Maintenance

I understand the concept of putting things on maintenance and focus on only a couple of skills, but I am confused as how to go about this. I am not completely clueless in regard to it, I just need some confirmation on my thinking. Obviously reps, sets and general workload would not be very demanding for maintenance, but my questions are in the other aspects of programming. Things I'm wondering about are would it be a good idea to have a split for maintenance skills. Example:

Workout A

Muslce ups

Pistols

GHR

Planche (focus)

Front lever (focus)

Workout B

Body levers

Reverse Hyperextension

Handstand & press work

Planche (focus)

Front lever (focus)

Other things I'm wondering about, placement in the workout and is there anything I should specifically be doing for focus.

Cheers,

Ed

It seems fine. Well designed.

However, IMO, I would put the planche and front lever at the beginning of the workout, since you are focusing on them, I think your body should be fresh - so you can put 100% into it.

Of course don't forget to allow sufficient rest between the sets.

Just my two cents.

Good luck.

Ed,

If your main focus is achieving the Planche and F-Lever, I would design it differently with more supporting exercises for those two main exercises.

For example:

Main Focus Workout

A1 Planche static hold total 60 sec

A2 F-Lever static hold total 60 sec

B1 L-sit to extension exercise 3 reps / 2125 rhythem (for extension strength, preparing for the straddle planche position in the future) X 3 sets

B2 Body levers 3-5 reps X 3 sets (for additional core specific work for F-lever)

C1 Dumbell planche presses with locked elbows 5 reps / 20X5 X 3 sets

C2 Locked arm pull to inverted hang 5 reps / 50X1 X 3 sets

This basicly takes care of specific work (A), core specific work for body tension (B), and additional push/pull straight arm work © and will allow you to advance very quickly by building the strength throughout your body and integrating it into specific work.

Do this 2-4 times a week or alternate it with a planche push up and flever pull up similar workout and add 1-2 workouts concentrating on maintainance work - pistol, GHR, mup, hspu or whatever makes you tick, in a circuit manner, metcon kind of work or just plain old sets/supersets.

Dont push in the maintainance workout even close to failure, leave your gas for the main focus.

I hope you find this helpful,

Ido Portal,

Hacasa Peformance Center,

Haifa, Israel.

I know I found it helpful. Thank you for your imput Ido.

Thanks Ido and Powersnake,

Ido, I have some questions. I believe in teaching a man to fish, rather than fishing for him, in every aspect of live. With designing a 'focused' workout, should I pretty much just do exercises specific to the skill/exercise I want to accomplish? And specifically aimed at this workout, is the L-sit extension exercise just pressing through from L-sit to planche? And, is the Dumbell planche press similar to the maltese dumbell press except pressing to a planche, or am I completely off?

Thanks for the continual help,

Ed

P.S Sometimes it is nice just being told what to do

Ed,

The idea of a focused workout is... focus... So, I believe you should concentrate on your main goals here, yes.

The L-sit extension is not to planche and was described by coach sommer in some thread about straddle active flexibility, look it up. I learned this from the Coach, and it is a great tool not only to strengthen extension but also for understanding proper extension.

The Planche press is similar to the maltese ones, just pause on the planche. I prefer to do these on a slightly inclined bench.

Now go fish,

Ido.

Thanks Ido,

I know the extensions exercise you are referring to, Youngs.

A very happy boy,

Ed

Great information!

Glad I can help, everyone.

Smart, simple programming (plus dedication) will take you a long way and fast in this game.

Just going through all of the material posted in this web site, picking and choosing and organizing yourself a plan of action will be enough for most people here for years of progression.

I see too many people doing the simple planche-f-lever work coach has posted in his first article (60 sec total) without any variation, thought, programming, or use of other valuable tools. People, I think Coach Sommer will agree with me, vary your workout plans, there are many ways to skin a cat.

Ido.

Ido,

Great information. You've reminded me of a question I've ment to ask for some time, variation. Anybody could help with this one. I know variation is an important feature in an exercise program but how much, what do you do. Coach Poliquin believes an exercise program will lose its effectiveness (not sure if that's the right word) after about 6 similar consecutive sessions, Ido I know you are big believer in Poliquin's methodology. And then there are people who say things like changing rest times, order, sets is enough variation. How much variation is enough and what variation is enough?

Thanks everyone,

Ed

Another million dollar question.

Like most million dollar questions there is no definite answer.

It can vary from 1 workout to XXX number of workouts in extreme cases. There are talented people on both ends of the scale, and also not so talented.

The thing is to figure out yourself and predict when stagnation is going to hit. Only by beating yourself in this chess game will you be able to enjoy optimal results.

Ido.

Hi Ido,

I'm sure this is going to be another million dollar question, but still. I'm a little unsure of when to progress on a system like this. Should I progress just when I feel I can cope with the new workload? or is there a period of solidification?

Cheers,

Ed

the steady state cycle of 8-12 weeks allows for overload, load, and underload so at the end you're ready and fresh to move on to the next progression if you're ready. gains are solidified besides allowing the CNS and joints to be recuperated enough to move on.

Ido Portal said:

Ed,

The idea of a focused workout is... focus... So, I believe you should concentrate on your main goals here, yes.

The L-sit extension is not to planche and was described by coach sommer in some thread about straddle active flexibility, look it up. I learned this from the Coach, and it is a great tool not only to strengthen extension but also for understanding proper extension.

The Planche press is similar to the maltese ones, just pause on the planche. I prefer to do these on a slightly inclined bench.

Now go fish,

Ido.

I agree but for planche I prefer to do with cables, simple reason is gravity...Especialy if you do not have the incline bench...

Hello everyone.

I can't find a support to see what can be the maltese/planche dumbell press exercice. It will be very nice if someone can illustrate them with a video or simply with a drawing (on paint). ^^

From american-gymnast.com, if you can't see it you may need to register on the web (free). It has some nice training articles.

I've tried that with light weights and u cant imagine how freakin hard is it, it made me feel sooo weak

Spanyard said:

I've tried that with light weights and u cant imagine how freakin hard is it, it made me feel sooo weak

haha you can't use heavy weights here The exercise is harder then it looks->don't use to heavy weights!!!

Gregor is correct; surprisingly it is not necessary to use heavy weight with this exercise. David Durante in the photos above is using 20lb dumbbells. In fact, in all of the years that I have seen David training, I have never seen him use heavier than a 20lb dumbbell in those type of straight arm movements.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Yep, I do those with 20lbs but I started with 10lbs at the start of last summer! I usually do 3x5 and then flip over and do the victorian version with 15 lbs. Some times I alternate, one set of maltese then one set of victorian etc. These movements are more of an elbow pre-habilitation than strength correct? I know, for me, progressing to 20 lbs has made my elbow soreness go away completely. I am really thankful for the wrist pre-habiliitation series as well, no more sore wrists for me, and I teach it to everyone I see that looks like they have sore wrists (even my dad )!

Speaking of cables, I have found and created this system of simulated movements with what I call 'the elastic rings'. It is basicly a pair of extreme rings hooked to heavy duty elastic bands and anchored to the wall. (swedish bars are excelent here since changing the height of the anchor is easyly done)

One of the best movements using the elastic rings is a maltese/victorian simulated flies (or press) with a straight arm. The elastic will increase in tension the closer you get to the required joint angle, the feel is the same as in ring work since you are gripping the rings (and even using a false grip) and the ability to manipulate the required tension is easy - distance yourself more or less from the anchor point.

All you need is a pair of extreme rings and two good elastic bands. (I use Dowyser Bands from Germany) The amount of simulated and auxilery exercises one is able to do with the elastic rings is incredible. This is a great supplement for heavy ring work and will promote balance, joint health, mobility and weak-link conditioning, if implemented correctly.

Try it and let me know what you think,

Ido.

serotonin said:

From american-gymnast.com, if you can't see it you may need to register on the web (free). It has some nice training articles.

Thank you Serotonin, it don't look too hard at first, but I image than it's the opposite lol, and thanks for the web site, I will register and look the article ^^

Coach Sommer said:

Gregor is correct; surprisingly it is not necessary to use heavy weight with this exercise. David Durante in the photos above is using 20lb dumbbells. In fact, in all of the years that I have seen David training, I have never seen him use heavier than a 20lb dumbbell in those type of straight arm movements.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I dont feel like a lady right now

Blairbob said:

the steady state cycle of 8-12 weeks allows for overload, load, and underload so at the end you're ready and fresh to move on to the next progression if you're ready. gains are solidified besides allowing the CNS and joints to be recuperated enough to move on.

Sorry if it's been clearly answered somewhere else or is the sort of information that will be posted in coach's WOD's, but I thought that the steady state cycle meant keeping the sets and reps the same throughout the period of 8-12 weeks, and then after a process of overload, load and underload would a new cycle begin. This leaves the question of how long we should spend in this adaptive phase before moving on to the next cycle. And should these 3 stages be all the same length, or should the underload period be slightly longer for example? This point seems pivotal because surely if we fail to go through this phase properly or even at all, then the training of the past cycle could be undermined and we could stray into over training territory?

I'm quite happy to go out and experiment to see how my body reacts and what I feel inclined to do, but I think asking advice is the most sensible thing to do in this situation, because this the complete opposite of how I'm used to training.

Mr. E,

Welcome to the forum.

My understanding with the steady state cycle is that you choose exercises that you percieve as being hard (overload) and perform them for 8-12 weeks whilst keeping reps etc the same. By the end of the cycle your percieved level of effort with performing these exercises should be low and thus you have adapted. You then start up another cycle but choose exercises that are the next progression along for example L chin ups to L pullups.

Hope this helps.