Mirroredrain's Victorian Training Log

Thanks a million man! I really do appreciate everyone's input and I'm here to learn hehe. I will do as you say and address some of the issues you presented. Thank you for your compliments too my friend. It's great to be part of such a helpful community. My training focuses are a bit more clear now

INVERTED PLANCHE AND VICTORIAN

This entry is less of an actual workout log entry, and more of an update on my progression work with the Inv. Planche and Victorian Cross. I think that these elements really complement each other so I like to train them at the same time. As a stand alone or supplementary exercise I find that reverse plank leans and the 'deeper' Inv. Planche leans are excellent strength builders in their own right. Nothing targets the posterior delts and triceps like them!

Inverted Planche work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItX97GBeu14

Victorian work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYnyK_NElHI

Victorian Half Year Anniversary

So I've been seriously focused on the Victorian Cross as a long term strength goal for almost exactly a half year now, and this post is sort of a self pat-on-the-back as I celebrate not really any milestones particularly, but more so this journey of strength and what I've learned from putting so much sweat and time into an element as demanding as this. It's mainly taught me patience and humility 8)

In the past half year I've also incurred a couple of injuries that taught me a great deal about preparation and rehab. Luckily enough I'm still able to train vivaciously.

The most unique thing about the Victorian is its asimilar nature to other elements. Exposure to the Victorian cross gives the posterior section of your shoulder girdle a workout that most moves don't. It requires a great deal of strength in areas that usually are not as strong as their anterior counterpart (eg. Posterior delts to anterior delts).

That being so, it's scary how long it takes to build up the strength in the necessary, smaller muscles of the back and rotator cuff just to be able to do a proper Victorian lean! (Although being internal rotation and adduction, it definitely works the chest a ton too, the whole upper body really)

Anyway, the Victorian is a beautiful but demanding exercise that I'm glad to be workin towards! Here's a little anthology showcasing some of the progress I've made, starting from the very beginning til today. Some of it is foot and/or strap assisted, some of it is not. Thanks everybody, and keep training hard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuze6dGv8GU

So I've re-worked the approach to Victorian training again

I'm working it with primarily retracted shoulder blades now as opposed to protracted. So I've taken a few steps back to try to properly gain retraction strength for the move.

It's been awhile and I wanted to upload something! Here is an iron cross on notch 10/10 on my ring trainers. Today was just a follow up day to yesterday's Butterfly to Cross training. That being said my muscles were kinda shot when I did this one, usually I can hold it a couple seconds longer. 

The reason I use my trainers more than the rings is, due to the fact that the trainers straps are much farther apart than my low rings, doing things on the last notch on them is actually considerably harder than doing the same things on my low rings...after the fact I'm realizing the boots didn't help either 

Ha! Thanks for the tip. It's interesting how the equipment changes the difficulty. I can lower a few degrees more into a cross with my shoulder about in line with my hands on the low rings, in the trainers its a little higher as the video shows, on my higher rings with the straps apart (more competition style setup) the shoulder level is a bit too high to count yet. Hopefully over the next few weeks ill have those last few degrees on all three setups maybe if I lost the boots

I would recommend setting the trainers on an easier setting, practice in the right position, and slowly inch the trainers out. Practice builds habits: you don't want to build the habit of performing a cross above ring-height. 

So lower it to maybe notch 7-8, lower all the way and work for time? In the mean time ill keep extending my full holds on low rings...I'm trying to prep for the real thing on high rings

Yup, that's exactly what I'd do. Aim for clean form and a solid hold. Don't be afraid to go even lower if you need to. Form comes before difficulty. 

A quick vid of a Victorian lean I did today. Far from the best lean I've done, but I was way sore when I recorded it! I took awhile off of training the Victorian and am getting back into it I also ordered some new trainers in the mail that might help.

Slow eccentrics in a supported inverted butterfly Good exercise, I like it. Wicked evil on the shoulder girdle.

More work on the IB. I've been incorporating the regular butterfly with the inverted for some time under tension and for the challenge of it. Kind of like a really dumbed down version of iron cross press to inverted cross (E), with the straight arm presses thrown in.

A strength sequence that I've been working on lately. It stays more or less the same, lots of straight arm pulls to strength holds (in my opinion the pinnacle of upper body strength development). Maybe in a few years I'll have it down on actual rings. Some of the strength holds are a little out of position so I'll work on that too-it isn't a strength issue, just me not being able to tell how high my shoulders are in relation to my hands 

I've only ever seen a legitimate behind the back muscle done by about 2 people. It's quite challenging to go from a locked out German hang to support. I can do an inverted MU half with semi good form, and can't do a full curl out of a locked out German hang.

As of today though, I can do about three full reps on the 6th notch of my trainers. Hopefully in about 6 months I'll have a full rep. -_-

The vid link may or may not be working...

More of the same. Trying to clean up my form.

So the quality is kind of crappy, but I would like to continue to screw around with it in my training. It is my first attempt at a dumbed down Carmona (F skill, from Back lever with straight arms and straight body, press to Inverted Cross). Not a skill I hope to have down for a long time.

I'm usually diligent about locked out elbows but unfortunately these trainers put pressure on my arms and with some movements don't allow fully straight arms when the support is on my humerus'.

i'll find a way around that.