Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: The first day

Did my modified warmup routine with the SI joint rehab stuff from Eric Wong.

Dips - Same as last week.  Still in the 5-rep range, with some room for technical improvement - mainly remembering to finish each rep with rings turned out and do it "pretty".

Assisted Tuck to Shoulder Stand - Much more difficult than my test rep last week, after my triceps had already done work in three sets of Dips.  Technique was pretty bad.  I think the rings were set just a bit too high.  Also, the idea of trying to swing myself from the tuck sit into the assisted shoulder stand was a bad one, as that accelerated the fatigue even more.  Should have just walked my feet back as instructed in the lesson video.  I managed only 3 reps/set.

Tuck Sit (progression to L-sit) - First set was a 10 sec. hold which was easily done.  Next two sets were done with one leg extended as far as possible while still keeping the foot in line with the hip.  5 sec. hold per leg.

Good thing I'm not in a hurry to get through this program.  The schedule says Phase 2 will last 4 weeks.  It will probably take me longer than that to achieve a full Tuck to Shoulder Stand and a full L-Sit.  The manual says suggests doing the troublesome exercise first after warmup, and doing the bare minimum on the other exercises.  I'll adopt this approach with the Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand, doing it first, then the Dips and L-Sit work.  My performance in the Dip will probably take a hit, but that's ok.  I should probably also rest the maximum recommended time between sets.

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

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

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

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

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

Excited to start Phase 2 next week!

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

So far, the extra pushup practice has paid off a bit.  I improved from 3 reps/set in the pushups on my Above The Rings days to 5 reps/set.  I was able to do 6 reps/set on my Below The Rings days because my triceps had not been worked by doing dips.

Today was my last Below The Rings day in Phase 1.  The Rings One program schedule says I should begin Phase 2 next week.  However, the manual says I should not adhere strictly to the schedule.  If I'm not comfortable, I am free to stay in my current Phase for as long as it takes, before advancing to the next Phase.    I watched the training videos for Level A, Phase 2.  I'm confident I can start on the Above The Rings portion of Phase 2, because I feel I can handle all three exercises.  I already do Dips and have done Top Position Tuck Sit holds in the past.  I think I can handle the Assisted Tuck to Shoulder Stand.

What I wasn't sure about was the Below The Rings portion, which is also composed of three exercises: Pullups, Inverted Tuck Roll Chins, and Skin The Cat.  I'm doing pull-ups for reps now so I'm fine with that exercise.  It's the latter two I was worried about, so when I got home, I tried those two for the first time.  I did one rep of the Inverted Tuck Roll Chin without any problem and could have done more.   This was a pleasant surprise because of my struggles to execute the Jump to Tuck to Inverted Hang, which is the prerequisite to this exercise. The Skin The Cat I was most worried about because I'd never done this move before, and I've had a previous injury to one of my shoulders.  This looked like a move that could pose some serious trouble to my shoulders if I mess up.  On my first couple of attempts, just as I'd anticipated, from the inverted hang position, I struggled to lower myself into the German Hang (the finishing position of Skin The Cat), because of the fear of injuring my shoulders.  Fortunately, I'd set the rings at a relatively low height so if anything went wrong, all I had to do was extend  my legs and stand up on the floor.  I started to conquer my fear by extending one leg and letting a toe touch the floor, then tucking it back and extending the other leg.  Finally, I was able to lower myself into the German Hang with my legs tucked so that the feet wouldn't touch the floor.  I was also able to pull my body back out of the German hang into the inverted hang.  Success!  I watched the training video again and noticed that unlike the Crossfit style, the Skin The Cat just starts and stops in Inverted Hang, at least for Level A, Phase 2.

Another thing that helped me get comfortable with the German hang was GMB's update of Rings One - specifically the Warmup routine.  They added shoulder mobility movements in which you use a towel or similar cloth item to stretch your shoulders, and two of those movements move your arms in and out of the German hang (or where they would be if you were hanging in that position).

Regarding the Levels, Rings One is actually presented in two levels - A and B.  Level A is for those new to ring training and Level B is for those who have previous experience or are just too strong to get any benefit out of Level A.  I took a peek at Level B, Phase 1 and quickly determined it was too difficult for me.  My strength is somewhere between Level A and Level B at Phase 1, and just right for Level A, Phase 2.

Part 2 will be the report of my final workout for Phase 1, which is my last Above The Rings session i this Phase.

Rings One Week 4 Report

This week, I changed up my Below The Rings day routine to look like this:

Pullups 3 sets
Tuck To Inverted Hang 5 sets
Pushups 3 sets

I do the most sets on the movement I'm weakest at in the "below rings' category, which is the Tuck to Inverted Hang.  The pushups don't belong in this category, but I need the extra practice.  Unfortunately, I was unable to duplicate my performance of the Tuck to Inverted Hang from Wednesday of last week, in which I nailed two perfect reps of the movement.  Still too much swinging and lack of coordination between the pulling action of the arms and the raising of the hips via the "knees to armpits" action.

One idea that occurred to me today while walking home was to try 3 sets of 3-5 sec. of what I call a "flex-arm tuck lever".  This is what a legit tuck lever looks like, courtesy of the excellent Beast Skills lesson on the Front Lever:

Of course, I'm following the Rings One program, which has a very different way of working up to a  Front Lever, but what I call the "Flexed Arm Tuck Lever" is a lot like the Tuck Lever, except with the arms flexed.  The Beast Skills lesson mentions that the trick to get into the Tuck Lever, if you're struggling to do it, is to lower yourself into it.  I found one way is to just do a pull-up and tuck your knees as shown above, then lower yourself by straightening your arms with your knees still tucked.   The Flexed Arm Tuck Lever is just the position you would be in if your did not lower yourself - your arms are flexed from doing the pull-up.  The Flexed Arm Tuck Lever may not exactly be the middle position between the pull-up and the inverted hang position of the Jump Tuck to Inverted Hang move, but I suspect working in some holds in the Flexed Arm Tuck Lever will help me gain the strength I need to better control the movement.

Not much progress to report on the Above The Rings days.  For next week, I'm thinking of just doing full-range pushups on those days instead of partial range, with the understanding my reps will be lower on the Above The Rings days due to the triceps being taxed from doing dips.

I managed to do 5 sets of Leg Module Level 1 on Tuesday, and 4 sets on Thursday.

This evening I was struck by intense hunger pangs.  I'd never experienced this much pain before from just being hungry.  I was also bloated with gas and having to burp a lot to try to release some.  I don't believe I ate anything all that unusual.  Breakfast was scrambled eggs w/ cheese, and potatoes.  Lunch was salad - mixed spring greens, chicken slices, boiled egg slices, beets, broccoli, edamame beans, artichokes - and an Italian soup of ravioli, tomato, and sausage.  I'd experienced the feeling of hunger before but not like this.  I'd already made plans to go grocery shopping, so when I arrived at Whole Foods, I gladly purchased a $7 Nepalese dinner plate with chicken, a potato-and-cauliflower dish, rice and two dumplings and wolfed it all down as if I'd been starved for weeks.  I was still hungry afterwards and so bought more Nepalese chicken dumplings.  Was this intense hunger due to my body wanting to build muscle after what thought was a moderate amount of exercise? We'll see.

Rings One Week 3 Report

Took a look ahead in the schedule and saw that I have only two more weeks to go in Phase 1, Beginner.  I'm ahead of schedule in that I can do pull-ups and dips unassisted.  I continue to make progress with the pull-ups and dips.  But I'm behind schedule with the pushups and the tuck to inverted hang.  Looks like I should do the max recommended number of sets (5) of pushups and tuck to inverted hang since those are my weakest moves.  I continue to substitute partial range pushups (full pushup position, no knee support) for assisted pushups (from the knees) because its actually easier on my left shoulder.

Phase 2 Beginner progresses from assisted pushups, mountain climbers, and plank holds to the Tuck to Shoulder Stand.  The first time I worked with Rings One, I found this to be a huge jump in difficulty level.  I must not have been the only one to complain about this abrupt jump in difficulty because the good folks at GMB eventually published an article on how to prepare for the Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand.  Later, they updated the Rings One program itself and now I see an exercise called Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand in place of the full movement for the first couple of weeks of Phase 2.  Maybe they found that for some people, simply lowering the rings and using foot assistance was more effective than the program described in the article.  I'll see what happens when I get to the end of Phase 1.  I may have to incorporate the article program into a Phase 1.5, depending on what happens on my first attempt at the assisted version of this movement.

On the below-the-rings side, Phase 2 progresses from Tuck to Inverted Hang to a rolling movement in which you roll back and forth between the inverted tuck hang position to the top of a chin-up.  I may have a better chance of pulling (no pun intended) this off on first try because my stability in the Tuck to Inverted Hang improved considerably this week.

I did one Leg Module workout on Tuesday.  I was going to attempt another one Thursday but then the snowstorm came so I decided to save my energy and legs for  shoveling snow.  I might do one tomorrow.

Oh, and I found that I gained 5 lbs since the start of Phase 1.

Jump To Inverted Hang observation

The Jump to Inverted Hang movement has been a challenge for me, because I'd struggled to execute it without excessive swinging.  Less swinging and better body control is needed to progress to the next movement, which is the Inverted TuckRoll Chinup.

Towards the end of today's Rings One session, I was able to execute the movement with better control and almost zero swing of the rings.  What seems to be key is the coordination of the pull on the rings with the drive of the knees towards the armpits.  I seemed to either pull on the rings while forgetting to drive the knees to the armpits, or drive the knees to the armpits while forgetting to pull.  With the right coordination I feel a lot more in control and the unwanted swinging is eliminated.

Rings One Week 2 Report

I completed Week 2 of the lowest-level Rings One program today.

For the Above The Rings days, I gave up on the Assisted Push-Up because something about the angle irritates my left shoulder.  Full pushups are fine as long as I do partial pushups - the shoulder irritation begins when it is lowered within a certain distance of the rings.  Back when I was seeing a physical therapist for my shoulder, one of the rehab exercises I did was partial pushups against a wall - so this is kind of the same thing, but with more resistance due to the instability of the rings.  I'll try partial movement pushups for the next several workouts and see how it goes.  Tuck Dips seem to be going fine - improved from 3 reps/set to 4 reps/set.  The updated Rings One instructional video for the Plank Hold mentions "Hollow Body" as one of the key points, but otherwise there's no verbal explanation in the video.  GMB does mention the Hollow Body Plank Hold and a separate instructional video for it here, and also has a link to the Hollow Body exercise that is done on the back instead of in pushup position.  Thus, it's possible my Plank Hold could use some technique improvement.  Technique is getting a bit better with the Mountain Climbers, though the reps have not gone up, due to my arms being a bit worn from doing the Tuck Dips.

For the Below The Rings days, I realized I could probably increase the volume (sets x reps).  By replacing the assisted pull-ups, reverse rows, and negative pull-ups with regular pull-ups, I basically cut the session down to just two exercises - the pull-ups and the Tuck to Inverted Hang.  Despite the inadvertently reduced volume, I still improved from barely doing 5 pull-ups to being ready to do 6 pull-ups per set.  My Tuck To Inverted Hang reps were sloppy with lots of unwanted swinging.  Today though I believe I solved the issue.  It seems that I need to engage the pull-up muscles to do the move with proper control, or at least less swinging.  What I was doing before was just pulling with the arms and trying to swing my knees and hips up, which was hit and miss.  So now I start the movement with my arms fully extended overhead, as if I were about to do a pull-up, and my legs bent as necessary so that my torso and arms are straight.  I initiate the movement with a pull, as if I were doing a pull-up, while simultaneously pushing off with the legs to facilitate tucking the knees.  With more of the back muscles engaged in addition to the arms, I have much more control over the movement, and am more likely to be able to extend my legs out of the tuck into the inverted hang without having to use my feet to steady my body.  This is much more taxing than the haphazard technique I was previously using, but feels more right.

This was the first week in which I did two Leg Module sessions.  The Leg Module manual presents 3 different ways to schedule the Leg Module training along with Rings One or  Parallels One training, but the program charts document simply shows optional Leg Module days on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the weekend.  At any rate, I did 4 circuits of Level 1 on Tuesday, and 4 circuits again on Thursday.  Today, I have quite a bit of soreness in the legs, especially near the glutes.

Starting over with Rings One

This week, I began training with the Rings One program.  In this older post I'd reported that I quit Rings One because I was unable to progress from pushups to Tuck Up To Shoulder Stand.

In the intervening time, GMB updated Rings One.  There is now an intermediate skill to practice and master before attempting a Tuck Up To Shoulder Stand, as well as other refinements/revisions over the earlier version of the program.  The program now also says don't worry if you can't do the recommended number of reps for an exercise.  For example, if you can't do a minimum of 8 mountain climbers, it's ok - just do what you can and log what you did, along with the RPE (Rating of Perceived Effort) and RPT (Rating of Perceived Technique) scores for that workout.  Yet another noticeable change is in the warmup routine - now it includes warmups for the hips, hamstrings and lower back.

Also during this intervening time, I was training with GMB's free Ultimate Guide To Ring Training program.  I progressed from a max 4 pull-ups to 11 pull-ups, 0 ring pushups to a max 8 pushups, and 5-7 sec. tuck sit holds with one leg extended.  I also played around with club bells, kettle bells, and Ultimate Sandbag.

So this week, I'm back to Phase A, Level 1 again in Rings One.   For some people, pullups, pushups, and dips are actually not the easiest exercises to do on the rings. This phase of the program is concerned with developing the foundational strength to do those moves, among others.  One significant change for this phase from the older version is that the Top Position Hold is now to be done with rings out, which is quite a bit harder than rings parallel to the body, but probably necessary for better prep for other moves that come out of that position like dips.  Because I can already do ring pushups and pull-ups, I'm substituting those in my workout for the exercises that develop strength for pushups and pull-ups.   I may also substitute what I call the Tuck Dip (the Dip as taught in the older version of Rings One, with the knees tucked) for the Assisted Dip, depending on how blasted I feel after the Top Position Holds.  So far my shoulders seem to be holding up fine.  My lats and triceps have been sore for several days because they haven't had this kind of demand imposed on them for a while.  I was pleased to find that I could still to Tuck To Inverted Hangs - its actually easier when I don't jump into the tuck and focus more on the coordination of pulling with the arms and moving my knees towards my armpits.

The full manual for Rings One has several suggestions for integrating the optional Leg Module with Rings One.  I'm just following the exercise charts, which schedules the Leg Module exercises on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I played with the Leg Module last week before "officially" beginning the program this week - it is indeed harder on the legs than it looks on the surface.  I couldn't even make it to a 5th circuit.  The only problem move with in this program is the lunge, because I have a weird tightness/pain sensitivity in my left foot that flares up when I put weight on my left toes, as I step forward with my right foot.  The left foot seems to loosen up though as the sets pile up.  Wearing my new running shoes with arch support seems to help a lot - I can get into pushup position without any pain on my left toes/foot.

Got a new Korg MS-20 Mini

Sorry for the lack of organization - just throwing some links together.

Korg MS-20 and Eurorack Intergration Thread

Another MS-20 Mini and Eurorack integration thread

MS-20 Looping Envelopes Patch Thread

http://www.pearltrees.com/johnfromberkeley/ims-20/id13829217#l562

f you wanna a random sound or random “digital CV signal” just put white or pink noise through a sample and hold module controlled by an LFO. It will work really cool

Like father, like son

Internet feline celebrity Shironeko is famous for photos depicting him in a state of perfect, meditative bliss:

I think this photo removes all doubt as to the identity of the father of Kuro, the youngest member of Shironeko's clan:

SelectORacle

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have to ramp up my CSS knowledge.   This looks like a useful website.

http://gallery.theopalgroup.com/selectoracle/

Ever wondered what a particularly complex CSS selector really means? Here's your chance to find out! 

The Sound Test Room gets it own website

The Sound Test Room

Doug at The Sound Test Room has been a fixture of the IOS musician community, with his many tutorials on various IOS music apps. Nice to see him get his own website.

Evans Health Lab video on low back pain

http://www.evanshealthlab.com/low-back-pain-video/

Zen Cat fight scene

Shironeko, aka "Zen Cat", "World's Most Relaxed Cat", "Basket Cat", is best known for photos and videos showing him in blissful repose, usually inside a basket or with a plant-based object on top of his head.

Tonight's Sunrizer sequencing experiment

Tried sequencing Sunrizer from Cubasis. No pure piano-roll entry apparently - have to enter the notes from the keyboard, then edit the notes in piano roll. Anyway in Sunrizer, I selected the gamelan tuning, then entered notes in Cubasis. A few notes from the Cubasis keyboard triggered notes in Sunrizer, and others did not. There might be a bug in the Scala keyboard mapping in Sunrizer, but need test with other MIDI controllers to be sure. I was also unable to save the Scala tuning with the patch. Then I tried sequencing Sunrizer from Symphonix Evolution Pro but had less success. The first note triggered a stuck note in Sunrizer that did not stop until I killed it as a background app. I'll try contacting the respective developers. This as all left me with a greater appreciation for the ease of use of sequencing in Gadget.  Experiment result: Failure. No way I'm going to make the Sunrizer contest deadline. Good luck to the contestants!

Also, at some point in the near future I want to try exporting MIDI from Korg M01D on my Nintendo 3DS. It'll be interesting to see which IOS sequencing app will be able to successfully import it.

Good Audiobus forum thread on how to learn modular synthesis

http://forum.audiob.us/discussion/3969/how-to-learn-modular-synth

Track from Experiment Zero

Saw the band Public Service Broadcasting play, and was led to check out this album.

Update on my ring training

This is a followup to my previous ring training post.

I've realized that to make further progress with my ring pushups, I need to improve my shoulder strength and stability.  I also want to work in more lower body training to help strengthen my back and hips.  So this is what the routine looks like now:

Warmup - Joint mobility as recommended by the beginner ring program mentioned in that post.

Pullups (neutral grip) - 3 sets of 6-11 reps (my current pull-up max is 11)

Ring Pushups - 3 sets of 6+ reps

Partial L-Sits - 3 sets of 3 5-second straight-leg holds per side

Kettlebell Military press - 4+ reps per side
Double Kettlebell Front Squat - 6+ reps

I do the military presses for the shoulders, catch my breath for a few seconds, then do the front squats.  I then rest for a minute before doing another set.  I do 3-5 sets.  Kettlebell weight is 16kg per kettlebell.

I will stick to this routine until I achieve 3 sets of 10+ reps in the military press.  Then I will go back to doing more sets of the ring pushups (going for 4 or 5 sets instead of just 3).  When I achieve 15 reps in the front squat, I will switch to reverse lunges with double kettlebells.

Looptical review

Looptical is really good for writing straightforward songs. It's very easy to create sections of songs, then append them together to create the overall song. I rarely ever write music this way, so I found that my song kinda sounded like several loops strung together. However, Looptical made it really easy to overdub some stuff to connect sections a little more. Yes, I could have messed with MIDI or whatever to try get a wider selection of sounds than the sample-based tones provided with Looptical, but I wanted to see what I could do with just the internal samples and effects. The Event Editor is limited in that you can transpose, quantize or erase notes, but you can't change the pitches or velocity of individual notes. I do see there is a "Human" slider in the velocity section of the Notes editor, but I forgot to try to see what does. As far as the Interfaces go, this was the first time I tried to record something with a virtual guitar strum interface - it's pretty good considering you can't do Hendrix-like hammer-ons or other embellishments in your chordal playing. I slipped in some experimental fun with a short solo using the Granulator interface.

I also promised to rate this app, in addition to writing a song on it, which I did: 4 stars. Very friendly popup mini-tutorials, and there's an in-app manual - not having to be online to read the manual always scores points with me! What would make it a 5-star app would be more editing capability in the Event Editor, though admittedly I cleaned up my mistakes by simply using Undo (and re-record) a lot. On one section I simply slowed down the tempo and recorded at the slow tempo before speeding it back up to the song tempo.

The main melody and the chords of this tune jumped into my head on a sunny morning, while walking around the vicinity of a particular intersection in one of the world's great cities. The song is thus named after that intersection, not after a couple. 

Anyway, here is my instrumental pop/post-rock tune, done entirely in Looptical - this will probably be the last non-experimental music I post up in a while ;) :
https://soundcloud.com/governorsilver/kimberly-and-nathan-looptical

Mindmap for Octatrack tutorials and Master Reference

Props to Mark Mosher for putting together this mind map for the Elektron Octatrack.  This machine is very deep and there's so much to learn.

 https://www.rabidelephant.com/blogs/general/elektron-octatrack-master-reference

 Glue Compressor settings thread:

https://www.elektronauts.com/t/glue-compressor-settings-for-octatrack/54758