Another change in exercise program

I recently had an emergency operation to repair a retinal detachment.  As a result, I now have a gas bubble in my eye and am under doctors' orders to maintain a face-down head position the majority of my waking hours and avoid any exercise or other activity that would affect the pressure in my head.

Thus, I stopped training on the rings and the parallettes.  I also cut down my consumption of meat and other fattening foods to try to avoid gaining too much body fat as a consequence of reduced exercise.

I don't recall if I ever explained why I got into ring and parallette training in the first place.  I forgot the exact reason(s) but I do recall my interest in exercise on these apparatus developing as part of my growing realization that the reason I started strength training was to improve my athleticism and movement.  Getting bigger muscles was never a priority - I just assumed that if my muscles grew bigger, it was just part of getting stronger.  I later learned, as I read Pavel Tsatsouline's book Power To The People and the writings of other respected trainers that muscle size does not always increase with strength.  I enjoyed lifting weights to get stronger, but ring training appealed to me as a way of increasing strength and learning new movement skills as the same time.  As documented earlier this year, I was sort of forced by a bicycling accident to switch to parallette training for a while, but I also quickly grew to love training on the parallettes as well.

Unfortunately, as explained earlier, I had to give up training on the rings and parallettes.  Fortunately, I found another exercise program which I could start following, which features exercises I can practice without generating enough internal pressure to cause problems with the gas bubble in my eye, and do so while maintaining face-down position the majority of the time.  I don't know if I'll burn enough calories under this new program to prevent unwanted accumulation of body fat, but it's better than not exercising at all, and I'll be exploring a new set of movement skills, which always appeals to me.  It also promises improvements in flexibility and strength.

Perhaps not coincidentally, this program is also offered by GMB and is called Elements.  I completed Day 2 today and am looking forward to Day 3 tomorrow.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover today that I can practice the unassisted pistol squat without much strain - and thus no dangerous internal pressure.  I practice it "grease the groove" style - one rep on each leg once every 40-120 minutes.  My recollection of this concept as explained in Power To The People was that you practice the chosen skill (in this case the pistol squat) all day, but you do it when you're fresh so you can concentrate on technique, without the distraction of fatigue.  The more you practice this skill mindfully, the better you will get at it - "better" usually translating to less effort to execute the skill and greater work capacity (ability to do more reps of it).

New article from GMB about stretching for stiff/inflexible people

Great tips on stretching for inflexible people:

https://gmb.io/stretching-tips/

Hamstring flexibility (or, lack thereof) are a particular problem for me, so I look forward to trying these at the next opportunity

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Week 6 Report

Above The Rings

Dips - 8 reps max.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 6 reps max.

Hanging Knee Raises -  7 reps max.

Below The Rings

Pull-ups - 9 reps max.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 6 reps max.

Skin The Cat -  5 reps max.

Supplemental Exercises

Pistol Squats (counterweight-assisted) - 5 reps max.

Tuck Sit To Bent Arm Stand (parallettes) - 2 reps max.

Kind of interesting that despite doing two Above The Rings sessions and one Below The Rings session this week, my performance in the Below The Rings exercises improved while staying the same for the Above The Rings exercises.  I wonder if the pattern will repeat next week, with improvement showing in the Above The Rings exercises, and none in the Below The Rings exercises.

Progress on the Tuck Sit To Bent Arm Stand has been good this week.  At the start of the week, I could barely do one rep, starting from the Bent Arm Stand, with shaky control.  Today, I did two reps per set.  My technique still has room for improvement, particularly the coordination involved in rolling forward, but the progress is encouraging.  For today's Above The Rings session, I attempted to roll forward from the Tuck Sit position into the Tuck Shoulder Stand.  As expected, this movement is still much harder for me on the rings than on the parallettes.  Just attempting the move is much more strenuous than starting in Tuck Sit, then lowering my feet and walking them back.  My guess is that I need to be able to do at least 3 reps of this movement on the parallettes with solid technique before I'll be able to do my first complete rep of the same movement on the rings.  I might need to be able to do as much as 5 reps... or maybe even more.  We'll see.

Today's training

Today was an Above The Rings session - nothing special or otherwise new to report.

I think replacing the Bent Arm Stand hold practice with the Tuck Sit To Bent Arm Stand may be a good idea for me.  My technique is maybe a 4 out of 10 - not great - but I can do one full rep of this move without touching the floor with my feet.  After that one full rep, my form breaks down and touching the floor is inevitable.  So, instead of sets of 1.5 reps, I'll just do singles.

This movement is clearly a good candidate for Grease The Groove practice, which is doable for me on weekends.  If I can develop this skill on just the floor, I can try this at work too.

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Week 5 Report

Above The Rings

Dips - 8 reps max.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 6 reps max.

Hanging Knee Raises -  7 reps max.

Below The Rings

Pull-ups - 8 reps max.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 5 reps max.

Skin The Cat -  4 reps max.

Supplemental Exercises

Pistol Squats (counterweight-assisted) - 5 reps max.

Tuck Shoulder Stand Holds (parallettes) - 45 sec. max.

Barely perceptible progress within Rings One itself, but I did achieve a significant milestone:  My first fully unassisted Tuck Sit to Bent Arm Stand on the parallettes. I find it easier to start the movement from the Bent Arm Stand rather than the Tuck Sit, because it’s easier to roll back from the Bent Arm Stand into the Tuck Sit, than it is to roll forward in the other direction.  Because I just barely gained the strength to do this movement, I can probably do at most 1.5 reps (start in Bent Arm Stand, do one complete rep back to Bent Arm Stand, roll under control back to Tuck Sit to finish).

Since the purpose of the Tuck Shoulder Stand Hold practice was to build strength towards the Tuck Sit to Bent Arm Stand,  starting next week I will replace that hold with 1-2 sets of this movement after each ring session, with 1.5 reps per set.  The idea is that as I gain skill and strength in this movement, I will get closer to achieving the similar move (Tuck Sit to Tuck Shoulder Stand) on the rings.

Today's training

I didn't have a great Above The Rings session today - just ok.  I think it was because I didn't sleep very well due to my ongoing aches/pains in my hips.  I'm a side-sleeper - it's hard to break that habit.

On the plus side, I tried the Tuck Sit to Tuck Shoulder Stand move on the parallettes and found that I'm closer that I thought to doing the move fully unassisted.  The key seems to be to maintain downward pressure on the parallettes throughout the movement.  I have a tendency to ease up on this pressure as I roll forward from the Tuck Sit towards the Tuck Shoulder Stand.  I can roll back from the Tuck Shoulder Stand to the Tuck Sit without touching the floor with my feet - once in a while anyway.

My "off-day" routine (the weekdays between Rings One sessions) has been this of late:

- Rings One Warmup routine

- 2-3 sets of counterweight-assisted pistol squats (currently 4-5 reps/set - only done if not bicycling to work)

- Tuck Shoulder Stand Holds (parallettes) of at least 20 seconds (1-2 sets).

- Bicycle ride to work (12-14 miles) - if not doing pistol squats.

Based on today's discovery, I will replace the Tuck Shoulder Stand Holds with Tuck Sit To Tuck Shoulder Stands on the parallettes, with "foot walking" assistance as needed.  I will limit myself to 2 sets to try to avoid overtraining.

Seven tips to get your bike ready for winter

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/seven-tips-to-get-your-bike-ready-for-winter-198857?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social

I don't plan to follow #5 because we don't get enough days in the year with icy roads to justify the expense of studded tires, but the other tips look useful.

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Week 4 Report

Above The Rings

Dips - 8 reps max.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 3-5 reps/set.

Hanging Knee Raises -  7 reps max.

Below The Rings

Pull-ups - 8 reps max.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 5 reps max.

Skin The Cat -  4 reps max.

Supplemental Exercises

Pistol Squats (counterweight-assisted) - 4 reps max.

Tuck Shoulder Stand Holds - 20-30 secs.

I've been doing the supplemental exercises after every rings session.  The pistols are being done to test the theory that strengthening the hips and gluteus muscles, along with the legs, will reduce the lingering aches and pains in my hips/low back from that deadlifting accident from several years ago.  The shoulder stand holds are being practiced to improve my skill as well as help develop the strength to do a tuck shoulder stand hold on the rings.  What both versions of the tuck shoulder stand hold (parallettes and rings) have in common is that balance is the key.  Where they seem to differ though is the balance - it seems like the body might be at a different angle on the rings.  The instability of the rings compared to the parallettes continues to pose a problem.  However, I did manage to achieve a tuck shoulder stand hold for 2 seconds on the rings, before I lost my balance.

What I did to achieve the shoulder stand hold on the parallettes was primarily follow the Parallettes One program as instructed.  However, I also started trying to put less and less weight on the supporting foot in the One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold, eventually putting no weight at all on the foot by kicking up a little.  Eventually, I was able to go straight into the full tuck shoulder stand without kicking up.  I'm doing the same thing on the rings now, kicking up a bit and seeing if I can support my body with just my hands on the rings.

I only commuted by bicycle to work once this week, because I was hoping to get home in time to head out to attend the Salsa Cycles demo.  On that day, I did 5 sets of assisted pistol squats.

Tutorial on the Side Crow and Crooks Pose

This tutorial comes courtesy of the PCC folks, specifically Grace Kavadlo.

http://pccblog.dragondoor.com/side-crow-and-crooks-pose/

Three simple exercises for feeling better in the upper back, shoulders, and hips/lower back

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/daily-exercises?cid=SOC_sp_MH

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Week 3 Report

Above The Rings

Dips - 7 reps max.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 3-5 reps/set.

Hanging Knee Raises -  6 reps max.

Below The Rings

Pull-ups - 8 reps max.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 5 reps max.

Skin The Cat -  4 reps max.

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Week 2 Report

Above The Rings

Dips - 7 reps max.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 3 reps/set.

Hanging Knee Raises -  6 reps max.

Below The Rings

Pull-ups - 6 reps max.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 5 reps max.

Skin The Cat -  4 reps max.


In addition I have started practicing pistol squats and the Parallette Tuck Shoulder Stand - 1-2 sets each - at the end of each Rings One session.  I also practice them on the in-between days, along with the warmup and cool down routines.

While I still unable to perform a tuck shoulder stand on the rings, I improved my best hold time in the parallette tuck shoulder stand to 30 seconds.  When I first started doing a true tuck shoulder stand on the parallettes, my feet still hovered a few inches above the floor.  I have since learned that by lifting my feet higher, and also raising my hips so that my torso is at a greater angle in relation to the floor,  I get an interesting sensation of my lower body floating up like a balloon.  I guess this has a lot to do with body mechanics and balance points.  Sometimes I feel my lower back working a bit to raise the lower body a little higher off the ground.  I may have the upper body strength to get into the tuck shoulder stand on the parallettes and hold this position for up to 30 seconds, but it seems that my control still isn't good enough to do the same thing on the rings yet.  There's always a few seconds of fiddling around with body positioning, weight distribution, etc. before my hips start to rise into the air almost effortlessly.  I think that "fiddling around time" needs to be reduced to improve my chances of performing this skill on the rings.

Day off

Taking the day off to visit friends.

I have lingering soreness in my triceps, rear delts, and lats.  My pecs were also sore yesterday but they seem to be fine today.  I guess Rings One just works these muscles differently than Parallettes One.

I still follow GMB's instruction to not train under Rings One or Parallettes One on consecutive days.  So I bike to work on the in-between days.  When I get back home on a bike commuting day, I usually do the cool down routine from whatever GMB program I'm working on, then do the hip stretches taught here.  I then do calf stretches then finish with the hamstring stretches from GMB's Focused Flexibility program (mentioned in the linked article).

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: End of Week 1

Taking Friday off, so today concluded Week 1 of Rings One, Level A, Phase 2.  As previously posted, I added the parallette shoulder stand hold to the routine, immediately after the warmup.  The results:

Parallette Shoulder Stand - 2 sets of 5-10 sec. holds.

Pull-ups - 4-6 reps/set.  Sloppy form.  Need to work on pull-up prep move.

Inverted Tuck Roll Chin-Up - 3-4 reps/set.

Skin The Cat -  3 sets of 3-4 reps

This was a "get reacquainted" session.  It was great to do pulling exercises again for the first time in months.  My inverted hang was more stable than expected.

Rings One, Level A, Phase 2: Start of Week 1

Today I resumed work on this program, after 17 weeks of parallettes training, with an Above The Rings session.  The results:

Dips - 5-6 reps/set.  Looks like my improved pressing strength from the parallettes training carried over here, despite the shaky form due to not  having practiced on the rings in months.

Assisted Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - 3 reps/set.  I was disappointed that I was unable to do a tuck shoulder stand on the rings like I can on the parallettes.  I don't know if it's because I'd just achieved that skill a couple of weeks ago or if it's because the rings are a less stable platform for shoulder stands than parallettes.

Hanging Knee Raises -  6 reps/set with 5 sec. hold per rep.  This is one of the exercises recommended for preparing for the L-Sit, in GMB's just-updated L-Sit tutorial.  After this session, it was easy to understand why my progress towards the L-Sit has been so slow - until today, I haven't been really working on the necessary core and hip strength for the L-Sit.  If I can't even do 10 reps of 5-sec. holds in the Hanging Knee Raise, I have little shot of nailing the L-Sit.  For this exercise I had the option of working from either the pull-up position or the top-position hold on the rings - I went with the latter as it fit the theme of the Above The Rings session.  I have just enough stamina in the top position hold to do a max of 6 reps, and I'm sure it will improve as my reps go up.

I then grabbed my parallettes just to see if I could still do a tuck shoulder stand hold, after my discouraging failure to do it on the rings.  It turns out I still could do this hold for at least 5 seconds.  I'll keep practicing this hold on the parallettes regularly, just to keep reminding myself regularly how it feels to hold a tuck shoulder stand.  A certain level of strength is a prerequisite, but I'm finding balance is even more important.  When the balance is right, the load is spread throughout the body structure and multiple muscle groups - the triceps, the chest, the shoulders, the abs, and even the intercostals.  Because this exercise relies a bit more on skill than just brute strength, I'll practice in the mornings of my bike commuting days and whenever I feel fresh in general.  This isn't the type of exercise to be practiced when one is exhausted.

The concept behind frequent practice of an exercise to master it was coined "Grease The Groove" by Pavel Tsatsouline.  A nice explanation can be found here.

Parallettes One, Level B, Phase 1: Week 17 Report

Progress on Workout 1 Exercises 

Plank Push-Ups - 9 reps max

Plank Jump to Dip -  12 reps/set

Battle Rams, Version 2 - 10 reps/max.  Back to the Phase 1 version.

Tuck Hold - 7 sec. hold per leg when keeping one leg tucked and extending the other as far forward as possible.

Mt. Climber Holds -  12 reps max.

Progress on Workout 2 Exercises

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 10 reps max.

Tuck Shoulder Stand Hold - Initiated each hold from Tuck Hold, walking the feet back, then getting into Tuck Shoulder Stand.  This is the same as the Assisted Tuck Hold to Tuck Shoulder Stand in Rings One, Level A, Phase 2.  I also worked on increasing the angle of my torso in relation to the ground, so that my hips and feet would be higher.  12 sec. max hold.

Tuck Swings - 12 reps.

Assisted Inverted Presses -  12 reps max

Dive Bombers Standard - 10 reps.

I'm satisfied with the progress I've made in 17 weeks of training in Parallettes One, except for the L-Sit, which continues to elude me.  It was very satisfying to achieve a true shoulder stand, as well as improved pressing strength.

That said, I plan to switch back to Rings One next week.  Not being able to do an L-Sit is holding me back from progressing to Phase 2 in Parallettes One - Phase 2 includes two exercises that cannot be done if one cannot do an L-Sit.  By switching back to Rings One, I have a much wider range of exercises on which I can progress while continuing to work on my L-Sit.  I'd also like to work on my pulling strength again.  Rings One trains this more intensely than Parallettes One.

Parallettes One, Level B, Phase 1: Week 16 Report

Before this week of training, I fell off my bike and bruised my knee and my forearm in a couple of places.

On the other hand, I finished this week achieving a long-elusive goal - a real shoulder stand, feet completely off the ground and all.  It took me a while to build the strength to do it, but finding the balance point was also key.  If too much of my weight is forward, I'll do a sloppy cartwheel.  If too much of it is back, my feet will be stuck on the floor.

Progress on Workout 1 Exercises 

Plank Push-Ups - 8 reps max

Plank Jump to Dip -  10 reps/set

Battle Rams, Version 1 - 12 reps/max.  This is actually the Phase 2 version, because of the knee bruise, so I was up on my toes with a straight body, instead of working on my knees. 

Tuck Hold -  5 sec. per leg when keeping one leg tucked and extending the other as far forward as possible.

Mt. Climber Holds -  10 reps max.  

Progress on Workout 2 Exercises

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 10 reps max.

One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - Didn't have to do this anymore.  At the end of the week, I finally nailed a tuck shoulder stand on the parallettes.  I didn't quite have my feet as high off the floor as GMB's Ryan Hurst here, but I did get them completely off the floor.

Tuck Swings - 12 reps. 

Assisted Inverted Presses -  10 reps max

Dive Bombers Standard - 10 reps.

As I said in an earlier post:

One advice I have read is to change training programs once in a while.  I am considering switching back to Rings One.  It depends on which skill I achieve first on the parallettes:

a. Unsupported shoulder stand (both feet completely off the ground).  

b. Full L-sit

I achieved a. above first, but now I have bruises on one arm that will probably rub against the ring strap if I were to switch back to Rings One now - the same reason I switched from Rings One to Parallettes One.  Thus, the plan for now is to continue improving my parallette skills at Level B, Phase 1, with the exception of the One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold, which I have already surpassed.  What I plan to do there is work on the transition between the Tuck Sit and the Tuck Shoulder Stand, which is pretty much the move that I was unable to execute on the rings when I was training under Rings One.  If I can perform the movement without my feet touching the floor, I'll just repeat the movement for reps.  If I have to walk my feet on the floor between the Tuck Sit and the Tuck Shoulder Stand, then I'll work on holding the shoulder stand for time (about 10 sec.) then try lowering  out of that into Tuck Sit without the feet touching the floor before taking my rest interval.

Parallettes One - Start of Week 16

Not much progress to report, other than managing a 2-second hold in an unsupported/unassisted shoulder stand.

Week 15 was pretty much a wash as I'd decided to bike to work three days instead of my usual two days a week.

Parallette One, Level B, Phase 1, Workout 2 progress - really good session today.

I tried lifting the supporting foot from the ground while in the One-Legged Shoulder Stand Hold.  At first, I was unable to do so.  Then, I got the foot off the ground, but I must have made some sort of kicking motion to do it, and in doing so, caused my hips to move too far over my head, so that I ended up doing a sort of sloppy cartwheel.  Fortunately, my feet touched the floor first, so that I was unhurt.  I feel like I am very close to achieving a shoulder stand.  My strength is almost there.  I just need to get the balance right.

I performed a maximum of 10 reps per set - my new PR - of the Assisted Inverted Press, which seems to train a lot of the same muscles involved in the shoulder stand.

In the beginning of this video, someone shows both the tuck and straight leg shoulder stand on the parallettes.

Parallettes One, Level B, Phase 1: Week 14 Report

Ok I skipped a couple of weeks but here's my progress as of Week 14 - looks like I regressed a bit compared to Week 11.

Progress on Workout 1 Exercises 

Plank Push-Ups - 7 reps

Plank Jump to Dip -  10 reps/set

Battle Rams (Version 2) - 10 reps/set.

Tuck Hold -  4 sec. tuck hold, followed by 4 sec. per leg when keeping one leg tucked and extending the other as far forward as possible.

Mt. Climber Holds -  10 reps max.  Holding plank between reps decreased total reps.

Progress on Workout 2 Exercises

Tuck Swing to Top Plank - 10 reps max.

One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold - 10 sec. hold range per leg.

Tuck Swings - 12 reps.

Assisted Inverted Presses -  8 reps.

Dive Bombers Standard - 10 reps.

One advice I have read is to change training programs once in a while.  I am considering switching back to Rings One.  It depends on which skill I achieve first on the parallettes:

a. Unsupported shoulder stand (both feet completely off the ground).  I will consider this accomplished if I can lift the supporting foot off the floor in the One Leg Shoulder Stand Hold, and maintain this hold for at least 3 sec. with the "supporting foot" off the floor, even if it's just an inch above the floor.

b. Full L-sit

I feel like I am closer to achieving a. above than b.  If I accomplish a. I will switch back to Rings One at Level A, Phase 2, because the inability to do an unsupported shoulder stand was stalling my progress there.