New program questions

Hi Guys,

After a powerlifting injury (Disc problem) I have had to find a new way for working out. I discovered this type of training and am quite fascinated by it and honestly wish i had discovered it earlier. I have Coach Sommer's book Gymnastics Bodies and am looking to put together a program however have a couple of questions. I'm looking to put together a program that uses the static holds and the body weight training together. From the programming section I have come up with the following combinations for 4 days:

Day 1:

---------

Warm up

Static Holds: L-Sit, Straddle L, Manna (Progressions)

Body Weight: Core Variations.

Day 2:

---------

Warm up

Static Holds: Back Lever (Progressions)

Body Weight: Upper pulling variations

Day 3:

----------

Warm up

Static Holds: Front Lever (Progressions)

Body Weight: Leg variations

Day 4:

----------

Warm up

Static Holds: Planche (Progressions)

Body Weight: Upper pressing variations

How does that look? And are those static holds paired with the right body weight exercises?

Also something that wasn't immediately clear was what sequence to do the body weight exercises and the holds in. For example if i'm working on the very first hold in the Planche progression lets call it Static Hold #1 and I am going to do 4 body weight exercises that day. Would the progression be: 1 set static hold #1 -> 1 set body weight Ex 1, 1 set static hold #1, 1 set body weight Ex 2... etc So I complete one set of the static holds then go into a set of body weight exercises. Or do I finish all the static holds then complete all the body weight exercises after?

The last thing is i'm planning on training 2 days on one day off 2 days on one day off so it would look like

Monday (day 1)

Tuesday (day 2)

Wednesday (rest day)

Thursday (day 3)

Friday (day 4)

Saturday (rest day)

Sunday (day 1)

Monday (day 2)

Tuesday (rest day)

Wednesday (day 3)

Thursday (day 4)

Friday (rest day)

....etc

What do people think of that?

I love to hear from more experienced people that have been doing gymnastics training for a couple of years.

Thanks!

I think you should do 1 push, 1 pull, 1 leg, and 1 core exercise AT LEAST every workout. At the minimum.

Pairing Front Lever with leg exercises makes no sense. It just so happens that's how it ends up fitting since the pulling exercises get paired with Back Lever.

I don't know why you choose to only do 1 static hold per day. I guess it's better than not doing them at all. I'd say do them at least 2 times per week. Frequency is key here to getting better since they are skills (besides strength). If that's all the time you have or want to give it to, sure. That's your prerogative. No idea about that really.

I would always do L work every day. But twice a week is fine as well. Or you could alternate L and straddle-L.

Basic Manna progression if you can. If you can't just do some reverse plank holds. Not that hard.

2 on 1 off is fine. Basic GB WOD runs MTuThF.

You can pair up the static and moving exercise together or finish one then move on to the other. Really, it gets down to time and priorities.

Hi Blairbob,

Thanks for your response. I'm willing to dedicate around 1.5 - 2 hours every work out session... So what you're saying is that I don't have to split up the body weight exercises. I'm quite happy doing them all (push, pull, leg, and core exercise) in the one workout I just felt this would reduce recovery time for the next session rather than focusing just on one of the areas. Is this true?

Also I'm assuming if you're doing all these bodyweight exercises you would be varying them from workout to workout, is that correct? so that day 2 would have a different push, pull, leg and core exercises from day 1?

Are you also suggesting i go through all the static holds every workout as well: L-Sit, Straddle L, Manna, Back Lever, front lever and planche as well or does it make more sense to split these up?

Also I didn't understand you last statement about "You can pair up the static and moving exercise together or finish one then move on to the other. Really, it gets down to time and priorities." Are you saying I can finish all the holds and then start the body weight training?

Sorry for the novice questions I just want to get this part right.

Thanks again

I'm no expert, but I thought I'd give an example of my current training since it's pretty much an example of what was mentioned here.

I also have the M-T-T-F split. Basically with say the Pressing FBE's. I'd split up the various kinds each day. for example: Monday: push up variation, Tuesday: Dip variation, Thursday: HS variation, Friday: MPPr variation.

I started out doing all the static holds but found that it just took way too much time to accomplish all that work, so I decided to simply cut the work in half and work on 3 static holds each day, but working them twice a week. Say I do L-sit, Straddle L and Manna on Monday, I'd do them again on Thursday.

About pairing up the exercises, I think he was talking about embedding them. Which ( if I understood right...) Is pairing 2 exercises together into one exercise basically. For example the L-Sit into HS push up, or BL into Inverted Chin ups.

Hope this helps a bit. It's just from my experience though, like I said, I'm no expert.

Also I'm assuming if you're doing all these bodyweight exercises you would be varying them from workout to workout, is that correct? so that day 2 would have a different push, pull, leg and core exercises from day 1?

Sure. King is talking about using the Killroy70 approach. Decent but I don't think beginners need to be working on a MultiPlane Press/Pull or 4 days a week. However, I'm sure they can by just doing some sort of assisted Muscle-Ups.

There isn't a real need to work on the Manna progression unless you have a solid straddle-L. You can, but I think you understand my meaning.

You could be working on the levers and planche if you are ready for it. If you can't do a german hang, don't work on BL. Planche work will stagnate without a strong L because of ab compression necessary for tuck planche (you could still be working on frogstands or planche lean).

"You can pair up the static and moving exercise together or finish one then move on to the other. Really, it gets down to time and priorities." Are you saying I can finish all the holds and then start the body weight training?

I am not a fan of embedded FSP's unless you are beyond a beginner or advanced beginner and probably an intermediate. It may be possible for beginners to work them but ehhh. You do get a longer TimeUnderTension.

You can do say BL then pullups as a giant set or one then the other. Or you could finish all your holds first, then the FBE exercise. That will take more time.

You can also make mini circuits of the holds and then make mini circuits of say the full body exercises. This is a time saver. Not exactly the best for pure strength but still pretty efficient and you can still get good strength work in. For L/straddle-L/Manna, I prefer working one hold at a time but making a mini circuit of FL/BL/PL works well.

Great thanks for all the replies they have helped a lot. I have a better understanding now. Just another question.

I was thinking about my 2 days on and 1 day off. The changing of days as it cycles from week to week isn't ideal for me because I have the most free time on the weekends to complete the best workouts. Because I want to continue working out 5 days a week. Do you think having three workouts in a row will be too intense and hamper recovery time.

What i'm proposing is Working out:

Workout days: Sat, Sun, Tue, Wed, Fri.

Rest days: Monday Thursday

What do you think of that?

If that's too much I may just do a Sat, Sun, Tue Wed and have more intense sessions during that time...

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Try it and find out. You may find that you have to adjust your programming for the 3 days straight.

sweet as ok, I'll try it and follow back up and let everyone know how it goes.

Cheers,