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.

Training week of 6/22

6/22
HSPU Mini Course Practice A. I managed to extend my left leg just short of lockout twice, and extended my left leg once. I have to keep remembering to engage the core to stack my shoulders over my head and my hips over my shoulders. I'm getting better at maintaining pressure on my hands to keep myself stable as I extend a leg.

HSPU Mini Course Play - 6 pike push up singles, starting with 1-inch lean. I assumed the start position with straight arms, then leaned the arms slightly forward, so that the shoulders were 1 inch ahead of the wrists. The reason I started with a lean is, the mini course instructions say to work up to 8 reps at your current starting position; then increase your forward lean and go back down to 6 reps, and work back up to 8 reps before increasing difficulty again by increasing forward lean some more. There aren't actually any instructions on how much to increase the forward lean, each time the we progress, so I settled on 1-inch increments. If I increase my forward lean too much at one time, I'm afraid I might injure a shoulder. On the very first rep, I allowed my knees to bend on the way down because I wasn't confident I could execute the movement. By the 4th rep, I was engaging my core, with greater confidence, to raise my hips higher while keeping my legs straight. This resulted in making my feet light enough to slide closer to my hands. My best rep was probably the 5th, with the light feet signaling that decent load was on my upper body, yet execution was strong. The 6th rep was a bit sloppy because I felt like I had to work harder than on the 5th rep.

Static But Deadly Circuit A - I chose to do circuit A because this circuit actually works my shoulders harder than circuit B. I tried horse stance with my feet slightly turned out to see if I could sink lower, but decided to stick to parallel feet. This video inspired me to practice with parallel feet. I've always had flat feet. I like feeling my foot arches activate when I practice horse stance with parallel feet. I don't mind sacrificing depth for foot arch work by practicing with parallel feet. My knees look awkward because the parallel feet force them to bend inward a bit but I don't feel any pain as long as I engage my hip rotators to pull the knees outward. I progressed to being able to hold the hollow body plank for almost a minute, before I have to pull the feet in a bit.

6/23
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.
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

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

6/24
Static But Deadly Circuit A - Completed most holds except chin up.

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 - 5 reps w/ 10s hold on last rep

6/25
HSPU Mini Course Practice A - I got close to straightening each leg while working in headstand.

HSPU Mini Course Push - 4 sets of 6 parallette pike push ups w/1 inch lean, 3 sets of 5 chin ups. As with the Play session, I started each rep with a slight forward lean with the shoulders about 1 inch ahead of my wrists. When Eduardo Orihuela does a parallette pike push up that results in feet floating in the air, his arm lean is so far forward that I think his shoulders may be as much as a foot ahead of his wrists.

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.

6/25
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

GMB Static But Deadly Circuit B - 2 rounds - Managed to hold side plank for 1 min. per side

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.

Planche Mini Course Week 1

This week I was going to resume The Giant style training with single 20kg kettlebell. However, a couple of months ago, I strained something in the thumb side of my right forearm while carrying stuff to my car with an awkward grip. Holding a pitcher of water without support from the left hand was painful. Months later, holding the pitcher doesn't hurt as much, but when I clean a 20kg kettlebell, something about the action of pulling the KB on the upswing into the rack is still annoying for my right forearm.

So for this training block, I decided to try the Free Planche Mini Course taught by Eduardo Orihuela, a fitness coach who I first saw in GMB Fitness courses as a Lead GMB Trainer. Previously, I had thought of waiting until I can clean-and-press double 32kg kettlebells, which is close to my bodyweight, before taking Eduardo's planche mini course, which is really a course on planche push up training, not just planche. Planche push ups require both strength and skill to execute. I thought I would train primarily with KBs until when I'm able to clean+press double 32kg KBs, then try my luck with planche push ups, because rate of progress in terms of strength and muscle gains have been higher for me with The Giant style training than with pure bodyweight training. However, with my forearm problem eliminating The Giant style training as an option for now, I'm going with the planche mini course until my forearm feels better. It's designed to accommodate a wide variety of fitness levels - from those who are already strong, to those who can't even do one push up on the floor yet, so you don't have to be pressing double 32s before you can try it.

The mini course appears to be built on the GMB Method. Looking at the weekly schedule, I recognize the 5P's of the GMB Method - Prepare, Practice, Play, Push, and Ponder. Every day of the week has Prepare and Ponder. 2 days have Practice A and another 2 days have Practice B. There is one Play day, paired with Practice A. There is a Push day, also paired with Practice A.

I plan to do the Planche Mini Course until I feel that my right elbow can handle cleaning a 20kg KB again. This could be a few weeks or it could be months on end. Elbow tendons don't heal as fast as we would like.

5/11
Activity on this date was logged here.

MM Pike

5/12
Practice B - This is practicing a variation of GMB's Monkey locomotion in which we work on lengthening the legs as they leave the floor, working towards a cartwheel. The mini course has you working towards a handstand on the Practice A track. The cartwheel is how you would bail out of a handstand when you lose your balance. The journey to cartwheel itself develops attributes for better hand balancing. The planche is a hand balancing skill.

MM Bridge

5/13
MM Bridge - The couch stretch is annoying as always but I got my shoulder blade to touch the wall for both sides.
MM Horse Stance - I was unable complete 3 rounds. After 2 rounds I ran out of time. I'm not too worried because out of Master Mobility's 3 targetted positions, Horse Stance has the lowest priority for me.

5/14
Practice A - This time I decided to attempt a headstand on the floor instead of using the FeetUp device. I used two puzzle mat tiles as a cushion for my head. I tried setting the hands at various distances from my head to find a hand placement that would allow me to get into headstand without excessive effort. Once I found a decent hand placement, I worked on holding the headstand for time. My best time was 15 seconds. A few hours later, the back of my neck was sore. I think it's just because I hadn't made those neck muscles work in a while. Next time, I'll work on putting more of my weight on my hands. To progress to Crow Pose, my hands need to be able to support all of my bodywieght, so that I can lift my head.

Push - The mini course instructions is to work on push ups on the rings, if you are not strong enough to do push ups on parallettes, then practice push ups on parallettes. The next progression is to lean forward so that the shoulders are in front of the hands, and do push ups with this forward lean, until the shoulders are so far ahead of the hands, at the bottom of the push up, that the feet are floating. Once the feet are floating at the bottom of the push up, it's time to move on to the next progression, which is Eduardo's tuck planche push up negative to dip positive exercise. So for this day I did 6 sets of 3 push ups (no lean) on the parallettes. I did 3-rep sets because I could do 3 reps without feeling like I was training to failure. I narrowly avoided irritating my suspect left shoulder. Next week, I'm going to switch to ring dips with a 4kg plate, because ring dips feel less risky for my problematic left shoulder than parallette pushups. The purpose of a Push session in the mini course is to improve conditioning (and strength too I have to assume) to help us bridge the gap between planche progressions. I think ring dips will accomplish this goal just as well as parallette pushups. I plan to do unweighted ring dips for 4 weeks, which should be enough to get me back to where my ring dip performance was at the end of my last Easy Muscle training block this past March. Then I'll start using a dip belt with 4kg plate and work with that for up to 8 weeks. Then I may switch back to parallette pushups.

5/12
Practice B - Afterwards, did ring assisted pistol squats, then 3 broad jumps get in some leg work and warm up the hips for MM Horse Stance.
MM Horse Stance - Did 3 rounds this time.

I have a Bells of Steel green/average fabric resistance band that reportedly has 80 lbs. of resistance at full stretch. So, I hung it from my pullup bar, got it around my waist, then attempted to do a tuck planche on the parallettes. The band did not take away enough of my bodyweight to make this attempt easy. My shoulders, arms, etc. still had to work really hard. I don't think I got my hips as high as my shoulders, which would be a proper tuck planche. So for next week's Play session, I will still have to do Frogger on the floor, working towards being able to lean forward enough and hold the lean long enough to stall with my feet in the air. One recent trend in calisthenics is use of resistance bands to speed up progression towards a full planche, hence Eduardo's suggestion to try using a band after you have progressed beyond the Frogger play.

First Practice A session from Planche Mini Course

Today was my first session following the free Planche Mini Course taught by Eduardo Orihuela, a fitness coach who I first saw in GMB Fitness courses as a Lead GMB Trainer.

Practice A focuses on the Crow Pose. The first progression is working on a tripod headstand, which is the headstand with both palms on the floor, instead of with the forearms on the floor. The next progression is working on lifting the head out of the headstand into a Crow Pose.

The last time I attempted to work on a tripod headstand, I struggled to get my knees on top of my elbows or triceps, as shown in this video. I eventually made the typical mistake of putting my hands too close to my head, which resulted in falling over and straining my neck. Later I saw FeetUp trainers were on sale. I was intrigued by the idea of resuming headstand/inversion training with less stress on the neck, as promised by FeetUp advertising, so I ordered one. I could have just used a pair of yoga blocks to move some of the load away from the head to the shoulders, but I don't regret getting the FeetUp, as I've found it useful for butcher's block stretches as well.

The planche mini course teaches the headstand without a FeetUp, but it doesn't say you can't use one either. So I followed the instructions in the official video:



It was easy enough to park my my shoulders on the FeetUp cushion, with the head and neck in a comfortable position just like in the video. I then walked my feet towards my head, to raise my butt further into the air. Then I tried to lift a knee to my elbow but my leg or thigh was too short. I realized I would have to jump into the headstand, just like in the video. I attempted a few times to jump but failed. I then stood up, shook off the tension, and did a bit of walking and breathing to calm down. I then made a few more jumping attempts, and finally jumped into the headstand. I think fear of falling over from possibly jumping too aggressively was holding me back, even though I set up the FeetUp next to a wall. The wall would have stopped me from falling forward.

Once I got into the headstand, albeit with FeetUp assistance, I just took a few seconds to enjoy the sensation of being upside down with little effort, almost as if I were hanging with a string attached to my tailbone. When I first heard Killian in the FeetUp video above say relax your shoulders and arm, I was skeptical, but when I got into the headstand on the FeetUp myself, I really did feel the arms having to do little or no work. Most of my bodyweight was spread through the traps and shoulders that were in contact with the cushion. I spent the rest of the 10 minutes of Practice A playing with straightening one leg while keeping the other bent, then switching sides; then playin with shifting weight more towards the hands to try get more of the feel of a headstand with hands on the floor, and taking an occasional break.

After Practice A, the schedule prescribes a Play session. In the mini course, the progression of exercises in Play begins with Frogger. After we get comfortable with the basic Frogger, we switch to Slow Toe Pull Frogger. We work on leaning our shoulders further and further forward in relation to our hands, so that the feet get lighter and lighter. Eventually we will lean so far forward that we can pause with the feet in the air, demonstrating progress towards the Tuck Planche. Today I did 3 sets of 5 reps, and then my shoulders felt like enough work had been done. I was able to drag my feet for at least 3 seconds per rep. Next time I'll try turning out my palms more, to allow a greater lean. I didn't feel any strain on my wrists when I did Frogger reps with the palms straight, but I did feel there was a limit in how far my wrists would bend.

Planche and Tendon Strengthening

Dr. Yaad interview with Professor Keith Baar, one of the world’s leading researchers on how tendons, ligaments, and muscles adapt to training, nutrition, and hormones.



Among the Youtube comments, I found this summary of Baar's 10-min. protocol for tendon healing/strengthening

1. Recovering trainee: 30 sec hold + 2 mins rest, four times per session. 1-4 sessions 6 hours apart
2. Healthy trainee: 10 sec holds = 2 mins rest, once per day
3. Acutely injured trainee: See segment starting around 1:06 and see your doctor.

It's just a coincidence that Youtube put this video in my feed as I contemplate taking on Free Planche Mini Course by Eduardo Orihuela. I first saw him in GMB Fitness videos, demonstrating skills such as front lever, butterfly kick, planche, etc. Later he started offering his own fitness instructional material.

As part of my decision process of whether or not to go head with the planche mini course as my next training block, I tested a couple of exercises that are in the course to see if any would be painful. I did a planche lean for a few seconds on my parallettes. The elbows felt fine. Planche lean with hands on the floor also feels fine. I also did a couple of pushups on the parallettes. My suspect left shoulder felt some irritation. I then moved the parallettes closer together and tried again - this time the shoulder felt fine.

The interview reminded me of the collagen supplement I took when I experimented with stress relaxation tendon training last year. The mini course does not ask you to do planche leans or planche holds for time right away. The idea of taking the collagen supplement is to provide a supply for the tendon to grow, after being stimulated by isometric holds.

I do not expect training under this mini course to result in achieving the tuck planche this year, let alone a tuck planche pushup. I also do not expect any gain in muscle size, because I don't see anything in the program that would stimulate muscle growth. I do believe, however, that if I do the mini course for at least 6 weeks, I can achieve the crow pose, and be able to do each rep of the Frogger as slowly as 3 seconds. Most people start doing the Frogger with a hop of the feet because they're not strong enough to support their bodyweight on their hands for more than a second. As they get stronger, they can support their weight on their hands for more than a second, and start dragging their feet on the floor instead of hopping. I can currently take between 1-2 seconds to drag my feet on each Frogger rep. The mini course will have me work on dragging the feet more slowly, so that I'll eventually be able to pause for 1-2 seconds with the feet in the air - which would be a sign of progress towards the tuck planche.

IsoMax 6x6: Week 7 Log

5/4
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 178.4
Overhead Press 86.4
Drag Curl 155.4

MM Pike

5/5
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

Last week when I tried 1-arm bridge with the fingers of the supporting palm turned inward to allow my free arm and head to hang more, I felt some shoulder irritation. This time I focused more on pushing harder on the floor with the supporting arm. This eliminated the shoulder pain and improved stability..

5/6
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 179.2
Overhead Press 88.2
Drag Curl 172

5/7
MM Bridge
MM Horse Stance

I took a closer look at the Master Mobility Week 6 programming and realized I was supposed to do 3 rounds of all supersets. I was only doing 3 rounds of the 2nd Bridge superset. I did 2 rounds for all other supersets. So I'll repeat Week 6 next week.

5/6
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 179.2
Overhead Press 84
Drag Curl 166.6

MM Pike

I decided not to do a Week 6 of IsoMax 6x6. Perfomance in the 3 selected exercises has leveled off. 7 weeks is a good enough time to put into this training block. At the time I started this training block, I was hoping my right elbow would feel good enough to clean a 20kg kettlebell again. If so, then I'd do a training block of The Giant, either from the 3.x or 1.x series depending on the result of clean+press rep max testing. Unfortunately, the thumb side of my elbow still feels too sensitive

IsoMax 6x6: Week 6 Log

4/27
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 158.8
Overhead Press 97 PR!
Drag Curl 151.8

MM Pike


I've been focusing on getting more of a stretch in the chest before applying the minimum 61 lbs of force for Overhead Press. Today I felt my pecs firing harder than before. I hit a PR of 97 lbs. Week 5 of Master Mobility brought yet another selection of exercises to practice. I still like the Weeks 1-2 exercises the best for Pike, because they resulted in tangible progress in hamstring flexibility. I really like the Straddle Side Bend in particular and would like to see it again on the schedule. That said, I continue to trust the program.

4/28
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

The new Bridge exercises include the 1-arm Bridge, which GMB calls the 3-point Bridge. I've practiced this stretch on a somewhat regular basis. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to reach overhead more easily and with greather range than before.

4/29
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 206.4
Overhead Press 93.2
Drag Curl 163

MM Pike

After the IsoMax bar falsely reported 14 lbs. on my last Zercher Squat rep, I started looking at the max score on my 2nd to last rep, in case the bar malfunctioned again on the last. It happened again today. The max force on the 2nd to last rep was 206.4, which is a PR.

4/30
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

I had some time left over so I added a Pike superset. I didn't do the Week 5 Pike superset because I already did it on 4/27 and 4/29. I did the Week 2 superset instead - substituting elephant walk for bear walk - because I missed doing straddle side bend.

5/1
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 177.6
Overhead Press 99
Drag Curl 159.8

MM Pike

I hit a PR again in the Overhead Press, this time 99 lbs. Because I hit 2 PRs in the same week, I decided it was time to raise the target load from 61 lbs. I didn't want to spend another session on 1-rep max retesting just to determine the new target load, so I chose 66 lbs. as the new load. If 95 lbs. is my new 1-rep max the new target load would be 66.5 lbs, which is 70% of 95. The IsoMax only allows whole number loads so I'll just go with 66 lbs. It's higher than 61 lbs. so it should be more than enough to stimulate higher force output. My Drag Curl performance seems to be trending up a bit as well, so I decided to raise the target load from 110 to 112.

IsoMax 6x6: Week 5 Log

4/20
1-rep Max Retest

MM Pike

While I'm in week 4 of 6x6, I'm also in week 3 of Strength Side's Master Mobility program. This week introduced the Jefferson Curl. I'd tried this exercise before with empty hands and a bag of soup cans. Thus, while there has been online debate over the safety of this exercise, I was confident the risk to my lower back was low, as long as I trained with light weight. For the first set, I used an 8kg kettlebell. For the next set I switched to a 12kg KB. I decided to use the 12kg for Jefferson curls going forward. The 12kg is heavy enough to pull my body into a decent stretch, but not so heavy as to cause my body to tighten up.

4/21
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

My right hip flexor or adductor - not sure which - was sore but I got through the Master Mobility Horse Stance superset. I didn't feel as much of a stretch in the pecs when I practiced the Low Bridge. Upon review of the instructions I realized I should have started with my heels of the floor. Anyway, to get a better stretch out of the pecs, I'll try pushing my head higher off the floor. Looks like the hips need to be pushed higher off the floor as well, so the load is not all on the arms.

4/22
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 174.6
Overhead Press 87
Drag Curl 144.8

MM Pike

4/23
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

I was able to stretch my left pec more without irritating my left shoulder. I was also able to stretch my right pec further compared to 4/21.

4/24
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat ??? - IsoMax reported 14.8, which is a glitch that occasionally happens
Overhead Press 87.8
Drag Curl 160.2

MM Pike

IsoMax 6x6: Week 5 1-Rep Max Retest

My Zercher Squat performance has gone up considerably these last 2 weeks so I decided to retest my 1-rep maxes again:

• Zercher Squat - 170.53 up from 141. I've settled into a position that I like so the gains are more from strength increase, than from finding a better position. New target load = 120.
• Overhead Press - 86.867, up from 85.27. Modest gain despite the change to the new technique. New target load = 61.
• Drag Curl - 157.4 up from 153.4. Modest gain but I'll take it. New target load = 110.

IsoMax 6x6: Week 4

4/13
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 169.4
Overhead Press 92
Drag Curl 159.4

MM Pike

While I'm in week 4 of 6x6, I'm also in week 3 of Strength Side's Master Mobility program. This week introduced the Jefferson Curl. I'd tried this exercise before with empty hands and a bag of soup cans. Thus, while there has been online debate over the safety of this exercise, I was confident the risk to my lower back was low, as long as I trained with light weight. For the first set, I used an 8kg kettlebell. For the next set I switched to a 12kg KB. I decided to use the 12kg for Jefferson curls going forward. The 12kg is heavy enough to pull my body into a decent stretch, but not so heavy as to cause my body to tighten up.

4/14
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

This was the first time I tried the Low Bridge. I was able to get my head off the floor, but I struggled to coordinate pushing my knees away from my hands. I could not hold the position with head off the floor for the prescribed number of seconds.

4/15
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 161.4
Overhead Press 88.8
Drag Curl 158.2

MM Pike

4/16
MM Horse Stance
MM Bridge

2nd session practicing Low Bridge. The problem on 4/14 was I was using my upper body to lift my head off the floor, and also push my body up and away from my hands. This time I focused on using the glutes and legs to pull my body away from my hands, and only use my upper body to lift my head off the floor, then try to straighten the arms while keeping the head off the floor. With more of the load on my lower body, I was able to hold the position for the prescribed number of seconds. I felt a pretty good stretch on my pecs. This was also my 2nd session practicing Butcher's Block. This time I used my FeetUp headstand trainer, which is a little lower than my keyboard bench at the lowest setting. The lower height made it easier to not have a lower back arch. The instructions say to use a stick to ensure the hands are at a wider width apart the elbows. I found that I shouldn't let hands be too far apart, or else my left shoulder will feel irritated. I thought about continuing to do the side plank micro workout on Thursdays, followed by a Master Mobility session, but then decided to focus entirely on mobility.

4/17
Last-rep max force (lbs):

Zercher Squat 144.6
Overhead Press 85.4
Drag Curl 157.6

MM Pike

My Overhead Press performance has been higher with the new technique. Zercher Squat performance jumped quite a bit. Drag Curl performance leveled off compared to last week but was still consistently higher than the last tested 1-rep max of 154 lbs. Thus, I plan to retest my 1-rep maxes this coming Monday.

Changed my IsoMax overhead pressing technique

To perform the Overhead Press on the IsoMax bar, I was doing the following:

1. Squat slightly so I can get my chest under the bar.
2. Pull the shoulder back then pull the elbows down.
3. Begin applying the zip-up technique, starting from the feet and working up the body.
4. As the zip-up is applied, I start feeling force connected from my feet to my hands. This is influenced by previous practice of the jin skill, though folks the six-harmonies space would call what I'm doing "muscle-jin". In this case though I'm not training for 6H martial arts. Rather I'm using muscle-jin to create whole-body tension between the bar and my feet. The resultant force eventually get high enough to make the IsoMax bar start beeping.
5. When the bar starts beeping, start pressing the bar upwards with the chest, arms, and shoulders.

At the point that the bar starts beeping, my body position is close to what it would be if I were pressing double kettlebells The low back and legs are straight. The upper back is not straight because the chest is pulled forward and up and the scapulae are retracted and pulled down.

So the change to my IsoMax pressing technique is this: In Step 5 above, when the bar starts beeping, I think of increasing the pressure of the feet against the IsoMax footplate, by tucking in the tailbone more, squeezing the glutes harder, and unbending the upper back.

On the first day I tried the new technique, my max force on the last rep was 92 lbs. which was a jump of about 15 lbs. of force compared to the old technique