Band-assisted shoulder mobility
Practice
Inverted Press on Parallettes w/ 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 4-6 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup w/ feet on floor in front and 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 3 reps - Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid
Each pullup set immediately chased with foot-assisted scapular pulls - 6-7 reps
I took an idea from Mindful Mover and did alternating sets of Inverted Press and Pullup with 2 min. rest between sets. Another Mindful Mover idea was incorporated which is interleaving the antagonist movement (pullup in this case) with the main movement.
I was inspired by Tom Merrick and Daniel Vadnal to switch back to parallettes for HSPU progression training because of the greater range of motion at the bottom of the movement. At some point I will have to switch back to training with hands on floor but for now I should be focusing on improving my overall overhead pressing strength through the full ROM rather than worrying too much about wrist strength.
Play
Parallette Jump Through (P1 Level A version) for a 5-rep set
Shoulder external rotation with mini-band
Mini-band No Money exercise
Forgot to do the Play section during the workout session, so I just did it Grease The Groove style in the afternoon.
Push
Knee Pushup on Parallettes w/ 4-sec. negative - 3 sets - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pike Handstand Hold - 2 min. total, about 2 sets
Parallettes One Cooldown Routine
Brachial Hang for about 1min.
Ponder
Inverted Press (aka "Pike Press" or "Pike Pushup") is still easier for me on my P-Barz than with palms on the ground. It's because the hands are elevated on the P-Barz. It will get harder soon enough, when I progress to where I can elevate my feet. I believe the increased ROM in the bottom portion of the movement, by training on P-Barz, will help me progress.
I realized I gambled a bit by changing from Reverse Row to Pullup. Pronated grip was friendlier to the shoulder than neutral grip. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the scapula sufficiently depressed and retracted to prevent shoulder irritation, especially during the negative half of the movement.. The feet on the floor to reduce the load on the upper body really helped reduce or eliminate the shoulder irritation while practicing scapular pulls.
Daniel Vadnal's video here inspired me to add the Pike Handstand Hold to the end of the workout. I'd been putting off handstand-specific work because 5 min. of handstand-oriented seemed daunting, especially with my shoulders feeling so weak and unstable the first time I attempted an assisted handstand (assistance by feet on elevated surface):
My upper body felt too worn out to attempt shrugs while in handstand. Because of the height of the parallettes and my feet not being elevated for today's Inverted Press practice, I didn't have the ROM to shrug at the top of every rep as Vadnal and GMB advise. So the handstand portion would have been my only opportunity to do the shrugs to improve the necessary strength to elevate the scapula for a good handstand.
The first fix I'm going to try is reduce the number of work sets from 4 to 3, in the hopes this will leave more gas in my tank for the shrugs. Vadnal's routine in the above video recommends 3 sets anyway.
I set the timer app to 2 minutes, then attempted the pike handstand with my feet on my couch but didn't feel like I was able to adequately stack my hips over my shoulders vertically, probably because of hamstring tightness. After whatever time I spent trying to stack the torso, I then went to the stairs, put my hands on the stair landing, and walked my feet up the stairs. With my feet at a greater height, hamstring tightness was no longer a factor in preventing proper stacking. After feeling I got my torso stacked ok, I attempted a shrug but was just too tired. I held the handstand for what little time I could, then took a break to try to shake the tension out of my body. I was then surprised to hear the timer go off - the 2 min. had gone by faster than I realized!
The highlight of today's work out by far: My best assisted handstand attempt so far!
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