Lew's Log

Hello everyone, welcome to my log. I plan to use this space to log the exercises I'm using to get stronger. Skills I hope to attain on the floor are handstand, planche, L-sit.

I have a good feel for the balance of a handstand, but I'm not strong enough to hold myself in one for very long. I can hold a frog stand for more than 60 seconds. I don't like the feel of advanced frog stand and can't lift myself into a tuck planche yet. I can't get myself off the ground when performing an L-sit. :oops:

After some frustration, due to my feeling like I wasn't making progress, I've decided that my workouts will be "fun." I hope to attain certain skills, but for now if I get stronger I'll consider my workout a success. On most evenings, two of my kids join me during my workout, I guess they will let me know if it's fun or not.

For the past couple of weeks, the plan has been to do a simple, daily workout of pushes and pulls, with maybe a little but not much static work. I'll hold myself in support on the rings and do inverted hangs, but don't plan to do any other static positions at this time.

My main pushes are dive bomber pushups, pseudo planche pushups, supported holds on rings, and ring dips.

My main pulls are chin ups, pull ups, 360 pulls (in tucked position), inverted hangs.

I know that there may be "better" exercises out there, but these are the fun and functional exercises I've chosen. I'm happy to take suggestions and may play with them to mix in some variety. At the end of a week, I'll evaluate what I'm doing. If I feel something is no longer challenging it will be replaced. However, I think these exercises will challenge me for a couple of months.

I'm not doing any cardio at the moment. I walk a half a mile from the parking garage to my job in the morning. I walk a half a mile to return to my car in the evening. I also chase and entertain my 2 yr old whenever she demands it.

I'm not sure that I will post daily, but will try to put something in here at least once a week. If I feel that I've reached a milestone, I'll attach a pic or video to that day's log.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I wish everyone much success in all of their fitness and gymnastic goals.

Lew

I got home really late today, so my workout was shorter than I'd like.

Set 1

5 x dive bomber pushups

5 x pseudo planche pushups

20 sec rest

Set 2

5 x dive bomber pushups

5 x pseudo planche pushups

20 sec rest

Set 3

2 x dive bomber pushups

2 x pseudo planche pushups

I was surprised that I completed the first 2 sets with so little rest. When I hit set 3, I was fatigued and immediately decided on only 2 reps for each exercise.

While I rested, my wife came down to see what I was doing. I showed her an inverted hang and a tucked 360 pull. She did a short dead hang on the bar and a partial chin up.

I finished the workout by doing 3 x body weight curls from an inverted hang. I didn't get my hands very close to my shoulders, but I was happy with the effort.

After the workout I feel pumped. I'm not sore or tired. Tomorrow I plan to keep the pushups the same, adding more to set 3 if possible. I'll try to do more pulling work.

Since I know my core strength is one of the reasons I can't lift into a tuck planche, I've been looking for ways to increase it. The past few days, I've played with various movements. I like many of them but haven't decided which I'll continue to do.

Today I looked at some of the core conditioning listed on http://myplanchetraining.com

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I performed this exercise by getting into a deep planche lean(fingers facing forward and hands back far enough that my thumbs were in line with my navel) and putting my toes on a swivel chair. I did not try to lift into handstand position. I just raised and lowered my pelvis. I also performed this movement with my feet on the floor. On the floor, I did not slide my feet I just kept them in place.

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I also performed the circuit above, but did not do the half twists at the end.

I felt different things in all of these exercises. Doing the work for reps or in quick succession was a little challenging.

The last thing I did was perform a tuck planche with one foot on the ground. I would lean forward so that most of my weight was on my hands. I would tuck both of my feet underneath my body and lift one of my knees to my chest.

I can now feel some of the lower muscles in my core. I believe strengthening these will help me to lift myself into a tuck planche at some point in the future.

Experimenting was fun. I think during tonight's workout, I'll do hollow and arch rocks. I'll use them as a place holder until I decide on something better.

I didn't get to workout after I returned home from the office yesterday. One of my sons wanted to do his workout as soon as I opened the front door. I did different push ups with him to demonstrate form. Then I spent time distracting my 2 yr old, while my son did tucked 360's on the rings. He was using momentum more than he was actually pulling himself into position. I figure in addition to being fun it has it's benefits, so I let him continue. As his workout ended, I had errands to run.

I didn't feel too badly about missing my evening workout, I did a nice amount of ab work at the office. I also did some frog stands while I tested out a few theories, so I felt I did not waste the day.

I decided to do some more research while here at the office.

I tried to do the lower range of cast wall walks, since that range is similar to a planche. I was unsuccessful, because my shoes kept slipping on the surfaces that were available to me. I stayed in the position and just did alternating leg raises, but I wasn't interested in continuing.

Next I used a cart to do prone hip extensions(I had to use yahoo and youtube to learn the name.) I enjoyed this exercise on the cart for a few reasons. I believe this exercise targeted areas that I feel need strengthening. I also had to tense most of my body as I balanced on the cart and raised my lower body. Learning how to tense the whole body will help me with my handstand and planche in the future.

After I finished the prone hip extensions, I alternated between hollow rocks and arch rocks. I just did some fast sets with only 10 seconds of rest between each set. Performing this way didn't result in a very high amount of reps, but I was able to target the areas I wanted and continue to move. I can feel the muscles that were challenged by the movements, but I am not sore and shouldn't have any pain when I workout later in the day.

I think I now have the program I will follow for the next few weeks.

Tonight's workout was fast and fun.

I did several rounds where I'd do one pseudo planche push up followed by one chin up. Next I did one round of hollow rocks followed by some arch holds. I finished the workout by alternating between supported holds and inverted hangs on the rings.

It wasn't a workout that left me exhausted, but my muscles feel like they did some work. This seems like it would be a good workout to start the day.

Since my evenings are becoming more and more busy, I may just use that time to play around with the frog stand.

That first video is pretty cool. In my last class, my coach had me try to hold a pushup position with my feet on a ball. It was tough to keep my balance so I'm so impressed by that guy!

I like that first video. I keep wanting to get a good exercise ball, but I keep forgetting. It's surprisingly hard to stabilize while doing push ups or planche drills! Although the guy in the video makes it look easy.

artisticfitness said:

That first video is pretty cool. In my last class, my coach had me try to hold a pushup position with my feet on a ball. It was tough to keep my balance so I'm so impressed by that guy!

Patrick Smith said:

I like that first video. I keep wanting to get a good exercise ball, but I keep forgetting. It's surprisingly hard to stabilize while doing push ups or planche drills! Although the guy in the video makes it look easy.

I plan to get a couple of exercise balls this weekend. One to use in my workouts and the other to give to my daughter so she doesn't keep me from doing my workouts.

This morning's workout was fun.

I did a few rounds where I alternated between 1 pull up and 1 pseudo planche push up. I did a couple of knee lifts while in support on the rings. I also did the same thing while in inverted hang(are they still lifts when you are upside down?)

It was a nice way to start the day. Got my heart rate up a little and I am happy that I feel like I'm starting to regain the strength I had in my twenties. I'm even starting to look like that guy again. 8)

I guess it's about time for me to see if I can find all of the plates that go to my old weight vest. I want to get used to supporting more than just my weight again. This will help me when I start to do some of the harder exercises.

This morning's workout was good.

I did a few rounds where I alternated between 1 chin up or pull up and 1 push to support on the rings. My rings hang at chest height and I was able to push to support and lower to my feet very easily today. I noticed that I no longer needed the straps to help support my weight.

Sunday was my day of rest. After returning from a Mother's Day celebration one of my sons wanted to exercise.

In the beginning everything was kind of random, where I'd call out push up and then support, then squat, etc.

After a while, I felt it made more sense to group the movements together a little better. He seemed to like this a lot more.

Examples:

(1 Rep before moving on to next exercise)

On rings, I'd have him do a row, inverted hang, 360 pull(tucked)

On the floor, I'd have him do a plank, push up, arch hold, hollow hold, reverse plank.

On the bar, he'd hang with his hands facing the correct direction for chin ups or pull ups.

The order of the moves was not always the same. However, I did try to keep the grouping so that the next move made sense. I can see improvement, before June he should be able to easily do a few chin/pull ups.

This morning, I didn't really have time to work out. Since my doorway pull up bar has two horizontal bars, I used it to simulate monkey bars. I went back and forth on it a couple of times. I was pleased that I could do this. Next time I try this, I'll see if I can turn around while hanging from the bar.

Hopefully I'll be able to workout when I return home this evening.

When I arrived home yesterday evening, my son met me with a familiar question, "Can we exercise now?"

I told him that I couldn't exercise with him at the moment, because I had to mow the lawn. I set the rings up for him, so that he could have fun on them while I was outside. Before I went outside, my son demonstrated that he could now actually bend his arms while hanging from the pull up bar. When I returned from mowing the lawn, he could actually do a chin up.

I played around with a few things yesterday. I guess what I've been doing recently can still be called workouts, just very short ones.

It had been a few days since I did any tucked 360 pulls, so I decided to see how difficult they would be. I did four reps and was actually able to breathe verily easily during the reps.

Next I did a couple of rounds where I pushed myself into support and then lowered back to the mat, followed by getting into an inverted hang and pulling myself up so my feet went towards the ceiling.

I decided the last thing I would do, would be to attempt to move in a circle(rectangle?) on my pull bar. With my right hand leading, I released it from one bar and grabbed onto the next. I was able to move around the bar and return to my starting position. 8) After a minute of rest I did a second circle with my left hand as the lead.

Happy that I felt like I am actually getting stronger, I decided to end the workout and go watch Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple.

(This is similar to my pull up bar. My bar is one piece, the two bars can not be separated.)

This morning, I didn't have a lot of time to do anything before I left for work.

I did a circle on my pull up bar with the right hand as the lead. I immediately did a circle with the left hand as the lead. I saw that I was able to move my hands along the bar a lot faster than I could last night. I was glad that I could do it without needing a rest before changing directions. Pleased with my progress and short on time, I decided that would be it for the morning.

I brought my son to the pull up bar and showed him the circle. He tried the circle, but got stuck because he didn't know how to place his hands. I showed him the different hand positions he should use. Instead of having him try to do a circle again, I told him to try to move forward and back between the two bars. He could move forward to the next bar, but could not return to the original bar when attempting to move back. I told him we would work on it this evening.

This evening, I was ready for my enthusiastic son. Both sons were near the pull up bar, so I demonstrated the circle on the pull up bar again. The older son looked surprised and a little curious, but he still has not returned to the workouts. My younger son was able to move forward and back between the bars. He could also do a half circle on the bars.

I showed him the tucked back lever again. I was pleased to see I can still get horizontal for a few seconds. My son can lower himself into the position but hasn't got the concept of tightening the body yet, so he quickly drops into a german hang. He did some of our progressive drills again(plank, push up, arch hold, hollow hold, reverse plank,) but couldn't perform a chin up today. We decided it was time for him to rest.

I tried to push myself into support on the rings, but was unable. It seems I can't push into the position if the rings are above a certain height. After lowering the rings to a height at my lower chest, I was able to push myself up. As I dipped back down, I could feel that I was also fatigued. Too many circles on the pull up bar and other things during my son's workout had me beat.

I decided to do a couple of rounds where I alternated between 1 chin up and either 1 pseudo planche pushup or dive bomber push up. I'll have to be careful as I play around with the circles on the bar. Right now if I don't limit myself to only doing it a few times per day it will limit the other things I want to do.

This morning I told myself I'd take it easy. I was afraid I might still be a little fatigued from yesterday.

I started the workout with 3 tucked 360 pulls. Next I pushed myself into support and then lowered back down to my feet. Initially I was reluctant to try to do circles on the pull up bar, so I just moved forward and back between the two bars. I've forgotten what I did next, but after that exercise I decided I was fresh enough to do circles on the bar. I did one circle in each direction without a rest in between.

I was able to complete the circles quickly, and didn't feel much strain on my muscles. It actually felt like it took less muscle to do the move this morning. After I paused for a minute to let my burning calluses calm down, I decided I would do one more exercise.

I attempted to do a tuck planche, but was unsuccessful. I still couldn't lift myself into the position. However, I was pleased that I did feel closer to being able to lift myself than I had in the past. I decided to see how I would do with an advanced frog stand. I had my knees below my elbows and resting on my forearms. I held the position for 6 seconds and was satisfied.

So far I'm enjoying myself a lot more than I had in the past in my pursuit of these gymnastic moves. Tonight I think I will add some wall handstands in. I won't hold it for time, will just kick in and out of it while I alternate between it and a vertical pull move.

Tonight I didn't have a lot of time, good thing my workouts are short.

Using a chair, I did some planche work. While kneeling and facing away from the chair, I would place one foot after the other on the chair and then take them down. I was more of in a regular push up position than a planche lean, but the chair allowed me to get horizontal and at the correct height.

Next I hung in a tucked position on the rings, pulled myself into inverted hang and lowered back to the tucked hang for 4 reps. Later I did one circle in each direction on the pull up bar. I had to pause in between circles due to gloves getting in the way and a little fatigue.

I did a short straight arm frog stand with my knees on my forearms. I still don't like the position, but I do like that I can get into it. Sooner or later I'll hold the position with my knees on my triceps.

I ended the workout by alternating between arch and hollow holds.

I don't have a workout to post this morning. In 2.5 hours I'll be donating blood, so I decided to take it easy. I had a nice breakfast and hope to drink 14 ounces of orange juice and at least 32 ounces of water before my appointment.

I may do a light workout when I get home this evening. I don't normally wait 24 hours after my donation before I return to strenuous activity. I probably won't do anything inverted, but I'm sure I will do something.

The past couple of days, I've been trying to do more and more to strengthen my core.

Yesterday I did a mix of HLL, arch hold, and hollow rock.

Today, I did RLL while in inverted hang on the rings, followed by HLL. I then did advanced frog stand, and I'm happy that it is getting easier to hold.

I'm on travel to San Antonio this week. Not sure how much exercise I'll do while away but I plan to do what I can. There is a place nearby that has open gym for adults on Tues and Thur, so I might finally have my first gymnastic class this week...

Using what was available in my hotel room, I did some SLS with an ottoman. Used a couple of chairs to do some dips. I did some arch holds and hollow rocks and a few pseudo planche push ups. I did a few straight arm frog stands. I finished the workout by doing a few pull ups on a door(didn't like the way the corners dug into my hands.)

I was glad I did something, but admit the workout wasn't the same without the pull up bar and rings. It wasn't boring or tedious, just not as fun. I don't see myself using the treadmills or bikes in the fitness center. I'll have to find a route on the Riverwalk, so that I can complete the half mile I normally walk to and from work.

Today's workout was pretty much the same as yesterday's minus the straight arm frog stand. Doing pull ups on the door was easier today, but still not as easy as if it was on a door that had smoother edges.

At lunch, a group of us walked to Dick's Last Resort. Since our waiter wasn't nice enough to clue us in, it took me a while to see the rude behavior is part of this places "charm." :roll: The food was good, but I don't believe I enjoyed the "service" enough to return. The walk was about half a mile round trip. Later tonight I'll be walking to Lulu's Bakery and Cafe. Round trip, that walk will be about 1.5 miles.

I may finish the night by doing straight arm frog stands and door pull ups.

This evening's walk was nice.

I tried to do some tuck planche leans/lifts on 2 chairs. I can get some forward lean but still can't get my hips very high yet.

I did a few rounds where I alternated between SLS, toe raises and calf raises. I think I'll try to do more SLS on a daily basis.

I wasn't really motivated to do straight arm frog stands today. I only held the position for a few seconds.

Looking around the web, I learned about lateral push ups. Once I figured out the correct position for my arms, I was able to do 4 reps(two per side.) I'll play with these push ups, I see this as a way to train towards one arm push ups.

This morning's workout was good, nice way to start the day.

I started with lateral push ups, followed by arch holds and hollow holds. Next I did SLS and ended the workout with a(one) door pull up.

I'll do this workout 2 or 3 more times today, changing the number of reps and hold times. Later I'll choose a route for my 1 mile walk.

I probably won't post today's other workouts, unless I feel that something noteworthy occurs.

When I returned home from San Antonio, I had a pretty busy weekend. I didn't really do much exercise.

Monday evening, I finally had time to dedicate to a workout. I wanted to do something fast and fun, so I decided to kick into an inverted hang and see where I wanted to go from there. Where I wanted to go, was back to the floor. I could support myself and could even do a tucked 360 pull, but I felt so heavy.

Could less than a week away from my normal routine have made me that weak? Did I enjoy eating out too much while I was on travel and gain a ton of weight? I didn't want to try to muscle my way through my old routine. I didn't feel that it would be fun; I probably couldn't do the workout; I might hurt myself if I tried;

I decided that I would do an easier workout. Where I can get a high volume of movement but with less intensity.

I did many rounds of the following exercises with little to no rest between each exercise. The push ups were done with my lower body on the ground.

5 reps lateral push ups

5 reps arch hold leg lifts

5 reps pseudo planche push ups

5 reps hollow hold leg lifts

After repeating this for a few rounds, I started adding 1 rep bridge up to the end of the routine. I heard all sorts of cracking sounds when I did the first one, but the rest of them were quiet.

The last part of my workout, was uneven squats using a stool. I would do 5 reps per side before switching to the other. I can't remember how many rounds of this I did.

This workout worked up a really nice sweat and left me energized not exhausted. I think I will shorten the workout some and use this as a warm up before I try the pull up bar and rings this evening.

Tuesday's workout, was pretty much a repeat of Monday's.

I don't remember how many rounds I did. There was no rest in between exercises. The push ups were done with my lower body on the ground. During the alternating leg lifts, I kept both feet off the ground while I was in the arch or hollow position.

5 reps lateral push ups

5 reps arch hold alternating leg lifts

5 reps pseudo planche push ups

5 reps hollow hold alternating leg lifts

1 rep bridge up

Next I did a few rounds of uneven squats.

I finished the workout by doing a pose that was half frog stand/half tuck planche. This was something I'd thought of in the past, but couldn't perform at the time. I think it was both a lack of strength and knowledge that prevented me from succeeding previously.

At first, I would hold the move for 5 seconds on one side, then 5 seconds on the other. I finished the night being able to do 10 seconds per side. At the moment, I can't switch my legs without returning to the ground, but I know that will come with time.

I'm sure the pose is not aesthetically beautiful, but I think it is useful and I will continue to perform it as I build strength. It's teaching me how to recruit my abs, back and legs, which I will need to do in order to hold a planche.

I haven't abandoned the straight arm frog stand, and plan to try it out every two or three days.

I feel a lot better than I did Monday evening. Tonight, I think I'll try out the pull up bar and rings to see if I feel lighter.