I Read The Book, And I'm Confused About Constructing A Routine

First of all I have some questions regarding to btgb.

1) About static holds for steady state cycle, here's a part where I do not understand:

    "You will perform ten sets of six seconds. This is important; at no time

during the training cycle increase past a six second tuck planche hold.

Maintain it even towards the end of the cycle, when you are feeling

particularly strong and stable at 6 seconds."

Is it telling me to stick with 6 seconds even though I felt that i'm capable of holding longer at the moment?

2)  I'm still not sure how to progress with FBE.

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Now, I'll be throwing my goals and my "attempted put together routine" at you guys.

status: Age: 19

            weight: 180lbs

            height: 6'1

My Goals / current ability

-Free handstand for 15sec (been trying to get this for quite a while)/// currently: I read beast skills tutorial on handstand, so I do it back against the wall. When I take my feet off the wall, getting the balance just felt like mere luck.)

-free handstand pushup for 5 reps /// currently: able to do 3 wall HeSPU negatives)

-Planche /// currently:  only able to do frog-stand for 15 sec, my right shoulder joint hurts after doing frog stands)

-able to perform 8 smooth ring dips /// currently: able to turn the ring out 45 degree, keep it close to my

side, and hold  it for 10 sec. When I do ring dips, it gets a little jerky with the transition of turning the ring

back out after completing a rep. Able to do 5 ring dips if I disregard the holding position. 

-recover from my lower back injury.

-obtain a similar physique like this dude (yes, It's awesome)

Routine (currently incomplete, because i'm still a little confused)

FSP: Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri

- L-sit- PB (have to use calculate steady state cycle numbers )

- ring turn out holds (have to use calculate steady state cycle numbers)

- tuck front lever ( same as above, need to test max)

-tuck back lever (same as above)

-handstand balance practice (I'm not sure how to work on this)

- frogstand (currently my shoulder joint hurts after doing them, i'll postpone)

FBE:

Mon: HeSPU negatives (not sure how to progress....)

        inverted chin-ups(not sure...)

        hang leg raises-half(not sure...)

        hill sprint (not sure...)

Tues: ring push up progression (not sure...)

          inverted chin-ups (...)

          sls jump (...)

          do not know what lower back exercise I can do, because I do not have a partner while working out at             the park.

Thurs: hill sprint

Fri: ring dips (...)

      ring elevated rows (...)

      wind shield wiper-half (...) 

      sls jump (...)

This is what I came up with so far.

Last question....  how do I use pttp on FBE?

Thank you

I guess the Question I had was a Mess, so i'll just come up with a routine and have you guys to critique it.

Goals:

          -15 sec freehandstand,

          -free HSPU for 5

         -straddle to handstand,

         -90 degree rto dips for 5 reps

         -recover lower back injury

static/skill work:  I'll do them on every workout which will be on Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri. Except handstand which i'll practice everyday for 5 min

-handstand work for 5 min (back against wall, and try to balance while taking my feet off)

-PB L-sit (current max 12 sec, 12/15/12) 10sets of 6sec

-tuck front lever (5sets of 12)   EDIT:it's 12 sets of 5sec

FBE:   

Workout A:

-wall HeSPU eccentric 5sets of 3 > 4sets of 4 > 3sets of 6-8

-chin ups 3x8-12

-rows 3x5-12

-hill sprint

Workout B:

-ring dips 3x8 (I did ring dips for 5x5 before, I’ll try 3x8 out and see if I can move on to L ring dips)

-reverse chinups 3x5-8

-Legs: hill sprint

(I do not know how to insert straight arm press work)

I set it as ABBA, light,heavy,light,heavy  (on light days I'll do 65% of the work that I usually do)

How does this sound?

I would appreciate some feedbacks.     

Hi e04, I will try to help, although you might want to take what I say with a grain of salt.

- First of all, your static position work. I don't think you should be working front lever at all until you are quite strong in full L-Sit. 12 seconds isn't very long. I have heard that 1 minute is recommended before starting FL.

- Also, careful about doing so much HS work right off the bat. Don't work to max and make sure you keep up with your shoulder and elbow rehab. Reading through the posts of Cole Dano, Joshua Naterman, Cory Fair, and Nic Branson.

- Secondly, your FBE's. I actually think that your ABBA schedule looks quite good. Perhaps 65% is excessively light, though. Unless you are extremely diligent in your training, you don't really need much of a deload week / workout, however go with your best judgement on this. I think it's better to go too light than too hard, but I would personally only decrease to 80%.

- I can't speak on your HeSPU work, but I'm curious why your rep scheme is so high. As you probably know from reading the book, Coach Sommer recommends a 3-5 x 3-5 (set x rep) routine, and you are quite a bit above that for chin ups, dips, and rows. If you're looking for strength, it may be wise for you to reduce that to 5x5 or 3x5. Of course, you could just stay close to that by doing 3x6-8 but again, use your best judgement. Lower time under tension in a set will usually give more strength, though, so be aware of that.

- Your split between A and B workouts is interesting to me. Why do you have sprints in each? That's 4 sprint sessions in a single week. You'll burn out for sure. I suggest sprints twice a week considering your schedule. Maybe one light sprint and one hard sprint...

- I don't know how to insert straight arm work either, so I can't comment on that.

I think your routine looks pretty good. But like I said, a grain of salt. Hopefully the more qualified members will post something for you. Regardless, reading the posts by Cole Dano, Joshua Naterman, Cory Fair, Nic Branson, and the other moderation team members will do nothing but educate you.

Thanks for answering.

-I really want to train the front lever, i'll work both l-sit and FL and see how it turns out.

- For my handstand work, I do not get fatigue from doing it 5 min a day, so i'm going to stick with it right now.

-Do you mean prehab when you said to rehab shoulders and elbows? If i need to do it, are there any exercises you recommend?

-Why am I doing HeSpu eccentric? Because i'm only capable of doing one HeSPU at this moment which will be the next progression. What I think is that by being able to do higher reps of HeSPU eccentric,  it's going to help me improve the amount of HeSPU that I can do. By being able to perform at least three HeSPU, I can try to start training with 3x3 and try to move on to 3x4 and 3x5. What is your take on that?

-I'm able to do chin ups for 3 sets of 8,and I do not know what to do next. So I'll try to work my way to 3 sets of 12. If you have other exercises that you recommend instead of doing chin ups, please toss it at me.

-Quick question! How many bulgarian dips do I need to perform which indicates that I can move on and start training bulgarian dips instead of ring dips?

-I guess I just do the rows to try to keep the shoulders healthy.

-Yeah I'll do sprint twice a week instead

I just hurt my wrist yesterday from trying to practice straight arm handstand (lack of flexibility I suppose) . Does anyone have any input on that?

e04 said:

-I really want to train the front lever, i'll work both l-sit and FL and see how it turns out.

I really don't suggest it, but it's up to you of course. Just remember that rushing ahead will probably get you injured.

e04 said:

-Do you mean prehab when you said to rehab shoulders and elbows? If i need to do it, are there any exercises you recommend?

See these links: 

http://idoportal.blogspot.com/2009/07/preparations-for-our-daily-training.html

http://idoportal.blogspot.com/2009/07/scapula-mobilization-and-sequences.html

Included in the page the top link links to is the wrist routine I mentioned later in this post.

e04 said:

-Why am I doing HeSpu eccentric? Because i'm only capable of doing one HeSPU at this moment which will be the next progression. What I think is that by being able to do higher reps of HeSPU eccentric,  it's going to help me improve the amount of HeSPU that I can do. By being able to perform at least three HeSPU, I can try to start training with 3x3 and try to move on to 3x4 and 3x5. What is your take on that?

That sounds like an appropriate way of doing it. I always forget that eccentric is the same as negative. 

e04 said:

-I'm able to do chin ups for 3 sets of 8,and I do not know what to do next. So I'll try to work my way to 3 sets of 12. If you have other exercises that you recommend instead of doing chin ups, please toss it at me.

Have you tried doing l-sit chin ups or pull ups instead? If you have the book, there are great progressions in there. You could also search for "Slizzardman's pull up routine" on YouTube for some progressions.

e04 said:

I just hurt my wrist yesterday from trying to practice straight arm handstand (lack of flexibility I suppose) . Does anyone have any input on that?

Make sure you do wrist push ups as Coach puts them into the WODs. Also, you can search YouTube for "GymnasticsBodies Wrist Routine" and you may be able to find the video that shows some of Coach's wrist routine. Unfortunately, there is no great source yet but hopefully something will come out soon.

Why am I doing HeSpu eccentric? Because i'm only capable of doing one HeSPU at this moment which will be the next progression. What I think is that by being able to do higher reps of HeSPU eccentric,  it's going to help me improve the amount of HeSPU that I can do. By being able to perform at least three HeSPU, I can try to start training with 3x3 and try to move on to 3x4 and 3x5. What is your take on that?

I dont like using multiple eccentrics for building something that you can already do concentric on.  Rather eccentric is good for developing something that you can not currently do with concentric.  You should do both concentric and eccentric.  If HeSPU is too hard then go to Regular pushups or other progression.  This is where GTG might be good help.  Do several sets of 1 rep of the HeSPU.  Youll build strength fairly quickly if you do the concentric and eccentric.

-I'm able to do chin ups for 3 sets of 8,and I do not know what to do next. So I'll try to work my way to 3 sets of 12. If you have other exercises that you recommend instead of doing chin ups, please toss it at me.

Simply go to the next progression if the current one is too easy.

-Quick question! How many bulgarian dips do I need to perform which indicates that I can move on and start training bulgarian dips instead of ring dips?

 

5x5 is a good goal.

I just hurt my wrist yesterday from trying to practice straight arm handstand (lack of flexibility I suppose) . Does anyone have any input on that?

 

You should be strong in the handstand before trying HS presses.  

As for FL and all other levers really, the prerequisites are the things you should master before starting.  You should master these for a minute and include them in the warmup afterwards.  The ab strength from the L-sit might be good for FL but there isn't much else that carries over except maybe some shoulder stability.