Rings One, Level A, Phase 1 Week 5 Report (part 2)

Today was my last Above The Rings day for Phase 1.  I just went with 3 sets each of Top Position Hold, Dip, Pushup, and Mountain Climber.  So at the end of five weeks of training (Phase 1), I progressed on just about all the exercises.  I did not have a dramatic increase in reps or hold time but I did progress enough to pass the little test I did in Part 1 of this report, to reassure myself that I would be ready to start Phase 2 next week.

My bodyweight increased by about 4 pounds.  Before the start of Phase 1, I'd been on vacation, eating  a lot and barely exercising.  I believe I ate less overall during this 5 week period than I did during vacation.  On the exercise side, I've been walking about 20 minutes a day to and from subway stations, at least 5 days a week.  Thus, I'm confident most of this weight gain was from muscle growth rather than fat, even though it doesn't look obvious.

I only managed to do the Leg Module more than once in a week in two out of the five weeks of Phase 1.  I have a soreness in one of my glutes that appears whenever I try to stretch the hamstring on that side of the body.  The Leg Module is an optional module in Rings One so for next week I will replace it with Front Scales and Hanging Leg Raises from GMB's How to Do an L-Sit tutorial, as well as Back Lunges.  The training schedule for Phase 2 includes L-Sits towards the end (starts with the easier Tuck Sit), so it wouldn't hurt to make sure I have the hip flexor strength as well as the core strength to do a full L-Sit.

The Back Lunge is in there because it's the third exercise of an SI joint rehab routine I found, courtesy of Eric Wong.  I've had some lingering aches/pains from a low back/hip injury that I got from a bad deadlift attempt and it wouldn't hurt to try Eric's routine.  I've so far worked in the hip extension and hip rotation portions of the routine into my daily warmup, which is mostly from Rings One.  I didn't use the Back Lunge because I was already doing front lunges as part of the Leg Module.

Excited to start Phase 2 next week!