Crow Pose Program Session 24

Prepare
Prepare section from GMB Handstand tutorial

Practice
Today's Vitamin session focusing on Butterfly Kick variations progressing to Transformer. Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid

Main circuit
Handstand Pushup Step 1 Progression exercise - 20 second set. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
L-Sit Progression exercise on parallettes - 30 second set. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
5 rounds with 2-3 minutes of rest in between rounds

L-Sit Supplementary exercise circuit
Hanging Knee Raise on Rings -  4-6 reps.  Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Front Scale Leg Lifts -  3 reps, hold for 3 seconds on last rep. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Dip Shrugs - 4-6 reps.  Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Top Position Hold on Rings - 20 seconds. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
3 rounds with 2-3 minutes of rest in between rounds

Play
Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3 spread through the day.  Best time about 14 sec.

Push
4 sets of Shrimp Squat. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Elements Core Conditioning Beginner Circuit 2x

GMB Shoulder Mobility routine

Ponder
GMB's L-Sit Tutorial recommends choosing two supplemental exercises for the upper body and two supplemental exercises for the lower body.  For the upper body, there's really only two types of exercise to choose from: 1. Front Scale and 2. Hanging Leg Raise Variations.  For the upper body there are four to choose from.  I chose the Top Position Hold for extra practice of the key points for the upper body - 1. Chest is up and out 2. Shoulders pulled back and down 3. Back is straight.  I chose the Dip Shrug to improve my awareness of where my shoulder blades are, and strengthen the muscles that pull them down so that the upper body can provide better support for the L-Sit.  I need to make sure that at the bottom of the movement, I squeeze the shoulder blades together before pushing down on the rings to reverse the shrug, in order to protect the shoulders.

Workout was fine but it took over an hour.  I underestimated how much time L-Sit training would take if you practice an L-Sit set for 20 seconds or more instead of 5 seconds, and also include the supplementary exercises as recommended in GMB's L-Sit Tutorial in the same session.  I don't know why the tutorial says 5 seconds per set, while the same exercise is practiced for 20-sec sets to start in the Integral Strength, and 15-60 second sets in Parallettes One.

In any case, it seems a more efficient use of time to schedule L-Sit training on a separate day from my Handstand Pushup day.

I prefer practicing hanging leg exercises from the top position on rings rather than hanging from a bar, because it's more comfortable for my shoulders.  That said, I did a Youtube search and found this video in which the FitnessFAQs guy addresses a couple of commonly held myths about abs and exercise, then demonstrates hanging leg exercise variations that I may try later.

Last night I played with Advanced Front Scale and Front Scale Leg Lifts.  My left knee felt a bit stiff this morning, though thankfully there was no pain.  The stiffness went away after practicing the GMB Knee Mobility movements.  Today after the workout, the knee felt stiff again.  It has something to do with the Front Scale. 

I was told a couple of years ago, when I was in physical therapy for a back spasm, that my left hip was misaligned.  This was discovered by one of the staff doctors at the clinic.  She "popped" it back into alignment for me but warned it could pop back out again.  So there's been something out of alignment between my hip, knee, and foot.  I believe this is why my previously sprained left MCL aches when I try to do a pistol squat.  It was also getting  irritated, though not to the same degree, when I practiced the Front Scale exercises.   I think that practicing the Shrimp Squat helped alleviate the irritation when I do any Front Scale exercise but I still have a ways to go before healthy alignment is completely restored.  At least the Front Scale variation which is part of the GMB Knee Mobility routine doesn't bother my knee.

Thus tomorrow's session will be a Handstand Pushup progression session.  It will tentatively look like this:

Prepare
Prepare section from GMB Handstand tutorial, with Bent Arm Chest Stretch substituting for the shoulder/chest stretches. I got the idea from GMB's article on planning quick workouts.

Practice
Main circuit
Handstand Pushup Step 1 Progression exercise - 20 second set.
Rings Reverse Row Sit Back - 20 second set.  This is additional insurance for shoulder health.  I haven't done much pulling exercise in a while anyway, other than kettlebell swings.
5 rounds with 2-3 minutes of rest in between rounds

Play
Vitamin session focusing on Tornado Kick variations

Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3 spread through the day. 

Push
Crow Pose practice from face on ground - 3-5 1-min. sets.

Elements Core Conditioning Beginner Circuit 2x

Finish with GMB Shoulder Mobility routine

Crow Pose Program Session 23

Prepare
Prepare section from GMB Handstand tutorial

Practice
Today's Vitamin session focusing on Cartwheel variations progressing to Transformer. Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid

Wall Entries. Quality: Rough, Ease: Challenging

Elevated A-Frame Holds Quality: Smooth, Ease: Challenging

Play
Trial run of the 6 sample exercises from GMB Core Strength article. It was fun but I'll stick to the Elements Core Conditioning progression for my Tues-Thurs training sessions, because it hits the lower back more.

Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3 spread through the day.  Best time about 17 sec.

Push
4 sets of Shrimp Squat. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Elements Core Conditioning Beginner Circuit 2x

GMB Shoulder Mobility routine

Ponder
Today I wanted to assess my readiness for Handstand training.

As much as the stability of the suspect left shoulder has improved after nearly half a year of Turkish Getup practice, I still don't feel confident loading much of my bodyweight onto my left hand.  I felt varying degrees of irritation in the left shoulder during the Cartwheel practice, which affected my performance of the Cartwheel variation movements.  The shoulder feels fine for Bear and Inverted Press on the parallettes but I don't have the confidence that it can handle the increased load when I lock out my arms and load the hands with the feet elevated.  So I can only conclude now is not the time to start Handstand training.

I reread GMB's Handstand Pushup tutorial for the umpteenth time and noticed something that somehow escaped my attention before.  I somehow thought that the exercises in Step 1 – Prepare Your Body were the exercises for progressing to the Handstand Pushup, but they're actually not.  They are literally exercises that should be done before progressing to Step 2 – Build Your Foundation which is where the real work begins.  When you look at the very first exercise of Step 2, the rationale for working through Step 1 becomes very clear - you probably want the strength built up in Step 1 as insurance against slamming your head to the ground.

The 2nd exercise in the Step 2 progression is Jump to Tuck Bent Arm Stand.  Tuck Bent Arm Stand sure looks a lot like Crow Pose, except with the knees not resting on the elbows.  Thus I realized that since I want to get into training for the Handstand and Handstand Pushup anyway,  I can start on Step 1 as early as tomorrow, since I'm already comfortable with A-Frame Inverted Press.  Working through Step 1 looks like a more direct path towards mastery of the Crow Pose and beyond, than continuing with Parallettes One.

So, starting tomorrow, my MWF training schedule will look more like this:

Prepare
Wrist and Shoulder prep from the Handstand tutorial

GMB Vitamin session if it looks low-effort

Practice
Main circuit
Handstand Pushup Step 1 Progression exercise - 20 second set for 3-6 sets
L-Sit Progression exercise on parallettes - 30 second set for 3-5 sets
3-6 rounds with 2-3 minutes of rest in between rounds

L-Sit Supplementary exercise circuit
Hanging Knee Raise on Rings -  Try to do 10-12 reps.  I know the GMB article says 5 sec. pause but this demo by GMB trainer Eduardo does not show a per-rep hold for more than 1 sec.  https://www.instagram.com/p/B5aj8MgHwfN/
Dip Shrugs
Top Position Hold on Rings if stability is a struggle
Front Scale Leg Lifts -  Stop short of failure, hold for 3-5 seconds on last rep.
3-5 rounds with 2-3 minutes of rest in between rounds

Play
Crow Pose practice either from face on ground or out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3

GMB Vitamin if the session looks like it will demand more effort than usual.

Normally I like to stick to a program and finish it if I can but the current "program" is an ongoing experiment to find a way to train productively for the Crow Pose, and then the Handstand and Handstand Pushup, while also taking care of my shoulder, knee, and back. 

The L-Sit and related work is in the program because I know I need to keep strengthening the core for eventual work on the handstand, especially the front of the core to avoid the "banana body" and help form a beautifully straight body line.  The L-Sit seems as good a choice as any for a core exercise, and it's recommended by GMB for jumping strength too.

Mark Wildman's training ideas for fixing flat feet intrigue me but in the interest of not taking on too many things at once, I'll just practice the GMB foot health routine and see how the foot responds, as it's only recently that I progressed to practicing the exercises standing.  Whichever foot is supporting the weight has the sole working hard, which Wildman seemed to be looking for anyway, although I've no doubt a typical session with him would have the foot sole working hard for a longer time per week.

Today's Music Discoveries

A selection of Italian artists:

Cherushii - one of the victims of the Oakland fire - with a killer deep house track.  She was reportedly an Octatrack user.

Catherine Wheel

John Cale and Brian Eno

Songs for Drella - Smalltown

Crow Pose Program Session 22

Prepare
P1 Warmup

Practice
2 sets of 1-minute GMB-style Crow Pose practice - best hold time around 15 seconds.

P1 Level A Week 2 Day 5 session

Play
GMB Knee Mobility routine, then GMB Vitamin session focusing on Star, 180, and 360 Jumps

Push
2 sets of 16KG kettlebell waiter walks for at least 40 seconds per set.

Ponder
P1 Assessment:
Plank Side to Sides - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Assisted Shoulder Stand Raises - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Jump Throughs - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Inverted Press - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Swing Sets - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

I increased the volume to 6 sets per exercise except the Swing Sets.

For tomorrow's training, I'm looking at more cartwheel fun with Vitamin, and Elements Core Conditioning, unless my core feels really beat up from today's work.  There is quite a jump in difficulty in the Hollow Body portion of the Elements CC routine, from the Beginner version to the Intermediate, so I reviewed the Hollow Body progression as taught in Integral Strength.  So for tomorrow, if I do practice Elements CC, I'm going to try the next step for Hollow Body, which is arms and legs straight in the air, and slowly working them away from each other towards the full Hollow Body.

I searched on Google for opinions on whether one should learn the Crow Pose or the Handstand first.  It seems some think the two handbalancing skills are different enough that it doesn't matter and the main reason to recommend Crow Pose first is it is less scary than Handstand.  Crow Pose practice would build wrist strength for Handstand of course, but then again it seems that working up the Handstand progression would also build up the wrist strength - at least if you follow the GMB tutorial because you'd be starting out of A-Frame and just working on gradually elevating the feet.  Anyway, after all that searching I stumbled upon a post about a "half au cortado" exercise.  Au Cortado, as it turns out is a variation on the Cartwheel, which is the same sort of movement that Vitamin is going to make me do tomorrow:

http://idoportal.blogspot.com/2009/07/floreio-workout-number-2.html

Browsing further into Ido Portal's blog, I find an article recommending static strengthening of the QDR (Queda De Rinns) position, which to me looks a lot like the Pilot Freeze taught a few sessions back in Vitamin:

http://idoportal.blogspot.com/2009/07/sequencing-movements.html

Crow Pose Program Session 21

Today I did a morning-afternoon split, because I slept in a bit late in the morning, yet wanted to do some yardwork and grocery shopping.

Morning session was GMB Vitamin focusing on Cartwheel.  While I lack the upper body strength and lower body mobility to do the full Cartwheel in all its beauty, I was pleasantly surprised how much I could do.  I aspire to start handstand training after I nail the Crow Pose, and part of the training is regular practice of the Cartwheel for bailing out of handstand attempts gone awry.  From that context, it shouldn't be necessary to work on getting the feet high into the air for Cartwheel, as the feet are going to get higher and higher from handstand training anyway, and I'd mainly be using the Cartwheel to bail out of handstand.

Afternoon session was a repeat of the last GMB Mobility session on Rotation and Sidebending because I woke up this morning with soreness/tightness in my right hip/glute/low back region and wanted to keep working on my rolling anyway.  It's funny how my 180 Monkey was easier going to the right at the start of GMB Mobility and now it's easier going the left.  Anyway, I immediately played with the reverse shoulder roll after the GMB Mobility session, and was able to roll on both sides, without falling to the side.  So that's a big improvement.  I also played with the Shin Box Inversion Roll.  Pretty happy with the improvement in mobility for these rolls, though there's still some room for improvement in executing the reverse roll from the GMB perspective.

What I like about the GMB approach to forward and backward rolls is that they can be done at a slow speed, under control - unlike how rolls are taught in Judo and Aikido where you end up relying and momentum and nobody seems to be able to explain how to reduce the discomfort you experience because you can't roll as smoothly as the high-ranking black belts.  The GMB approach is of course influenced by RMax, but the RMax materials also don't give detailed step by step instructions on how to roll with a great degree of motor control and mobility.

Crow Pose Program Session 20

Prepare
GMB Knee Mobility routine except for the jumps.

Practice
Today's Vitamin session focusing on Jumps. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

GMB-style Crow Pose practice for 2 1-min. sets. Quality: Rough, Ease: Challenging

4 sets of Shrimp Squat. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

20 "around the body" 16kg KB swings, each direction, with feet next to each other
3 Clubbell Mini-circuits of Shield Cast and Side-Side Pendulum.  Quality: Rough, Ease: Challenging

Play
Playing with Grappler Toolbox 101 rolling moves: Shin Box Inversion Roll, Reverse Shoulder Roll.
Playing with GMB Backward Roll setup - toe touch to the side and rear.

Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3 spread through the day.  Best time about 12 sec.

Push
Relearning the Clubbell Shield Cast and Side Pendulum.  Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid

Elements Core Conditioning Beginner Circuit 2x

Ponder
Happy that my knees held up after all the jumps landing on one leg in the Vitamin session.

Because I'd previously ordered Tacfit products I got an email advert for Grappler's Toolbox 101.  I'm not sure exactly what the differences are between this new 101 course taught by Alberto Crane and the older versions of Grappler's Toolbox taught by Scott Sonnon.  Nevertheless, it was on intro sale so I bought it.  I recognized just about all the moves from Sonnon's BodyFlow book and video, and his FlowFit video series. I was most interested in the rolling movements because of my struggles with forward and backward rolls, so today I played with those.

Stumbled across this video, entitled "Calisthenics Vs Yoga - STRENGTH & FLEXIBILITY CHALLENGE!".  The video is a friendly information exchange between a calisthenics expert and a Yoga expert, structured as a series of challenges.  I suspect they hammed it up a bit, exaggerating the differences between the two types of activity, because there are fitness trainers like Al Kavadlo and Ryan Hurst who have training in both Yoga and calistenics/gynmastics.  Nevertheless, there are some useful ideas for improving pulling strength, which Yogis supposedly are weak at, and flexibility, where Yogis supposedly rule over calisthenics specialists:

Crow Pose Program Session 19

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Flexion.

Wow, this was the last GMB Mobility session!  Even though I did a session almost every day, missing only one day within the last 4 weeks, the 42 sessions still went by so fast.

Practice
P1 Level A Week 2 Day 3 session

Play
2 sets of 20 sec. Waiter Walks with 16kg kettlebell

Push
First 3 exercises from GMB Foot routine standing - gives the supporting foot a workout too!

Ponder
GMB Mobility results:

Shoulders - There weren't that many sessions focusing on shoulders.  However, when I reach my arms overhead, I seem to be able to get them a few degrees closer to vertical than before..

Spine - Backbending seems improved.  Sidebending seems about the same as before.  I might go back to practicing the Half-Pancake with the thumb of my non-stretching arm tucked behind my folded knee to give myself better leverage to pull my torso to the one side before sidebending to the other side.

Hips - I was always comfortable with the deep squat.  The biggest improvement was to the outside hips.

Legs - Hamstring seem a little less tight but we'll see.  I've seen some Youtube fitness personalities like FitnessFAQs arguing that hamstring stretching is not necessary if the hip flexors are strong enough.  My main motivation for improving hamstring flexibility is to improve my chances of achieving a full L-Sit.

P1 Assessment - This time I just followed the P1 exercises as originally programmed.:

Plank Pushups from Knees - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid.
No issues with the shoulders this time.

Front Dips - Quality: Smooth,  Ease: Relaxed.
Need to work on squeezing core at the bottom and not allowing my shoulders to shrug

Plank Hold - Quality: Smooth. Ease: Challenging.
Did not make it all the way to a minute.  45 seconds/set would be a good setting to work at.

Tuck Hold - Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid
45 seconds per set is a good time with alternating legs, with one leg in high tuck (knee close to chest, heels close to butt) and the other leg with toe on floor.

Mountain Climbers - Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

GMB recently published an article on training with loaded carries.   It seems to be more of an article promoting the addition of loaded carries to your training routine and offering some ideas, rather than a set how-to article.  It gives props to Dan John, who everyone seems to credit with bring the loaded carries training concept to the mainstream, so I read Dan John's loaded carries article as well.  GMB suggests a heavy load in short bursts for strength-focused sessions, and light load with"complex" carry for skill-focused sessions.  Waiter Walks seems to match the "complex" description.

P1 does not seem as much of a threat to my shoulders but it seems like Waiter Walks with a kettlebell would be nice insurance for my shoulders.  Thus I did the 2 sessions of 20-second Waiter Walks.

Planning for tomorrow:

Ok, no more GMB Mobility sessions, though I can always revisit any GMB Mobility session any time thanks to their new Praxis system.  I think what I will do is pull up the last GMB Mobility session for Rotation & Sidebending, use the Prepare session from that, then work through the full GMB Spine Mobility routine, which has much longer hold times than the GMB Mobility stretches in the Practice section.

Then I'll play with the Forward Roll again and see if there's any improvement on my tighter side, where the tightness is causing me to fall over to the side.

Then I'll do the GMB Knee Mobility routine - minus the jump at the end,  followed by the GMB Vitamin session focusing on jumps.  The jumps landing on single leg look to be a challenge for my knees, so I better get them prepped first.

Then if my core is up to it, I'll do at least one round of the Elements Core Conditioning Routine, working in Shrimp Squat practice as part of the circuit.  If not, I'll just do the 4 sets of shrimp squats.

Then I'll do a couple of 1-min. sets of GMB-style Crow Pose practice.

Crow Pose Program Session 18

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Hips

Practice
Today's Vitamin session focusing on Combos using Bent-Arm Monkey, Leg Swoop, Duck Walk

4 sets of Shrimp Squat. Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Play
Playing just a little bit with the mechanics of the Worm from breakdance, getting used to making my feet rise as my chest rolls towards the floor, like a rocking chair, and playing a bit with kicking the feet up and to the rear to get my chest off the floor.

Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3 spread through the day.  Best time about 9 sec.

Push
Relearning the Clubbell Shield Cast and Side Pendulum.  Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid

Ponder
I felt some post-workout soreness in my low back, which puzzled me because it's been a while since I did any kettlebell swings and I haven't done any bridge work for almost a week.  Then I realized it may have been caused by my playing with the Snake Down and Worm moves.

I noticed that I tend to hold my breath when I practice the Crow Pose.  I try to manage by consciously exhaling while practicing.

I stumbled upon this Mark Wildman video featuring Jack Black.  In this video, Wildman touches upon flat feet and claims he can fix Black's flat feet:

I've had flat feet as long as I can remember, and have tried various approaches to build a foot arch, the latest being to try to practice single-leg exercises with "foot tripod".  So I was intrigued enough to check out Wildman's other video on the topic:

If I understand what Wildman is saying, his fix for flat feet is to stand on bare feet, with the feet parallel to each other and swing a weight side to side for high reps.  The theory is that the weight swinging side to side will cause the feet to grab the ground.  As the weight increase, the feet will grab harder and thus build their arches. 

Wildman says he uses 11 different clubbell exercises with his clients for fixing flat feet.  I figure I could keep it simple and just use the Mill and Reverse Mill for this purpose.  I admit the Mill and Reverse Mill are themselves not the simplest movements, but once some competence is achieved in these exercises, it takes a relatively short amount of time to build up to a high-rep set.  Wildman was talking about 50 reps per arm, per exercise in a 3-exercise session for a total of 50 x 2 x 3 = 300 reps per session in the beginning.  His clients typically do 2 sessions/week with him so the total per week would be 600 reps.

So that's why I took up my 15lb. Clubbell today.  I haven't worked on the Mill since last fall, so I have to practice the Shield Cast and Side-Side Pendulum for a while again.

Crow Pose Program Session 17

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Fundamentals.

Practice
2 sets of 1-minute GMB-style Crow Pose practice - best hold time around 15 seconds.

P1 Level A Week 2 Day 1 session

Play
Mess around with the Snake Down move from GMB's recently posted 5-Minute Core Workout
Crow Pose practice out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3

Push
No additional activity

Ponder
P1 Assessment:
Assisted Shoulder Stand Raises  - Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid

Jump Throughs - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Inverted Press - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

Tuck Hold -  Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid
One leg with toe touching round,  other leg tucked with knee high as possible and heel close as possible to butt.  2 40-second sets.

Swing Sets - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Seems like more a mobility exercise than a strength one, but after all the effort expended on the previous exercises, it's nice to just work on movement and give the hamstrings a bit of a stretch.

The Snake Down reminded me of something.  Some searches on Youtube revealed that it's a lot like the Worm move in breakdance.  I found this tutorial to be helpful, because the guy starts with rocking back and forth:

I have to say though that I enjoyed this one, as the boy teaches it and other moves in such an endearing manner:

Crow Pose Program Session 16

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Sidebending and Twisting

Practice
3 sets of 1-min. Crow Pose practice, working with weight distribution between forehead and toes and trying to lift face.  Best time around 12 seconds.

Today's Vitamin session focusing on Coffee Maker

Play
Playing with Forward Roll setup.  Found that rolling myself up like a sleeping bag helps for one side.  I still have a tendency to topple to the side on the other side.  I still haven't figured out what areas of the body need the extra mobility work to free up that side for the roll.

Shrimp Squat spread through the day.

Push
No push but the Coffee Maker session got pretty intense.  My core got worked enough that I decided not to practice the Elements Core Conditioning routine, especially since the core is going to get a workout again in tomorrow's P1 session.

Ponder
Almost all the exercises in the GMB Spine Mobility routine - the Prone Extension and A-Frame to Squat being the exceptions - were included in today's GMB Mobility session.  Thinking of practicing the spine routine nightly to try to improve mobility for the Forward Roll.  My hip mobility has improved so I think increasing the frequency of practice of the spine mobility exercises may be key.

Forward Roll being taught by a different GMB Trainer

View this post on Instagram

The forward shoulder roll happens to be one of our favorites @gmbfitness - it’s one of those moves that checks off a lot of physical preparedness boxes, combining and training strength, flexibility, and control all at once when done correctly. - This move encourages use of end range shoulder patterns, it engages the core the entire time (including neck stability muscles which are often a struggle for people), and it calls on flexibility from the back and posterior chain (spine, hamstrings, hips and calves). - Here’s how it’s done: -Start in quadruped. -Place one arm in a fully internally rotated position on the ground. -Let the weight transfer onto that arm, while you make a window with the other arm to look through. -As you look through the window, keep your head lifted. Do not let it touch the ground the entire time. -With weight on the shoulder (and balancing with the “window” arm, gently straighten your knees. -Then walk your feet forward until it feels natural to allow your body to fall (controlled) forward into a sit. - Don’t forget to spend more time in the areas that are tougher for you. This is where true growth happens. Your strengths will take care of themselves. Focus on your weaknesses for rapid progress. - For more on how training moves like this will help your overall #athleticism , see this article: https://gmb.io/athleticism/

A post shared by GMB Fitness (@gmbfitness) on Mar 11, 2020 at 7:27am PDT

Shrimp Squat Progression

View this post on Instagram

SHRIMP SQUAT TUTORIAL - The Shrimp Squat is a single leg variation similar to the Pistol Squat and Single Leg Deadlift. This movement helps you build strength in the lower body, flexibility in the ankles, and overall better balance. Here are a few Progressions to help you get your first Shrimp Squat: - 1. Step Back Lunge 2. Stall Step Back Lunge 3. Negative Shrimp Squat 4. Shrimp Squat with legs assistance 5. Shrimp Squat with arms out 6. Shrimp Squat . . . . . . #gmbfitness #gmbtrainer #gmb #goldmedalbodies #bodyweight #bodyweighttraining #bodyweightworkout #bodyweightexercises #homeworkout #hometraining #homeexercises #exerciseathome #exerciseanywhere #workoutanywhere #calesthenics #yoga #gymnastics #crossfit #physicalautonomy #physicalfreedom #shrimpsquat

A post shared by GMB Fitness (@gmbfitness) on Oct 3, 2019 at 1:10pm PDT

Crow Pose Program Session 15

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Hips.

My mobility in the Monkey 180 turning to the left is now pretty close to turning to the right.  At the start of GMB Mobility, I felt a lot tighter turning to the left.

Practice
P1 Level A Week 1 Day 5 session

Play
Crow Pose practice out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3

Push
Extra Tuck Hold practice set just to double-check that I am indeed following all the cues while working at my current lvel.

Ponder
Modified P1 so that I can practice Inverted Press every session.  This movement is a little bit friendlier to my suspect shoulder than any of the pushup variations.  Also, I intend to start working on the handstand pushup and handstand progressions in the near future, as well as continue working on Crow Pose - the pressing from this angle is more applicable than the pushup.  Another modification is to practice the Tuck Hold every session.  Achieving the L-Sit is not an immediate priority, but the Plank Side to Side puts me in that slightly problematic pushup position, so I thought I might as well replace it with the Tuck Hold.

P1 Assessment:

Inverted Press - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Challenging

Front Dips - Quality: Smooth,  Ease: Relaxed.
Feels very easy to me but I can continue to work on refining my form - keep the scapula depressed, don't allow shoulders to shrug, chest up, etc. - all habits that should help improve my L-Sit progression.

Plank Hold - Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.
Tried practicing with hollow body but forgot to lock down the core. So I'll work on keeping the butt squeezed and abs tight for a nice straight line for up to a full minute, then progress to doing the same with the hollow body.

Tuck Hold - 14 sec. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid
Quality was rough because I've never put in significant time alternating legs for L-Sit practice. I'd previously just did a hold with one leg at a time for the duration. 20 sec. with alternating legs, with one leg in high tuck (knee close to chest, heels close to butt) and the other leg with toe on floor, was too short. A full minute was too long. Next time I'll try setting the timer to 40 sec. for one set

Mountain Climbers - Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid

Crow Pose Program Session 14

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Fundamentals

Practice
Today's Vitamin session focusing on Underswitch from Crab

Play
Messing with the Underswitch from Crab variations

Push
No push

Ponder
I noticed that the introductory text for today's Mobility session said that the Fundamentals session includes the highest-value hip mobility exercises.  Seems like those would be the Supine Hip Circles from the Prepare section and Kneeling Lunge and Modified Pigeon from the Practice session.

Crow Pose Program Session 13

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Spine Extension.

During Camel practice, I was starting to gaze enough to the back of me that I had to remind myself to keep the arms vertical and pushing against my heels, and keep pushing the hips forward.

Practice
Crow Pose from face down - first comparing the feeling of most weight being on the toes vs. most of it being on forehead, then trying to even out the weight distribution.  Then, playing with pointing the toes off the ground, then looking up.  Maximum Crow Pose hold was 14 seconds.

Play
Remembered that Scott Sonnon once stated that you should be comfortable with the Arm Screw mobility movement before attempting the Forward Roll, which was part of his BodyFlow exercise video and book.   Incorporating the Arm Screw resulted in a dramatic improvement in shoulder comfort during the Forward Roll setup.  Unfortunately I was unable to find a good Youtube video.  You have to shrug your shoulder before you can screw out the arm - it makes a big difference in the mobility.

Push
P1 Level A Week 1 Day 3 session

Ponder
P1 Assessment - won't record reps anymore, in keeping with GMB's updated self-assessment method that emphasizes quality and ease of movement over reps:

Plank Side to Sides - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Challenging
This was harder than it looks in the video

Assisted Shoulder Stand Raises  - Quality: Rough, Ease: Kind of Solid
I never tried this movement before because I was working at Level B before, so the performance was rough as I was trying to get the hang of the movement.  My feet were starting to float off the floor so the effort I had to expend wasn't that high.  I resisted the temptation to go into shoulder stand right away because I've done it before, but I thought I'd better just keep working at this level.

Jump Throughs - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
This is much easier than the Level B version, which requires you start with a full plank.  I still had to expend some effort to push down hard enough during the jump to control the movement, especially when transitioning from front to rear.

Inverted Press - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Challenging
Haven't practiced this movement in almost 2 years so it's a challenge now.

Swing Sets - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Seems like more a mobility exercise than a strength one, but after all the effort expended on the previous exercises, it's nice to just work on movement and give the hamstrings a bit of a stretch.

While looking for other video examples of the Arm Screw, I found the Onnit Academy channel.  I don't know who the fitness models are in the below videos, but the movements look very similar to the ones taught by RMax, of which the founders of GMB were once members, in BodyFlow and other resources.

This movement looks like a good exercise for improving mobility for the Forward Roll, with one leg straight to the side for the stability to make the movement easier to practice:

This looks like a good Arm Screw Warmup for the Forward Roll as well:

This movement looks a lot like the 1st step (setup) of the Forward Roll Progression in Vitamin:

This movement looks like the 2nd step of the Forward Roll progression in Vitamin:

Arm Line Flow Sequence:

Crow Pose Program Session 12

Prepare
Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Hips

Practice
Crow Pose from face down, isometric pushing to lift face for 1 min.

Today's Vitamin session focusing on Squat Leg Sweep and review of the Forward Roll to Merry Go Round to Backward Roll combos.

GMB Knee Mobility routine later in the afternoon.

Play
Crow Pose out of Bent-Arm Monkey #3, spread through the afternoon

Push
Elements Core Conditioning Beginner Routine for 3 rounds
Shrimp Squat Variation 1 (Step back lunge) for 3 reps before and after Core Conditioning Routine, as well as between rounds for a total of 4 sets.

Ponder
Knee continues to feel great.

I progressed in the Vitamin combo movement from "broken" quality to "sloppy".  I've been struggling with putting my weight on a comfortable spot on the shoulder - it's been a challenge not to have a bony part of the shoulder take my weight.  The front of the shoulder is obviously out.  The top of the shoulder has too many bony parts.  There is a "shelf" at the rear of the shoulder between the scapula and another bony part that might be reasonably comfortable.  Here's GMB's sample Vitamin session that teaches the Forward Roll in far more detail than their Tumbling article.

Another issue with the Forward Roll on the left side is a tightness between my left inner thigh and somewhere else in the body.  I don't know if the other side of this tightness is in my spine, the back of my shoulder, or somewhere else.  All I can observe is that the left inner thigh felt tight when I practiced shrimp squats later.  I do know that my spine is tighter when bending to the side rather than to the front/rear.  Perhaps thi mobility exercise might improve my twisting range of motion at least:

Shoulders feel less sore than yesterday, which tells me I can continue practicing P1 at Level A without fear of shoulder reinjury - at least for now.

GMB's Crow Pose tutorial is pretty good.  However I also found Antranik's tutorial to be helpful:

A key piece of information that he brings up is you have be active when you practice the Crow Pose.  I thought the video includes his statement about engaging the palms - press with the fingers to try to prevent yourself from falling forward, and press with the palm heels to prevent yourself from falling backward - but maybe I missed it or just read it in Reddit.  Anyway, using GMB's recommended diamond hand formation, this means pressing with the thumb and palm heel to try to prevent backward falling.  Thus, for today's practice I focused not on trying to beat my personal record of 16 seconds but rather on getting used to engaging the thumb and palm heel.

Another thing I should work on when I practice the GMB approach is to play with the weight distribution between my forehead and the toes after I enter the forehead-down position.  One cause of my struggle is I put too much weight on my forehead.  So instead of setting my timer to 1 minute and struggling to lift my face off the ground during that time, I should instead set it to 2 minutes and take the time to play with the weight distribution and try to get the weight to 50-50 between the forehead and toes - and then try pointing the toes and lifting the face.

I also need to eventually focus on engaging the core more to improve the balance but that's another issue to fix later, as I struggle to focus on multiple cue points at the same time.

I have to say I love Antranik's blooper video because of the dog

Today's Musical Discoveries

A lot of the following were discovered via a discussion on "minimalism".

I think I set a new record for today

OP-1 Quick Start Guide

Always nice to see a new perspective on teaching others how to use their OP-1

Also, Liam Killen also posted a bunch of recent OP-1 tutorial videos on his channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDhRSTD-ba6Di5Kt9gy68g

Crow Pose Program Session 11

Prepare
GMB Knee Mobility routine  

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Fundamentals

Practice

Today's Paralletttes One (P1) Week 1 Day 1 session

Play

Playing with the Forward Roll setup as taught in Vitamin.

Push

Some extra practice of the Tuck Sit, to assess the level I should be working at and to drill the cues taught by GMB: 
1. Shoulders should be pulled back and down into anti-shrug
2. Chest should be up
3. Hands should be directly below shoulders
4. Butt should be directly under shoulders
5. Elbow pits facing forward
6. Arms should be locked out and pushing hard down into the parallettes.

That's a lot of cues to remember and keep track of at once, actually.

Ponder  

I haven't done much pressing exercise aside from the recent Crow Pose related activities.  Also, while the stability of my previously injured shoulder has improved thanks to Turkish Getup practice, I know I need to ease it into parallette work.  Thus it was an easy decision to work at Level A in P1.

Assessment of todays P1 work:

Plank Push-Ups From Knees - 5-6 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Front Dips - 6 reps. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid.  Searched for a position that would not stretch the shoulders in a painful way - feet too far from the p-bars seems to cause that uncomfortable stretch.  I also need to learn to not use the lower body to power the movement.

Plank Hold - At least 15 seconds. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid.

Tuck Hold - 14 sec. Quality: Rough. Ease: Solid.  I forgot to review the updated L-Sit tutorial, which breaks down the progression into more steps than just Tuck Hold and full L-Sit.  I did another assessment after the workout and confirmed I can hold the position with both toes on the ground without much trouble.  After review of the public tutorial and the instructions in Integral Strength, I figured out that the stage of the L-Sit progression I should be working at is with one knee pulled up as high as possible with the toe of the other leg touching the ground.

Mt. Climber Climbers - 6-8 reps. Quality: Smooth. Ease: Solid


A more recent video by GMB shows the pushup from knees and the Front Dip (or what they now call Tricep Dip) at a better angle for learning purposes

Another more recent article by GMB recommends using the thumb to determine optimal grip position - yet another piece of info new to me:
https://gmb.io/parallettes-intro/

Crow Pose Program Session 10

Prepare 

GMB Knee Mobility routine  

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on 4 movement planes

 

Practice

Today's GMB Vitamin session focusing on Monkey

 

Play

Crow Pose from face down, isometric pushing to lift face for 1 min.

Push

Bent-Arm Monkey #3 practice over the afternoon

Couple of sets of Shrimp Squat Variation #1 (Step Back Lunge with slight back foot assist)

 

Ponder  

No knee ache during the Supine Hip Circles exercise from today's GMB Mobility session for 2nd day in a row!

 

The Vitamin session amounted to about 10 min. of practice of the Monkey variations - Basic Monkey, Straight-Leg Monkey, and Bent-Arm Monkey.  I decided to call it a session instead of proceeding to the Elements Core Conditioning routine because


My legs were fatiguing quickly when I practiced Shrimp Squat - I think it was because of the more intense than intended Shrimp Squat practice the last couple of days, in which I forced the working leg to lift my body without the rear foot assistance.

Best Crow Pose hold today was 9 seconds.

My less stable shoulder isn't clicking any more.

I switched my P-Barz parallettes from the Pro height to the standard height.  I am pondering mixing in some shoulder stand practice on the P-Barz, since the parallette Shoulder Stand is pretty close to a Crow Pose.  I'd achieved the Shoulder Stand before but never really worked on holding it for more than 30 seconds.  I think if I work on it again, it will help my progress with the Crow Pose.

I think I will drop the kettlebell work altogether.  I'll continue to do GMB Mobility and Vitamin every day.  I will start Parallettes One again, at Level A, practice it on alternating days with the Elements Core Conditioning routine.    That way I will get the training for pressing strength that I need for Crow Pose, and the core training I need for both Crow Pose and Handstand.

Crow Pose Program Session 9

Prepare

GMB Knee Mobility routine  

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Hips

 

Practice

Today's GMB Vitamin session focusing on Duck Walk

 

Play

Duck Walk play

Push

Shrimp Squat Variation #1 (easiest) spread through afternoon

 

Ponder  

No more knee ache during the Supine Hip Circles exercise from today's GMB Mobility session.  Thanks to GMB's Knee Mobility routine and the Shrimp Squat practice!

 

Some improvement in outer hip mobility.

I'll probably continue practicing Duck Walk as it has potential for strengthening my feet and ankles.  I felt some tightness/soreness in my feet but no acute pain.

Some training ideas that are not directly related to Crow Pose but worth saving anyway:

https://www.strongfirst.com/strength-aerobics/

Tips on Press to Handstand for L-Sit
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0q6JI_jnVt/?hl=en

Crow Pose Program Session 8

Prepare
GMB Knee Mobility routine  

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Fundamentals

Practice

2 Turkish Getup singles per side with 16kg Kettlebell

3 reps of Windmill with 16kg KB overhead, supersetting the TGU practice

Play

Beginner Core Conditioning Routine from the bonus section of Elements for two circuits

Push

Shrimp Squat Variation #1 (easiest) spread through afternoon

Ponder
Heard and felt some clicks in my lower spine during the Windmill practice again but still no pain.
Shoulders fatigued after two supersets of Turkish Getup + Windmill so I didn't do a third.

Lingering shoulder soreness even during brachial hang which is the last stretch I do for my cooldown.  Will definitely give the shoulders a break for tomorrow's exercise session.

Knee didn't ache during the lying hip circles or sumo frogger exercises from today's Mobility session, which is a nice improvement.  Shrimp Squat is looking like the best choice for strengthening my quads without any knee pain.

Came across these articles about strength and flexibility training for today's young competitive gymnasts - even though they don't apply directly to me, it's interesting to see that gymnastic coaches are still looking to evaluate and innovate training for their students:
https://shiftmovementscience.com/ultimategymnasticsstrengthguide/
https://shiftmovementscience.com/gymnasticsflexibilityguide/

On an even less related note, a neat demonstration of dantian usage in Dai Family Xinyi

 

Crow Pose Program Session 7

Prepare
GMB Knee Mobility routine  

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Legs.

Practice

3 Turkish Getup singles per side with 16kg Kettlebell

3 reps of Windmill with 16kg KB overhead

Beginner Core Conditioning Routine from the bonus section of Elements

Play

Exploring Backward Roll, walking legs around arm, then touching toe to the rear.

Push

Reverse Lunge with 16kg KB in rack

Bent-Arm Monkey #3 with minimum 1-sec. pause

Both of the above spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Heard and felt some clicks in my lower spine during the Windmill practice.  I have not felt any pain but will monitor closely. 

Knee was still acting up in deep squat for Monkey and Frogger.  I found however if I squat with my feet closer together - much narrower distance than shoulder width, the knee ache goes away.

The knee seem to like the Reverse Lunge and the lower level Shrimp Squat variation which is a lot like Reverse Lunge.  I'll stick to those for strengthening the leg to reduce knee pain.

Best hold in Crow Pose today, working out of Bent Arm Monkey #3, was 14 seconds.   At my level, the hands have to be active, with the fingers applying pressure as more of my weight shifts forward, and my palm heels working when the weight starts to shift back.

Crow Pose Program Session 6

Prepare

Today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Hips.

Practice

Realized I forgot GMB Knee Mobility routine so I went through that.

Play

Today's GMB Vitamin session focusing a combination movement incorporating Forward Roll, Merry Go Round, and Backward Roll.  

Occasional play with Bent-Arm Monkey Variation 3 (hold a Crow Pose pause for at least 1 second), spread through the afternoon.

Push

Taking it easy today so no push.

Ponder

The Vitamin session was a hoot!  Because of my failure to nail the Forward Roll, I knew I had no chance of properly executing either version of today's combo move.  So I spent both Play sessions within Vitamin exploring the same level of the combo move.  One problem I've had with Forward Roll is the struggle to get the shoulder, neck, and head into the proper setup position for it.  But today, I discovered another issue - not being sure what side the legs need to pass by my extended arm.  I figured out that the legs pass on the opposite side of my head.

While reviewing Brett Jones' Windmill 101 article, I came across his other article on the Lock and Rock technique for identifying the ideal foot position for a deadlift or squat position.  My problematic left knee tends to ache when I get into a deep squat for the Monkey or Frogger.  I was surprised to find that my "ideal" foot position, per the Lock and Rock technique, calls for my feet being turned out even further.  I tried turning my feet out more and the knee ache went away!

Although this was supposed to be a sort of rest day, I couldn't resist the urge to try Bent-Arm Monkey Variation 3.  I realized that I could practice this more productively by entering into Crow Pose slowly, and thus slowly bringing my weight forward, as the weight on my toes decreases, until the feet start to float.  I was thus about to achieve a new personal record in the Crow Pose - 16 seconds!

Crow Pose Program Session 5

This wasn't really a Simple and Sinister session, as I didn't practice kettlebell swings.  I didn't work a lot on Crow Pose either, but I'll call it a Crow Pose session.

Prepare

GMB Knee Mobility routine, then today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Fundamentals.

Practice

Reverse Partial Turkish Getup - from standing to the bridge instead of Tall Sit.  The reason is that I noticed a tendency to allow the shoulder of the supporting arm to shrug by the time I settle into the Tall Sit.  So I figured I would stop at the bridge to work on improving the shoulder alignment, as well as improving the quality of the bridge.

Beginner Core Conditioning Routine from the bonus section of Elements

Play

GMB Vitamin session focusing on Backward Roll.

Push

No real Push work today.

Ponder

I woke up this morning with sore triceps, which was probably the consequence of playing with Bent-Arm Baby Frogger and Fall Forward to Negative Pushup yesterday.  I was feeling a bit too beat to do kettelbell swings.

The Vitamin session was a lot of fun.  I was always more comfortable with backward rolls than forward rolls.  I lack the hamstring flexibility to perform it in a pretty way, but I think I can nail this move sooner than the Forward Roll.

Going forward, I will continue to practice the Turkish Getup in some form or another because it's been good to my shoulder.  I may start supersetting it with a Windmill as described in Brett Jones' Windmill article.   I will stop practicing kettlebell swings for now.  Swings have strengthened my back as promised but I still have lingering aches in the hips when I sit and lie down in bed.  Lately my core training has been split between the Turkish Getup and Swing.  After about 6 months of this, I want to try replacing the KB Swing with the Elements Core Conditioning Routine and see what that does for my core.

Found another thing to ponder - Breathing.

Crow Pose Program Session 4

Prepare

GMB Knee Mobility routine, then today's GMB Mobility session focusing on Shoulders.

Practice

1 min, 10 sec. Crow Pose practice sets for a total of 3 sets.  This time I just left my face on the ground, didn't try fighting to look up.

I then worked through today's GMB Vitamin session focusing on the Pilot Freeze. As with other Vitamin sessions, I failed to master all 3 variations but I'm starting to understand why mastering the movement is not the point.  Rather, the point is to explore the movement and observe what can be learned.  What I learned was that I did not shift enough weight over to my upper body to free up the hips and legs to float.  Could I shift enough weight over to achieve the necessary balance?  If not, is it because I lack the strength to support the weight?  These questions will have to be answered another time.  

 

In my exploration of this position, I went over too far to the side and fell on that side.  Luckily, while the wrist felt a bit sore afterwards, there does not seem to be any lingering pain.

Play

3 minutes of Bent-Arm Frogger with the minimum 1-second Crow Pose hold.  My max hold was 5 seconds.  I think the effort expended to push into the ground during the Vitamin session drained me a bit.  It's also possible that not expending the additional effort to raise my face off the ground during Crow Pose practice somehow affected my performance here.

Push

2 minutes of Bent-Arm Monkey.  Shoulder complained just a tiny bit.

 

Front Scale practice spread through rest of afternoon.

Ponder

I'll try to take a look at what the upcoming Vitamin session looks like before my next Crow Pose training session.  If it looks like it will challenge the upper body more like the Pilot Freeze then I should probably schedule the Vitamin session the Push section.  I don't think I'm supposed to be this tired before the Play section.

For Bent-Arm Monkey I should work more on pushing through my hands into the ground to elevate my feet, instead of initiating the jump at the feet.  This would make the Bent-Arm Monkey more of the strength training exercise that will help me with Crow Pose.  

I looked for more examples of Bent-Arm Frogger and found the Bent-Arm Baby Frogger in this Locomotion Circuit Conditioning video featuring Ryan of GMB:

What I notice is different about Bent-Arm Baby Frogger compared to standard Frogger:

• Standard Frogger starts out of a squat - preferably a deep squat, whereas in Baby Frogger, the feet are closer together
• The arms are outside the thighs instead of inside the thighs.

I tried Bent-Arm Baby Frogger for a bit.  I can probably work it a bit but I'll have to be careful about how much load I put onto my arms and shoulders - especially the suspect one.

While browsing the GMB channel on Youtube, I stumbled upon the video and article on exercise for bone health.  The Fall Forward to Negative Pushup exercise reminds me of the forward breakfall that I was taught in Jujutsu class.  The idea of improve bone health in my feet, knees, and shoulders appeals to me, but the article does advise to not do this routine more than 2x a week.

Today's Simple & Sinister session

I started the session with the GMB Knee Mobility routine. I've practiced pieces of this routine before but have often forgotten to include the jump. 

Then I worked through today's GMB Mobility session which focused on Hips.  This time I remembered to do the leg lifts in the Half Frog.  Hardly any of the dull ache I've been feeling in my ailing knee while practicing the Sumo Frogger. 

Practiced the reverse partial Turkish Getup that I thought of yesterday.  The idea is to start in the standing position with the kettlebell supported overhead,  work through the movement down to the Tall Sit position, then work back up to standing position again.  This practice mostly went well.  I realized that I tend to rush the transition from the Lunge to the Leg Sweep by  putting the supporting hand onto the ground so quickly that I'm practically dropping onto that hand.  I also noticed a tendency to shrug the shoulder after I put the hand on the ground.  I don't know exactly why I do that so I'll have to monitor this more closely, as it compromises my stability.

Swing portion:  2-arm 32kg swings for 2 sets, followed by 4 sets of 1-arm 24kg swings.  I called it after noticing significant drop in the quality of movement due to fatigue.   I think I didn't rest enough during the Play portion of the GMB Mobility session.

A bit of play with the Bent-Arm Frogger with minimum 1-second Crow Pose hold.  The max hold I was able to manage was 5 seconds.

For the afternoon, I practiced Front Scale Leg Lifts.  The knee felt much better today than yesterday.

Good article on Diatonic Harmony

Comes with audio examples:

https://www.artofcomposing.com/08-diatonic-harmony

Third session under new Crow Pose fitness program

Prepare

GMB Knee Health routine, then I used today's GMB Mobility session in its 15-minute entirety for Prepare.  Today's mobility focus was on Fundamentals.

Practice

1 min, 10 sec. Crow Pose practice sets for a total of 3 sets.  Barely got my face off the ground a couple of times.

Play

3 minutes of Bent-Arm Frogger with the minimum 1-second Crow Pose hold.   I landed a 14-second hold early, then managed a 11-second hold towards the end.

Push

2 minutes of Bent-Arm Monkey.  Shoulder still held up ok.

3 sets of 5-6 reps of Back Leg Elevated Lunge to try to strengthen quads for knee health.

Vitamin session focusing on a movement called Merry Go Round - joyful fun!

Sissy Squat practice spread through rest of afternoon.

Ponder
Reviewed the video of the Bent-Arm Monkey:

The next time I practice Bent-Arm Monkey, I should start with the first variation, which is just to place the hands on the ground in the diamond formation and load them.  Then I should practice the 2nd variation, which is the variation I practiced today, and work on being able to perform it more slowly like Chris does in the video.  In order to do it more slowly, I need to load more of my weight into my hands, to allow the toes to float over the ground.  Working this way should build the same kind of strength that is needed to lift the knees off of the elbow to play from the Crow Pose like this guy does here:

Starting to feel some muscle soreness in the shoulders from the Crow Pose training but not the kind of soreness to worry about.  What was more disappointing was how the left knee felt after trying out Back Leg Elevated Lunge and Sissy Squat.  It's possible these exercises put too much load on the quad for this knee, or something about the leverage on the knee is just off. 

For tomorrow I will try a reverse partial Turkish Getup.  The idea is to start in the standing position with the kettlebell supported overhead,  work through the movement down to the Tall Sit position, then work back up to standing position again.   This way, I can avoid the Prone to Elbow stage that was causing trouble to the knee in the first place and resume some progress in this movement through this partial practice.  Then in the afternoon, I will practice reverse lunge with the kettlebell racked, to hopefully strengthen the quads without further aggravating the knee, as well as improve performance in the Turkish Getup.

Second session under new Crow Pose fitness program

I don't think I'll post an entry for every single session but since this is a new direction that is evolving to address my concerns, I guess I'll have to record notes.

Prepare

GMB Knee Health routine, then I used today's GMB Mobility session in its 15-minute entirety for Prepare.  Today's mobility focus was on Spine.

Practice

1 min, 10 sec. Crow Pose practice sets for a total of 3 sets.

Play

3 minutes of Bent-Arm Frogger with the minimum 1-second Crow Pose hold.   I landed a 12-second hold early, then managed several 5-second holds for the rest of the set.

Push

1 minute of Bent-Arm Monkey.  This was mainly a test for the suspect shoulder.  It held up ok.

Kettelbell swings - This isn't directly related to Crow Pose but I want to keep up my swing practice because it's been good for my back.  2 sets of 10 2-arm swings with the 32kg. 4 sets of 1-arm swings with the 24kg.  2 sets of 2-arm swings with the 24kg, trying to go for overspeed eccentrics.

Modified Pigeon and Half-Pancake for cooldown.

Some play with the Forward Roll Setup.

Front and Back Scale practice spread through rest of afternoon.

Ponder

Basically it's working on this blog post.  There's still a dull ache in my left knee MCL when I lock out my left leg to support as I practice Front Scale/Front Scale Leg Lift with my right leg.   This is the same issue that led me to halt Turkish Getup practice.  After perusal of GMB's selection of Advanced Leg Exercises, I decided to replace the Scales with Back Leg Elevated Lunge and Sissy Squat.  So now my path to better knee health looks like this:

1. Improve Quad Strength - Back Leg Elevated Lunge and Sissy Squat

2. Hip Flexibility - GMB Mobility program

3. Unusual Movements - GMB Knee Health routine