Cannister's Log

Useful links for me:

http://backhandspring.com/

Basic HS:

Learning to step out of a handstand

Using a doorway to teach balance in a handstand

tip to improve balance

Press to HS:

Coach's tip to start learning the press to HS

Handbalancer's advice

Drills & Skills Press to HS article

Interesting "Box Press" type drill with the wall

Yuri's Press to HS rant

Prehab/Mobility/Flexibility

elbow opening stretch

shoulder dislocates in squat

jl5555's front split routine:

Skills:

Cartwheel talk

About me: I'm a 26 years old, 6'1", ~170 lbs. I've been rock climbing pretty seriously for about 4 years now and I've dabbled on and off with some of the FSPs for a week at a time every few months for the past year, but never with any consistency. I recently sustained a minor finger injury while climbing that is forcing me to take ~4+ weeks off of climbing and I decided that this is exactly the motivation I need to finally get this thing started right. I plan to continue gymnastic training after my finger heals obviously.

So After doing a lot of reading I think that my best approach is to follow the WODs - I'm going to follow them as they are posted (MTThF I believe), but if this is too much strain/too much of a time commitment I may scale things down to MWF. I would appreciate critique if what I'm posting doesn't seem like a solid workout plan. I really want this thing to be well structured and the WODs seem like the best way to do that.

I don't know my Max FSP times yet. I know they're important - I'll be figuring those out very soon.

3/8/2012:

Prereq Warmup:

60s plank

60s reverse plank - I'm not sure about my form on this - I felt my chest sagging near the end - very tight in the triceps as well).

60s hollow hold - wasn't able to keep my low back on the ground for the last 10s

arch hold - I need to figure out what the proper form is on this, but it seemed ok

PB support - didn't really have a place to do this at the company workout room. I have PVC Parallettes at home, which should be fine

chinup deadhang - 60s - I think I was doing these right(?)

10 wrist pushups (knees)

2-3 minutes of HS work - limited time and I've been doing a fair amount of this so I didn't do too much.

WOD – 120308: (super scaled)

3 sets of each:

1 Embedded L-sit: 15s tucked (low - can't get my knees very high) L-sit on dumbells

5 Tempo (213) regular dips

1 Embedded BL: 15s GH (felt better than I thought - definitely not hanging all the way though)

5 Tempo inverted chinups

1 Embedded FL: 15s tuck FL - somewhere in there I went completely straight armed and realized how much harder they are - mostly slightly bent arms

5 Tempo half leg lifts (the bar I was using was too close to the ground so near the bottom I needed to bend my legs - definitely not as hard as real half leg lifts).

10 Bridge Wall Walks - first time doing these - only made it down to about 2 feet off the ground. I feel it in my back though!

10 wrist pushups (knees)

Thoughts: I was doing this workout on a door frame pullup bar - I've ordered rings and they should be here Friday - that should make the workout much more relevant. Also I really need to figure out what my max hold times are, although this workout helped.

Friday - 3/10/2012

just had time for the prereqs today:

10 wrist pushups knees

60s plank (forearm)

60s rev plank

47s hollow body (before my form went south), then 20s more

60s arch hold

60s pb support (shaky last 10 seconds and I feel it in my wrists)

60s chin deadhang. I feel these most because of my wrist rotation in the chinup position

3 min HS work – ~3x 30 second holds

Got my rings in the mail and took my max times today, and recorded the trials on video for thoughts on form (feel free to comment on my form if you like - I'm open to improvement).

Tuck FL (29 seconds):

Tuck BL (25 seconds):

Flat tuck BL (12 seconds):

(The flat tuck was too hard for me I think - I don't plan on trying this again until I have the right base)

L-sit PB (23 seconds):

Frog Stand (27 seconds):

Notes:

1) During the FL my arms felt pretty much straight and locked at the elbows, but after watching the video I'm not sure if they were.

2) I tried the flat tuck BL just for fun and was surprised by how straight I looked in the video - however it felt incredibly hard and my triceps cramped up hard afterwards so I won't be touching that for a while.

3) My frog stand time was only limited by my balance - I didn't feel very fatigued afterwards. I did try the advanced frog stand and there's no way that I can lock out my elbows so frog stand it is. Is there any way of making the frog stand anywhere near as hard as an intermediate?

4) My video failed on the handstand trial so I don't have an exact time. I think I'm around 20-25 seconds there on a chest to wall full handstand before I start sinking to the floor. My shoulders are definitely not very open. I'm working on that with wall raises and dislocates.

Monday, March 12, 2012

WOD - 120312:

3x10 Graduated SLS (onto a ~12 inch seat)

3x5 NLC (fairly heavy help with my fingers - these were harder than they look!)

3x10 Arch-ups

3x60m Backward Sled Sprint - I used a 35 pound weight in a backpack. Not quite the same I think, but I definitely felt it.

I didn't see the 60 seconds total aggregate work of a straddle L variation!! I'll have to bundle this in with the next workout...

Holy hell. I just discovered how incredibly weak my handstand work is.

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012:

Warmup:

60s each:

Forearm Plank

Reverse plank - I got my chest higher than usual today

Hollow - (50s, last 10s the lower back form went south)

Arch

PB support – 40s, 20s - really strove to drive the shoulder blades down and my elbows straight back. I've never engaged my shoulder blades like that before!

Chin deadhang - feeling better, more like a stretch

WOD 120313:

1x10 Wrist Pushups - I just kind of did wrist pushups between many sets as my wrists are a major limiter still

1x5, then 1x2½ Cast Wall Walks - SUPER hard for me! How can I scale these down without them losing what they are?

2x5 pike press to Headstand –loooong break between - for these I'm still adjusting to the blood in my head and pressure on my neck

10x straddle press to Headstand

(Could barely start the Walking HSPU Ladder, so this will have to wait for next time.)

finished instead with 10x box HeSPU

WU:

(60s each)

Forearm Plank

Reverse plank

Hollow - (30s, 20s, 10s - I think my form is getting better and so this is getting harder)

Arch

no PB support - gotta find a way to do this at work!

Chin deadhang - tight today

WOD – 120315

Completed four rounds (woo hoo!):

10 standing rebounds (subbed for 15’ Senders)

16 Jumping Deck Squats (subbed for 16 Jumping Single Leg Deck Squats)

10 standing rebounds (subbed for 15’ Senders)

10 Box Jumps (~mid thigh height)

10 standing rebounds (subbed for 15’ Senders)

5 Depth Jumps (just shy of hip height)

Finish the workout with 2×30 seconds Weighted Pike Stretch

I don't even remember the last time I did such a dynamic jumping workout and I had way more fun that I thought I would. It was surprisingly aerobically grueling, though. Past knee problems (caused by glute/quad muscle imbalance) showed no signs! Woo!

WU - 60s ea:

plk

r-plk

hollow: 53s, 8s (felt better today!)

arch: 60s

PB support: 60s hard!

deadhang - right armpit tight - needs a little support

WOD - 120316

Worked MUs in sections last night (toe-assisted full ROM muscle ups) and false grip pull-ups hurt my left forearm/wrist today so I'm skipping out on that.

5x15s tuck FL

5x15s floor PL leans

5x15s XR german hangs - felt these the most on my elbows - concentrating on correct 'palm-down' position

2x10 wall extensions - can't get my wrists to touch the wall at all (and right is further away than left) - just knuckles and forearm near the elbow contact wall)

(after a few hours break)

10 wrist pushups and wrist flexibility

5 min handstand work - was going for 10 but my left wrist felt strain underneath the palm - wrist flexibility strain I think... researching what to do about this.

General WU - all normal - notes:

hollow was 46s + 14s

no PB support again (nowhere to do this at work)

short wrist series

WOD – 120319

Monday, March 19, 2012

3 sets of each:

1 lower to low GH + 5 (242 Tempo) chinups: sets: (1) did 5, (2) did 4 + 1 negative, (3) did 3 + 2 negatives

1 floor bar PL + 5 (242 Tempo) floor bar box HeSPU: set (1) did 5, (2) did 3, short rest, 2 (3) did all 5!

1 lower to tuck FL + 5 (242 Tempo) tuck Cranks: set (1) did 5 semi-bent arms, last one hard, (2) 3 + 2 negatives, (3) 1 + 4 negatives

The HS work I did in my last workout has my left wrist feeling strained - I'm very gently doing the wrist series and am doing HS/PL work with the help of two pushup bars, which keeps all the strain off of my wrists, it seems.

Really felt the GH in my elbows - no pain, just pressure. I think this means I have my palm position right and that I'm building strength in the tendons. I and being careful to stay tensed up just enough to only feel pressure in this position and no pain.

10 Bridge Wall Walks

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012:

WU (60s ea):

plk

rplk (hard during last 10 seconds today)

hollow (42 + 18 felt stronger in this today)

arch

PB support (crazy hard as always - pushing scaps down and together hard - very exhausting)

chin deadhang

10 wall wrist pushups

WOD 120320:

(2 rounds total before my wrists were too worked to continue)

2 L-sit to Tuck PL (essentially no PL - arms bend immensly and my hips go no where)

3 bar box HeSPU

2 L-sit to Tuck PL

5 XR dips (hard to lock elbows at top, very shaky)

2 L-sit to Tuck PL

10 XR bulgarian pushups

my PL is essentially zero. did some PL leans and frog stand on pushups bars at end to help (left wrist still very tweaky)

Hi, Cannister.

I briefly saw that you were struggling with the transition from Frog Stand to Adv. Frog stand. I don't know if that's still the case, but I believe I came across something from Ido Portal where he used a band to help lift the feet in the PL. I was like you too, I couldn't straight my arms out if I wanted to, but then I played around with the bands looped around my feet every so often and then a month later I tested to see if I could do an Adv. Frog stand and sure enough my elbows straightened easily. Perhaps you could give that a shot.

Thanks for the suggestion Vincearoo. I'll definitely look into that - I have some bands at home that I could use to try it.

Entry for 3/22/2012:

Went bouldering last night since my finger has been feeling better for a long time. Took it pretty easy and didn't climb for too long, but I felt no tweaks or major problems, which is a good sign.

I did a very light, informal version of the WOD which involved jumping up and down into and out of lunge position, doing archups over the arm of my coach, doing some leg raises hanging from my pullup bar, and then played a bit with FL, GH, and L-sit on PB. Nothing too strenuous.

My left wrist has been preventing my from doing handstand work (without PB or pushups bars) since last Saturday, which is bugging me. I've been doing some wrist pushups and have been careful with it but stretching it at all doesn't really work - as soon as I approach anywhere near full extended wrist position (dorsiflexion?) I feel strain (sometimes painful, sometimes just a sensation of tension) in what feels like one of the tendons in my wrist, just below the base of my hand. I know from climbing that tendon injuries just mostly take time more than anything to heal, but does anyone have any suggestions as far as expediting recovery and/or strengthening my wrist to prevent this from happening again? I've read through many wrist threads but mostly they seem to be mostly about ulnar and radial deviation issues.

60s:

plk

rplk

hollow (36+24)

arch

pb support (haaard)

chin deadhang

10 wrist pushups

round 1:

2 adv tuck front pulls

12 chair assisted towel pullups

2 adv tuck front pulls

7 tuck FL pulls

2 tuck front pulls

5 tuck FL rows

round 2:

2 tuck front pulls

12 chair towel pullups

2 tuck front pulls

7 tuck FL pulls

2 tuck front pulls (bent arms to get up)

5 tuck FL rows (not complete ROM)

5 super slow box headstand negatives

~10s adv. tuck FL

+10 more wrist pushups

WU:

(60s each) plk, rplk (tri's tight!), hollow (42s+18s), arch, pb support (40s+20s), chin deadhang

10 wrist pushups

3 sets:

assisted MU to support

rollback to BL

pullout to tuck FL, lower to hang

assisted MU x2

XR L-sit,

10 seconds XR support

rollback to BL,

pullout to FL

3 minute rest

3x ~10 seconds tuck FL

3x ~10 seconds wall HS

3x ~10 seconds German Hang

1 minute rest

2 x 10 Wall Extensions

Here's a video of my very poor and chopped up ring work:

Notes: My feet are on the floor in front of my for my assisted MUs (probably too much support), as well as for much of the lower to set up for BL.

Today before my workout I came across some posts & videos on the forum talking about scapular retraction during FL (and retracting them while inverted before hand. I tried this for the first time tonight and ohhh man how much harder they are now! I'm glad I found this only 2 or so weeks into training!

Yesterday (3/31/2012) I did:

General prereq WU:

plk, rplk, hollow, arch, PB support, deadhang

Then I worked on my MU for a while sitting on a band to help through the transition, which was amazingly helpful. I was able to do full MUs this way, and I'm hoping that as get stronger through the transition this way I can use a weaker and weaker band until I can do one unassisted.

After that I started my first real SSC for FSP work - I haven't done much FSP yet besides what's in the WODs, so this was quite the change of pace. I already had my max times from a few weeks ago so I did:

5x12s of L-sit on PB

4x15s of FL tuck

and attempted 4x15s of BL tuck, but found that my elbows started to feel overworked so I stopped in the 2nd 'rep' - I'll probably need to do some research on what the general consensus is on pre-req GH time for BL work.

I also worked on thoracic mobility throughout the day GTG style whenever I thought about it - my spine is a little sore today (but in a good way) - who even knew that could happen!

Took another step down after reading the "getting started right" post more carefully this afternoon.

I tried my hand at the 3 x 60 seconds on the basic pre-req static holds. Here are my results and videos of each:

Plank: I had been doing these on my forearms with scaps in a neutral position before, with much less core/glue contraction. I made a major effort to push hard into the ground to protract the scapula, and tried to bring the rest of my body fairly straight. 3x60 seconds left my quads and glutes feeling pretty worked, but I did it without too much struggle:

Reverse Plank: Had never done these on a chair, and I think my fingers were always pointed to my toes before. I tried to retract the scaps, keep the glutes/abs tight. 3x60s: achieved.

Hollow: This one is tough because I feel like I don't know how far off the ground my shoulders/legs should be, and the difficulty changes depending on how open I am. Either way I was in the 45s, 25s, 20s time range for these.

Arch: I'd never done these with my legs tight together - wow what a difference that made! I also noticed after the first set that my shoulders look really closed, so I tried to work on that. Didn't make 3x60s at all. More like 40s, 25s, 20s.

PB support: I found out that my homemade Parallettes are uneven! One is higher than the other - I was pretty freaked out because on watching the video right after I saw one scap waaaay higher than the other. Couldn't do 3x60s. I think the last set was in the 30s range. I'll be doing these between two chairs from now on to make sure my shoulders are working evenly.

rear view:

Chin deadhang: No problem. I always feel super stretched at the end though, and never feel like I can pull up out of this, I need to put my feet on the floor and gently stand up.

Handstand: I was able to do some wall handstands again today for the first time since my wrist strain. I didn't feel any wrist problems. I didn't get a good video, but it looks like from the first one I shot that I'm tiled to the side a bit. I also felt my traps activate for the first time in a handstand position, so I think that's good.

Finished off the day with 20 x wrist pushups.

Two videos from HS work from the last post (hit the media limit):

Friday April 6th, 2012

plank 3x60s

rev. plank 3x60s (last one low back felt like it was going to cramp up - so not the best form)

hollow (with ~17" dowel) 43s, 32s, 23s

arch (w/dowel) 31s, 16s, 14s

PB support 37s, 27s, 30s (did on chair so times were limited due to wrists getting sore)

chin deadhang 1x60s

Lsit low (on chair, again wrist restrictions) 36s, 17s, 26s

tried GH, but I experienced elbow discomfort on the first attempt, so I decided to skip them. Haven't had this before with GH.

3x5 band assisted high falsegrip ring pullups (to help develop MU transition)

~4 minutes HS work

15 wrist pushups

2x10 wall extensions

Monday, April 9th, 2012

pre-req workout:

plank: 3x60s

rev. plank: 3.60s

hollow: 43s, 36s, 27s

arch: 38s, 30s, 27s

pb support:41s, 32s, 26s

chin deadhang: 3x60s

(SCC Week 1)

FL tuck: 4x15s

GH: 15s, 15s, ~7s (elbows are the limiter here)

~5 minutes of HS work

~10 rows, feet elevated 1 foot

5xfull ROM dips

15 (knees, slight pike) wrist pushups

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

I moved towards the Killroy70 template with my workout today. The last 3 workouts I've done w/3x60seconds sets on all pre-reqs, FSP work, HS work, and wrist pushups/wall extensions, etc have taken me 60-65 minutes each. I worked out at work today and that was just too long for me today, so instead I did:

WU:

plank 1x60s

r.plank 1x60s

hollow 50s, 33s, 27s <- improvement!

arch 37s, 38s, 33s <- improvement!

PB support 1x50s

chin deadhang 1x60s

FSP (SCC Week 1):

Tuck FL 13s, 13s, 10s, 10s, 12s (I didn't have a good clock set up today - I need to get a better way to do the timing on these - I was shooting for 5x12s, but was off a bit on each)

GH 12s, 6s, 7s assisted (I guess I need to test this for max time and start up a real FSP)

FBE:

3x5 floor Pseudo-planche pushups

3x5 tuck FL rows

10 wrist pushups

All of this took me about 37 minutes, which I'm very happy with!

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

WU: wrist stretch + wrist pushups,

plk: 1 x 60s,

rplk: 1 x 60s,

hollow: 60s(first time hitting 60!), 45s, 36s (HUGE improvement!)

arch: 60s (Woo!!! First 60 on this too!), 60s (what?!), 37s

PB support: 1 x 60s

chin deadhang: 1 x60s

FSPs (SCC Week 1):

Frog stand: 15s, 15s, 12s, 15s, 15s (not sure if my hip position/lean is right - they were rough on the wrists too, but good to help develop HS balance I think)

5x15s tuck FL (did 1 too many by accident)

5x8s GH hang (last 3 were assisted by toes, left elbow is pretty weak, couldn't get the whole 60s)

5 minutes of HS work (1/2 stomach to wall, 1/2 kick-up practice)

4x5 Dips

4x5 inverted chinups

Sunday, April 15th

Tested my max wall HS (stomach to wall) time today - got up to 35 seconds with some of the better form I've had so far (I think). Looking back at old videos it looks like I was hitting somewhere around 20 seconds when I started.

Monday, April 16th, 2012

WU:

plk: 1 x 60s,

rplk: 1 x 60s,

hollow: 60s, 37s, 37s,

arch: 60s, 60s, 45s (new PR),

PB support: 1 x 60s,

chin deadhang: 1 x60s

FSPs (SCC Week 2):

PL leans 4x15s

5x12s tuck FL

6x8s GH hang (95% unassisted - feeling stronger here)

FBEs:

tried for 3x5 HeSPU negatives - got 2 in on the first set, so I stepped down to Box HeSPUs & Negatives. Sets ended up looking like this:

2 HeSPU ngv, 3 box HeSPU ngv

1 HeSPU ngv, 4 box HeSPU ngv

3 HeSPUs, 2 HeSPU ngv

(next time I'll have to start with box HeSPUs)

3x5 90 degree L Pull Ups

2x10 Wall Extensions

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012:

I tried doing a density set for my stomach to wall handstands. In 10 minutes I was able to do 10 x 10 second HS holds. 100 seconds of hold time is better than what I've been able to do in the past.

Edit: Apparently this gave me burst blood vessels all around my eyes. :shock:

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012:

WU:

plk: 1 x 60s,

rplk: 1 x 60s,

hollow: 60s, 57s, 50s,

arch: 60s, 60s, 60s (did it!)

PB support: 1 x 60s,

chin deadhang: 1 x60s

FSPs (SCC Week 2):

5x12s Tuck FL - Feeling stronger here.

6x10s GH - felt better. I'm going to keep it at 6x10s

4x15s Frog Stand - much more stable on my hands

FBEs:

Felt a shoulder pop in the rows so I stopped after 1 set:

5 inverted XR rows

Wrists were very unhappy from HS work yesterday + frogstand today, so 1 set:

5 floor PPPs

10 wrist pushups

Good work on the pre-requisites canister, well done!

Fred