SSC and constant overtraining

I have a problem with my SSC. It's overtraining. I programmed my routine exactly as described in BtGB book. I take half of my maxes in four FSP and designed workout plan:

Flat tuck planche 6sec X 10

Flat tuck front lever 10 sec X 6

Half lay back lever 9sec x 6

L-sit 20 sec X 3

I take 1 minute rest betwen sets. I don't do super or gigant sets. This FSP workout takes 40-50 minutes and after that I'm fatigued and can't practiced any kind of dynamic strength excersises. After few weeks of training I feel extremely overtrained and I'm forced to stop. What's wrong?

Is this your first SSC or have you been doing gymnastics for a while?

Freddie said:

I have a problem with my SSC. It's overtraining. I programmed my routine exactly as described in BtGB book. I take half of my maxes in four FSP and designed workout plan:

Flat tuck planche 6sec X 10

Flat tuck front lever 10 sec X 6

Half lay back lever 9sec x 6

L-sit 20 sec X 3

I take 1 minute rest betwen sets. I don't do super or gigant sets. This FSP workout takes 40-50 minutes and after that I'm fatigued and can't practiced any k

you do them in one day? How many times do you do them a week? Your routine'd be so hard for me too. What's your purpose? What you're doing is maximize only static strength. If the variations you'are doing are your current variations, of course you can't do anything after the work. Use FSPs as warm up if you want to do FBEs. I'd practice only one of FSPs for increasing static strength in one day and once a week.

Work up to a solid 60 second in one hold L-sit before you put serious work into the more advanced statics; this is advice I wish I had followed, it would have saved me a lot of time. Also, I don't see any straddle L or MSH work in there.

ts00nami said:

Work up to a solid 60 second in one hold L-sit before you put serious work into the more advanced statics; this is advice I wish I had followed, it would have saved me a lot of time. Also, I don't see any straddle L or MSH work in there.

Agreed with ts00nami, you may be trying too hard of statics. For example, dis you work up to 60s of a tucked FL before moving to a flat tuck? Which is why I asked if this is your first SSC. You may need to go to the previous step of fsps to acquire the strength.

This was my first SSC course three times a week. Before that I used to train statics planche by using GTG protocol. When I broke 30 seconds in tuck planche and tuck front lever I practiced next progression.

Today I read thread about warmup viewtopic.php?f=17&t=6735 Maybe I should make a workout exactly the same as in this text. After this type of warm up practice dynamic BW excersises (pushing, pulling, core and legs). I think it wouldn't be bad idea.

Freddie said:

This was my first SSC course three times a week. Before that I used to train statics planche by using GTG protocol. When I broke 30 seconds in tuck planche and tuck front lever I practiced next progression.

For all basic FSPs, such as front tuck lever, front flat tuck lever, frog stand, tuck planche etc. you should be working up to 60s minimum work time, not 30s. You should go back and increase your times to a full minute.

SSCs should have a minimum time of 8 weeks and can even last longer than 12 weeks. During the period of time, you should not do anything different. If you start with a Frog stand for 4x15s you keep that the ENTIRE time. Even when it gets super easy, keep doing it. Then once you test your max time, if you hit 60s max then you can progress. If you only hit 59s redo the entire 8 weeks again, you'll feel like that's an insane attitude, but do it anyways.

FBEs I feel are a bit different where you can up them sometime within your SSC. If I do a perfect 5x5 and can do that for a couple more weeks with ease then I feel I can up it. Some people will agree with that, others won't. Listen to your body.

Freddie did 30s as a beginning step to 60s. I've done the same protocol when starting again after a hiatus.

One of the reasons this is taxing is because he just hasn't trained enough to get used to that sort of volume. Another is he is simply not as neuro-efficient as someone who has trained for a reasonable amount of time, thus it's just harder on the CNS.

Freddie, I think you should try to add in the preFSP WU. Think about using 90s or 2m, 45-60s can be pretty rough. Yes, this will take more time. If you are concerned about time, warm up with the Lsits, and then do the levers and planche as a circuit and take a nice 2 or 3minutes. If you find the difference between 6 and 10sets trying, split up by tackling the adv tuck planche sets first and superset the levers.

Another option is try to drop one of the FSP days and just do FBE's. Warm up with the PreFSP WU and do the FBE's. Yet another option is to drop it to one day and do 2 days of FBE's?

What are your maxes for:

tuck planche

tuck front lever

straddle back lever?

Blairbob said:

One of the reasons this is taxing is because he just hasn't trained enough to get used to that sort of volume. Another is he is simply not as neuro-efficient as someone who has trained for a reasonable amount of time, thus it's just harder on the CNS.

I don't know if I'm neuro-efficient. I've never trained gymnastics before. I use to be a powerlifter.

Blairbob said:

What are your maxes for:

tuck planche

tuck front lever

straddle back lever?

I must check it because my actual maxes might be different. Nonetheless I will correct my weekly routine as you suggest.

Blairbob said:

Freddie did 30s as a beginning step to 60s. I've done the same protocol when starting again after a hiatus.

One of the reasons this is taxing is because he just hasn't trained enough to get used to that sort of volume. Another is he is simply not as neuro-efficient as someone who has trained for a reasonable amount of time, thus it's just harder on the CNS.

Freddie, I think you should try to add in the preFSP WU. Think about using 90s or 2m, 45-60s can be pretty rough. Yes, this will take more time. If you are concerned about time, warm up with the Lsits, and then do the levers and planche as a circuit and take a nice 2 or 3minutes. If you find the difference between 6 and 10sets trying, split up by tackling the adv tuck planche sets first and superset the levers.

Another option is try to drop one of the FSP days and just do FBE's. Warm up with the PreFSP WU and do the FBE's. Yet another option is to drop it to one day and do 2 days of FBE's?

What are your maxes for:

tuck planche

tuck front lever

straddle back lever?

That is backwards. A less efficient CNS actually gets less stressed than a highly efficient one because it simply can not generate as much energy. As you get better at things you are able to perform closer to your actual potential, and only then does actual CNS fatigue become a serious factor. Adrenal fatigue and CNS fatigue are very different, though they can be confused. If you aren't 100% in 48-72 hours of rest it is not CNS fatigue.

Freddie: You're working too hard. Scale back to where your training holds are 10-15s at least.

After reading various forums threads I've decided to change my routine. My main goal will be mastering the freestanding handstand and press to handstand. At the moment I can hold this positon for few sec. My form is very poor it's look like banana.

Warm Up

Jog 5min.

Joint Mobility 10min.

L-sit 2 sets

Statics

Wall Handstand 10-20 min. What would be better? Short sets and rests during handstand practice or longer sets and rest?

Back lever straddle 60s

BW exercises

Pushing 3 sets

Pulling 3 sets

Core 3 sets

Leg 3 sets

Freddie, just practice the HS and rest as needed and let it work itself out. You'll figure out if the sets are too long or you are not recovering enough in between them.

One of the easy ways to do this is by checking your HR. Under 120 should be good to go.