Training Week of 7/13

7/13
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - Practiced next to a wall this time. Glad I decided to do so because I was able to straighten one leg all the way to locked-out knees, and straigten the other leg too. I was concerned I might fall over. Thus being able to rest my heel on the wall and feel the wall stopping my leg from falling over was reassuring. The mini course prescribed headstand/crow pose practice for Practice A and a variation of handstand for Advanced Practice A, with no obvious roadmap for progressing between the 2 levels, so I've been following StrongFirst's progressions for headstand to handstand, while continuing to follow the mini course guidelines - 10 min. total training time for Practice A, rest as needed, wait until you feel fresh again before doing another headstand hold, etc. According to the StrongFirst headstand progression, I've been working at the 2nd headstand progression. The 3rd progression is extend both legs simultaneously from tuck headstand.

HSPU Mini Course Play - 6 pike push up singles. For the first single, I started leaning forward with my shoulders half a foot ahead of my wrists. The resistance was so intense my form broke down and I barely completed the rep. For the remaining singles I began the movement with my shoulders about 3 inches in front of my wrists, which lowered the intensity enough to allow me to execute with better form. I wasn't sure how much I should progress my forward lean after completing 8 singles with 1" lean last week. So 3", not 6", is the answer for now.

For my cooldown I tried 4 sets of 30-second reverse plank as taught in this Squat University video. I tested my overhead reach against a wall before and after reverse plank training, as advised in the video. I didn't notice a difference, but I'll continue incorporating it into my routine because I like how it stretches my chest. My tight pecs are among the restrictions to my overhead reach - anything helps them loosen up will help my overhead reach. Reverse plank looks easier than reverse tabletop/crab but for me it's actually harder. I could hold reverse tabletop for 60 seconds, maybe more. I couldn't hold reverse plank for 30s - maybe 25s at best. Reverse tabletop gives me a good chest stretch but reverse plank is even better. I tried reverse plank with supinated hands, pronated hands, etc. - all were equally annoying on the floor for my elbows or forearms. I'll try the yoga mat next time I attempt a reverse plank. However I'm going to focus more on hamstring mobility for my cooldown sessions. After the headstand progression is completed in StrongFirst's method, the next exercise in the overall progression is pike handstand, which requires better hamstring flexibility than what I currently have. I'm still a ways from completing the headstand progression but might as well start now.

7/14
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

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 1 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway Tricep Extension - work set - 4 springs - did 15 reps so will try 5 springs next time

Sideway Tricep Extension - back off set - 3 springs

Violin Tricep Extension - work set - 2 springs

Dr. Keith Baar style isometric tendon training circuit - 3 rounds

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold. Was going to press to where the wrist starts feeling irritated, then adjust to the border of the irritation, but the wrist felt fine throughout the entire pressing movement.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• ATG split squat
• ATG split squat other side

I've settled on ATG split squat for my lower body tendon exercise. It's the same as the isometric lunge demonstrated by Dr. Baar, except we try to get the thigh and calf of the front leg to touch. Thus the reason for this choice of exercise is it hits a bunch of tendons at once, as explained by the good doctor. My big toe, on both sides, has been irritable on lunges so the hope is the Baar protocol will help it feel better in the lunge. 7/15
Tried a couple of 16kg KB clean+presses wwith each arm. My left shoulder was not 100% pain free, but felt much better overall than it did when I last did 16kg c+p 2 weeks ago. My right wrist also felt better, yet it too was not 100 pain-free. I'll try doing a set of 5 reps of 16kg c+p again in 2 weeks.

Dr. Baar Tendon Circuit - 3 rounds:

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• ATG split squat hold
• ATG split squat hold other side

Hamstring mobilty circuit:

1. Good morning - 8 reps
2. Elephant walk - 10 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 6 puzzle mat tiles - 5 reps w/ 10s hold on last rep

7/16
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - I tried extending both legs out of tuck headstand, and was able to do so easily with the help of the wall. I then moved the stack of puzzle mat tiles, that I use to cushion my head, away from the wall. I was still able to extend both legs but with the wall being a little further away, I was tending to fall towards the wall, and had to exert more effort to keep the legs up and straight. After some rest, I worked on straightening one leg at a time, and also observed without the wall to help, it took more effort from the core to keep from tipping back, and more effort from the hands to keep from tipping to the side.

HSPU Mini Course Push - First session with elevated feet. I set up the parallettes near the stairs and put my feet one stairstep up from the floor. Set a timer to 20 min. then did sets of parallette pike push ups until the timer rang, then did 2 more sets since I still had some available time. Based on my understanding of the mini course instructions, I can do 2-8 reps per set. Progressing to a more difficult position like I just did today naturally lowers the number of reps I can do. I ended up doing 8 sets of 4 for a total of 32 reps. The 8th set was the most difficult. I was barely able to complete the 4th rep, and my form was considerably degraded. For my Push session next week, I'll drop the reps per set to 3. It's better to do less reps with good form than more reps with form falling apart.

Hamstring mobilty circuit - 2 rounds:

1. Good morning - 8 reps
2. Elephant walk - 10 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 4 puzzle mat tiles - 5 reps w/ 10s hold on last rep

With the height for straddle side bend lowered from 6 tiles to 4, I was still able to lock out both knees in straddle sit. Bending to either side felt fine. I'm good at looking at the ceiling as I bend.

7/17
Chest expander workout - tricep extension omitted because of the pressing volume done on 7/9:

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

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway Tricep Extension - work set - 5 springs

Sideway Tricep Extension - back off set - 4 springs

Violin Tricep Extension - work set - 2 springs

I didn't feel like I did a lot of pressing volume in my Push session on 7/16 so I decided to do the tricep extension exercises.

Dr. Baar Tendon Circuit - 3 rounds:

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• ATG split squat
• ATG split squat other side

Keys to floating feet in press handstand, bottom of pike push up, etc.

As noted in other posts, I'm currently doing Prismatic Strength's Handstand Push Up Mini Course and in this course, floating feet is the checkpoint for progressing from basic parallette pike push ups to feet-elevated parallette pike push ups. Also in the course, floating feet is the checkpoint for progressing from hands-on-floor pike push ups to bent-arm stand. The explanations in the mini course are excellent. However the above video provies some interesting details like the location of the hips in relation to the hands, and the role of strength and flexibilty in achieving floating feet. Having both good flexibility and good strength would be ideal, but if flexibility is lacking, strength can make up for it - after you've put in the time and effort to build up that strength.

Geek Climber's Bent Arm Press Handstand Journey

I found this video by Geek Climber, which documents his journey to Bent Arm Press Handstand



I've been doing the Prismatic Strength HSPU mini course as I wait for my right wrist to heal and feel good enough to clean+press a 20kg kettlebell. As mentioned elsewhere, the mini course is built on the GMB Method, which organizes activities into Prepare, Practice, Play, Push, and Ponder sessions. The Practice, Play, and Push sessions each has a progression of skills from easiest to most difficult. The Bent Arm Press Handstand is part of the Play progression. Thus, I too have Bent Arm Press Handstand as one of my goals. It's interesting to see someone else's journey to this same goal.

Geek Climber expressed frustration with seeming lack of progress in his pike push up training. What seems to be missing in his training footage is change in his body positioning at the start of each pike push up rep. Over time, the arms should be leaning forward more and more, and the toes should be getting closer to the hands. Following these 2 cues ensures more and more weight is shifted from the lower body to the shoulders over time. The legs don't have to be perfectly straight for the toes to be pulled closer to the hands. If he had followed the 2 cues, he would have progressed in his pike push ups to the point his feet started to float at the bottom of the movement. In the HSPU mini course, the floating feet is the checkpoint to let you know that you're ready to progress to a more difficult exercise - the bent-arm stand in the Play sessions and the feet-elevated pike push up in the Push session. However, even if he knew about the 2 cues, he stopped himself from following them by trying too hard to protract his scapula at the bottom of the pike push up. I suspect he was doing that because some Youtube calisthenics influencers insist on scapular protraction as an essential cue for the pike push up. I get it - I myself held the same belief because I was, well, influenced by one of those Youtbe influencers. I was trying to maintain scapular protraction when I injured myself on a pike push up attempt a few years ago. I think the injury wasn't cause by protraction per se, but really caused by progressing too fast towards pike push up with feet elevated about 2 feet higher than my hands, but I suspect the protraction didn't help. Anyway, by trying too hard to protract his scapula, Geek Climber rounded his upper back, which kept his head too close to his hands to allow his feet to float.

The mini course Play progression starts with pike push up with hands and feet on the floor. Floating feet is the checkpoint for progressing to the next exercise in the Play progression, which is the bent-arm stand. The next exercise after the bent-arm stand is the bent-arm press to handstand.

Geek Climber's training footage didn't show any practice of static bent arm stand training, which is holding your current variation of the bent-arm stand for a given amount of time. I can't tell if he didn't practice static bent arm stand because he didn't know about it; or if he avoided it because he didn't it would be worth his time. Geek Climber appears to have skipped static bent arm training, progressing straight from pike push ups to attempting bent arm press to handstand. Thus it's no surprise he fell a lo while attempting bent-arm press handstand. He mentioned suffering injuries from all those falls, though he didn't offer specifics. He also mentioned not feeling strong enough to push out of the bottom of a pike push up into bent arm stand - that seems harder to me than simply working on leaning forward more and bringing the feet forward more in the pike push up, until you reach the balance point for a bent arm stand. By not developing a strong and stable bent-arm stand, he was trying to fire a cannon out of a canoe.

Geek Climber then decided to practice barbell overhead press, instead of pike push up, to improve his overhead pressing. He noted some differences between barbell overhead press and pike push up. I'm guessing he thought the scapula should be protracted for pike push up because he watched a pike push up video by Daniel Vadnal/FitnessFAQs who thinks that scapula protraction is required for good pike push up form. However there are other trainers like Sondre Berg, who is mentioned in the video, who do not seem to put any emphasis on scapular protraction for pike push up. In fact, Sondre advises Dr. Yaad in this video to try HSPU (similar mechanics to pike push up) with a more open chest - which is impossible with protracted scapula - as one of his recommended fixes for the doctor's perceived HSPU issues. Eduardo Orihuela does not mention it either in his free HSPU mini course. I've progressed to parallette pike pushups with floating feet, without having to protract my scapula. My shoulders have felt fine so far without scapular protraction as well.

I get though where Geek Climber is coming from in his decision to switch from pike push up to barbell overhead press. Progression in the pike push up is a challenge to manage compared to overhead pressing with barbell or kettlebell, because you have to constantly monitor how much of your bodyweight is shifted to your hand and shoulders, compared to your feet. Even Eduardo Orihuea admits that there is a huge jump in difficulty in the progression from feet-elevated pike push up to wall HSPU. Progression in barbell overhead press is relatively simpler, as it's a matter of gradually increasing weight over time.

My own preference for overhead pressing is the kettlebell clean+press because the hand is free to rotate - which makes the overall movement easier on the joints - and the clean provides a power training opportunity. Progression with kettlebell pressing is a little less straightforward than barbell pressing, but I don't feel like making room for a barbell set in my home, nor do I feel like getting a gym membership to access barbells. Progression in KB pressing was worse years ago when KB weight choices were limited to 16kg, 24kg, and 32kg. 8kg (roughly 16.6 lbs) increments are difficult for trainees used to being able to add only 5 lbs at a time. These days, 20kg and 28kg KBs are available. 4kg (about 8.8 lb) increments is quite an improvement for KB trainees working their way up the weights. Anyway, the majority of KBs are fixed weight, so to progression in overhead pressing using KBs involves increasing training volume over time with your working KB weight. If after the training block, your pressing performance with a heavier KB is not where it needs to be, you may need to repeat the training block. The progression scheme in The Giant has worked well for me, so honestly I'd rather be doing The Giant right now instead of the HSPU mini course. However as mentioned earlier, I'm doing the HSPU mini course because of my wrist injury preventing me from pressing a 20kg KB pain-free. The mini course Push sessions are when I practice pike push ups for volume. Parallettes are used for Push because they elevate the hands and allow a neutral wrist position. Thus one set of 6-8 reps is easier to execute with hands on parallettes, rather than on the floor.

Another nitpick I have with Geek Climber's video is that he already achieved the bar muscle up before beginning his bent arm press handstand journey so he was not really starting his journey with zero pushing strength at all. So really his 703-day journey to a bent arm press handstand was not from a state of being untrained, but from a state of better than average fitness, having the pushing strength to do a muscle up.

At the end of his video, Geek Climber shared a recap of his journey:

1. Pike Push Up w/ feet to wall, until feet can be elevated into bent-arm stand
2. Tripod tuck headstand to handstand
3. Tripod headstand to handstand half rep
4. Bent arm press handstand off the wall

It's a different path than what the HSPU mini course lays out. His journey might have been shorter if he had realized he could have achieved bent arm stand by working on balance, not just strength; then practiced bent arm stand holds. However I respect Geek Climber's achievement of the bent arm press handstand, as well as his persistence and effort.

To me the bent arm press handstand is just an intermediate goal to achieve on the way to a handstand push up. I don't know how long it will take me to achieve a freestanding HSPU. I'm guessing it will take me more than 703 days from now. My current clean+press weight is single 20kg. After I resume KB training, I don't intend to return to the HSPU mini course, until I complete some version of The Giant with double 32kg kettlebells. It will probably take me more than 703 days to progress from single 20kg clean+press with a 5 rep max to double 32kg clean+press with 10 rep max. After that, I resume the HSPU mini course. When I do so, it will be interesting to see how quickly I work up the the progressions for the Practice, Play, and Push sessions.

Training Week of 7/6

7/6
HSPU Mini Course Practice A

HSPU Mini Course Play - 8 pike push up singles, starting with 1-inch lean.

Dr. Keith Baar style isometric tendon training circuit

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold. Was going to press to where the wrist starts feeling irritated, then adjust to the border of the irritation, but the wrist felt fine throughout the entire pressing movement.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• Side plank
• Side plank other side

7/7
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

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 1 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway Tricep Extension - work set - 4 springs

Sideway Tricep Extension - back off set - 3 springs

Violin Tricep Extension - work set - 2 springs

7/8
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

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 1 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Sideway Tricep Extension - work set - 4 springs

Sideway Tricep Extension - back off set - 3 springs

Violin Tricep Extension - work set - 2 springs

Dr. Baar Tendon Circuit:

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold. Was going to press to where the wrist starts feeling irritated, then adjust to the border of the irritation, but the wrist felt fine throughout the entire pressing movement.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• Single leg lunge
• Single leg lunge other side

7/9
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - I've gotten better at using my core to stack my hips over my shoulders, and make it easier to extend my leg higher. I might have actually straightened one leg all the way in headstand. Next time I'll practice headstand next to a wall. With one leg straight - or close enough to straight - in the air, I'm concerned I might lose my balance and fall backward. I'd feel safer with a wall to stop my leg, and the rest of my body, from falling backward. Falling forward would ok because I'm using to tucking my legs and lowering my feet out of headstand.

HSPU Mini Course Push - Set a timer to 20 min. then did 8-rep sets of parallette pike push ups until the timer rang. I did one more set after the timer rang to finish with 5 sets of 8 for a total of 40 reps.

Hamstring mobilty circuit:

1. Good morning - 8 reps
2. Elephant walk - 10 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 6 puzzle mat tiles - 5 reps w/ 10s hold on last rep

With the height for straddle side bend lowered from 8 tiles to 6, I couldn't keep my lower back from rounding a bit, but it felt fine. I'm used to keeping my chest up as I bend to the side, which helped.

7/10
Chest expander workout - tricep extension omitted because of the pressing volume done on 7/9:

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

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 1 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Dr. Baar Tendon Circuit - 3 rounds:

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB to same position as left side, then hold.
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees.
• ATG split squat
• ATG split squat other side

My Recovery from Golfer's Elbow

My last incidence of golfer's elbow occurred in June 2024. By the time I finished that Easy Muscle block and started my chest expander block, both elbows were hurting. I'm convinced the cause this time was holding the 24kg kettlebell in bottoms up position for bottoms up goblet squat. The bottoms up grip allows the KB to be more easily used as a counterweight for sinking into a deep squat position. However, it cost me the health of my elbows, so in retrospect I should have held the KB in the normal grip.

In any case, I tried both Flexbar exercises shown in this video for a while but didn't notice much relief.

I spent the rest of 2024 following most of the advice in Geoff Neupert's elbow tendonitis article:

1. Check KB technique, especially ensuring no bent elbow on the backswing of cleans.
2. Do the exercise for relieving tension in the upper body extremity flexors immediately after KB training
3. Finger extensions after any grip work
4. P3 Protocol as implemented in Sore Joint Solution and Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells

In 2025, I started practicing this hammer exercise. It's a bit different from the hammer exercise shown in other elbow tendonitis rehab videos, in that each rep includes a 5-second hold with a stretch to either side.

I also started doing chin ups after my KB clean+press sessions, after watching this Geoff Neupert video. I was a bit skeptical of his Davis' Law argument (too much pronation, not enough supination) at first, but I decided to try anyway. I started by doing 2 sets of 2 chin ups on rings, so that my hands would be in neutral grip at the bottom, and supinated at the top. When the chin ups didn't hurt any more on the rings, I switched to chin ups on the pullup bar, again starting with 2 set of 2. Over time I worked up to 3 sets of 5. Chin ups felt less and less painful for my elbows as time passed.

I also spent much of 2025 practicing on piano instead of playing guitar. My reason to prioritize piano time over guitar was not golfers elbow, actually, but a desire to level up my skill at playing R&B/neo-soul grooves on the piano. This desire outweighed any desire to improve any aspect of my guitar playing. I've noticed that my left elbow occasionally feels sore after playing guitar, though I work on engaging my back muscles so that those muscles help my fingers apply pressure on the fretboard, instead of relying only on forearm muscles.

I started 2026 with an Easy Muscle B training block. The golfers elbow continued to recede as I built up my chin up volume doing this program. Looks like Geoff is right about Davis' Law after all.

By summer 2026 I was trying out the GMB Static But Deadly isometric program, which includes an isometric bicep exercise which could be a bicep curl or a chin up. While I dropped the program in favor of Dr. Keith Baar's protocol, I kept the idea of doing isometric chin up to help keep the golfers elbow at bay or maybe even make the elbows more resistant to golfers elbow.

Training Week of 6/29

6/29
HSPU Mini Course Practice A. Not as much progress as last week, but practice is practice.

HSPU Mini Course Play - 7 pike push up singles, starting with 1-inch lean.

Static But Deadly Circuit A - I did 3 of the 4 holds for the full minute. 1-min. chin up hold remains out of reach for the time being.

6/30
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

Horizontal Pullapart - back off set - 1 spring

Static But Deadly Circuit B - I made some progress in the side plank, being able to hold for at least 50s on each side. I regressed a bit in the isometric bent-arm bear, not being able to hold the full minute.
Hamstring mobilty circuit:

1. Good morning - 10 reps
2. Elephant walk - 10 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 8 puzzle mat tiles - 7 reps w/10s hold on last rep

7/1
Tried some cleans and presses with single 16kg kettlebell. This was a test of my right wrist, to see if it recovered enough for pain-free KB pressing. My wrist felt fine for cleans. But the thumb side of the wrist still felt irritated when I pressed the KB. So, I'll continue with the combination of HSPU mini course, Static But Deadly, and chest expander training until my wrist feels better. I tried cleaning a 15lb. clubbell to order, choking up as much as possible, and the wrist felt just as irritated as when I pressed the 16kg KB. So I think a clubbell clean will be a quicker test.

Static But Deadly Circuit A - Completed most holds except chin up.

Hamstring mobilty circuit:

1. Good morning - 8 reps
2. Elephant walk - 10 reps
3. Straddle side bend w/ 4kg plate on stack of 7 puzzle mat tiles - 5 reps w/ 10s hold on last rep

7/2
HSPU Mini Course Practice A

HSPU Mini Course Push - I broke a bit with the instructions. Instead of doing 3-4 sets and resting for a set amount of time after every set, I set a timer to 20 minutes, and did the session under autoregulation guideliness, just like in Geoff Neupert's program The Giant. This resulted in 5 sets of 7 parallette pike push ups w/1 inch lean. As with the Play session, I started each rep with a slight forward lean with the shoulders about 1 inch ahead of my wrists. After the first set, I moved the parallettes a little wider apart because my hands were rubbing against my torso at the bottom of the movement. I don't want the parallettes to be too wide apart because my suspect left shoulder can be irritated. From the 2nd set onward, my feet were consistently floating as my head got close to the floor, almost like in Eduardo Orihuela's parallette pike push up video. My head didn't have to touch the floor to get the feet to float. With my head on the floor at the bottom of a pike push up, I could try to do a sort of headstand to make it easier to float the feet, but I didn't want to cheat that way. My feet also continued to float when I started pushing back up, for a brief moment until my bodyweight started to shift back towards my feet. I was surprised because I was expecting to have to lean forward more to get the feet to float. In the video, Eduardo says that when the feet are floating on the basic parallette pike push up, it is time to progress to parallete pike push up with elevated feet. So for next week's Push session I could do pike push ups with my feet raised by one stair step. However, Eduardo also recommends progressing by increasing number of reps per set each week at your current level, then increase difficulty after doing a session with 8-rep sets. This week is my 7-rep week, so next week I'll do 8-rep sets at my current level, then progress to pike push ups with elevated feet the week after that.

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. I took Friday off

Dr. Keith Baar on tendon healing

Lately Youtube has been recommending videos on tendon healing or strengthening featuring Dr. Keith Baar. The tendon training principles he recommends appear to be more up to date than the GMB Static But Deadly approach, but to be fair, Static But Deadly is not advertised as a tendon training program. After having some trouble finding any exercise for my wrist issue, I read some people had success training Keith Barr style by simply finding a position that causes the tendon flareup and working with that. For my wrist, it's the kettlebell press with a 16kg KB. So the exercise to address the wrist issue may very well be an isometric KB press with a KB weight that won't cause as much pain as a 16kg. This Tendon 3.0 training article summarizes the Keith Baar approach to tendon training.

Tendon rehab principles from the article:

• Take collagen + vitamin C 30–60 minutes before loading. The article does not state exactly how much to take but I've seen Dr. Baar quoted elsewhere as recommending 15-20g of collagen and at least 50mg of vitamin C or eating vitamin C rich fruit.
• Hold isometrics in a pain-free range: 30 seconds × 4 reps, ~2 minutes rest.
• Perform twice daily (morning and evening) for 8 weeks to regenerate tissue.
• Maintain with weekly sessions to prevent relapse.
• Progress by increasing hold duration and control, not load.
• Use isometrics after sport to re-load fatigued tissues and reduce reinjury risk.

My selected exercises.

• Left hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until shoulder starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Right hand 12kg kettlebell press hold - press KB until right wrist starts to feel irritated, then hold
• Chin up hold with elbows around 45 degrees. Eventually progress to 90 degree hold.
• Side plank or lunge
• Side plank or lunge other side

2026 Fitness Goals

This is a followup to a post I had a post about fitness goals to start 2023.

I did not come close to achieving any of the goals as stated in that Jan. 2023 post. They were just too ambitious to achieve by the end of 2023. Suffering the low back injury later that year did not help either.

2026 fitness goals:

• Complete The Giant 3 and The Giant 1.x series with the 20kg kettlebell
• Clean + Press the 24 kg kettlebell for at least 3 reps per arm.

I don't have any particular goals for pulling strength or squatting strength in 2026. If I achieve 5 reps of 24kg KB clean+press, I may do Easy Muscle B with it, and thus get in some chin up and squatting work. I'll also practice isometric Zercher squat and drag curl in my next IsoMax 6x6 training block, whenever that happens.

My progress towards my 2026 goals is on hold as I recover from a right elbow injury I sustained earlier this year. I strained something in the thumb side of my right forearm while carrying stuff to my car with an awkward grip. The items I carried were heavy enough to cause injury due to the poor leverage on my wrist/elbow/thumb. For the time being, I'm doing the Handstand Push Up Mini Course by Eduardo Orihuela/Prismatic Strength. None of the exercises in the mini course cause problems for my right thumb or elbow. Other activities:

• Chest expander pull aparts (behind the neck vertical, vertical, and horizontal) to improve shoulder stability
• GMB Static But Deadly to improve support strength around the joints
• Hamstring mobility from Master Mobility by Strength Side with straddle side bend being the main drill.

Long Term Goals which are not expected to be achieved in 2026:

• Handstand Push Up - 2 rep minimum
• One-Arm Chin Up - 2 rep minimum
• Planche Push Up - 2 rep minimum
• Front Lever Row - 2 rep minimum

Since that 2023 post, I changed my long term goals a bit. One change was dropping the Pistol Squat goal. I no longer feel the need to set a particular goal for leg strength. My legs will get plenty of work as I progress to clean+press of heavier weights, as well as practicing KB front squats during Easy Muscle B trainig blocks. I will be satisfied with whatever leg strength I have by the time I achieve double 32kg c+p.

Another change is adding Planche Pushup to my list of long term goals. I've always wanted to achieve the planche pushup, but I thought I needed to achieve the HSPU first, then pursue the planche pushup as one of the next goals. However, the author of Overcoming Gravity does not believe HSPU must be achieved first. Thus, whether to go for HSPU or Planche Pushup first does not really matter.

It seems a lot of those who achieved planche pushups did it by building a good base of strength by doing pushups/dips, then progressing to weighted dips. Some did weighted pushups in addition to weighted dips, though the setup for weighted pushups is trickier. After building the strength base, they started working on the skills for planche pushup by practicing planche holds and variations of pseusdo planche/leaned forward pushups and planche pushups, with or without using elastic bands for assistance.

Since i'm going to pursue the HSPU first, then planche push ups later, my path to planche push ups will be bit different.

To build my strength base for HSPU, I plan to practice the kettelbell clean+press as my primary exercise. I could just keep doing the Prismatic Strength HSPU mini course, but but I prefer the KB clean+press to pike push ups or static holds, for thsee reasons

1. The hand rotates in the KB clean+press, which is more forgiving for the joints than pike push ups, in which the hand stays still.
2. The KB clean+press includes the KB clean, which exercises the lower body. Thus the KB clean+press is a full body exercise while the pike push up primarily works the upper body.
3. The KB clean+press includes the KB clean, which is a power training exercise
4. It is easier to perform the KB clean+press with consistent form from rep to rep. The pike push up require managing several variables at the same time - angle of forward lean of the arms at the start, distance of feet to hands, how straight the legs are, etc. - so it's a challenge to perform each rep at exactly the same resistance level.

Some people will say that a barbell is a better tool than kettlebells for strength training - "better" in the sense that a barbell will stimulate faster strength gains than any other tool. However if you want to use a barbell at home you need not only the bar and plates, but also a power rack. but I don't feel like making room in my home for all that equipment. I may be able to get access to barbells by joining a gym but I prefer exercising at home. The promise of faster strength gains with using a barbells is not compelling enough to give up the privacy and convenience fo training at home.

Dumbbells have their merits as fitness tools of choice - like costing less than kettlebells and being better suited for some isolation exercise. However, I prefer training with kettlbells over dumbbells because of how swings, cleans, and snatches feel with KBs. Dumbbells are also less forgiving than KBs for overhead pressing, even though the hand can rotate when pressing a dumbbell. When I press a KB overhead, the KB's center of gravity compels my hand to rotate as I press. I don't really have to think about timing the rotation of my hand.

HSPU requires both strength and skill to execute successfully. I figure that after I complete The Giant 1.2 or The Giant X with double 32kg KBs, I'll have the strength for HSPU. Then I'll train under the Prismatic Strength HSPU mini course to practice the skills for HSPU.