L-Sit Tutorials from the PCC Blog

The L-Sit is sometimes described as a "basic" skill or demonstration of core strength.  However it continues to elude me, despite my efforts to achieve it.  As much as I enjoy GMB's exercise programs, they all kind of assume that the trainee will nail this skill in just a couple of weeks, having the trainee start performing movements built on top of the L-Sit by the 4th week.  This is one of the main reasons I have been unable to advance beyond Phase 1 of P1 or Phase 2 of R1.

GMB's tutorial prescribes a number of assistance exercises for developing the required upper body strength and core (abs, hip flexors, etc) strength to achieve this skill, as well as a progression of "sit" variations.  The tutorial also includes programming information (how many sets to do, how often to train, etc.).

This L-Sit Tutorial by Aleks Salkin takes a different approach, by prescribing dynamic movements between a less difficult position and a more difficult one.  The idea is you move between the position at the next level of difficulty and the one that is at your current level.  In addition, you alternate a dynamic movement practice with a static hold practice.  He says to go for a 20-second hold.  The article does not mention sets and reps, but in the comments, he recommends up to 5 sets, up to 10 reps per set.

One of the commenters on Salkins tutorial then put up his own version of the tutorial on his Neat Strength blog.  This is the NeatStrength version.

By no means do I blame GMB for my lack of progress in the L-Sit.  GMB's tutorial actually says to find whatever exercises will work for you.  Thanks to Salkin and NeatStrength, I have more ideas to try out and see if my progress improves.

Rings One, Phase 1, Level B, Week 2, Day 1

Inverted Row (Tuck) - 6 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid. 

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Ups - 4 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Chin-Ups - 7 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid. 

5-sec. Hanging Knee Raise Holds (Dead Hang) - 7 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Mike Sigman on Zhan Zhuang

Movement 2

The saying is that there are many jins, but there is only one jin. Jin-force (basically up-force from the ground and down-force from gravity/contraction) is the basis for short-power, long-power, inch-power, cold-power, spiraling power, "aiki", and so on. But jin has to be trained in application and in the conditioning that is needed to apply it well and correctly.

In standing-post (Zhan Zhuang), jin is practiced in six-directions. It's easy to confuse muscular tension with jin, but they're different things and jin is
done with the body relaxed except for the slight extension of the body, the sinking, and the perineum being held up (there's a pressure aspect, but that's beyond the scope of where I'm trying to go).

The first two jins to practice are (1.) the jin up through the body that holds the head up, which in turn gives the slight stretch to the torso that helps
propagate power through the body and (2.) the jin of weight/downward force that goes along the undersides of the body and limbs; it originates with the dantian sinking/pulling downward. These two jins are "contradictory" or "antagonistic", which over time helps condition the body.

The second two jins, which are added to the first two jins as progress develops, are the jins of forward to the hands and backward [or pulling (Lu)].
If someone is in a balanced stance with one foot forward and one foot backward, the jin to the front normally originates from the back foot and the jin to the back originates from the front foot. These two jins set up a contradiction in the front-to-back direction.

The third two jins, which are gradually added to the prior four jins, are the expansion to the sides coupled with a contraction toward the middle. The
expansion to the sides rises up from the feet (using the expansion of the muscle-tendon channels of the back of the body and outsides of limbs) and the contraction comes downward from weight and inward from contraction of the front of the body and insides/undersides of limbs.

All of these jins are derived from (A.) the solidity of the ground and (B.) the gravity force downward.

Sometimes you hear a saying that basic jin usage is "Float, Sink, Swallow and Spit". These are fairly rudimentary usages (there are more sophisticated usages) in which an opponent can be slyly "floated" by up-rising jin, or weighted into an off-balance direction by downward ("sinking") jin, or tossed
away by sinking to an incoming force, getting under the opponent's incoming force, and then rising up under the force to toss ("spit") the opponent away.

The dantian's movement is always derived from the manipulation of the jin forces, so when you talk about movement in 6H, you always have to consider the jin forces which are being manipulated by the dantian and the way the connection or "suit" is being pulled and twisted and tensed by the dantian and intent.

(Note) In the two diagrams below, look at the side-view. Notice the purple lines indicating forces coming up at a steep angle to the hands and to the point in the back between the shoulder blades. I'll have to clarify how that really works with a side article that I'll post shortly about plain jin and unity jin.

DC Landmarks

https://news.bandsintown.com/view-article/2017/01/26/city-guide-priests-guitarist-g-l-jaguar-shares-his-favorite-washington-dc-gems

Rings One, Phase 1, Level B, Week 1, Day 5

Dips - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 3 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Inverted Push-Ups - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Push-Ups - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging. 

Jump To Dips - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid

5-sec. Hanging Knee Raise Holds (Top position) - 5 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Rings One, Phase 1, Level B, Week 1, Day 3

Inverted Row (Tuck) - 6 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.  First time with this exercise.  I found I had to straighten my body in the inverted hang first, to reduce the swinging of the rings.  Execution was a bit shaky but I think it's a matter of finding the right balance point.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Ups - 5 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Chin-Ups - 6 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.  First time I tried this with my feet on the ground in front of me, legs straight, instead of from the dead hang.  It's actually a bit harder because the core is worked a bit more.  It could be that I also make this harder for myself by lowering myself more slowly as the feet get closer to the ground, because I want to maintain the straightness of legs.  I believe Ryan Hurst does the chin-ups this way because it's kind of a prep for the muscle-up later on.

4 Exercises To Relieve Shoulder Pain After Workout

4 Exercises To Relieve Shoulder Pain After Workout

The shoulder is such a complicated joint, that there is rarely a one-size-fits-all solution for shoulder pain.  For example, I started experiencing shoulder pain for the first time in many months, after I did some training on the parallettes after nearly a month on vacation - that pain seems to be going away by switching to ring training.

But maybe the above 4-exercise routine will work for your particular situation.

New Handstand Tutorial by Ryan Hurst

Ryan Hurst of GMB fame just published a new tutorial:
How to get your first handstand

There is a slightly older tutorial also written by Ryan:
How to Do a Handstand – Warm-Up, Body Positioning, Tutorial, and Advanced Progressions

I am of course committed to R1 at this time, but the handstand is one of my fitness goals down the road.  Check out both tutorials and see which one you like.

Rings One, Phase 1, Level B, Week 1, Day 1

Despite what I said in a previous post, I decided to switch back to R1 (Rings One) instead of staying with P1 for another week.  

The reason is the shoulder continues to be more loose than I like, thanks to an old injury - it was diagnosed as a possible subluxation or impingement.  I don't think P1 has necessarily made it worse, but it's not improving in stability.

Rings have always been more forgiving to my shoulders than parallettes.  For a change I'm going with Level B in Phase 1 of the program, subbing less difficult exercises for the two that are too hard for me right now.

R1, Phase 1, Level B, Above The Rings

Dips - 7 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand (sub for Tuck To Tuck Shoulder Stand) - 3 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Inverted Push-Ups - 5 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Push-Ups - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging.  In the past, I've done this move on the rings starting from the standard plank ("normal" top position).  I noticed the instruction is actually to get into the Hollow Body Plank (rounded upper back, "hollow" chest, etc.) and maintain it.  This is actually easier on the shoulders, despite the increased difficulty level of Hollow Body Plank vs. Standard Plank.

Jump To Dips - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid

Tuck Hold (sub for L-Sit) - 25 sec. Quality: Smooth.  Ease: Solid

After the end of the workout and cool-down stretches, the shoulder is noticeably more stable.  It still feels like it can "click" in/out of the socket, but I have to go a bit more out of my way to make it do that. Because of this, I will stick with R1 for the duration of Phase 1, then decide where to go from there.

The above workout looks a lot like Phase 2, Level A, Above the Rings, except for the addition of the Inverted Push-Ups and Push-Ups.  I'm puzzled why these two valuable pressing movements are omitted from the Phase 2, Level A version.  It seems like not having them to build critical forward and upward pressing strength makes it harder for the trainee to achieve his/her first Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand.  When I look at P1, I see both equivalent movements included in the preparation for the P1 equivalent of the Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand.

Today's Music Discoveries

Yussef Kamaal - Strings of Light

Toshiki Kadomatsu - Hatsu Koi

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - Shaky Jake

The Karl Hendricks Trio - 1/93 - "If This Song Was A Cigarette" - 9:30 Club - Washington,D.C.

FUGAZI Live in front of THE WHITE HOUSE, January 12, 1991 (Gulf War 1 Protest)

Sun Ra Arkestra - Love In Outer Space (in session for BBC Jazz on 3)

Can - Paperhouse - Live, 1971 (Remastered)

Freddie Hubbard - Crisis

Lucifer's Friend - Lucifer's Friend

Cocteau Twins - Lorelei

Today's P1 Training - End of Week 2

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 2

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 4 reps.  Quality: Rough.  Ease: Challenging

One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - 15 sec. hold per leg. Quality: Rough.  Ease: Challenging

Tuck Swings - 8 reps. Quality: Rough.  Ease: Solid

Assisted Inverted Presses - 8 reps partial motion. Quality: Rough.  Ease: Challenging

Dive Bombers - 3 reps. Quality: Rough.  Ease: Challenging

The is my 2nd trip through the P1 program, albeit with the P-Barz set at the more challenging Pro height.  I confess that I haven't been keeping track of what week I am on in the program.  Then I realized the instructions change from week to week in P1, sometimes from day to day!

So as of today I will say I am at the end of Week 2 in the program and will keep going until I complete Week 4.

Today's P1 Training

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 1 
Plank Push-Ups - 6 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid. Can't explain why this move suddenly got easier, despite over a week off being sick. The CNS can be funny like that.

Plank Jump to Dip - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging. Feet still hitting the floor after the 3rd or 4th rep of a set. When that happens I finish the set with a Tuck Swing to Top Plank just to work on the proper coordination. I think when my feet touch the floor, it's because either my abs or my shoulders (need good downward, straight-arm pressure) are fatigued.

Battle Rams - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Tuck Hold - 16 sec. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid. 

Mt. Climber Holds - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Today's Music Discoveries

arab strap don't ask me to dance

Theme From Golden Boy

Bola Sete & Vince Guaraldi Trio || full || 1963 || full set || Jazz Casual

Susan Alcorn - Volare

Ben Monder: Windowpane

Remembering Trish Keenan, Singer For The Band Broadcast

dead horse - AXIOM Video Shoot and more from 1988 - 1994

Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds of the Civil Rights Movement

New GMB article on using the 3 animals from Elements for strong, mobile wrists

I can personally attest to the benefits of GMB's Elements program for the wrists.  The warmups for the wrists, as well as the fingers, are quite extensive.  The 3 animal movements all load the wrists.

https://gmb.io/strong-mobile-wrists/

Bram Bos Troublemaker Review / Tutorial

Bram Bos Troublemaker Review / Tutorial

From the description:

"Acid Techno is easy with Troublemaker by Bram Bos. A TB-303 inspired audio unit synthesizer with step sequencer. In this video I will 1) Show you how to create a pattern in Troublemaker and export the midi into Cubasis 2) Use Troublemaker in Cubasis as an audio unit 3) Run Troublemaker through Squashit multi band distortion. I hope you enjoy it! PS - 600 subscribers!! Thank you for the support over the years. "

Today's R1 Training

R1, Phase 2, Level A, Below The Rings (Tuesday, off yesterday)

Pull-ups - 8 reps.  Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 4 reps.  Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Skin The Cat -  3 reps.  Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Reviewed the instructions for Skin The Cat and noticed the directives to squeeze the shoulder blades together and maintain the pull of the arms - no passive hanging.  It seems that as I descend into the German Hang, my shoulder blades are pulled together by default.

I'm not sure if I'm really pulling constantly on the rings.  I think I am, due to  my control of the descent, then having to pull on the rings to unwind from the German Hang back into the Inverted Hang position.  In any case, I'll pay more attention to these two points.

I am also making more off an effort to not tuck as much when unwinding from German Hang, so that the lower back gets a little bit more work.

Today's P1 training

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 1 

Plank Push-Ups - 3 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging.

Plank Jump to Dip - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging.  This is probably the more accurate Ease score, as I’m struggling to tuck properly after the Dip, so that my feet don’t hit the floor.  What happens too often is I end up walking my feet back a bit before I can lift my legs again.

Battle Rams - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Tuck Hold - 14 sec. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid.

Mt. Climber Holds - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Low back rehab exercise from Systema HQ

Interesting low-back rehab exercise called the Flat Spine Leg Raise.  Reminds me of the Hollow Body Hold taught by GMB.

P1-R1 Training Split

The P1 program has a split option, in which one trains for 4 days a week, practicing P1 on alternating days and the other program on the "between" days.

I think one of the reasons my shoulder is less stable than usual is the time I took off from strength training - nearly a month.  While GMB recommends a couple of exercise routines that specifically target shoulder issues, I'll try practicing just the Below The Rings portion of R1 as the other program in this training split.  The Below The Rings exercises emphasize pulling movements, which in the past seem to have contributed to improved shoulder stability.  I'll see how it goes.

Today's session:

Pullups - 7 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Tuck Roll Chinup - 4 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Skin The Cat - 4 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Today's Musical Discoveries

Joni Mitchell - Ethiopia

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975) - full album

She's just another (Vaporwave - beats - electronic mix)

http://www.factmag.com/2016/03/30/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-modular-synth-studio-video/

Return to Parallettes One, with P-Barz at Pro Setting

Last week, I resumed training under the P1 (Parallettes One) program.  I spent practically the latter half of 2016 training under R1 (Rings One).  I made good progress in the Under The Rings exercises, but not as much in the Above The Rings exercises.  I last trained under P1 for about 4 months, ending in October, 2015.  As noted at the time, all the Phase 1, Level B exercises were easy for me to execute, except for the full L-sit.

As recommended by GMB, my parallettes are P-Barz.  I'm glad I decided to get the Standard + Pro Height Bundle.  I completed Phase 1, Level B more than a year ago with my P-Barz at the Standard (almost 1' high) height.  Last week, I switched my P-Barz to the Pro height.  I also realized I should log my Quality and Ease scores.  Here are my training results so far at the Pro height:

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 2

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 4 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - 15 sec. hold per leg. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Tuck Swings - 7 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid

Assisted Inverted Presses - 6 reps partial motion. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Dive Bombers - 3 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 1

Plank Push-Ups - 4 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging. Left shoulder a bit unstable so I have to really watch this one.

Plank Jump to Dip - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid

Battle Rams - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid. Need to make sure shoulders are not too low.

Tuck Hold - 10 sec. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid. The hardest part is smoothly rolling the body from "seiza" into the tuck, without the feet touching the ground. This was much easier when the bars were higher.

Mt. Climber Holds - 8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

P1, Phase 1, Level B, Sequence 2

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 4 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - 15 sec. hold per leg. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Tuck Swings - 7 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid

Assisted Inverted Presses - 6 reps partial motion. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

Dive Bombers - 3 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Challenging

The lower height makes everything more difficult. Pressing takes more effort. Any passing of the feet between the parallettes requires a tighter tuck to prevent the feet from touching the floor and thus interrupting the movement - this works the core harder. I find I have to move the P-Barz a bit further apart for Tuck Swings, so that I don't have to worry about the feet hitting the P-Bar stands, and move the P-Barz closer together for the pressing movements. Both of my shoulders are pain-free, but one of them is less stable due to previous injury, so I have to take care of it by not allowing the elbows to flare outwards and monitoring range of motion on forward and upward pressing movements.

I believe P1 training at the Pro height, as long as I do not injure my shoulder, will finally build the strength that I need to progress further in either P1 or R1.  My core works harder at the lower height,  which should ultimately aid in the quest for that elusive L-sit.  My pressing strength has not been challenged like this in nearly two years, so it should also start improving again.

On a related note:  https://medium.com/gmb-fitness-articles/gmb-fitness-2016-review-5a703138d7b#.isq9pdh6v

OP-1 Tutorial

This appears to be a tutorial on how to make a song on the OP-1.

Hicut Cake #030 :: Teenage Engineering OP-1 tutorial feat. STRYMON MOBIUS