Training Week of 6/15

6/15
HSPU Mini Course Practice A. Continuing to progress in lifting each knees further from my elbow in headstand. I think I'll switch to the Strongfirst HSPU progression in my Practice A sessions. The reason is Strongfirst progression has a clear roadmap for progressing from headstand to wall handstand, while the mini course does not have one. The mini course asks you to work on headstand/crow pose in Practice A, then work on progressing from wall handstand to freestanding handstand in Advanced Practice A, with no clear path between.

HSPU Mini Course Play - 8 pike push up singles. No issues with the shoulders. In Play we explore our capabilities, first working towards achieving a Bent Arm Stand, then exploring what we can do in the Bent Arm Stand.

Static But Deadly Circuit B - I chose to do circuit B because this circuit includes a hold that works on overhead pressing, and do circuit A on 6/16, so I could take a break on 6/16 from doing overhead pressing. The hope is that Static But Deadly training will improve support strength around the joints. Hopefully this will be some extra insurance against possible injury doing pike pushups and more difficult movements. Also, when I do get back to kettlebell training, I'll have less issues with shoulders and elbows. I was able to do most of the circuit B holds to full duration, with the exception being the side plank.

6/16
HSPU Mini Course Practice B

Static But Deadly Circuit A - I was able to do the holds for the duration, except for chin up hang. I could have held a weight in an isometric curl instead but I figured chin up hang was actually less risky for my elbows than isometric curl.
Chest expander workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 5 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

I dropped the tricep isolation exercises from the chest expander routine because Static But Deadly works the triceps a lot already.

6/17
Static But Deadly Circuit B - Completed most holds except side plank again. When I couldn't hold it anymore, I was able to transition to a regressed version with a knee on the floor and hold that until the timer beeped. For the single-leg hold I went a little deeper into the position, yet was still able to hold for the duration.

Hamstring mobilty circuit:

1. Good morning - 8 reps
2. Elephant walk - 8 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 8 puzzle mat tiles - 5 reps

6/18
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - I was able to extend each leg so that the thigh was higher than parallel to the floor, while working in headstand.

HSPU Mini Course Push - 4 sets of 8 parallette pike push ups, 3 sets of 5 chin ups. Some DOMS in the shoulders afterwards. I didn't feel any shoulder soreness before this day's training so the cause is most likely the pike push ups.

Cooldown - Straddle sit on stack of 6 puzzle mat tiles for 1 min. Next progression for my straddle side bend is to elevate my butt a little less so I thought I'd try straddle sit on 6 tiles instead of 8.

6/19
Skipped HSPU Mini Course Practice B - somehow failed to set my alarm clock which forced me to shorten my overall training session.

GMB Static But Deadly Circuit A - 2 rounds
Chest expander workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 5 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Training Week starting 6/8

6/8
HSPU Mini Course Practice A. Continuing to progress in lifting each knees further from my elbow in headstand.

HSPU Mini Course Play - 7 pike push up singles. No issues with the shoulders.

Chest expander workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 5 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - backoff set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - Left side was fine. Right side there was irritation on the thumb side of the elbow and also the pinky side. So I'll replace the bicep curl with chin ups for the time being.

6/9
HSPU Mini Course Practice B

6/10
Took off from training due to persistent soreness in the rear delts/rotator cuff from chest expander work.

6/11
HSPU Mini Course Practice A. When I raise a leg in headstand, I feel an increase in load on my hands. Fell to the side once while lifting a leg higher than my hands could support. Continuing to progress otherwise.

HSPU Mini Course Push - 4 sets of 7 parallette pike push ups, 2 sets of 4 chin ups, and 1 set of 6 chin ups. Some DOMS in the shoulders afterwards. Not sure if the cause was the pike push ups or lingering DOMS from chest expander work.

6/12
HSPU Mini Course Practice B

Chest expander workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 5 springs - Failed first couple of reps, then tried stretching the springs to the sticking point, then eased back a bit, then explosively pulled past the sticking point for first successful rep. Did 7 reps.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - Had to do same technique - pull to sticking point, ease back a bit, then pull explosively to blow past sticking point. Did 6 reps.

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 13 reps so may try moving up to 5 springs next time

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - backoff set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

GMB Static But Deadly Circuit A - 2 rounds - I bought Static But Deadly a couple of years ago on Black Friday sale, watched some of the videos, and forgot about it until this week when GMB announced it being on sale again. I tried the A circuit.

Training this week

6/1
Monday workout

6/2
HSPU Mini Course Practice B

Tried exercises from one of GMB's earliest core exercise videos. For obliques I still prefer this Red Delta Project micro workout. For abs, I prefer hollow body holds.

6/3
Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - Did 14 reps so will try moving up to 5 springs next time

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 3 springs - did 12 reps, so might try 4 springs next time

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 3 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 2 springs

Lateral Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 set - 1 spring - I decided to drop this from the chest expander routine for now. The shoulder irritation that preveents me from doing back press pain-free might be aggravated by this lateral raise. When the shoulder recovers enough to let me do back presses again, I'll add the lateral raise back too.

Wide-stance good morning - 8 reps with 10-sec. hold last rep
Jefferson curl with 16kg kettlebell - 5 reps

Squat-to-pike - 8 reps
Elephant walk - 8 reps/side
Jefferson curl with 16kg kettlebell - 5 reps

There was no change in Jefferson curl performance after the switch from 12kg KB to 16kg KB. I read somewhere that 25% bodyweight was the heaviest weight that woudld be safe to use for Jefferson curl. Straddle side bend has been more effective for improving my hamstring flexibility anyway.

6/4
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - On one of my attempts to transition out of headstand into crow pose, I finally succeeded in transferring all my weight to my hands and lifting my head into crow pose. I was able to hold crow pose for an instant, before I fell back onto my feet, but this is a sign of progress. Funnily enough, after this session I saw a Youtube video by a calisthenics influencer arguing that practicing crow pose (aka frog stand), the featured exercise in Practice A, is a waste of time if your goal is to achieve planche. One of the arguments in favor of training crow pose is the training strengthens and conditions the wrists for supporting your bodyweight. That YT influencer does not propose a reasonable alternative to the crow pose for this wrist conditioning. He seems to like handstands and planche holds, but those hand balancing skills are quite a bit more difficult than the crow pose. Maybe he is right about crow pose not being useful for planche training but if you look closely at the motion of a handstand push up, the motion goes through the bent-arm stand - which is close to a crow pose - and the bottom of the movement shares similarities with headstand and crow pose.

HSPU Mini Course Push - 4 sets of 6 parallette pike pushups and 3 sets of 4 chin ups. In this video, Eduardo recommends resting 3-5 minutes between sets of pike push ups... or resting 2 min. after a set of pike pushups, then doing a set of chin ups, then resting 2 min, then doing another set of pike push ups, and so on. This reminds me of the antagonistic pair concept. For my pike push up starting position, I had my arms at 90 degress to the parallettes. I was able to do 6 reps with moderate effort. Per Eduardo's video I'll use this starting position for a couple of weeks. After the week I do 8-rep sets, then I'll change the starting position to a very slight forward lean of the arms to increase the difficulty. I did the chin ups in sets of 4. I just chose 4 reps/set because that felt like a good number to do while keeping the effort level easy. The chin ups in this context are just antagonistic movements for recovering between pike push up sets. I'm not trying to improve chin up performance in particular here.

Cooldown - 1 min. horse stance then 1 min. relaxing upside down on the FeetUp device. Even though I'm now able to get into tripod headstand on the floor, I love using the FeetUp to cool down from a headstand session, letting the head hang and decompress the neck.

6/5
HSPU Mini Course Practice B

3 assisted pistol squats per leg

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 5 springs - First time I did any of the pullaparts with 5 springs.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 4 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs - Tried with 4 springs but didn't feel up to it. Did 15 reps with 3 springs, so will try with 4 springs again next time.

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - Was able to do 10 reps right away, beating my previous PR of 5 reps, which was set in August 2024. Back then I could barely press a 20kg kettlebell. By March 2026 my 20kg KB clean+press rep max was around 5. So today's sideway tricep extension PR might be a sign of carryover from improvement in KB pressing strength.

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - backoff set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 3 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 2 springs

Cooldown - 1 min. horse stance

HSPU Mini Course Monday workout

This was the first workout in the handstand push up mini course. By working towards the Handstand Push Up, we work on our overhead pressing strength. I hope there will be some carryover to overhead pressing with kettlebells.

The Prep session is actually different compared to the Planche mini course. It make sense because you would prepare your body in certain ways for planche-focused activities, and prepare a different way - eg. more mobilization of the hamstrings - for pike push ups and other HSPU related work. I added a 30-sec. reverse plank hold, just to keep up the practice and continue working on shoulder extension.

Practice A was typical for me. In headstand position, I managed to shift enough weight to my hands to be able to move my head a tiny bit.

Play session was 6 pike push up singles. I didn't want to aggravate my shoulders to I was conservative with how much load I put on them. I focused more on just getting re-acquainted with the movement. I managed to touch my forehead to the floor a couple of inches in front of my hands.

I finished the workout with a chest expander workout. The plan is to do 3 chest expander workouts a week, in hopes of improving shoulder stability for all pressing movements, not just overhead pressing. The workout also incorporates tricep and bicep exercises. I don't have high hopes for building strength and size for the triceps and biceps with this workout but I enjoy the movements. This was the workout:

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - backoff set - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Back Press - 4 springs - I attempted a rep, but my left shoulder wasn't having it. Odd, because the shoulder felt fine for all the other movements, but I knew better than to force it.

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 3 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 3 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 set - 2 springs

Lateral Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 set - 1 spring - tried 2 springs but couldn't raise the handle past shoulder height.

Today's headstand practice and first chest expander workout in a while

In today's headstand practice, I had a tiny, yet meaningful breakthrough. I was able to lift each knee at least half a foot from my elbow. For the first time I felt like I could use my core to not only pull my knees into the headstand, but also lift my hips so that they're closer to being stacked over my shoulders. The more active core made it easier to lift each knee. I alternated between holding the headstand as long as possible - about 20 seconds - and working on raising each knee, which shortened the hold time.

After the 10-minute headstand practice, I did ring dips for my Push session. I did 9 sets of 3 for a total of 27 reps. There was some left shoulder pain on the first set, but after I got the hang of doing a hard reverse shrug at the top of the dip, and maintaining depressed scapulae while going down into the dip, I didn't feel any more shoulder pain. I still felt some clicking in the left shoulder though.

I tried cleaning a 16kg kettlebell. I was still feeling irritation in the thumb side of my right forearm. If my forearm felt fine, I would have tried cleaning a 20kg KB, then I would have tested my 20kg clean+press rep max and planned to do The Giant next week.

In the afternoon, I did my first chest expander workout in a while. The instability of my left shoulder which led to some pain on my first attempt at parallette push ups made me think about revisiting chest expander training - especially for the pull apart drills which are said to improve shoulder stability. I did mostly the same workout shown in Alex Leonidas' video. One change I made was to do the Overhand Vertical Pullapart behind the neck, as shown in Alex's more recent video. Doing this move behind the neck feels more natural than doing it in front of the neck.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs - 19 reps

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs - 20 reps

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 sets - 3 springs - 7 reps

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 sets - 2 springs - 14 reps

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs - 6 reps

Mechancial drop set of Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 springs - 7 reps

Horizontal Pullapart (back off set) - 1 set - 1 spring - 16 reps

Bicep Curl - 2 sets - 2 springs - 15 reps/set

Tried Reverse Curl but it was too annoying for my right forearm/elbow. It's the same kind of pain that I get when cleaning a 16kg or 20kg kettlebell.

I decided to make the following changes for my training next week.

• Switch from the planche mini course to Prismatic Strength's Handstand Push Up Mini Course. The HSPU mini course is also built on the GMB method with the 5 P's; and is structured very similarly to the planche mini course, with each week containing 5 Prepare sessions, 2 Practice A sessions, 2 Practice B sessions, one Play session, one Push session, and 5 Ponder sessions. The main reason for the switch is I just want to try the HSPU mini course. The HSPU mini course has more bent-arm overhead pressing, which might carry over a wee bit more to kettlebell pressing, if anything carries over at all. In any case, today's attempts at cleaning the KB showed my forearm isn't ready to to back to doing The Giant, so the other reason I'll do the HSPU mini course is, it's a way to work on overhead pressing strength until the forearm feels good again for KB work.
• Drop the Strength Side Master Mobility program. I made it to Week 7 out of 12. I think it's a pretty good program. Any fitness program that is written for a general audience - rather than written by a coach for a specific individual - makes assumptions how quickly the trainee progresses. Week 7 of the program seems to assume that my mobility had progressed further than it actually has. The best mobility gains from this program was being able sit on the floor in straddle with straight legs for the first time in my adult life. This happened by the end of Week 2. My hip flexor mobility enjoyed the 2nd best gain. My lat and pectoral mobility didn't improve as much as I'd hoped, though those are not the reasons I'm dropping Master Mobility. Actually, the main reason is I want to make time for chest expander training.
• Do a chest expander workout 3 times a week. My left shoulder has been feeling unstable of late. I injured it years ago, and was diagnosed with possible shoulder impingement and subluxation. The chest expander pullapart exercises work the rear delts, external rotators, and upper back. to improve shoulder stability. I suspect I will get some shoulder mobility gains out of this as well.
• Practice the straddle side bend and a selection of exercises, out of the Master Mobility Pike exercises, that I think could fit with the straddle side bend in a circuit.

Planche Mini Course: 3rd Practice A session

This time for headstand practice, I focused on lifting a knee away from my elbow, per 2nd progression guidance from the StrongFirst HSPU Part 1 article. My very first attempt failed. As soon as I attempted to lift a knee, the pressure of my palms against the floor went up and the leg felt so heavy, as if it were made of lead. I stood up, off tension, and made a couple more attempts. On my 3rd or 4th attempt, I was able to lift a knee about half an inch on each side. By the end of Practice A, I was able to lift each knee an inch away from each arm - one knee at a time. This seems to work like GMB Frogger and Monkey, where I have to press my hands hard against the floor to get my feet in the air. Hopefully next time, I'll remember to press harder with my hands when I want to lift a leg into the air. I think when I can straighten one leg while maintaining a headstand, it will be a sign that I have the bent-arm stabilizing strength to shift all of my bodyweight to my hands, and lift my head off the floor. When I can do that, I can work on transition from headstand to Crow Pose

For the Push session, I did ring dips in 4-rep sets, for a total of 24 reps. I decided to do ring dips instead of parallette push ups because I thought my left shoulder would be less likely to be irritated. However the shoulder was irritated right away for the first couple of sets. I then remembered to set up for the dip with a hard anti-shrug to depress the scapulae, then keep the scapulae depressed and retracted as I sank into the dip. This helped eliminate the shoulder irritation. The other cue I had to remember was to not allow my elbows to flare outside my hands.

I was able to maintain the headstand, while playing with raising one leg at a time, for about 5 seconds before I had to take a break. I didn't count how many times I did the headstand within Practice A's 10 minutes, because the goal of a Practice session under the GMB 5P framework is to... practice... a skill, not chase numbers.

Planche Mini Course: 2nd Practice A session

This video from the article Your Journey to a Handstand Push-up: Part 1 by Karen Smith on the StrongFirst site inspired me to try something a little different with my headstand:



I didn't do exactly the same movement as shown in the above video. I still started on my hands and knees instead of lying on my belly. What I did incorporate from the video was contract the muscles of my core to pull my knees towards my elbows. This feels more stable than just lifting a knee to the elbow without the core engagement. I wore socks to make it easier for the feet to slide across the floor.

I asked Eduardo Orihuela if I should start working on transition to Crow Pose right away, or work on a longer headstand hold first. His reply was You can experiment with it either way. There’s no one specific way to go about it. It’s about having fun and developing control

For this session I tried to focus as much of my weight as possible on my hands, working towards removing so much weight from head that I could lift my head off the floor. Once I can lift my head off the floor, I should be ready to transition from headstand to Crow Pose. I managed to hold the headstand for about 5 seconds, at best, before my hands fatigued. Thus I spent the 10 minutes of Practice A doing multiple sets of 3-5 sec. holds.
The Play session focused on practicing the Frogger while sliding the feet slowly and stalling with the feet in the air if possible. I managed to stall with the feet in the air on a couple of reps in the first set. Pushing hard with the arms seems to be key to the stall. For the 2nd set, I tried doing the same thing but in what GMB calls the Baby Frogger - which is the Frogger with legs inside of the arms. It's harder to stall in Baby Frogger because the legs don't get to rest on the arms like in regular Frogger. I switched back to regular Frogger for the last 2 sets, thus calling it a day after 4 total sets.


Every training session in the mini course includes Prepare and Ponder sessions. Writing about my training experience is a Ponder session. After my first Practice A session last week, the back of my neck was sore for the rest of the day. I then studied this video:



This yoga teacher recommends taking some time to decompress the spine after headstand practice to help prevent neck pain. She shows one way to do it. I used my FeetUp device instead, since I already have it. I just got into an assisted headstand on the FeetUp and hung out on it for about 30 sec., gently turning my head left and right, doing a few neck nods, and playing with my legs - at some point resting my feet on the wall next to the FeetUp. I did not feel any neck soreness for the rest of the day, or the following day. I don't know if the lack of soreness is due to neck muscles adapting to headstand training, or the decompression on the FeetUp prevented it - happy either way.

I feel like my hands/wrists are not ready for the headstand to Crow Pose transition. So for the next Practice A session, instead of working on transferring weight to the hands, I'm going to work on the 2nd progression from the StrongFirst article. The 1st progression was setup and balancing in headstand. 2nd progression is maintainng headstand while slowly extending one leg towards the sky then holding it straight.