Update.

A quick goals update.

I have added flags back into my goals as I've been training them a bit with Lauri recently and I'm progressing better than I expected.  Right now I'm starting in an inverted position, and lowering my body downwards slowly, with split legs so as to make it a little easier for now.

Muscleups are coming along fairly well.  On rings I can now do multiples, but not as slowly as I would like, and still with a slight kipping action.
On bars I've also managed to string a couple together using the stretch reflex at the bottom of the movement, but I need a fairly big kip, and my elbows are not synchronised.

My handstands and hspu's are in about the same place, but my handstand press is getting stronger, but is still from the frog position rather from planche.

I'm still yet to get back to the gym, so all weighted and barbell goals are on hold for now.

Friday Scout

Was out scouting for training spots today, and found a couple of cool looking spots.
First pic is Webheath Estate (corner of Kilburn High and Netherwood street).  Second and third are a small park on the corner of Maygrove and Ariel roads......

Work workout.

I'm currently working as a projectionist in a cinema, and recently realised that this gives me a perfect opportunity to keep up with some bodyweight skills and training.  Most of the time I'm working by myself, and no-one else comes into the booth for hours on end, so I can make use of the expanses of lino flooring and flat empty walls without fear of interruption.

Today my work workout looked like this:

Tuck Planche:  60 seconds total, needing 7 reps. (5,8,9,10,10,10,8 seconds)
Handstand pushups:  21 reps over 4 sets (4,5,6,6)
Bulgarian split squats: 30 reps each leg over 2 sets (10,20)  these were done using a futon.
Calf raises: 2 sets of 20, each leg.

I'll see what else I can throw in next time, but there's no excuse to not use the time in between running shows to my advantage!

Goals update.

Just a quick one to update my "current goals"   See left panel.

I was just down at the park for a "relaxed" workout (as I'm getting over a bit of a flu), and I decided to test my max reps for pullups.  I managed 16 in a row of good clean (albeit slow) pullups, no kip.  This means that I have acheived 1 more than a goal I'd set for myself quite some time ago, so it's time to set a new one.

New pullups goal:  5 reps with 20kg weight.

...and while I'm at it...

Dips goal:  5 reps wth 20kgs weight.

...and one more for good measure...

Dragon Flags:  5 reps, no hip bend.

That's all.

Rings at the Grange

I've lately been getting interested again in doing ring work thanks to Rich and Joe bringing theirs along to jams, and as it happens it was my birthday the other day, and I was lucky enough to receive a pair of rings of my very own.

Today I took them down to the park to try them out.  I found myself a nice tree to hang them from, and after warming up, I got into it.  My first observation was that I really need chalk.  I couldn't even stay in false grip, which means that muscle ups were out.
As I'm pretty much a novice, I went through some basics like pullups, dips, support position, L-sits in support etc.  I also got up into a dodgy tuck planche, and tried out some lever stuff too.
All in all I'm pretty happy with what I did, but I need some focus, stucture and goals pretty soon, (and chalk!) to make it worthwhile.

So as not to neglect my legs after all this ring work, I busted out a few sets of pistols, but I am now trying to do them explosively and jump out, rather than just rising up slowly.

I'm including a few pics of the equipment at Kilburn Grange... because I can.  These are of the uneven logs, and the paralell bars.

Tuesday.

I'm not able to get to the gym at the moment, so I'm concentrating on bodyweight conditioning.

I went out to Kilburn Grange today with specific things to train in mind:

Warmup:
50 raise leg pushups,
50 squats.

Strength:
At least 25 pullups - I did 8 explosive, 8 weighted, 5 explosive, 7 weighted.
At least 15 pistols - I did 10 on each leg, then 10 on each again.
At least 25 dips - I did 3 sets of 10, weighted.
Some kind of abs workout - I did 4 sets of ten leg raises... some extended, some knees bent. I need to work on these!

"Weighted" means with my backpack on, which holds a couple of litres of water and my wallet. 3 kgs all up maybe?

Skill:
I need to work on my running precisions, so I worked up to one I've been looking at for a while on the uneven logs. I started off with two foot plyo style hopping between the logs (which I've never really trained before, but I quite liked), then on to the running precision.
Afterwards, I just did some general mucking around stringing vaults together etc. on the logs.

I tried a handstand press, but when I did, I could feel that the tendons in my shoulders are still sore from ring MU's at the One Giant Leap jam on the weekend, so I'll leave them for a while.

I'm getting some rings of my own soon, but I'll have to start out slow and with plenty of rest so I don't overtrain like I've done before.

J

Quick goal update.

Over in the left panel of this blog, it states my current goals. These goals have been in place for quite a while, and may not represent quite what I'm aiming for at the moment, but I'll see how I'm going with them anyway.

15 pullups - Last workout I did 3 sets of pullups with 3 kg's of weight, 8, 8, and 6 reps. I'll work it up to 3x8, then increase the weight. I don't know my max reps with bodyweight only, but I reckon I could do 15.

Handstand 10 secs - I'm still working on handstands, although I've been negelecting balance work for press work, so my times haven't really improved.

10 handstand pushups - I might be able to do these against a wall... not sure how many reps.

Flag - I still suck at these!


AbWheel rolls from feet - I don't own an abwheel at the moment, but they're fairly cheap, so I might invest soon.

Handstand press - Working on these from a frog stand position. I'm building the strength to get vertical, but my balance is still dodgy. I may be overtraining a little, as I'm getting some pain down the edge of my triceps and lats when I do these.

Strict form muscleups - My MU's are coming along nicely due to the weighted PU's and Dips progression I'm doing. I can kip MU fairly well now, working on getting both elbows over simultaneously. Strict form is still a prime goal, and will only come with proper progression. I see too many people getting complacent with only doing kipping MU's, and never trying to go any further. I am not these people.

2 x bodyweight deadlift - My DL is at 115kg right now, after not having trained it for a while... Irregular gym sessions mean that it will take a while to get back to where I want to be. My bodyweight is around 72kgs right now, so I need to pull 144 for my goal. I've done 140 before, for 5 reps, so this is a very realistic goal.

1.5 x bodyweight squat - My squat has suffered a blow very recently as I received some form critique from a huge guy (strength coach apparently) at the gym who incidentally was front squatting 140. Basically my thoracic extension has gone to shit, and I'm losing all rigidity in my spine as I come out of the hole, and it's generally not pretty. This is due to gradual form creep, and needs to be fixed. I think that one of my problems is that I'm pushing my ass too far backwards, which means I have to counterbalance by leaning too far forwards. This leads to a position at the bottom of the squat where I don't have the flexibility or strength to lock my spine, and it just bends.
I'm dealing with this problem in the following ways:

1. Thoracic flexibility exercises. Some of these involve tennis balls and pain.
2. Dropping 20 or 30 kgs off my squat until I can do it right.
3. Beaking down my form, and concentrating on cues to make sure I break at the knee and hip at the same time, and not "good morning" out of the hole.
4. Maybe doing some front squats, as without proper extension, you drop the bar.

As for getting it up to 1.5 x my bodyweight (108kg), It is within my grasp, but not at the cost of proper form.

I'll report back with my progress.