Handstand Pushup Progression

So, I'm almost able to touch my nose to the floor with the handstand pushup.

Progressing nicely.

Pike Press Progression

So, after a week of having no motivation and very bad workouts I had an excellent session and actually managed to improve my Pike Press. All the stretching I have been doing is really paying off. It might not look a great deal different from my other video but if you look closely at the beginning of the press my hands are actually on the floor (or almost) and only the smallest kick up is required. In my other Pike Press Progression post you can see the massive kick (rocking motion) that's require to be able to start the press.

I am very please with this progress and I'm sure before long I will be able to do this move without any type of kick or rock up...

Inspiring to say the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A9LXvAewCA&feature=related

when I see something like this, its makes me realise that i'm years away from being able to do this... If I ever can.

Calorific deficiency

So in my quest to drop 6.3 kilos I am attempting to maintain a calorie deficiency of about 900 cals per day.

I have been doing this since Monday and I feel rotten. I am tired all the time, even what I wake up in the morning and my workouts have lacked energy and motivation. It’s so hard to exercise when not motivated and having this massive lack of energy I’m currently experiencing is very disheartening.
I guess once I am down to my target weight I will increase my calories again to maintenance level, and then a few weeks after that increase to a muscle building level (my personal level that works for me) of maybe 3000/3500 a day.

I am hoping that my body is in shock, and hope this tiredness doesn’t continue until I hit 13 stone.

I know people that are constantly dieting, (incorrectly I suppose if they are constantly doing it) but I really don’t know how they managed to live with this feeling… I imagine constantly dieting, and then putting the weight back on must play havoc with any training routine.

planche tutorial vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPbCi7bhyaM&NR=1

body/weight.

So, I’ve decided that I need to lose as much weight as possible.
I think that at the moment I am a little too heavy to be hauling my body weight around, and if I was lighter then these skills would be a lot easier.
Look at the body composition of “gymnasts” and anyone that can do some of the more impressive beast skill moves they are all relatively slim, I on the other hand am carrying a little bit too much beef.
So at 14 stone I intend of cutting to about 13 stone, this will hopefully increase my strength (by the fact that I will be lifting less weight) and enable me to be able to pull off some of the more complicated skills.

In theory :)

Crane Pose/Planche

Ste pointed me in the direction of the Crane Pose. This is actually something that I started doing about 2 days ago (I love the way we both discovered it around the same time:)

As in the above picture but my knee are on the inside of my arms rather than the outside. This is a precursor to the Planche and something one attemps to build the required strengh to hold the Planche. (see image 2, Jim from www.beastskills.com)

I must admit that I have a terrible time trying to hold this position, and found that my arms and shoulders were sore the next day. I managed to get the correct position once, and hold it for about 3 seconds, but didn't have the energy a second time.

What's your opinion Ste?

http://thegreatfitnessexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/08/women-will-rule-world.html

Interesting post, what are your thoughts on the claims that a woman burns less energy from the same activity? I thought you might have an evolutionary angle on this comment...

Fi(a)tness.

I have been reading other peoples fitness blogs and have started to notice a trend. It seems to me that most ‘fitness blogs’ are obsessed with diets (not diet, but ‘dieting’) and seldom seem to be interested in exercise, training and physical fitness.

I started to wonder if this was a problem with society in general, do we think that skinny = healthy? I can’t help but think that if people got as obsessed with fitness as they do with weight loss, they would be killing two birds with one stone… I.e. if you get fit, losing ‘fat’ (not weight) will take care of itself.

Gymnastic Training Article

excellent read....

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=512003

Pike Press Thoughts.

So I worked more on the Pike press last night. It was interesting because as my flexibility increases the Pike Press becomes easier. I am able to place the back of my hands on the floor now while maintaining perfectly straight legs. This is nice because I don’t need so much of a rocking motion to get the hip into the correct position (and without the hips being in the correct position this more is almost impossible). As my core strength and flexibility increase this more becomes smoother, more fluid and looks so much better.
Oh, and its essential to point the toes, and this help maintain straight legs. Not only does this look better, but it’s more consistent hence easier to control.

Current Workout

Mornings

Monday: 30 min run
Tuesday: 30 min run
Wednesday: 30 mins stretching session
Thursday: 30 min run
Friday: 30 min run

Leg Stretch to start, 15 mins.

A- Skills (2 per workout)
Pike Press
Ball Pike Press
Tuck Press
Hand Stand to Crab (unable to do)
Crab to Handstand. (unable to do)
Head-Stand to Hand-Stand - and reverse
L-Seat to Planche Hand-stand
Hand-Stand Pushup (freestanding)
Straddle to Planche Hand-stand

Pick 2 body parts per workout.

1 -Legs,
Extentions
Curls
Calf Raises

2 -Stomach,
Weighted V sits
Leg Raises
L Seat
L Seat Sides
Hanging Leg Raises

3 -Back
Chin Ups
Wide Grip Pullups
Towel Pullups (weighted 10k)
Seated Rows
Horizontal Pulls
Chin-up Claps

4 -Chest
Planche Pushups
Planche Shoulder Pushups
Wide Ball Pushups
Straddle Planche Hold
Pushup Dynos, (Close to wide hand position)

5 -Shoulders
Barbell Upright Row
Hand-Stand Push-ups
Hand-Stand Push-ups (one handed, aided with the other hand on a step)
Shoulder Rotations
Cable Shoulder Rotations
Lat Raises

Light Upper body stretch to finish.

Gymnastic Strength

Gymnasts are known for their strength, grace, and flexibility. These are a few ways to increase those traits in yourself, whether or not you are a gymnast.

1. Work on your abs. For almost all aspects of gymnastics, you need great stomach muscles, especially on bars. Mastering moves such as hollow body (when you lie flat on the ground and lift your legs and shoulders and arms, so that only your back and butt are on the ground. If you are doing it correctly, your stomach should become hard and it should be difficult. Try to work your way up to holding this position for a minute or more.) This can help you to do a variety of strength moves such as tuck-ups (when you do hollow body position, then curl up into a tuck so that only your back is still on the ground, and then back to hollow body- do about 30 at a time) and v-ups (same as tuck-ups but instead of going into a tuck, you go into a v position with only your butt on the ground), and plank position (when you lie on your stomach and put your elbows on the ground and lift your stomach so that only your feet and elbows and forearms are on the ground- hold for 1-2 minutes). Practicing these moves can help with gymnastics or simply to get the body you want. Hollow body position is vital to your success in Gymnastics, because you will use it at every event and if you do it incorrectly it can cause many problems. However, if you master it, and it becomes a good habit you will have great success in gymnastics.
2. Build leg muscles. This is not as important as abs but is still necessary. This can be done by running or heel-raises (when you stand on the edge of a surface- such as on the stairs or in gymnastics you can stand on the beam with your heels off the edge of the beam and you go from having your heels as far down as they go to standing on your toes, and repeat that about 100 times).
3. Build up your arm muscles. Do push-ups and pull-ups to get that muscle. Try a drill where you have a surface that is about 3/4 of a foot tall, and you do three sets of push-ups: 30 with your hands on top of the mat, 25 on the ground, and 20 with your feet on top of the mat and your hands on the ground.
4. Develop flexibility. Try doing all three splits every day for two minutes each. Once you have those splits down, you can work on the flexibility in your thigh by going into either your right or left leg split and lifting the foot of your back leg up so that that leg is bent. It's a really good stretch. Also practice going into a straddle and touching both legs and getting your stomach to the ground in the center. Try to touch your toes in a pike. Gymnasts should be flexible all over- not just in splits.
5. Take dance classes or practice drills for balance and coordination. This should help you become more graceful.

Hand Stand Clap Progression

L-Seat Progression

Supplements, Claims and Evidence

http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/handouts/ergogenic_aids.html

Hand Stand Clap

So, after reading a friends blog, and realising that he is actually a lot closer than me to achieving the handstand clap i thought i better ramp up my efforts and start training this move seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvG1yME5lE0

I tried tonight, and with jelous infused strengh actully managed to leave the ground (for the first time). It seems that (like with so much of my training) that once I have seen someone (or as in this case read about someone) elses efforts it inspires me to try harder, and achieve more...

anyway, I managed to leave the groud, although I felt the landing jar my wrist and i wonder if i have my hands in the correct positions.

Handtstand Practice

I found doing one arm handstands (against the wall) really helped me prepare for a full on handstand. The helped to strenghen my wrists and helped me to improve balance and coordination.

This is an example of me doing One Arm Handstand Swaps.

Pike Press Begining.

A friend asked me how to start the Pike Press, I started by doing the following move. The ball got gradually smaller the move got harder.

This is a good way to learn the Pike Press.

L Seat...

Had a good session at the gym tonight, amazingly held the L-Seat for 5 seconds. Felt good, and I felt that I had made some real progress!

Vid to follow.

Tuck Planche and Elbo Leaver Training.

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/


Building an Olympic Body through Bodyweight Conditioning
Christopher Sommer
We have all seen them on television during the Olympics; these powerful men performing amazing skills with ease and grace. Watching them perform the question inevitably arises - are they as powerful as they look? And the answer is - yes. What will probably be even more surprising to you is that they build their strength and physiques almost entirely with various bodyweight exercises. The list of requirements is long and can be rather daunting to prepare a world class athlete: passive flexibility, active flexibility, joint preparation, static strength, dynamic strength etc. etc. and is probably only interesting in detail to those of us involved with the physical preparation of champions. There are of course some supplemental exercises where weight is added (i.e. weighted leg lifts), however the central premise remains; these amazing athletes have built the vast majority of their strength and power through the use of bodyweight conditioning.
Now another question that we should ask ourselves - is the bodyweight training of the Olympians also beneficial to the fitness enthusiast? And if so, is it possible to apply at least some of it to those without a professional instructor to guide them or tens of thousands of dollars of specialized gymnastics equipment? And the answers are once again - yes and yes. There are some of our specialized exercises that are relatively easy to learn and require little or no equipment beyond a chin-up bar and some floor space. In this article, I will cover the basic progressions needed to learn two primary gymnastics exercises: the planche and the front lever. This will be by no means a complete bodyweight training program, but rather an introduction. These two movements were chosen for their novelty, the simplicity of the movements and for the excellent strength gains that are possible for those who are willing to commit the necessary sweat and dedication. The planche will be our pressing movement and the front lever will be our pulling movement. At advanced levels, adding a pushup to the planche and a pull-up to the front lever will effectively give a fairly intense full upper body workout, including the abs and lower back. Now before continuing further into our training, let’s first regress and consider the question of why to do bodyweight conditioning in the first place? A common misconception is that bodyweight exercises do not build substantial strength but are rather more suited for building endurance. For most people this conjures images of endless pushups, sit-ups or for the strong, perhaps pull-ups and dips. Great maybe for general fitness or endurance, but of little value in building real strength. First of all, exercise is exercise. Period. The name of the game is resistance. A muscle contracts against resistance and, with perseverance, over time, becomes stronger. For strength to increase, the amount of resistance or load worked against must also increase over time. Hence the problem with bodyweight conditioning - as the resistance (weight of the body) is fixed, how to continue to increase strength? Surprisingly the answer is simple - by decreasing the amount of leverage it is possible to exert on an exercise, the resistance of an exercise becomes increasingly greater. For example, a hanging straight leg lift is much harder than a tucked leg lift. In both exercises the weight of your legs remains constant, however by reducing your leverage (i.e. in this case straightening your legs) we are able to greatly increase the resistance. By straightening the legs we have effectively doubled the difficulty of the exercise even though the weight of the body has remained constant. With experience and creativity it is possible to learn or design exercises that, done correctly and with the proper progressions, are so lacking in leverage that even at bodyweight levels of resistance it is possible to build staggering amounts of strength. In addition to strength, the athlete will also develop excellent balance, coordination, agility and exceptional core strength. Perhaps that is why spectacular film athletes like Jackie Chan and Mark Dacascos always include gymnastics training in their physical preparation. How well do the progressions that I am going to share with you work? Well, consider that fact that Mr. Mas Watanabe recently visited my men’s gymnastics program and was astounded by the levels of strength and development he saw. For those of you outside the gymnastics community, Mr. Watanabe has been for the past 30 plus years, one of our primary leaders of men’s gymnastics here in the United States and has personally worked with and evaluated every Olympian, World Championship, National, and Junior National Team member that our country has produced during this time. After observing my current athletes completing their daily bodyweight conditioning program, Mr. Watanabe informed me that they were the strongest most physically prepared group of athletes he had ever seen. In fact he went so far as to state that he had never even seen another group come close. Now the main point that I would like to emphasize here - is that their physical development was procured almost exclusively through consistent progressive bodyweight conditioning. How strong is it possible to become with bodyweight exercises? Amazingly strong. In fact I would go so far as to say, done correctly, far stronger than someone who had trained for the same amount of time with free weights. Want some concrete examples? One of my former students, JJ Gregory (1993 Junior National Champion on the Still Rings) developed such a high degree of strength from my bodyweight conditioning program that on his first day in his high school weightlifting class he deadlifted 400lbs., and this at the scale breaking weight of 135 lbs. and a height of 5’3”.
After this I was curious and wanted to measure JJ’s one rep max on weighted pull-ups. We started fairly light with 10 lbs. or so. I continued adding more weight while JJ performed single rep after single rep. Unfortunately I didn’t know about chinning belts and chains at that time and the cheap leather belt we were using broke at 75 lbs. Once again, I repeat, at 75 lbs. and JJ had never performed a weighted pull-up in his life. But he had performed years of my specialized bodyweight conditioning exercises. How much could JJ have chinned that day? We will never know for sure, but I will tell you that at 75 lbs. JJ was laughing and joking with me and did not appear to be noticeably bothered by the weight. And JJ, while the strongest, is not an isolated case. For example, over the years I would occasionally (once a year or so) allow my athletes to test their one rep max on weighted chins (an exercise we never perform as part of our regular conditioning) simply so that they could have proof positive of the enormous measurable strength gains which they were enjoying. My own son at the age of 13 and a bodyweight of around 110 lbs. could chin 50 lbs. for 8 reps and it was not at all unusual for a 60 lb. younger athlete to perform 5 or more reps with 25 lbs. In addition to his amazing strength, look again at the incredible physique that JJ built solely through various bodyweight exercises. Also look at the pictures of some of my current group of athletes. Pretty buff for boys who mostly range from 7-11 years old and have never lifted weights. As well, consider the fact that as competitive athletes, they never train for appearance. Their physiques are solely the result of their training their bodies for the function of becoming better athletes. In other words, their physiques (and anyone else’s who trains in this manner) are functional first and ornamental second. Why does correct bodyweight conditioning work so well? There are several, the first is contraction. Basically, the harder the contraction over a greater part of the body during an exercise, the more effective the exercise. For maximum improvements training to failure is not necessary, but maximum contraction is. One of the main advantages to these advanced bodyweight exercises is that they require a complete full body contraction. In fact, at advanced levels, they are so demanding that it is simply not possible to complete them any other way. Another primary reason for their beneficial results is the nature of the static holds themselves. By holding the bodyweight in a disadvantaged leverage position, we are effectively multiplying the resistance of our bodyweight. Or more simply stated, we are supporting a heavy weight in a locked static position. This has tremendous positive impact on the strength of the joints and connective tissue and aids greatly in overall strength development. Many great weightlifting champions have sworn by the benefits of holding heavy weights in a locked position. Two that immediately come to mind are Paul Anderson and John Grimek, who both made heavy supports a regular part of their early training. Success at these exercises requires consistent incremental improvements. Do not seek improvement quickly or become frustrated after only a few weeks. You would not poke a seed into the ground and then jump back waiting for the plant to explode out instantly. You must be patient with physical conditioning also. While you may become more skillful or feel more powerful while performing a new exercise relatively quickly, this is due to becoming more neurologically efficient (“greasing the grove”), rather than experiencing an absolute gain in strength. It takes approximately 6 weeks to establish the first concrete strength gains. In other words, make haste - slowly. Be prepared to spend at least six months at these exercises to work through the various progressions. What?! Six months?! Yes, that’s right, at least six months. Some people may need to spend a year or more. You wouldn’t expect to bench press 300 lbs. right away. Nor should you expect to build high level bodyweight strength instantly either. Be consistent, be patient and soon you too can be enjoying the benefits of greatly increased strength and athletic ability. Alright enough talk, let’s get down to work and learn these progressions so that we can begin building some muscle. The following progressions will teach you how to perform the planche and the front lever as well as their more advanced variations; planche pushups and front lever pull-ups. We will begin with various static (non-moving, held) positions. From there, we will progress to the more dynamic pushing and pulling movements. You will use the same basic strength progression on all of the following exercises. Be sure to master one position in a progression before moving onto the next. Hold for sets of however many seconds you feel comfortable, while continuing to combine the time of your sets until you reach 60 seconds total time. The number of sets it takes to reach the 60 seconds combined total time is irrelevant. All that matters is that you accomplish 60 seconds of “quality work”. Once you can hold a position correctly for the entire 60 seconds in one set, it is time to move on to the next harder exercise and begin the training procedure all over again. Now there are some exceptions to this rule, but we will address them later as we come to them. Static holds can be performed each day for maximum benefit. However it is also possible to obtain excellent results with other workout schedules. The traditional Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday work well. My personal favorite that allows maximum work combined with substantial rest is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Everyone’s recovery ability is different. Simply experiment with the various schedules to see which suits your individual needs best. Static holds can easily be placed anywhere in your current routine. My preference is to place them at the end of our physical preparation time. Once you have progressed to the more demanding planche pushups and front lever pull-ups, they should be placed in your workout in an appropriate spot for that exercise and body part and the static holds can continue to be placed at the end of the workout. You should work your way through the various progressions of both the planche and the front lever at the same time. As they work complementary muscle groups, working these two exercises together will actually increase the speed of your overall improvement as well as providing you with balanced development and strength in your shoulder girdle and core.
The Planche Progressions
Obviously, for those of us who are mere mortals, it is not possible to simply remove the legs from the floor and go directly to the planche. However with the proper progressions and patience, this position is attainable by a reasonably fit, hard working athlete. While working the various planches, strive to hold the hips level with the shoulders. Make sure that the elbows are straight. Bending the elbows greatly lessens the intensity of these exercises and will greatly slow your progress. Almost straight is still bent, so be diligent and keep them straight. One final general note on planches; hand positions on the planche series exercises is completely optional. Some prefer fingers forward, others to the side. Some swear by support on fingertips (my favorite) and others completely flat. Just experiment and find the grip that you prefer. If you find that a flat hand support on the floor is too uncomfortable for your wrists, these progressions can also be performed on a set of push-up bars. Frog Stand Begin this position by assuming a full squat and placing your hands on the ground directly in front of your feet. By directly, I mean right next to your toes. Arrange yourself so that your knees are resting against your bent elbows. Now gradually lean forward taking your weight both unto your hands and also unto your knees by leaning them on your elbows. Using your knees on your elbows will allow your legs to help your shoulders bear the load of your bodyweight. As you continue leaning forward you will eventually be able to remove your feet completely from the floor and hold yourself up with only your hands on the floor and your knees on your elbows for support. Balance is also a key to this exercise. As you first begin to learn how to lean forward in this position, you will often probably overextend and fall forward. Don’t worry have fun with it and enjoy some new training. Some pillows placed in front of you will help to cushion any crash landings. Notice that this is the only static position in our progressions with bent elbows. Continue holding sets of this position until you have reached your one minute total time.
Tuck Planche The main difference between the frog stand and the tuck planche is that now your weight will be entirely supported on your arms only. Once again begin in a full squat and place your hands next to your toes. Now, as in the frog stand, lean forward taking all of your weight on your arms and shoulders alone. Do not use your knees on your elbows for assistance. Holding the knees tightly to the chest will make this exercise easier. At first you may only be able to briefly raise off the ground. Do not worry. Keep adding small sets together to reach your goal of 60 seconds total. Simply continue working the position, striving to lift your hips to shoulder high. With consistent practice it is possible to increase your strength in static positions relatively quickly.
Advanced Tuck Planche Once you feel comfortable with the tuck planche and are able to hold it for 60 seconds with correct hips and elbows, you can increase the difficulty of this exercise by progressing on to the Advanced Tuck Planche. The primary difference between the tuck and advanced tuck planche is the position of the back. Note that in the tuck planche the back is curved, while in the advanced tuck planche the back appears flat. While holding your hips shoulder high, try to extend your hips back behind you until your back is flat. This “flattening” will greatly increase the intensity of the tuck planche. In fact, I think you will be extremely surprised at how much harder such a small movement can make the tuck planche. Continue working this position, until you are once again able to hold the static for 60 seconds correctly in a single set with your back completely straight (“flat”).
Straddle Planche Once you have mastered the advanced tuck planche position you are ready to work on the straddle planche. Finally! After months of hard consistent work the end is now in sight. While learning this skill, it is also beneficial to practice the next progression (the tuck planche push-up) at the same time. One will build upon the other. From the advanced tuck planche position, simply begin to extend your knees behind you from their position on your chest. Balance is critical here. As you extend your legs farther behind, you will also have to lean a little farther forward to compensate. The wider your legs are the easier the straddle planche will be (note: for those of you planning for the future, as you get stronger in the straddle planche you can increase the difficulty by bringing your legs closer together). Make small adjustments from workout to workout trying to either increase the length of your static hold or the extention of your position. Do not try to increase both at the same workout. BE PREPARED - just a small movement will greatly lessen your leverage on this exercise and make the movement much harder. This movement is so much more difficult, that it is not necessary to be able to hold it for 60 seconds before moving on. Once you can hold a straddle planche correctly for 10 seconds you will be able to move on. I know, I know . . . only 10 seconds! But trust me, it will feel like much longer while you are doing it. Tuck Planche Pushups By the time you begin working straddle planches, you will have achieved a reasonable amount of static strength and are ready to begin adding a dynamic movement to your static hold. The description of a tuck planche push-up is fairly straightforward; while in an advanced tuck planche position, simply attempt to perform a pushup. To receive the full benefit, be sure (or at least try!) to maintain the hips level with the shoulders during the descent and ascent of this movement. Don’t forget to fully straighten the elbows at the to of the movement. Reps and sets are completely up to you.
Straddle Planche Pushups Once you have learned both the straddle planche and tuck planche push-ups, you are now strong enough to tackle straddle planche push-ups. You could consider the planche pushup a super bench press or a full body press. In addition to working the triceps, chest and front delts, you also have a full contraction of the lats, middle back and lower back as well as the traps. The triceps and the forearms are also working hard stabilizing the elbow joint. Core strength is extremely taxed as the upper and lower abs, obliques, serratus and hip flexors all struggle to maintain the stretched (body) position. From the straddle planche, begin to lower yourself to the ground. Be careful to keep the hips level with the shoulders as you descend, as there is a tendency when first learning this skill to simply try to dip the shoulders forward. Pause just off the ground and extend back up to the straddle planche. Also be aware that as you rise from the bottom position, it will be quite a struggle to maintain your hips level with your shoulders.
Variations At first you may only be able to lower but not lift out of this position. This is fine. Any of Pavel’s kettlebell variations for learning military presses will also work fine here. For example: 1) Lower slightly, hold for a few seconds and continue lowering and holding. 2) Try to lower as slowly as possible, taking 10, 20 or even 30 seconds to complete the descent. 3) Lower all the way, lift up slightly and lower again and repeat.
The Front Lever Progressions
As before, we will begin our training progression with various static positions and from there progress to the more difficult pulling movements. For the front lever series be sure to use a shoulder width overhand grip (fingers pointing away) as this will increase the amount of power you can exert during these exercises. Also, as with the planche series, it is very important to keep the elbows straight as bending the elbow will lesson the intensity and possible gains of these exercises. Tuck Front Lever Using any kind of comfortable support (chin-up bar, tree branch, rings etc.), hang using an overhand grip (i.e.. with fingers pointing away from you). Bring your knees to your chest and then strive to lift your hips in front of you while at the same time leaning back with your shoulders. At this time it is fine to allow your back to curve as you learn and build strength in the movement. Your goal is to eventually be able to pull your hips up to horizontal or level with your shoulders with an approximately 45 degree angle between the arms and torso. This is however, a very difficult position for beginners and you will probably need to build up to it gradually. At first, simply lift your hips as high as you can and begin timing your sets. As before, combine your sets until reaching a total time of 60 seconds. Upon reaching a 60-second hold in a single set, it is time to once again move on to the next progression.
Advanced Tuck Front Lever Once the tuck front lever feels firmly in control, it is time to move on to the advanced tuck front lever. As with the advanced tuck planche, the main difference here is the “flat” back. This position will cause all of the muscle fibers in your back to fire as they struggle to handle the load of your bodyweight. The contraction will be intense. Your goal is to eventually be able to pull your hips up to horizontal or level with your shoulders with an approximately 45 degree angle between the arms and torso while maintaining your “flattened” back. To achieve this position, think of pulling your shoulders back away from your hands while at the same time pressing your hands down towards your hips. Be sure to remember to keep hips shoulder high and elbows tight and straight. Continue combing sets to your usual 60 second total and striving for that 60 second single set static hold.
Straddle Front Lever From the advanced tuck front lever position, begin to carefully and slowly extend your legs out from your chest. As with the planche, the wider your legs are spread, the easier the transition from the advanced tuck front lever to the straddle front lever will be. Strive to maintain your “flat” back position. If you are unable to do so, you are too far extended forward and need to pull your legs back a bit. Don’t forget to keep the shoulders pulling back and the hands pressing down. While working on the straddle front lever, it is also fine to begin learning the tuck front lever pullup.
Tuck Front Lever Pullups From the advanced tuck front lever you may now attempt to pull yourself up. Basically this is a horizontal pullup. It is incredibly difficult to hold the hip level with the shoulders during the pull. As you pull up, your hips will want to drop down and as you lower, your hips will want to stay elevated. These changes occur as your body struggles to find an easier way to complete the movement. Maintaining the horizontal position here is the key for exceptional back development.
Straddle Front Lever Pullups Straddle front lever pull-ups are essentially a full body weight row and will make you incredibly sore from head to toe. Do not attempt this movement until you are proficient at both the straddle front lever and the tuck front lever pull-ups. Doing so anyway will not injure you, you simply will not be strong enough to complete the exercise correctly. This movement is an especially good overall conditioner for the back, as this one exercise alone will work the back completely from the traps to the lats to the mid back down to and including the lower back. Biceps, forearms and shoulders are obviously also heavily worked. Core strength is once again extremely taxed as the entire mid section struggles to maintain the stretched (body) position. From the straddle front lever position, begin to pull your upper stomach to your hands. Be careful to keep the hips level with the shoulders as you rise, as it is very easy to simply let the hips and legs drag and turn this movement into a simple pull-up. Pause at the top and extend back down to the straddle front lever.
Variations The possible variations are much the same as those for the straddle planche pushups, only adapted to pulling rather than pushing. Well, there you have it. A simple and effective set of progressions for learning and benefiting from at least part of the training of Olympic Champions. Remember: Be patient. Be consistent. Avoid regular training to failure. Give the mother nature time to work for you Extreme strength, a great build, and a lot of fun -all done in minutes per day. What more could one ask for from a workout?

Monster Stretch...

So my legs aren’t sore any more after a monster stretching session I had about 3 days ago. I really feel that my Pike Press will improve vastly if I can increase the flexibility in my legs. So, I went nuts on a stretching session, and forgot one of the basic principles and philosophies of this blog, ‘slow and steady wins the race’.

Anyway, I want to really focus on the Pike Press as it’s a move that I find difficult, but obtainable, and it looks fucking awesome when done correctly.

On a separate note I have been inspired to start the single arm pull-ups again, so am going to incorporate then into my back workout. The single arm pull-up is something I find difficult, both technically and physically so this is going to require some serious practise. A friend has made some excellent strength gains with one arm pull-ups so I figured I better get on with it.

Pike Press Progression

Handstand Progression.