my beginners workout program - need feedback

I have read through the entire book but didnt understand some of the stuff in the program design chapter.

This is what my workout is like:

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Mon - Strength - Press & Pull Variation

- STATIC workout

Tuesday - Strength - Press & Pull Variation

- STATIC workout

Wednesday - REST

Thursday - Strength - Press & Pull Variation

- STATIC workout

Friday - Strength - Press & Pull Variation

- STATIC workout

Saturday - STATIC workout

Sunday - REST

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So my Strength workout is where i do one press and pull variation. eg on Monday i do Push ups with Rows. Now my Static workout is like this:

L-Sit - 3x30

Frog Stand - 3x30

Hand Stand (against wall) - 3x60

Front Lever - 3x15

Back Lever - 3x15

I am aiming to increase my handstand to 2minutes and L-sit to 1minute. I am doing the very basic variations of each of the above. I have not got a front lever or back lever yet of course. I am far from that.

Is doing 3 sets of 30-60seconds good? I know many people do short reps like 10-15 seconds but I also read an article/forum post by coach sommer saying its good to be able to do handstands against the wall for a considerable amount of minutes and basic stuff like L-sit, you should b able to do for like a good minute.

Yep, in all honesty 60s is beginnerish so voluming it up is ok.

Okay, but I am doing that static program 5x a week and in addition to that im doing the strength press/pull variations 4x a week. isnt that overtraining?

I mean when I looked at the way coach sommer was programming it, he did say you can go up to 5x a week on static and 4x a week on press/pull. so im just doing the maximum.

so basically, i should aim for 60seconds on ALL the basic variations of front lever, back lever, l-sit, planche (which is frog stand as basic)? and aiming for 3sets of 60seconds each workout for each exercise is okay?

that means each time, i am working to a total of 180seconds of back lever, front lever etc...and im doin that 5x a week! right now i can barely get even 10seconds of back lever. All are the very basic variations of it of course.

No. 3x60s for the pre-FSP stuff and Wall HS. 60s of volume for the FSP.

Sorry I am confused. What is FSP and what did you mean by Pre-FSP?

juiop said:

Sorry I am confused. What is FSP and what did you mean by Pre-FSP?

Hi juiop,

The FSP are the Fundamental Static Positions (L-sit, Straddle-L, Planche, Front Lever, Back Lever and Manna. I think).

The pre-FSP are prerequisites for the fundamental static positions, and include things like the straight-arm plank, reverse-plank, pbar support, hanging from a bar, hollow hold, arch hold..

thanners said:

juiop said:

Sorry I am confused. What is FSP and what did you mean by Pre-FSP?

Hi juiop,

The FSP are the Fundamental Static Positions (L-sit, Straddle-L, Planche, Front Lever, Back Lever and Manna. I think).

The pre-FSP are prerequisites for the fundamental static positions, and include things like the straight-arm plank, reverse-plank, pbar support, hanging from a bar, hollow hold, arch hold..

Thanks so much for the reply!

Are there any other pre-FSP exercises besides the ones you listed? How would I integrate that with FSP exercises?

I am doing FSP 5x/week so I am not sure how to integrate pre-FSP exercises too? I think I might be overtraining under my method. If you could give me a sample workout plan in terms of sets/reps to aim for (reps being seconds) that would be great!

I am very serious about this gymnastics workout but I am clueless about programming.

juiop said:

Are there any other pre-FSP exercises besides the ones you listed? How would I integrate that with FSP exercises?

I am doing FSP 5x/week so I am not sure how to integrate pre-FSP exercises too? I think I might be overtraining under my method. If you could give me a sample workout plan in terms of sets/reps to aim for (reps being seconds) that would be great!

To be honest, I'm (still!) actually trying to get this figured out myself, however, here are a couple of posts that you may find useful:

This post by swarovski

This recent post by Blairbob

I'm not entirely certain how the pre-FSP and FSP should be programmed together, such as whether one drops the pre-FSP once a certain level (max time) has been reached, or whether they should all be consistently trained..

I think many of us just do them for one set of 60s and move on besides doing them as shrugs in our WU.

Blairbob said:

No. 3x60s for the pre-FSP stuff and Wall HS. 60s of volume for the FSP.

Is 3x60 for each really necessary? Now I am worried about time and over training. From the above links I now see the following for pre-FSP:

Pronated Grip Hang

Straight Arm Plank

Supinated Grip Hang

Reverse Plank

Inverted Hang

German Hang

Hollow Hold

Arch Hold

And possibly also L-sit and Handstands.

Trying to do 3x60 for each one would result in over 30minutes! But If it will really help in the long term im willing to do it. I am doing FSP 5x a week, so would i do this 5x a week also?

Also you said 60seconds of volume for the FSP. Does that mean for each FSP exercise, like L-Sit for example, I do sets that all total to 60 seconds? eg 6x10seconds.

Don't start Back Lever before mastering German Hangs.

Again you have to budget your time to fit your needs. Coach's gymnasts have 4-5 hours in the gym. I may have 2-3. Many or most of you will have 1-2.

RandomHavoc said:

Don't start Back Lever before mastering German Hangs.

I am only starting the basic variation of Back Lever. Which seems to really be a german hang, just with your legs tucked in. So is it okay to continue with this? Or should I focus on german hangs first? I can do about 5-10 seconds of a german hang with my legs full extended out. Really feel a burn/pain in my shoulders!

Blairbob said:

Again you have to budget your time to fit your needs. Coach's gymnasts have 4-5 hours in the gym. I may have 2-3. Many or most of you will have 1-2.

I don't mind doing more, or trying to do it more often but I keep having this worry about over training. Because of that I take two full days rest, on Wednesday and Sunday. Every other day I am doing FSP, pre-FSP, handstands (3 sets of 90seconds atm, and just increasing it slowly). You dont think this might be too much?

I mean if its okay to do handstands every single day for several minutes, then i am more than happy to do it! This is wall handstands of course lol.

juiop said:

RandomHavoc said:

Don't start Back Lever before mastering German Hangs.

I am only starting the basic variation of Back Lever. Which seems to really be a german hang, just with your legs tucked in. So is it okay to continue with this? Or should I focus on german hangs first? I can do about 5-10 seconds of a german hang with my legs full extended out. Really feel a burn/pain in my shoulders!

Do what you can. Eventually you'll want legs straight, trying to reach as low as your feet can possibly go.