Landon's 1st Home Gymnastics Training Log

Just bought coach Sommers book building the gymnastic body and I'm jumping into a routine I devised based on my goals, (planche pushups and front lever pullups as well as being able to do one arm chinups again) so here it is.

Its based on a 4 day cycle which includes 1 day of rest. With the static holds I'm doing 60 seconds of total work split up into half of my maximum hold. I just tested the more advanced ones for my max time and Im doing half my max hold per set, with the less advanced I just ball parked it but I've done them before sporadically so I have a good idea. I know what I can do for the dynamic portions and I halved them however some are a little less than half seeing as how its static and dynamic stuff and Ive never tried both simultaneously. I've always neglected the static holds and I stalled a bit on my progress towards planche pushups, which prompted the purchase of Sommers book and he sold me on doing more static holds so....

I'm pretty sure the core work might be a little hard to recover from especially since its after front lever training so I may cut it out for the first while and work it in.

DAY 1: Planche training

DAY 2: Front Lever training

DAY 3: Legs and Core training

DAY 4: Rest

Planche Training

Static

12 sets 5 second tuck planche holds

6 sets 10 seconds advanced frog stand holds

3 sets 20 seconds frog stands

Dynamic

3 sets 3 reps wall planche

3 sets 3 reps wall maltese

3 sets 3 reps elevated headstand pushups (height will build as I go but its at about 5 inches right now)

3 sets 6 reps headstand pushups

Front Lever Training

Static

12 sets 5 second advanced flat tuck front lever holds

6 sets 10 second flat tuck front lever holds

3 sets 20 second tuck lever holds

Dynamic

3 sets 1 rep per side one arm chin negatives

3 sets 3 reps per side assisted one arm chinups

3 sets 7 reps pullup

3 sets 7 reps chinup

Legs

3 sets 5 reps weighted single leg squats (weighted with a rock lol)

3 sets 5 reps single leg squat jump for distance

3 sets 5 reps single leg squat jump

3 sets 3 reps glute ham raise (pushup assisted of course)

3 sets 5 reps half glute ham raises

Core

3 sets 5 reps headstand roman leg lift (unweighted for now...new exercise, I'll add weight later)

3 sets 3 reps L-sit lift

5 sets 12 second L-sit

3 sets 5 reps V-ups

3 sets 15 reps windshield wipers

Planche Training

Static

12 sets 5 second tuck planche holds

6 sets 10 seconds advanced frog stand holds

3 sets 20 seconds frog stands

Dynamic

3 sets 3 reps wall planche (wrists below nipples)

3 sets 3 reps wall maltese (wrists below nipples)

3 sets 3 reps elevated headstand pushups

3 sets 6 reps headstand pushups

Notes:

I goofed and did flat tucks for the first 3 sets till I looked at my routine again. The advanced frog stands were awkward since its my 1st time doing them, some sets were 2s+1s+3s+2s+2s=10 seconds lol but it all added up to 60s in the end.

Your dynamic work seems to be okay for now.

I would however, do all static work as part of your warm-up routine each day. Unless you have a problem with fatigue, go ahead and do the Planche, the FL and the L-sit before you start dynamic work. One session per week for each static won't lead to optimal gains in strength.

Also since your bicep tendons are not accustomed to the planche workload yet, I would practice the tuck planche only ONCE a week. For the other two days, work on your advanced Frog Stand.

Have you considered adding in the Back Lever yet?

Good luck on your training, Landon! We all look forward to your progress

Cyberhat said:

Your dynamic work seems to be okay for now.

I would however, do all static work as part of your warm-up routine each day. Unless you have a problem with fatigue, go ahead and do the Planche, the FL and the L-sit before you start dynamic work. One session per week for each static won't lead to optimal gains in strength.

Also since your bicep tendons are not accustomed to the planche workload yet, I would practice the tuck planche only ONCE a week. For the other two days, work on your advanced Frog Stand.

Have you considered adding in the Back Lever yet?

Good luck on your training, Landon! We all look forward to your progress

It was in my plans to increase the frequency, particularly with the static holds, however right now the planche holds arent too kind to my wrists. Currently I'll be doing each day almost twice a week so Im hoping to for good things to come of that. I was doing just straddle wall planche pushups before for 5 sets of 5, later moved onto a kind of half lay planche pushup utilizing a bit of momentum before but it was impossible to hold at the top for me. I kind of stalled there so with the 1 or frequently 2 times a week I do work planches with the addition of the static holds Im hoping to nail some kind of planche pushup whether its my "half lay" or a straddle. I will be increasing my static hold frequency like you said but gradually.

I havent really considered the back lever because the first time I ever tried one I held it for around 10 seconds and after that I worked on holding myself perfectly parallel with the ground so its not really a challenging movement for me. I can hold one for around 20 seconds but I wouldnt go beyond that because its torturous on my elbows. Im not sure how much it would help me in my planche training in particular and it may hinder me because of sore elbows and missed workout days (or even WORK days) so its not going to be added for some time.

Do you have any suggestions for ways to improve my dynamic work?

STATIC

10 sets 5 second half lay front lever

6 sets 10 second advanced flat tuck front lever

4 sets 15 second flat tuck front lever

DYNAMIC

3 sets 1 rep per arm 1 arm chin negatives

3 sets 3 reps per arm assisted 1 arm chins

3 sets 7 reps L-sit pullups

3 sets 7 reps L-sit chinups

NOTES:

So I originally started with the advanced tuck but it was very easy to hold for 5 seconds, especially fresh so I bumped it up to the half lay. The last 3 sets where poor so I merely worked on lowering slowly while in the half lay, pausing as long as possible when horizontal and lowering into a hang, I decided it may be prudent to stop at 10 sets instead of letting my form degrade further. I stopped at the flat tuck levers because my grip was beginning to be a factor and holding tuck levers for 20+ seconds was going to be an issue. I tried a one arm negative but in my fatigued state even with a 10 minute rest after the static work it was pretty pitiful when I can usually hold it quite well, so later tonight I am going to do my dynamic work and edit it into this post.

PLANCHE

STATIC

12 sets 5 second tuck planche holds

6 sets 10 second advanced frog stand

3 sets 20 second frog stand

DYNAMIC

3 sets 3 reps wall planche pushups

3 sets 3 reps wall maltese pushups

3 sets 3 reps headstand pushups with extra rom

3 sets 6 reps headstand pushups

I figured out what I was doing with the advanced frog stands that made it so hard to balance, I was putting my knees above my elbows (which was VERY uncomfortable) and the pain was part of what was screwing me up. So I checked the book again and tried it like in the picture and the 10 seconds is no problem now. As for the wall maltese pushups, when I do them 100% right (perfect 45 degree angle with my hands low) it leads me to believe it may be a little advanced for me but simply moving my hands a little closer to the body it works, so Ill continue them this way and keep working my hands farther apart.

FRONT LEVER

STATIC

10 sets 5 second half lay front lever

6 sets 10 second advanced flat tuck front lever

3 sets 20 second flat tuck front lever

DYNAMIC

3 sets 1 rep per arm 1 arm chin negatives

3 sets 3 reps per arm assisted 1 arm chin ups

3 sets 6 reps L-sit pullups

3 sets 6 reps L-sit chinups

NOTES

Messed up and did 6 reps instead of 7 on the L-sit stuff. However my half lay didnt deteriorate until the last set so Im happy about that. The advanced flat tuck and flat tuck could do with longer sets but I'll leave it till the end of the month to let any gains solidify. The negatives went much better this time too, however my left used to be my strong arm but now its the weaker of the two.

Heya, sorry for the late reply.

As far as the wrists go, check out coach sommer's wrist pushups in the getting started section.

When doing the back lever check for the following:

1) Your palms are face down.

2) triceps are not leaning on body

3) your shoulders are not sagging backwards. They should be pointed forwards

if you were to compare the back lever to the planche, you might notice they are nearly identical. Except for the arm placement. The hip flexors must move in the same ROM to achieve a straight body.

Your elbow tendons may not be conditioned to properly start this movement. Try doing 3x30sec german hang holds first. Then move on to the tuck bl.

As far as the dynamic work goes:

PULLING WORK: Go ahead and remove both the L-chinup and the one arm negatives. Since you already have chin up work from your assisted chinups, these will serve to wear you out and will have limited benefits. As far as the one arm negatives, I'm not sure there is enough fatigue for optimal gains.

As for your one arm assisted chinup, try this variation: when you're at the top of the movement, let go of your chinning wrist and hold that position for 2-5 seconds. Put the supporting hand back on the wrist and descend back down. Repeat. Work your way up to 3x5 for each hand.

You should also add some horizontal pulling work such as bulgarian rows. if those get too easy, you might try doing bulgarian tuck front lever pullups.

So all in all, you have two vertical pulling motions and one horizontal one.

PRESSING WORK:

Not too bad overall. I would remove the regular HeSPU's and just keep The elevated extra rom ones. Maybe put some isometric holds at the bottom of each movement. When you can do five reps for three sets, increase the elevation.

You also need to start working on your dips. Do that in the place of your extra HeSPU work.

Other then those two sections, your dynamic work looks pretty good

Ok, I'll remove the L-sit chinups and find a good rowing movement, I too was eyeing my lack of a horizontal pull. Im not sure what bulgarian rows are (it doesn't say in the book) but I'll do advanced flat tuck rows since my knees are out of the way that way and Ive done them before. However with the negatives I think there is definitely enough fatigue since 1 rep takes 8+ seconds, really its a series of 3 or 4 static holds in each one. Just by doing pullup ladders and negatives is how I got my first 1 arm chin a year ago.

Ow! just tried a back lever with the palms facing the way you said (checked the book too). Damn hurts my elbows, and ego...its much harder to hold that way. I guess I'll do some back levers today as part of my core workout for my lower back until I put together a better plan for it.

As for the headstand push ups...I guess I should increase the ROM on the elevated ones cuz I can actually do 6. And maybe just do more sets with an extended ROM and cut the others out then. I like the static hold idea at the bottom, I might have some fun with that.

As for dips I dont actually have anywhere to do dips right now, I will be constructing parallets soon though. Thanks for the help. BTW how long have you been training for?

LEGS

3 sets 3 reps per leg weighted single leg squats (20lbs)

3 sets 3 reps per leg jumping single leg squats

3 sets 3 reps assisted glue ham raises

NOTES

I suppose its worth noting that the past few days Ive been going up stairs 5 steps at a time at work, sometimes carrying something like a box of screws. That makes about twenty 5 step jumps in a half hour (sets of 4 I guess) tuesday and today only around 5, and saturday I jumped onto a ledge about nipple high (outside the apartment)...kinda proud of that one. Anyways...my jumping single leg squats kinda sucked but they'll improve, They used to be better..ah well. Ham raises where brutal.

Ah sounds good!

Yah if you still wanna do the one-arm negatives, I would try to hold the top position for a couple seconds before descending down. From my experience, the top of the pullup is the point of maximum contraction so you really wanna try to squeeze in more time in the maximum tension zones. Great gains!

As far as the headstand pushups go, do you do them on a wall or freestanding? If on a wall, stomach or back facing wall? Elbow in or elbows out?

You really wanna be careful with back lever training. Ideally, the most suitable progression to work on is one that gives you no pain. Or at the very least, the pain should not prolong much longer than a couple seconds after the maneuver. It sounds like your muscles are conditioned for the BL, but your elbows may not. I would do a little test: Start with the German Hang. If there is no pain, move to the back tuck lever. If no pain there, move on to the next progression. You should be able to hold each progression for 60 seconds without too much stress.

Most people who lack the proper equipment for doing dips find using two chairs as a good substitute.

I forgot to mention this but you might also wanna find a lower back exercise to balance the core work.

Planning on buying rings?

As for me I just started the BtGB routine about a month ago. However, I did do gymnastics and martial arts up until about a few years ago. Started putting all my effort into school and gained like 90lbs, haha

Saturday

6 sets 7 seconds tuck planche

3 sets 5 second tuck planche

6 sets 10 second advanced frog stand

3 sets 20 second frog stand

3 sets 3 reps one arm dive bombers per arm

3 sets 15 reps PMP

3 sets 10 reps PPP

NOTES

Went camping over the long weekend so I moved fridays workout to saturday. I got enough exercise making 6 or 7 trips back to the car with stuff, I had to hike up a tonne of rocks at a steep incline to get to where we where camping. And...I missed the other workouts due to hang overs or by being drunk. Without a wall I had to change up my routine a bit.

Today

12 sets 5 second tuck planche

6 sets 10 second advanced frog stand

3 sets 20 second frogstand

3 sets 3 reps wall maltese pushups

3 sets 3 reps wall planche pushups

6 sets 3 reps elevated headstand pushups

Hey just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your log! You have an interesting way of training the FSP. I may give it a try sometime.

Cyberhat said:

Ah sounds good!

Yah if you still wanna do the one-arm negatives, I would try to hold the top position for a couple seconds before descending down. From my experience, the top of the pullup is the point of maximum contraction so you really wanna try to squeeze in more time in the maximum tension zones. Great gains!

As far as the headstand pushups go, do you do them on a wall or freestanding? If on a wall, stomach or back facing wall? Elbow in or elbows out?

You really wanna be careful with back lever training. Ideally, the most suitable progression to work on is one that gives you no pain. Or at the very least, the pain should not prolong much longer than a couple seconds after the maneuver. It sounds like your muscles are conditioned for the BL, but your elbows may not. I would do a little test: Start with the German Hang. If there is no pain, move to the back tuck lever. If no pain there, move on to the next progression. You should be able to hold each progression for 60 seconds without too much stress.

Most people who lack the proper equipment for doing dips find using two chairs as a good substitute.

I forgot to mention this but you might also wanna find a lower back exercise to balance the core work.

Planning on buying rings?

As for me I just started the BtGB routine about a month ago. However, I did do gymnastics and martial arts up until about a few years ago. Started putting all my effort into school and gained like 90lbs, haha

Thats how I do my negatives.

I face away from the wall with my hands about 3 inches wider than shoulder width on each side.

With the new hand position I can hold a flat tuck back lever without a problem and the straddle is do-able for a few seconds but I have a question...how far apart are your hands supposed to be? because it seems like Id have to put my arms way out so my triceps dont hit my lats. I definitely need to do german hangs to stretch my shoulder girdle a bit.

My chairs are flimsy fold out chairs...wont work.

I had the roman leg lifts in there (I'll need a weight plate however) and the GHR's destroyed my lower back last week lol but yeah, all will be balanced eventually.

What kind of martial art? did you compete? I boxed for 3 years up till about 6 months ago. Which is likely why my shoulder girdle is tight.

PHILIP said:

Hey just wanted to say I enjoyed reading your log! You have an interesting way of training the FSP. I may give it a try sometime.

FSP? frog stand planche? Im sorry I dont all the abbreviations memorized yet.

Fundamental static positions. All your statics basically.

PHILIP said:

Fundamental static positions. All your statics basically.

How is it interesting? I figured this was the logical way to do it.

I usually do something like 60 seconds of a certain variation all together. The descending intensity with increasing volume was a cool idea.

Since you're fairly new to this you haven't run into problems yet, but I will suggest that you only do 4-5 sets of tuck planche once a week and concentrate on advanced frogstand for the other training days. I would do the same with FL, performing your half lay once a week and flat tuck on the other days for 3-4 sets OR 60s total, whichever is the lower time total.

As time goes on you will probably start to develop aches that will not go away without you backing off which will cost you progress, pride, and training time. That's just a suggestion based on my personal experiences and the many threads about painful elbows.

Be careful with the wall planche stuff as well even though it is mostly bent arm. If you have a fair amount of tension against the wall, which you will since your hands are under your nipples and not your waist, you will actually make better gains just focusing on PPP. Don't worry about PMP until you have a very easy time doing PPP with feet elevated for at least sets of 8-10 reps with your hands underneath your center of mass. If you don't know where that is, just do an elbow lever and see where your hands are on the ground by watching a video of it. That will tell you about how far back your hands will be able to go in PPP. I would focus on 4-8 weeks at least of the same hand position, perhaps adding volume every other week if it gets easier. After that, if not a full 12 weeks, you could then inch your hands back an inch or three or whatever. The new position should be harder but not a huge challenge. You should build volume there again for 4-8 weeks and scoot your hands back yet again.

Of course, this won't do any good if you don't go all the way up to straight arms with your body. Once you start getting your hands around your belly button I will suggest that you start putting your hands and feet on blocks. That could mean stacks of books, a chair, yoga bricks, cinder blocks, or anything else that lets you start elevating your feet above your hands. I have found that by elevating hands as well I can still get a nice full range of motion without a nice full face full of floor, so that's where the hand elevation comes from!

Anyways, I would suggest that you follow SSCs for all of that, which is basically what I have described. I would do all of your hard planche work on the same day.

slizzardman said:

Since you're fairly new to this you haven't run into problems yet, but I will suggest that you only do 4-5 sets of tuck planche once a week and concentrate on advanced frogstand for the other training days. I would do the same with FL, performing your half lay once a week and flat tuck on the other days for 3-4 sets OR 60s total, whichever is the lower time total.

As time goes on you will probably start to develop aches that will not go away without you backing off which will cost you progress, pride, and training time. That's just a suggestion based on my personal experiences and the many threads about painful elbows.

Be careful with the wall planche stuff as well even though it is mostly bent arm. If you have a fair amount of tension against the wall, which you will since your hands are under your nipples and not your waist, you will actually make better gains just focusing on PPP. Don't worry about PMP until you have a very easy time doing PPP with feet elevated for at least sets of 8-10 reps with your hands underneath your center of mass. If you don't know where that is, just do an elbow lever and see where your hands are on the ground by watching a video of it. That will tell you about how far back your hands will be able to go in PPP. I would focus on 4-8 weeks at least of the same hand position, perhaps adding volume every other week if it gets easier. After that, if not a full 12 weeks, you could then inch your hands back an inch or three or whatever. The new position should be harder but not a huge challenge. You should build volume there again for 4-8 weeks and scoot your hands back yet again.

Of course, this won't do any good if you don't go all the way up to straight arms with your body. Once you start getting your hands around your belly button I will suggest that you start putting your hands and feet on blocks. That could mean stacks of books, a chair, yoga bricks, cinder blocks, or anything else that lets you start elevating your feet above your hands. I have found that by elevating hands as well I can still get a nice full range of motion without a nice full face full of floor, so that's where the hand elevation comes from!

Anyways, I would suggest that you follow SSCs for all of that, which is basically what I have described. I would do all of your hard planche work on the same day.

Ok, sounds logical. But what are SSCs?

12 sets 5 second half lay front lever

6 sets 10 second flat tuck front lever

3 sets 20 second tuck front lever

3 sets 1 rep per arm 1 arm chinup negatives

3 sets 5 reps flat tuck pullups

3 sets 7 reps L-sit pullups

3 sets 7 reps L-sit chinups

NOTES

First few half lays went great but Im still recovering from camping so fatigue set in quick. However my form stayed quite good the whole time. With the flat tuck pullups my knees came within an inche of the top of the door frame, I'll guage ROM with that, Id like to get my belly up to the bar.

SSC is a steady state cycle. They are detailed in the programming section of the book.