Cannister's Log

Thanks Fred,

I'm surprised at how fast I've made progress on the hollow and arch holds - It seems like most of the progress came from just realizing that I was giving up because I was uncomfortable from burning muscles, not because I physically couldn't continue. Once I pushed through to 60 seconds the first time I realized I could probably do it most times. Sometimes with the hollow hold though I feel my lower back lift off though and I call it quits at that point. I'm really looking forward to testing my new max times at the end of my SCC!

Friday, April 20th, 2012:

WU:

(shifted focus from hollow and arch to hollow and PB support)

-plk 60s,

-rplk 60s,

-hollow 60s, 60s, 44s,

-arch 60s,

-PB support 60s, 40s, 31s,

-chin deadhang 60s

FSPs (Week 2):

-Tuck FL 5x12s,

-GH 3x10s, then stopped - taking it slow for the left elbow

-Frog Stand 25s, 15s, 15s, 15s (first one my timer was set to 15 minutes, not seconds!)

-FX feet crossed Lsit, 12s (max), 8x6s (<-- I didn't feel like dedicating a whole day to testing for max times on this, so I tested for max time on the first set and made up the rest of the 60s with 1/2 max times)

wrist pushups 2x10 (still knees, but feeling much stronger through the wrist)

I'm still coming to find what works for me as far as workout routine & frequency, but I feel like concentrating more on SSC style FSPs are going to more beneficial & time efficient than doing a true Killroy70 template. More and more I'm getting into the routine of working FL, BL, PL (frog), HS, and recently I decided that FX L-sits is an area that I'm really lacking in, so I'm adding that. The only thing I'm still trying to work out is how to split up Frog Stand and PL leans, since I'd like to passively be strengthening my elbows for tuck PL and eventually the later straight arm PL progressions. Advice on that?

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012:

Did some handstand practice today - got into a stomach to wall HS and then attempted to find my balance and stay up - I ended up rolling out usually within 2-3 seconds. Did probably 7 or 8 attempts until my wrists needed a break. I also discovered today that I can do full wrist pushups now - I no longer need to support myself on my knees!

Monday, April 23rd, 2012:

WU:

plk 60s,

rplk 60s,

hollow 50s (felt super hard today...maybe I was being lazy),

arch 60s,

PB support 60s,

chin deadhang 60s

FSPs (SSC Week 3):

FL tuck 5x12s

GH 6x10s - felt good here - went lower than usual, as well.

Frog Stand: 4x15s - pretty easy. Balance is getting better - I felt very solid on my hands

L-Sit FX tuck - 10x6s felt tough on any given 'rep', but made it through clean.

10 wrist pushups

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012:

I noticed bruising on the back of my right wrist today. It doesn't really hurt but I've decided it was probably from my recent HS work so I've decided to take a few days off of that.

Tonight I messed around on the rings:

short WU: Plk, Rplk, Hollow, false grip bar hang, some pullups

I had an unstructured work session on Ring strength 1. It felt very productive as I figured out (with the help some mid-work forum research) how to properly roll back from support into the basket position - it could be slower now, but at least it doesn't feel like I'm falling to my death and then catching myself suddenly entirely on my elbows. I also worked band, assisted MUs, lowering/raising out of tuck FL and BL. and then at the end did XR dips to the low point of my transition and back up, then slow controlled diamond pushups per Slizzard's suggestion - I am pretty weak in the lowest position here - did 3 sets of 3 super slow pushups. Felt good!

So the bruising on the back of my right wrist proved uncomfortable when doing pushups, handstands, seated FX L-sits, plank, and reverse plank, essentially killing my workout entirely. It feels alright when I use pushup handlebars but I decided to take time off entirely to try and let it heal. It's now been 10 days since I did my last real workout day and last night I decided to do a burpee/pullup workout and found that the pushups still bothered that wrist. Annoying! I want to get back to work! I suppose I'll try my workout with the pushups bars for all Floor wrist exercises.

I wish I knew exactly what it was that injured the wrist in the first place though...

Ok - while I've done some sprinting workouts and climbing in my time off for my wrist to heal I haven't done much gymnastic related work so I haven't been logging it. I've maintained weight and feel like most of my strength is still there.

Yesterday I did a crossfit metcon style workout but I felt like it was relevant so I'm logging it.

Saturday May 5th, 2012:

light WU (pushups, pullups, a few airsquats, a few jumping jacks)

3 giant sets of: {60 air squats, 7 band assisted MU, 15 XR pushups}

10 x 6s seated straddle leg lifts

10x 6 second seated pike leg lifts

Today my quads are useless.

May 6th, 2012:

Monday, April 23rd, 2012:

WU:

plk 60s,

rplk 60s,

hollow 60s

arch 60s,

PB support 60s,

chin deadhang 60s

FSPs (SSC "Week 3" - I've had ~2 weeks off from my last workout, but I'm just going to pick up where I left off to finish up the 8 weeks):

GH 6x10s - felt good.

Frog Stand: 4x15s - wrist was ok during these (followed by 10 piked knee wrist pushups).

FL tuck 5x12s - concentrated on super straight arms here and it caused my back to hollow a bit around the 3rd set on.

L-Sit FX tuck 10x6s - did these on a hard surface instead of carpet for once so that helped - felt tough on any given rep.

3x5 false grip rows

10 piked knee wrist pushups

Excuse for falling off the wagon: I just bought a house, moved into it, and spent every free minute of the last 2 weeks working on it. Part of that working on it was setting up a sweet workout space in my garage and mounting rings - there's enough height to do full XR handstands (when I learn how).

Today: May 28th, 2012

Basic WU:

60 sec plank, r-plank, hollow (52 sec), arch, PB support, chin deadhang

7 Cast Wall Walks (couldn't quite get to 10)

4 attempted (none successful) box pike press HS

then I just played on the rings - pullups support, MUs, etc.

Felt good!

Starting up with WODs again - SSCs weren't doing it for me as far as variety - they got boring. This time I'm going to be following the WODs delayed by several weeks so that I can see how people modified before hand and can prepare ahead of time instead of finding out what I'm doing the day of.

Yesterday - May 31st, 2012:

WU: 60s each:

plk, rev plk, hollow (50s), arch, PB support, chin deadhang - then did another hollow (40s)

WOD - 120405 (as assigned)

Complete four rounds:

2 Cast Wall Walks

5 HSPU

2 Cast Wall Walks

10 Wheels

2 Cast Wall Walks

20 Swinging Dips

Finish with 2x10 Wrist Pushups

What I did:

completed 2 Rounds of:

2 CWWs

5 HeSPU Negatives (kickups with back to wall)

2 CWWs

10 clapping pushups

1.5 CWWs (hard, bad form)

20 swinging XR dips (did ~12 on second round)

2x10 wrist pushups on knees

I felt limited by my wrists after the 2nd round so I stopped.

Man - the WODs just bring so much variety to the table. Lots to learn...

From now on I'm just going to be describing my warmup as WU - it consists of the basic pre-reqs (plank, reverse plank, hollow, arch, PB support, and chin deadhang) each for 60 seconds.

6/1/2012:

WU (hollow was at 45 seconds today...yikes)

WOD - 120406:

(prescribed version was as follows:

3 sets of: 1-3 MU, 1-3 XR L-sit press shoulder stand, 1-3 XR HSPU, 1-3 Tick Tocks

5x15 seconds FL

5x15 seconds PL Lean

5x15 seconds German Hang)

What I scaled to:

3 Sets:

3 elastic band assisted MU, 2 XR L-sit (low) press straddle shoulder stands, 3 FX HeSPU negatives (back to wall), 3 flat tuck tick tocks

3x:

GH (toe assisted) 15s

FL flat tuck 15s

PL Lean 15s

Finished up with 2x10 Wall Extensions and 2x10 wrist pushups (on knees)

Monday, 6/4/2012:

general WU

3 rounds done:

embedded PL + 5 blue band assisted MUs (last set did 5 false grip XR pullups + 5 low as possible XR dips)

skin the cat to GH + 5 curl up

inv. hang -> tuck FL -> down, 5 half HLLs

10 bridge wall walks (touched the floor on #7,#9, and #10!)

Tuesday 6/5/2012:

Prereq WU

WOD 120410:

Prescribed was 4 rounds of:

2 – Back Pulls

1 – 15’ Cirque

2 – Back Pulls

5 – Tuck FL Rows

2 – Back Pulls

10 – FL Pulls

round 1:

2 tuck back pulls

10 towel pullups

2 tuck back pulls

2 tuck FL rows

2 tuck back pulls

10 tuck FL pulls

round 2 (1st time through this WOD - needed to scale):

2 tuck back pulls

6 towel pullups

2 tuck back pulls

~5 tuck FL rows (need to scale back)

2 tuck back pulls

4 tuck FL pulls + 4 tuck front lever half pulls

round 3:

2 tuck back pulls

4 towel pullups

2 tuck back pulls

5 XR ground rows - not full ROM!

2 tuck back pulls

6 tuck front lever half pulls (clicking in left elbow on the descent??)

called it quits after 3 rounds. This was hard! I need to remember to take it down a notch of a few of these for next time.

Thursday, 6/7/2012:

Prereq WU

WOD 120412:

3 rounds of

40' squat jumps

10 weighted overhead lunges (2x20 lb weights)

5 NLCs (lots of assistance - I'm very weak here)

3x10 Hip Extensions (sooo rough - not sure if I'll be able to lift my legs tomorrow!) - fwd, side, circular

some split stretching (lunge stretch, pancake, etc)

Cannister said:

3x10 Hip Extensions (sooo rough - not sure if I'll be able to lift my legs tomorrow!) - fwd, side, circular

When my fiance made me do the ballet equivalent of this exercise (after seeing me attempt it) it hurt to even sit up straight.

i feel your pain.

Mowed the lawn,

Dug up a big rock in the yard then hit it with a sledgehammer for a while.

THEN

Prereq WU

1x10 Wrist Pushups (knees, no piking)

1x10 Cast Wall Walks (so hard for me - and I definitely feel it in the wrists here still too)

2x5 Pike Box Press HeS

2x10 Straddle Box Press HeS

10 Wrist Pushups (knees, no piking)

2 very ugly Cast Wall Walks (thought I'd try the 2nd set of 10. Nope. I won't)

Walking HSPU Ladders ---> 5x1 rung (2 Box HeSPU + 6 HS "steps)

My HS is so weak! - I didn't go back "down" the ladder - 5x1 felt hard enough for now

Finish with 1x10 Wrist Pushups (knees, slight piking)

I'm exhausted.

Missed the first two days of this week between lack of motivation, a weird tweak in my left forearm (feels strained when I extend my left arm fully above my hand and externally rotate my wrist), and general life business.

Today I picked up where I left off (not skipping over any WODs):

June 14th, 2012:

Prereq WU

WOD 120416:

completed 4 rounds of:

15' sender

12 jumping deck squats (substituted for 12 jumping single leg deck squats)

15' sender

8 GHRs

15' sender

4 depth jumps (from ~5 feet up)

2x30 sec weighted pike stretch (40 lbs)

Yesterday, June 15, 2012:

I decided notto do the entire WOD 120417

(3 sets of; XR HS, Negative Reverse MU to inverted hang, MU to SS, XR HSPU, lower down to XR Support Hold, negative MU down to hanging L-sit, Crank, Reverse Crank, Negative Front Pull

5x15 seconds FL

5x15 seconds XR Strap HS

5x15 seconds German Hang

Finish the workout with 2x10 Wall Extensions.)

and instead just did my Prereq WU + 4 rounds of ring strength 1. I can't wait until I can do an unassisted MU.

June 16th, 2012:

prereq WU

WOD 120419:

XR dip to XR L-sit + 5 tempo russian dips (assistance from feet at bottom) (2nd round - limited ROM down) (last set: 2.5 L-rom russian dips)

embedded BL tuck + 5 (forgot tempo 1sts round) inverted chinups (last round definitely not full ROM)

embedded FL tuck + 5 tempo half HLLs

2 BWWs (ran out of time)

Note: first time doing russian dips and I had to stack some plastic boxes next to a work bench to do them - I found I could only do a limited ROM and they were quite hard for me. Awesome exercise.

June 17th, 2012:

Prereq WU

WOD 120420:

Four rounds:

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

5 HSPU (did box HeSPU)

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

10 Russian Dips (did partial russian dips from a seated position, feet on the floor in front of me)

2 L-sit press to Tuck PL

20 Swinging Dips (first two rounds: 10 very sloppy support swings, second two: ~22s XR support - max time)

Finished with 2x10 Wrist Pushups

Question to anybody listening: I've taken some videos of myself for form feedback from myself and have noticed that in XR support and PB support that my right scapula is noticeably lower than my left. With L-sit work on the floor they seem to align eventually but my right is always more sore than the left. I'll post some videos when I get a chance. Thoughts on why this is happening? Has anyone dealt with this? I'd appreciate suggestions to fix this imbalance.

gonna be first in with the obvious answer that your rings aren't aligned to the same height. Hopefully that is the problem

While I'm not absolutely sure that my rings are perfectly aligned (I never know how to get them perfect!) I don't think this is the problem as it tends to be the same if I turn around and use the rings facing the other direction (I think). Here are some videos:

Is it like that at rest?

It looks like you're having trouble activating the scapular depressors on the left side. Do you do any trap3/scapular depression work? You may be able to notice a difference in activation/strength during those movements.

You may want to mobilize the thoracic spine and do some Self Myofascial Release for that area as well.

raja said:

Is it like that at rest?

It looks like you're having trouble activating the scapular depressors on the left side. Do you do any trap3/scapular depression work? You may be able to notice a difference in activation/strength during those movements.

You may want to mobilize the thoracic spine and do some Self Myofascial Release for that area as well.

I don't think that they are misaligned at rest, no.

Could you give me any examples of "trap3/scapular depression work" that I could do to see if I can notice any difference in strength/activation?

There are many variations(weighted and unweighted), but here are some of the more popular ones:

http://youtu.be/Ke4MoP0tBtI

http://youtu.be/eYTGfLXtTT8

You may have different ROM, strength, or activation between the 2 sides. It may even out just by doing dedicated work for scapular depression, especially if it doesn't happen at rest. You should be doing extra scapular retraction and depression work, as well as external rotation training almost every upper body workout you do.