Where to Start: Incorporating Gymnastics for Archery.

Hello,

For awhile now i'm been casually browsing these boards and trying to gather more knowledge about gymnastics and what I can incorporate into my routine.

Brief info about me, this summer I picked up archery and absolutely fell in love with it. Unfortunately where I live I don't get to practice archery much during the fall/winter time, so I like to take these indoor seasons to focus on strength training.

One thing I quickly picked up on when I was practicing archery was the amount of static strength needed to keep the bow steady, something that I lack severely. I've done weight training over the years, play airsoft frequently and was part of cross country in high school, but thats about as far as my athletic ability goes. In terms of my build I'm a fairly light individual:

height: 5'8"

weight: 125-130 lbs (high metabolism so it changes within this range often)

After reading Coach Sommer's articles a few times over the last few months, I've tried incorporating the Planche and Front Lever progressions into my routine to improve my static strength, which looked like this:

Front Lever (Static Tuck hold for 60 seconds)

Nordic Curl 3x5

Planche (Frog Stand hold for 60 seconds)

Single Leg Squat 3x5

While I initially felt improvements that came rather quickly, I've gotten stuck in this area of holding the Frog Stand for 50 seconds, and the Tuck Lever for 35 at best, and the only exercise I've made progressions on is the Nordic Curl (I believe this forum calls them GHR?). In fear of overtraining I didn't want to incorporate too many exercises and pushing the muscles to fatigue, but seeing the other beginner routines on here, it seems almost *too* simple. I'm not even sure if my routine is properly targeting all my muscles groups in a balanced way.

I'm definitely getting Building the Gymnastic Body (on my Christmas List), and definitely want to study it as much as possible before jumping into working out again in January, but I figured I'd also jump on these forums to ask questions and discuss things that I might not find in the book.

One thing I've noticed is a lot of people recommend doing the WOD's after reading the book, but should a beginner like me follow the current WOD, or go into the archives and start with the very first one? Cause the more current one's seem to be exercises that I'm not quite sure I could accomplish.

So in short, just wanted to say hi and look forward to learning more.

Welcome to the forums!

You don't have to start at the first wod. Just start with the current one or one a week behind and give them a shot. The toughest part about them is learning how to scale the wod, but it becomes easy after a short while. Go ahead and post on the thread how you scaled or how to scale and someone will help you.

Good luck in your training!

Scaling the WODS without the book would probably be extremely difficult.

A beginner should focus on the Killroy70 program or SSC of FSP+FBE.

As well, they should work on mastering the preFSP series and building a decent L and HS.

What repsxhold time have you been using for the FL and frogstand series? Bare in mind, frogstand can also be limited by balance ability and wrist strength.

In the frogstand, do your wrists give out or do you lose your balance first? Or is it simply that shoulders and triceps give out or does your entire body just say, "STOP!" :?:

Thanks for the replies!

I'm definitely not going to do the workouts until I read the book, I feel a lot of the terminology is lost on me and without a picture reference I might not understand how the exercise is supposed to be properly executed.

As for the FL and frogstand, I would do as many reps needed to get to 60 seconds in the hopes of progressing to a point that I could do the entire 60 seconds in one rep.

My wrist and shoulders felt fine, its really just a battle to keep my hips up. Same goes for the Front Lever, trying to keep my hips leveled and my back straight is the most difficult part.

More volume then. More reps. Work hold times from 50-80% of your max. Just don't overdo it as your connective tissue does not rebuild fast.

You might also look into Strand Pulling, as it was originally conceived as a way for archers to build strength. That and FSPs from Gymnastic Bodies would be a powerful combination.

There is a forum here where you can find a good deal of info - http://strandpulling.yuku.com/forums/1/t/Strandpulling-Discussions.html#.TvG15JiJJ9I

I'll give the volume/rep increase a try, putting all my strength into the first attempt might be the issue.

As for the Strand-Pulling, I can't believe I've never heard of that. Combining that with FSPs could produce amazing results. Thanks for the link.

So just wanted to double check if I'm in the right direction with this workout i'm planning before I jump into it.

Finished the book, and spent most of the time looking over the FSP and FBE sections, and going through a few Strandpulling guides to sort of compile them into a routine. I also read that article on "what to know before designing your own routine" at the top of this forum section.

So in terms of skills to learn (since that should be at the top of my routine apparently), I should start off with L and HS correct? Should I just focus on those two first skills or also throw in the Back Lever? The book makes it seem like this is an absolute must to learn before developing into planche and other levers and is important for strengthening the shoulder girdle.

Apart from those skills I was hoping to continue doing Natural Leg curls, and then incorporate 2-3 Strandpulling exercises such as the Archer's Pull and then 2 horizontal movements at the shoulder level (one pulling towards the chest, the other away from the chest, in most of the Strand pulling videos these 3 seemed to be the basic starter movements).

So in list form (not including warmup/cooldown):

L 3 sets of 24 (can hold for about 30 seconds)

HS 3 sets (I haven't done HS in about 6 months, but max back then was 40-45 seconds, with a wall of course not free-standing)

BL 3 sets of (haven't tested)

Natural Leg Curl 3x5

Archer's Pull 3x5

Chest Expansion 3x5

Chest Contraction 3x5

Also, the book said Dips are a staple exercise for upper development, but I wasn't too sure if adding these would be too much to start with and possibly stress the shoulder girdle.

Hey Dalrek, Nice to see what you've got going on here, but I just had a thought as I read through, how's your shoulder mobility and scapular retraction? I did archery for a little while, and by no means am I good at it, but from observations, my little bit of experience and thinking about what muscles you need, you might want to check out Slizzardman's videos on these subjects. I think these would help you greatly with both your technique and strength gains. Just some food for thought.

Thanks for the reply Jaylene, and in terms of shoulder health and scapular retraction I don't feel hindered in anyway but i certainly could work to improve it. I remember trying Wall Extensions awhile back and it was killer on my traps and posterior deltoid and my range of motion wasn't all that great. I can keep my forearm,shoulder, upper back and hips tucked to the wall, my biggest problem is the ROM and keepin my lower back flat.

Its funny you mentioned Slizzard man because his video on shoulder stability using a chest expander was the first videos I looked at. Didn't know about his channel though so I'll look through some of his stuff if I can find out more.

Yup, highly recommended as pretty much anything Slizz has got to say is gold. I also have what I consider fairly good shoulder health, but implementing some of his stuff has improved my ROM and posture, and I do not put as much emphasis on it as I should. I'm didn't mean to come across as saying there was issues with your shoulder mobility or health, considering the sport you play it would probably be above the average person, it just got me thinking about how you could use what he has put out there to get a little more bang for your buck.

I myself also have a little trouble with wall extensions, I am able to keep my entire back, shoulders and arms to the wall, just as coach says, but the ROM also for me is not as complete as it should be.

Slizz is also a true gentleman and his time permitting is always there to help us out, so if you get stuck with something shoot him a question. And if he doesn't know, there is always someone else on here with the goods in my experience.

Oh don't worry about that lol I totally understood what you were saying, and I'm always looking for ways to improve shoulder stability/health ever since my brief confrontation with RC tendonitis a few years back.

Looking at his vid again, I'm thinking of replacing the standing reverse flies with the overhead vertical movement, since that emphasizes downward scapula retraction. Right now I've only got a light rubber band, but since Slizzardman put a link in his video of where he bought his chest expander I hope to get mine soon. Went to 5 different stores in my area but no luck sadly.

Thanks again for the assistance, greatly appreciated.

No worries, glad to help! For cheap bands, bicycle inner tubes. I have a few, pretty good training aid, though it's probably a bit difficult to measure progression with them. I use them for MU assistance so that is not an issue for me.