is a combination of too much grip and forearm work with too little stretching as well as past injuries.

Wall Squats

Side Lunges

Ys - 5 lbs.

Rear Delt Flys - 7.5 lbs

Handstand Press - 10

Day 1

Wide Arm handstand - 6x

A1 OAC - 3x

A2 Single Leg Archer Hold - 3x

Day 2

Front Lever - 6x10

A1 Straight Arm Work - 3x

A2 SLS - 3x

2x Per week Prehab Work - 3x10-12

Light Stretch

Band Internal Rotations

Band External Rotations

Abducted External Rotations

Band Scap Pushups

Wrist Pushup Variations

Finger Extensions

Calf Raises

Jump Rope - 10-15 minutes

I tried a Handstand Press on bars today while trying to figure out an exercise to add to my cycle. Here are some of the attempts:

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While I can do a pike press handstand on floor I've never tried one from an L-sit so I was pretty pleased with my attempts. Also played around with a handstand on rings and I am not sure why but that has also improved from the last time I gave those a try.

Week 1

Soft-Tissue Work

Warmup

Wide arm Handstand - 6x10

A1 OAC - 3x2 - Assisted

A2 Single Leg Archer Hold - 3x30

Tried and can still pull a one arm chin-up off if I start slightly above lockout. Felt the long head of the bicep activate like crazy, probably because I haven't done any bent arm work in a while.

Nice! I just made a kickass OAC assistance device out of garage pulleys! It's smooth like buttery butter, I am very pleased! We'll have to get together soon and I'll show you. I think you'll like it a lot. It costs about 10 bucks to make, maybe less.

slizzardman said:

Nice! I just made a kickass OAC assistance device out of garage pulleys! It's smooth like buttery butter, I am very pleased! We'll have to get together soon and I'll show you. I think you'll like it a lot. It costs about 10 bucks to make, maybe less.

That sounds awesome, can't wait to see it and try it

Band External Rotations - 3x8 - Red+Orange

Abducted External Rotations - 3x10 - 15 lbs.

Wrist Prehab/Rehab:

Finger Extensions - 3x12 - Red band

Novel Complex

Single Calf Holds - 3x30 - 70 lbs.

Jefferson Curl - 2x10 - 25 lbs.

Jump Rope - 10 mins.

Friday

Warm-up

Front Lever - 6x7 - half lay

A1 Straight arm work - 3x15

A2 Side/Back Kicks - 3x8-10 - Black Band

Soft-Tissue Work

Warm-up

Wide Arm handstand - 6x10

OAC - 3x2 - Assisted

SLS - 3x8 - 50 lbs.

*Took the Marina Challenge at an event I went to and surprised myself with 20 chin-ups. Not that 20 chin-ups is great or anything but I never do anything remotely close to endurance work so I was very surprised. I haven't even done a chin-up in years, unless you count one arm chin up training. My previous best a few years ago was 12. Working lots of front levers has most likely been the greatest contributor to the increase.

Internal Rotations - 3x12 - Red+Orange

External Rotations - 3x8 - Red+Orange

Abducted External Rotations - 3x8 - 15 lbs.

Wrist pushups - Flexion, Finger Tips, Extension - 3x15

Finger Extensions - 3x30 seconds - Yellow Band

Single Leg Calf Raise - 3x30 seconds - 70 lbs.

Jefferson Curl - 2x10 - 35 lbs.

Jump Rope - 10 minutes

Soft-Tissue Work

Warm-up

Front Lever - 6x5 - Half Lay

Straight Arm Work - 3x15

Single Leg Archer Hold - 3x30

Warm-up

Wide Arm Handstand - 6x10

OAC - 3x2 - Assisted

Side/Back Kicks - 3x8/10 - Black Band

Both the Wide Arm handstand and the OAC are getting much easier. The Wide arm handstand in particular has improved pretty quickly and the biggest limiting factor is not the biceps area.

Saturday

Internal Rotations - 3x12 - Red+Orange

External Rotations - 3x8 - Red+Orange

Abducted External Rotations - 3x8 - 20 lbs.

Scap Pushups - 3x15 - Red Band

Wrist pushups - 3x15 - flexion, extension, finger tips

Finger Extension - 3x30 seconds- Yellow Band

Calf Jumps - 3x30 - 25 lbs.

Jefferson Curl - 2x10 - 45 lbs.

So I decided to start swimming again. I keep adding cardio/gpp work to my routines but I never end up doing it because I just get bored. As a result I joined a master's swim class at a swimming pool. My commitment is to make practice at least 3 days a week and the goal is to stick with it at least until December after which point I can reevaluate weather this is something that I want to keep doing. I am going to log all my swimming workouts here as well and see what changes (positive, negative, both or none) it will have on my training with rings.

Since I have no desire of becoming an endurance athlete, I will be training the equivalent of a 100 meter dash. I did compete in swimming on and off for about 10 years when I was younger so I am interested to see how I will compare to my much weaker, younger self after some practice.

Hahaha, when you were younger! You're still just a young sprout! I have started doing some freestyle springs in my neighborhood pool 25-50m intervals. It's fun. I'm afraid to do too much since it's so shoulder intensive and mine are still on the mend, but it feels great to hit a few!

slizzardman said:

Hahaha, when you were younger! You're still just a young sprout! I have started doing some freestyle springs in my neighborhood pool 25-50m intervals. It's fun. I'm afraid to do too much since it's so shoulder intensive and mine are still on the mend, but it feels great to hit a few!

Lol I meant it more as it being a while ago (over 10 years) rather than saying that I am old. Yeah the shoulders is my only concern with this and I'll probably have to reevaluate my prehab days to suit their recovery needs.

Warm-up

Front Lever - 6x5 - half lay

A1 Straight arm work - 3x15 - this is starting to feel less awkward and a lot stronger

A2 SLS - 3x8 - 50 lbs.

Everything is getting a lot stronger except for the front lever. The front lever has always been a slow progressing skill for me which I am ok with but I am starting to develop a theory that it is not a matter of strength in the lats or rear delts but the scapular musculature. This would make sense especially since the planche also requires strong scapular muscles and I have an impossible time with that skill. I've already noticed a huge difference after adding in the extra scapular work and hoping that it will carry over to the front lever more as the muscles there get stronger.

Long head of the triceps is also KEY!!! Shoulder extensions in a thumbs up position, which is basically going to be thumbs down at the end of the ROM, while keeping the scaps depressed and retracted will hit that HARD. You don't need much weight, I'm using 20 lbs on a cable machine and that's plenty right now for my right side which is weaker. Just two sessions and FL is yet again significantly improved.

slizzardman said:

Long head of the triceps is also KEY!!! Shoulder extensions in a thumbs up position, which is basically going to be thumbs down at the end of the ROM, while keeping the scaps depressed and retracted will hit that HARD. You don't need much weight, I'm using 20 lbs on a cable machine and that's plenty right now for my right side which is weaker. Just two sessions and FL is yet again significantly improved.

Ah yeah I use to do that exercise with manna work.

Soft-Tissue Work

Warm-up - For the Ys and rear delt flyes I tried them lying down on the floor instead of getting a full range of motion from a full hang. Liked it better since the traps don't really get to rest this way.

Wide Arm Handstand - 6x10

One Arm Chin up - 3x2 - Assisted

Single Leg Archer Hold - 3x30

Tumbling - I've been working standing tumbling instead of running to let my shin splits heal up and finally landed a standing front as well as a back half. The half isn't 100% consistent yet but I'll make a video of standing skills once I can get a full. For running tumbling I've been cleaning up my back handsprings (haven't done them in 7 years) to start working double backs and I've been doing tons of drills/timers for it.

The major downside is whenever I start working running tumbling consistently I get shin splits and become forced to take a break. Working on strengthening the calves but so far it hasn't improved much, if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears

Loaded ankle dorsiflexion + inversion will fix them permanently. Next week I'll show you what I mean! I'm going to be up in the mountains from tomorrow afternoon until sunday night or monday morning most likely.

slizzardman said:

Loaded ankle dorsiflexion + inversion will fix them permanently. Next week I'll show you what I mean! I'm going to be up in the mountains from tomorrow afternoon until sunday night or monday morning most likely.

Hm that's an interesting idea, I was trying to figure out a way to better load dorsiflexion. Thanks

Friday

Warm-up

Front Lever - 6x5

Straight Arm Work - 3x15

Side/Back Kicks - 3x12 - Black Band

Took a 10 minute break between the warm-up and my actual working sets and was surprised at the huge difference in the front lever. While I normally struggle to hold those 5 second ones, I held them with ease and it also felt like I could easily pull off a 10 second one. This further reinforces my theory that my weakness is definitely in retraction (my warm-up has a bunch of retraction exercises). As a result for next time I am going to switch my straight arm work with the front lever work so my retractors get more of a rest.