Daniel Burnham's New Training Log

Ok guys instead of filling up the digital coaching section I thought I'd post things about my workouts here. Ill probably include mostly videos and maybe even some recipes.

To start off my current level is:

5 second straddle back lever (25 in flat tuck)

4 second single leg front lever (18 in flat tuck)

3 second free handstand (improving this is one of my main goals)

15 second flat tuck planche.

Recent milestones:

progressed to full rto ring dips

forward roll

assisted backwards roll

shoulder stand and roll on parallel bars

tumbling dive roll

Goals:

Short term (2/3 months)

30 second handstand

full back lever ***Done *** Aug 2012

straddle plance on floor **Done *** Aug 2012

straddle front lever

ring hspu ****DONE**** July 21 2012

1 OAC

kip to support on parallel bars

Long term:

Little over a year.

5 OAC

iron cross

straddle planche on rings.

complete circles on pommel mushroom

get back to 2x bodyweight squat

Feel free to comment on how realistic you think these are.

So for the first log I have my first attempt at a backwards roll. Definitely needed the band. Interesting fact, the guy working with dumbbells in the background was on Jr. Olympic team in 2004 in level 9. Anyone know who he is?

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For dinner I looked around in my pantry and had grassed beef, diced tomatoes with chiles, quinoa, and onion. What do you know there is a recipe that matches those ingredients! First hit on google for quinoa and ground beef. http://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-ground-beef-quinoa-skillet-419596

Went to the gymnastics gym today for a skill day. I am pretty bad at all the skills that aren't just strength holds. Worked mostly on parallel bar swings, front lever, high bar kips, and mushroom circles.

Held the one leg front lever for about 5 second, and lowered into a full back lever for about 2 seconds with arms squeezed into lats. Only got to half a circle today. Will pick it up again next thurs.

Sorry no videos todays action.

My meal of the day is the crossfit football meatballs. I generally add veal or pork to the mix for a change of texture and a better taste. The original recipe can be found at http://www.crossfitfootball.com/page/index.php?menu=nutrition&page=meatballs

So I worked on handstand pushups and pull-ups today. Did full ROM parallette HSPU but could only do 3 so I went back down to stomach against wall pushups with and slight dip into a horizontal pushup at the bottom. I also did weighted pull-ups with a hollow body and did a little work with one arm assisted by my pinky finger of my other hand. Then I ended the day with ATG low bar back squats with a weight of 245. This weight is kinda low for me but I haven't done squats in a while.

Had 4 meals today and the last one (PWO) was huge with dessert. Meat and nut breakfast followed by a snack of nuts and dried fruit. Then lunch with turkey and mashed potatoes/ parsnips. Pre Workout meal of chicken sausage and sweet potato and then PWO meal. Still following nutritiming to see how it works on me. So far I have gained 2 pounds in 2.5 weeks by adding an extra meal pre workout and a snack either before or after lunch. No other changes really.

Some Videos:

Me doing a cheated back lever. I only lowered through it since I was pretty tired after the workout. I am able to pause for about 2 seconds if I am fairly fresh.

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Second video of my current progress in floor planche. This is one of me doing my steady state cycle. My max is around 15-17 seconds but I currently have some wrist splints so I am keeping the volume low and only doing 4-5 second holds for my working set instead of the 8 that I usually do. This also explains the elastic straps that I wrapped my wrists with. I would like to emphasize if you are watching these videos that I am leaning into the planche rather than lifting into it. This is something that really changed how I do them and was suggested by either Josh or Dillon. I really can't remember which.

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Today worked on dips and ring curls. This is a volume deload week. I say volume deload because I keep the intensity basically the same and limit my sets, TUT and number of exercises. Did ring dips and tried to hold hollow. By the last set (one pictured) I was breaking it a little on the press up. Did ring curls at nearly horizontal today like the ones in the slizzardman video. I usually do them with a false grip so I can get better range of motion. Idk when i'll finally be able to do the curls featured in the book.

First video is ring dips. Feel free to comment.

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Second of my V-sit. Not compressed enough I know. Not sure if the backwards lean is a problem. Any comments?

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Daniel, nice dips and planche! You're making some good progress, but I think you can still refine what you're doing.

I have a few suggestions for you:

1. Narrow your short term goals down to a few(2-4 at most) and attack them with priority. For example, you could pick handstand, planche, front lever, and back lever. Or handstand, HSPU, and OAC. This way you can focus your efforts into those particular movements more and see faster progress without burning out. You should still work on the other skills, but keep them on maintenance with low volume.

2. I suggest you learn about accumulation/intensification cycles. Ido Portal has written about this topic on these forums in the past. If you do a search, you should be able to find information on them. It looks like you would benefit from and accumulation phase.

3. Make sure you're doing prehab, especially for the shoulder and wrists. Wrist prehab will help with your planche work and keep your wrists healthy in your handstand practice. I've found that a combination of bodyweight and weighted movements for the wrists works best. Remember, there are quite a few movements at the wrist and grip training is important as well. Scapular depression and retraction as well as external rotation of the humerus should be worked individually as well.

It's great that you deload by volume and not intensity. That's a big mistake that many people make. You may want to look into deloading every 3-5 workouts(of the same kind) for 2-3 days instead of every month or 2 for a week. Also, it depends on the type of split you are using. Upper/Lower can work. Bent Arm/Straight Arm/Legs. Push/Pull/Legs.

raja said:

Daniel, nice dips and planche! You're making some good progress, but I think you can still refine what you're doing.

I have a few suggestions for you:

1. Narrow your short term goals down to a few(2-4 at most) and attack them with priority. For example, you could pick handstand, planche, front lever, and back lever. Or handstand, HSPU, and OAC. This way you can focus your efforts into those particular movements more and see faster progress without burning out. You should still work on the other skills, but keep them on maintenance with low volume.

2. I suggest you learn about accumulation/intensification cycles. Ido Portal has written about this topic on these forums in the past. If you do a search, you should be able to find information on them. It looks like you would benefit from and accumulation phase.

3. Make sure you're doing prehab, especially for the shoulder and wrists. Wrist prehab will help with your planche work and keep your wrists healthy in your handstand practice. I've found that a combination of bodyweight and weighted movements for the wrists works best. Remember, there are quite a few movements at the wrist and grip training is important as well. Scapular depression and retraction as well as external rotation of the humerus should be worked individually as well.

It's great that you deload by volume and not intensity. That's a big mistake that many people make. You may want to look into deloading every 3-5 workouts(of the same kind) for 2-3 days instead of every month or 2 for a week. Also, it depends on the type of split you are using. Upper/Lower can work. Bent Arm/Straight Arm/Legs. Push/Pull/Legs.

Raja, thanks for the comments. The points and concerns you brought up are very good. I have actually recently (past 4 weeks) been thinking about all of these things.

1. Although its tough to let goals go and hard to choose between some. I am really focusing on the back lever, handstand and front lever stuff, with handstand being my main goal. I have dropped my OAC training to about 1 day a week just to keep it constant and have really focused on exercises that will help me get the strength for these statics including front lever pulls. I had increased the handstand skill work but have had to back off due to pain in my wrists.

2. Its funny you should mention this. I have just recently changed the way I handle periodization in my workouts. Its not really apparent in my log but I have started an sort of undulating periodized schedule.

structure looks about like this:

week 1.3x5 for bent arm

week 2. 5x5 bent arm same progression as week before

week 3 intense 3x3 bent arm with harder progression or weights added and more exercises so the total volume is slightly higher

week 4. 5,3,1 with the main exercise and then do other more assistive exercises after usually with 5 reps per.

I am however torn over this though. I wrote a thread in getting started about two ideas I had in good detail but received no feedback :cry: . It is located here if anyone wants to take a look http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9155 though I did change from my first idea a bit.

Also my thursdays are usually higher rep skill days since in am in a gymnastics gym.

3. I have realized that prehab is a necessity. When I lifted weights I was more than mobile enough for the exercises and didn't usually have pain but gymnastics is totally different. Currently I do wrist pushups 2-3 times a week. On sunday or saturday I have a 30 min stretch session. I also do shorter stretches each night. for more prehab stuff I do Ido's shoulder routine 4 times a week and his hip twice. I also use the freemotion machine that my gym has to work the strength in certain static holds and through difficult motions like cross pulls. Even more recently I have bought a COC gripper and added some strongman style GPP to my routine to increase grip strength.

If you or anyone notices any shortcomings in my routine I would love to fix them!

[EDIT] Forgot to mention that I also ordered Kit Laughlins book on shoulder back and neck pain. Can't wait for it to arrive!

burnhamd said:

2. Its funny you should mention this. I have just recently changed the way I handle periodization in my workouts. Its not really apparent in my log but I have started an sort of undulating periodized schedule.

structure looks about like this:

week 1.3x5 for bent arm

week 2. 5x5 bent arm same progression as week before

week 3 intense 3x3 bent arm with harder progression or weights added and more exercises so the total volume is slightly higher

week 4. 5,3,1 with the main exercise and then do other more assistive exercises after usually with 5 reps per.

I am however torn over this though. I wrote a thread in getting started about two ideas I had in good detail but received no feedback :cry: . It is located here if anyone wants to take a look http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9155 though I did change from my first idea a bit.

Also my thursdays are usually higher rep skill days since in am in a gymnastics gym.

You are doing a modified 5/3/1 with bodyweight. Interesting. Let us know how it goes!

burnhamd said:

Raja, thanks for the comments. The points and concerns you brought up are very good. I have actually recently (past 4 weeks) been thinking about all of these things.

1. Although its tough to let goals go and hard to choose between some. I am really focusing on the back lever, handstand and front lever stuff, with handstand being my main goal. I have dropped my OAC training to about 1 day a week just to keep it constant and have really focused on exercises that will help me get the strength for these statics including front lever pulls. I had increased the handstand skill work but have had to back off due to pain in my wrists.

2. Its funny you should mention this. I have just recently changed the way I handle periodization in my workouts. Its not really apparent in my log but I have started an sort of undulating periodized schedule.

structure looks about like this:

week 1.3x5 for bent arm

week 2. 5x5 bent arm same progression as week before

week 3 intense 3x3 bent arm with harder progression or weights added and more exercises so the total volume is slightly higher

week 4. 5,3,1 with the main exercise and then do other more assistive exercises after usually with 5 reps per.

I am however torn over this though. I wrote a thread in getting started about two ideas I had in good detail but received no feedback :cry: . It is located here if anyone wants to take a look http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9155 though I did change from my first idea a bit.

Also my thursdays are usually higher rep skill days since in am in a gymnastics gym.

3. I have realized that prehab is a necessity. When I lifted weights I was more than mobile enough for the exercises and didn't usually have pain but gymnastics is totally different. Currently I do wrist pushups 2-3 times a week. On sunday or saturday I have a 30 min stretch session. I also do shorter stretches each night. for more prehab stuff I do Ido's shoulder routine 4 times a week and his hip twice. I also use the freemotion machine that my gym has to work the strength in certain static holds and through difficult motions like cross pulls. Even more recently I have bought a COC gripper and added some strongman style GPP to my routine to increase grip strength.

If you or anyone notices any shortcomings in my routine I would love to fix them!

[EDIT] Forgot to mention that I also ordered Kit Laughlins book on shoulder back and neck pain. Can't wait for it to arrive!

In my opinion, you should be regularly going through phases where you are using much higher volume while cutting the intensity. That is the premise behind an accumulation phase. It will build your work capacity and improve your progression with the movement. For example, your hold on the 1 leg front lever(4 sec) is too short to train with. If you were to build up to 10 sets of 15 second holds with the flat tuck front lever, I'm sure that your 1 leg front lever hold times would increase. There is no magic number and it depends on the progression that you are using, but the premise is the same.

With what you are suggesting, there is not much volume. You are basically always trying to intensify, which will result in stalled progress eventually. For example, say you can hold a flat tuck back lever for 25 seconds. If you wanted to accumulate volume, you could start with 7 sets of 18 seconds, eventually going for longer holds and shorter rest periods.

5x5 is not very high volume, but it is less intense than 3x5, for example. If you can do 12x5 with a movement, you will be able to move on, for sure. Obviously it depends the movement, rest, tempo, frequency, etc., but the idea is to practice the movement with high volume. Treat strength as a skill and practice that skill with high volume in certain phases(accumulation). In other phases(intensification), try to improve your skill by worker harder variations. Very few people actually use this premise in their training, and this is related to why so few people see progress beyond a certain point. There are many flat tuck front levers around, but few full lay front levers for this reason.

As far as prehab goes, here are a few tips:

1. For wrist extension, I'm not a huge fan of the wrist push ups. They're good as a diagnostic tool, in my opinion, but they are not so good for strength development across the joint. I would rather see wrist extension being done with wrist curls. Wrist flexion works well with first knuckle push ups that Coach Sommer has shown before. There is also supination/pronation and radial/ulnar flexion work that can and should be done. You don't necessarily have to do everything in each phase. You can work on a few in one phase, then focus on the others in another phase. Wrist extension/flexion is most important and should be worked in every phase.

2. Grip work is very specific to what you are doing. Captains of Crush are good for crushing strength, but there are many types of grip work. Examples include pinch grip, finger extension, fingertip push ups, etc. Make sure you are training the grip in a way that is helpful to your goals. John Brookfield's "Mastery of Hand Strength" is a good book on the subject.

3. For the shoulders, as I said before, scapular depression and retraction as well as external rotation. There are many variations of these movements. Charles Poliquin likes the Seated 1 Arm Dumbbell External Rotation, Powell Raise, and Trap-3 Raise. There is also the Cuban Press, Band Pull Apart, Shrugs in various positions, and many many variations of these movements.

There is a lot of information out there, some good and some bad. If you look in the right places, you can find some very valuable tips for progressing. Good luck

raja said:

burnhamd said:

Raja, thanks for the comments. The points and concerns you brought up are very good. I have actually recently (past 4 weeks) been thinking about all of these things.

1. Although its tough to let goals go and hard to choose between some. I am really focusing on the back lever, handstand and front lever stuff, with handstand being my main goal. I have dropped my OAC training to about 1 day a week just to keep it constant and have really focused on exercises that will help me get the strength for these statics including front lever pulls. I had increased the handstand skill work but have had to back off due to pain in my wrists.

2. Its funny you should mention this. I have just recently changed the way I handle periodization in my workouts. Its not really apparent in my log but I have started an sort of undulating periodized schedule.

structure looks about like this:

week 1.3x5 for bent arm

week 2. 5x5 bent arm same progression as week before

week 3 intense 3x3 bent arm with harder progression or weights added and more exercises so the total volume is slightly higher

week 4. 5,3,1 with the main exercise and then do other more assistive exercises after usually with 5 reps per.

I am however torn over this though. I wrote a thread in getting started about two ideas I had in good detail but received no feedback :cry: . It is located here if anyone wants to take a look http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9155 though I did change from my first idea a bit.

Also my thursdays are usually higher rep skill days since in am in a gymnastics gym.

3. I have realized that prehab is a necessity. When I lifted weights I was more than mobile enough for the exercises and didn't usually have pain but gymnastics is totally different. Currently I do wrist pushups 2-3 times a week. On sunday or saturday I have a 30 min stretch session. I also do shorter stretches each night. for more prehab stuff I do Ido's shoulder routine 4 times a week and his hip twice. I also use the freemotion machine that my gym has to work the strength in certain static holds and through difficult motions like cross pulls. Even more recently I have bought a COC gripper and added some strongman style GPP to my routine to increase grip strength.

If you or anyone notices any shortcomings in my routine I would love to fix them!

[EDIT] Forgot to mention that I also ordered Kit Laughlins book on shoulder back and neck pain. Can't wait for it to arrive!

In my opinion, you should be regularly going through phases where you are using much higher volume while cutting the intensity. That is the premise behind an accumulation phase. It will build your work capacity and improve your progression with the movement. For example, your hold on the 1 leg front lever(4 sec) is too short to train with. If you were to build up to 10 sets of 15 second holds with the flat tuck front lever, I'm sure that your 1 leg front lever hold times would increase. There is no magic number and it depends on the progression that you are using, but the premise is the same.

With what you are suggesting, there is not much volume. You are basically always trying to intensify, which will result in stalled progress eventually. For example, say you can hold a flat tuck back lever for 25 seconds. If you wanted to accumulate volume, you could start with 7 sets of 18 seconds, eventually going for longer holds and shorter rest periods.

5x5 is not very high volume, but it is less intense than 3x5, for example. If you can do 12x5 with a movement, you will be able to move on, for sure. Obviously it depends the movement, rest, tempo, frequency, etc., but the idea is to practice the movement with high volume. Treat strength as a skill and practice that skill with high volume in certain phases(accumulation). In other phases(intensification), try to improve your skill by worker harder variations. Very few people actually use this premise in their training, and this is related to why so few people see progress beyond a certain point. There are many flat tuck front levers around, but few full lay front levers for this reason.

As far as prehab goes, here are a few tips:

1. For wrist extension, I'm not a huge fan of the wrist push ups. They're good as a diagnostic tool, in my opinion, but they are not so good for strength development across the joint. I would rather see wrist extension being done with wrist curls. Wrist flexion works well with first knuckle push ups that Coach Sommer has shown before. There is also supination/pronation and radial/ulnar flexion work that can and should be done. You don't necessarily have to do everything in each phase. You can work on a few in one phase, then focus on the others in another phase. Wrist extension/flexion is most important and should be worked in every phase.

2. Grip work is very specific to what you are doing. Captains of Crush are good for crushing strength, but there are many types of grip work. Examples include pinch grip, finger extension, fingertip push ups, etc. Make sure you are training the grip in a way that is helpful to your goals. John Brookfield's "Mastery of Hand Strength" is a good book on the subject.

3. For the shoulders, as I said before, scapular depression and retraction as well as external rotation. There are many variations of these movements. Charles Poliquin likes the Seated 1 Arm Dumbbell External Rotation, Powell Raise, and Trap-3 Raise. There is also the Cuban Press, Band Pull Apart, Shrugs in various positions, and many many variations of these movements.

There is a lot of information out there, some good and some bad. If you look in the right places, you can find some very valuable tips for progressing. Good luck

Ive never really considered training with that high of a volume. Generally to increase volume I tend to add similar exercises. For example pull-ups and front lever pulls or PPP and tuck planche pushups. I feel that I should rethink this however. I also feel it might be advantageous to start practicing some of the movements more than once a week (other than statics). Any ideas on this?

I will definitely start adding more prehab especially if I start to increase volume. Thanks for the advice.

burnhamd said:

Ive never really considered training with that high of a volume. Generally to increase volume I tend to add similar exercises. For example pull-ups and front lever pulls or PPP and tuck planche pushups. I feel that I should rethink this however. I also feel it might be advantageous to start practicing some of the movements more than once a week (other than statics). Any ideas on this?

I will definitely start adding more prehab especially if I start to increase volume. Thanks for the advice.

Using different movements isn't as effective, depending on the movement you're talking about. For example, with front levers, you'll benefit more from training the movement pattern and joint angle with more volume than adding a bent arm movement, which is why weighted pull ups don't correlate well with front levers, or dips don't correlate well with planche. Remember, you're training movements, not muscles. Adding different assistance work for front levers, for example, will help. You can build volume with some of that work, but your main movement should the front lever, with other things as a supplement to your main work. Assistance work could focus on scapular retraction, shoulder extension, scapular depression, and external rotation - not necessarily all at once.

As far as training more frequently: I'm a fan of that, especially for intensification phases. For accumulation, it's not so good because of the fatigue. It's obviously very dependent on the volume and intensity, but you can train daily with a movement as long as you're not using a 1-3 rep max intensity or going to failure. Although you won't see improvement every session, and you may even see regression, at the end of a cycle with very frequent work, you should see improvement.

I will definitely give the higher rep volume a try. Thanks for the tips.

Today I worked on non gymnastics stuff. Did a lot of lower body work and some o-lifting and prehabed for the upcoming week.

Did trap-3 raises and single arm external rotations as well as some lat flys that coach wrote about the other day.

For weighted workout I started with power clean, finally got back up to 185lbs for triples after not having access to bumper plates for quite a few months. Then I worked front squats after warming up with a few weighted single leg squats. Didn't do too much volume of these but worked at a weight of 195lbs for the front squats.

Worked on Deadlift after that with a weight of 300lbs. Didn't completely lock these out but did them to the knee and dropped so that I would only work the hard part of the concentric movement. I did this so that I wouldn't be too wiped by the sprints I did last.

Was a pretty fun day and it was nice to have a break from the shoulder and arms.

Is it just me or are your elbows not locking completely in your ring dip video?

Vincearoo said:

Is it just me or are your elbows not locking completely in your ring dip video?

Just you . I am turning them out and locking in the support position between every rep. The 4th and 5th are a not as obvious but I still touched lockout before going down. Maybe it would be better seen from a different view. Ill definitely focus on the lockout this week so that I can be sure I wasn't cheating it.

Yes, you have good turn out which was why I was surprised your elbows didn't fully lock. Must be the camera angle though. Tricky things. Anyways, good work!

So after some thought I changed up my routine this week. I am trying a higher volume with both FSP's and FBE's.

I also am splitting my workout differently. I feel that I can't do 4 days of high volume when the movements are fairly similar like in killroy. Instead I am doing bent arm/straight arm days.

So today I did straight arm. This entailed all the FSP's in higher volume 8x10-15s holds for each. Keep in mind that I did a progression where this was around my 50% time so that I can keep from injury. This fits in with the SSC schedule. This was the major focus of my workout. I then did some straight arm exercises including:

straight arm handstand presses, straight arm dumbbell flys and butterflies on the free-motion machine. On each I paused in the static hold position (iron cross and maltese) and did a 2 second concentric 1 second hold and 5 second eccentric. Im pretty wiped by this. Tomorrow I will do the bent arm exercises.

I also am really watching my calorie intake during the accumulation phase so that I actually build muscle like I am aiming to. It is actually very hard to get all of them in when Im at work most of the day.

Worked on bent arm with quite a bit of volume today.

Did PPP on ground with legs elevated, ring dips, front lever rows (tucked), and rope climbs.

In hindsight I think this is too much for one day and will probably switch it up in later weeks.

Did two sets of the exercises with a slow tempo then lowered the tempo and got more reps per set. 6 sets in total for each exercise except for the rope climbs as I feel they are already pretty good volume for 15'.

For prehab I did some stretches to loosen up my pec minor and did an arm bar kettle bell mobility drill. This was a very helpful movement and I felt a difference as soon as I got done. Ive posted a video of it below.

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I have a break tomorrow and then I will work some skill stuff at the gymnastics gym on thursday.

burnhamd said:

Worked on bent arm with quite a bit of volume today.

Did PPP on ground with legs elevated, ring dips, front lever rows (tucked), and rope climbs.

In hindsight I think this is too much for one day and will probably switch it up in later weeks.

Did two sets of the exercises with a slow tempo then lowered the tempo and got more reps per set. 6 sets in total for each exercise except for the rope climbs as I feel they are already pretty good volume for 15'.

For prehab I did some stretches to loosen up my pec minor and did an arm bar kettle bell mobility drill. This was a very helpful movement and I felt a difference as soon as I got done. Ive posted a video of it below.

4djQvP3lv3o

I have a break tomorrow and then I will work some skill stuff at the gymnastics gym on thursday.

It's nice to see that you're using a higher volume approach for now.

As for the bent arm work, I think you are doing a little too much. I'd recommend focusing mainly on 1 pressing and 1 pulling movement. I've had good success with a combination of tuck front lever rows and ring dips. Rope climbs are great for accumulation, as long as the variation isn't too intense. You could also do PPPs with tuck front lever rows, or almost any other combination. You can use the other 2 movements after the main movements for a few sets, but the majority of your volume should come from the 2 movements in the beginning. So, you may decide to do 7 sets of PPPs and tuck front lever rows, followed by 3 sets of ring dips and rope climbs. Make sure you're doing supplemental external rotation with work every bent arm session.

That's an interesting stretch. I'll have to play with it later...

Gymnastics Gym day. I go to Brian Meeks gym if anyone wonders. He is a former olympic gymnast and is pretty famous. You should look him up on youtube. Anyway I did a bunch of skill work. He taught me the straddle handstand press today. I still don't have a good handstand but I am not able to press up and hold it for like 2 seconds before lowering back down. Also worked on the glide kips and swings on parallel bars and rings. Pretty fun night. I went through a ring strength routine to keep the technique alive. I ended with a fair amount of stretching. Pretty sore tonight actually.

I have a few videos of some of the stuff I was doing. These were actually taken after my workout and I just did a little more for the camera and for some extra volume.

The first is the parallel bar swings. I was tired so my hollow is very poor. Because of this I cut them short so I wouldn't learn bad form, but I decided to post them anyway.(apparently I forgot the date as well...)

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I did some under-bar swings as well. Hands

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The second video is just an extra blip of what I was doing on the rings today. Holds are short in this. Also video's is a front roll. Ive had this skill for a while but always seem to end up in the bottom of the muscle up. Any comments on how to come out on top?

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So first Ill report from yesterday. Had a long day so didn't get to post anything. I worked on straight arm strength. This included mostly handstand presses. Worked straddle box handstand presses first then did negatives full ROM off a wall. Also did butterfly's on the free motion machine. And finally ended with dumbbell maltese in a hollow position on a bench.

Today I did bent arm. I felt a little overworked on the shoulders so I did dips instead of HSPU like planned. Very slow with good form. did 5 sets of 4-5 with about 30 seconds per set TUT. After this I worked on assisted one arm chin-ups. Also did these slow and held myself unassisted at the top for a few seconds.

Sorry no video

Ended the day with a grassed steak, sweet potato, and some steamed greens.

Well yesterday didn't go so well for me. Worked on my kips but couldn't seem to get much extension in the front before I swing back. I worked on these so much that I ended up with this guy:

Other than that not much happened. Planning on taking the next days off to let this fellow heal then ill be back at it next week.

Missed a few posts due to a busy schedule so Ill just fill in some stuff that Ive done.

Didn't sleep to well at the beginning of the week due to having to take the GRE for grad school. So I basically made this week a pseudo deload week. Kinda needed it anyway before I start an intensification cycle. However I did practice some of my harder exercises just didn't do much volume.

Worked mostly on OAC. On monday I did assisted with about 10 pounds of assistance. Worked them again on tuesday and thursday. Today I went in and tried one unassisted. Got a sloppy one with my right arm!!! Didn't start from a good hang so I won't cross it off my list yet, but I suspect it will be by the end of the month.

On thursday I ripped my hand again(other hand) doing bar kips. Got a bit closer but still haven't been able to do it yet. Ive gotten used to soaking my hand in salt while eating.

So to save the best for last. I got a ring HSPU. Actually I got a few. Been training these on tall parallettes and finally decided to take them to the rings. These were feet on straps however and the back was pretty rounded, but I think Ill count it. Still working on perfect form on the parallettes but Ill try to do them with improved form in the coming week. I have a video of the last one, it was pretty bad. Ill upload it later today.

Its been a crazy month. Ive managed to keep up my training in the midst of finishing a hectic summer.

I guess Ill start this post with a few videos. The first is one of my rings hspu. Still working on the ring handstand at the end.

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Second one is of my trying out a banded cross pull. I'm not training this but do it every once in a while to see how my elbows and shoulders feel. The band gives about 26 pounds of assistance at the bottom of the cross. Ignore me talking about how I am going to rip my bicep in the beginning

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Havent gotten any new skills in the last few weeks. Ive gone from being able to do 1 very poor HSPU to about 4 consecutively since my last post. OAC has stalled. Im going on vacation this week so Ill start a new intensification cycle when I get back. Maybe Ill get it then.

Also Ive signed up to go to the Seminar in Sept. If anyone wants to share a room let me know.

I guess Ill post since my log has moved.

I workout 5 times a week now with at least 2 in a gymnastics facility. I generally do my skill/dynamic work first then move into the GB routine. Sometimes I will do FSP before dynamic which comes immediately after warmup.

Main focuses are pommel, rings and P-bars.

Currently I am doing the strength program from the seminar and am currently in the last month of the first phase (week 5):

Strength Conditioning:

A Routine:

Adv. Tuck Planche

One-Leg Front Lever

HB - adv. tuck planche to bent arm straddle then back up

ROPE - Pull with opposite arm at beginning of bicep.

B routine:

Straddle L-sit

Circular HLL

Whatever leg work I feel like that day. Depends on how much dynamic I did. Sometimes barbell squats and sometimes one legged

So as far as progress goes I have achieved:

Straddle Planche

an ok V-sit

handstand press on rings (feet on straps)

That doesn't look like much but strength is going up nicely. Im also noticeably bigger from what I was at the seminar (about 5 pounds heavier). I expect a few breakthroughs in the next couple of weeks.

I have also had the opportunity to work on a dream machine. It is not great for any horizontal body positions but I can rep out inverted muscle up pretty easily. Josh brings his cross trainers by sometimes too and they seem fairly useful for muscle up training and backwards rolls. I am interested in trying straight arm kip on them tonight.

Well this week I get into the full amount of time and reps for each of the exercises. I am excited for submitting my videos.

I expect to get a circle on pommel mushroom this week and I might even do some tumbling.

On another note. I realized how much more prepared my joints feel now compared to when I started. I started pretty modestly. I could do the required reps for most of the exercises that I chose in the beginning but I felt a great deal of strain and ache after I did them. Now its almost non existent. This is especially noticeable on the rope climbs.

I forgot to mention that I have started some cross work. Only one day a week for now with bands. I lower down and then pull out. I have not started to hold the position for any real amount of time except using the dream machine. I can hold about 5-10 seconds on the dream machine. Once I get a feel for the position and build the pullout strength I will add straps to support the elbows and work it directly. Let me know if you have any more suggestion on this.

I have found that a momentary stall in a position is good for building up the necessary strength. I liken this to planche scissor kicks. It was a tremendous help for my v-sit and back lever. Also works much better with a spotter so you can be in the position the whole time and the spotter lets go and gives your body a momentary stress then holds again.