Vidd Clears His Name (And Learns the Front Lever)

[Vidd]

Imprisoned for crimes I did not commit... It's been four months since self isolating, and during this time I have been preparing so that for when the doors to civilization reopen, I would be ready. Yet nothing could have prepared me for what came next. In my quest to make a difference in my life, and for those around me, it was to be expected that the villains of Seattle would eventually not take too kindly to my presence. I just never expected they'd find me so quickly...

 

It all happened so fast. I was walking back from the park when everything went dark. The next thing I knew I awoke in a cold cell, on charges for a whole host of crimes I never committed. I need to get out of here -  and fast. The longer I sit in this cell the colder the trail becomes. I need to find out who did this, and why. It's only been a few days, and I've mostly kept to myself and observed the other inmates. Because of the new hostile environment, my body-weight workouts have become an even greater priority. I need to be able to defend myself, and maintain my resilience.

 

Security is tight. But I have a plan. My cell has a pipe running along the ceiling, and we're checked on by a set of guards every evening before lights out. If I can fake a disappearance, they may open my cell doors to investigate further, giving me an opportune moment to escape. Unfortunately the pipe is so close to the ceiling I can't fit my feet around it, and if I hung from it they'd easily see my legs dangling. My only option is to perform a front lever for a minimum of three seconds... if I time this correctly, that will be enough time to rouse the guards and get them to check my cell. It's time to get out of here and clear my name once and for all... it's time to master the front lever.

 

Hey so I'm obviously not actually in jail I just needed a cool theme to start this little front lever challenge I've got going I'll admit, this move's been intimidating me some. I have a feeling this is going to be a whole nother beast compared to the muscle up. In fact in my research a lot of people were saying it took them anywhere from 3-12 months, if not more, to get this move down. So will I be able to break out of prison and clear my name by Sep 5th? It's gonna be super tough but that's part of the fun. Like my last challenge I'm going to break my challenge down into three categories so here we go:

 

Goal #1 Lean Down: Like before, I am still aiming to lean down some. I am sitting at 171.5lbs and my goal is to lose 5lbs by the end of this challenge. Instead of a dietary change, I will be implementing a lifestyle change. My challenge will be to hit 8,000+ steps per day. As a sedentary accountant-I mean prisoner, this is going to be very difficult, and I may have to actually take my two 15 minute breaks I get each day and go for brief walks just to aid in getting these steps in. This is a good thing because prolonged sitting has a very negative effect on health and so breaking that up some is a good idea

 

Goal #2 Get to know the other Inmates: The goal is to call a family member at least once a week to check in on them and keep in touch. I'll also aim to call my friends more often, and set aside some extra time to try to follow along on more people's challenges on NF this time around too. I'm also going to throw in one other item in this goal, and that's to do at least one productive errand/task that is out of the ordinary each day. That could be me washing my car, cleaning up around the house, just something to keep the needle moving forward.

 

Goal #3 The Front Lever: This is the big one, and my primary focus for this challenge. In fact the stakes are so high if I don't perform it I guess I'm stuck in jail lol. This is important to me on another level. Those who've been in my shoes may look back and chuckle but, this is actually my last challenge as a twenty-something. I'll be 30 on Sep 12th and I know that's not old but I'd just feel so much better entering into that decade knowing I'm in the best shape of my life. And being able to perform a front lever would surely be some evidence to that. Last challenge, I followed the advice of Chris Heria as my basis for progression, and he didn't steer me wrong. For the front lever, I see no reason to change coaches. I will be following the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2caBjnwRo

Here is what he lists as the requirements before starting his technique guide. Once I can do all four requirements I'm to do the Front Lever hold workout which is all 4 moves performed for 3 rounds for 2-3 weeks. I'd like to be solid at this workout in two weeks, to give me three weeks for the technique guide.
 

Perfect hanging L-sit hold for 20 seconds

Tuck Front Lever Hold 15 seconds

Upside Down Deadlift 10 reps - This requires toes to bar just to get into position, I can't do that yet so lots of work here

Upside Down Hold 15 seconds - Top portion of the upside down deadlift

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

Very excited to watch your front lever journey!  

 

3 hours ago, Vidd said:

Upside Down Deadlift

This is a move that I have always heard called Candlesticks, but I think that is the gymnastics term.  It's a great exercise both for front levers and also if you ever want to get into back hip circles.  

 

Another exercise he didn't include but I like is one that Jeff Cavalier (Athleanx) calls "Bat Crunchies".  They are tuck lever holds extending into full levers and back to the tuck for reps.  

[Vidd]

I like the idea of bat crunchies ill find a way to implement those. They're way out of my league for now as you'll all come to find out in this first update lol. 

 

So today I got to the park and lucked out. It was completely empty giving me free reign of the bar and no one around to wonder what i was doing.

 

Exercise#1 Hanging L sit was for about 9 seconds and my legs were lower than a 90 degree angle. This is less than half the requirement and imperfect form. Gotta start somewhere!

Exercise#2 so i spent awhile figuring out how to even initiate this movement. I realized I need to tense up like I'm about to do a pullup and then lean back and raise my knees. This lit my lats up in a way I never felt before. I managed a shaky 8 sec tucked hold which I need 15 sec to pass the requirements for Heria's technique guide

Exercise#3,4 I'm missing a prerequisite to doing these two movements - the toes to bar. I did however do a couple set a of knee toes to bar and got 10 reps first set and only 5 on my second.

 

To finish off this workout I did 3 sets of high knee raises with straight legs on the negative. After all the lever work I did my shoulder health routine and some stretches.

 

I'll edit this post later tonight with my total steps and the one extra task a day that I did. And probably finish the night off with taking a look at how everyone else's day 1 went

 

Edit:

Steps: 9,719 steps, starting off real strong here, and I bet just me walking around the house before bed is going to get me to the 10k mark. Only 8k is required daily for me to reach the challenge I've set for myself but 10-12k/day is extra credit.

Task: I did some general cleaning up of things around the house, especially my home work station.

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

4 hours ago, Vidd said:

Exercise#2 so i spent awhile figuring out how to even initiate this movement.

A movement that I do to get warmed up for these (well, I used to when I had a stable pullup bar) are called 7s or pullouts.  Really good for getting those lats fired up.  Ideally you would want to do them with arms completely straight, but I am not strong enough yet  

[raptron]

Oooh, front lever! Big thing to tackle. I'm excited for your journey with this too! All of these skills kind of work together too, so you'll see improvements in your muscle ups as well if they are still something you're going to keep in your programming.

[Vidd]

I'll give those pullouts a whirl I had no idea how to warm up for this lever training so I did a few dynamic stretches then went straight into it which probably wasn't ideal.

 

Oh yeah muscleups are remaining in my workouts I think its a really fun movement to train explosive strength :) If the front lever can help me get better at them even better because I have a top secret long term plan if I ever get super good at them. Maybe I'll share later but it feels silly talking about it where I am right now I'm still developing foundational skills.

 

Anyway today is my off day for the levers but my traditional bw training will go on today as scheduled. Going to be the first day of me transitioning from full body workouts to having a day dedicated just to the legs so I'll update with that over in my battle log. Thank you everyone who is following along on this

 

[mom2sjm]

 

I love your front lever goal but I'm also loving task two - keep in touch with people.  that is something I need to work on.  especially since I've been working from home since march!

[Mike Wazowski]

Oh hey, love the skill focus for your workouts and here for the shared existential dread as someone else who's about to hit 30 (in February for me).

[DoubleTrouble]

Hi!

Congrats on getting the muscle up!

Wall slides are great, 10/10 would recommend. I did them for about 2 years after a shoulder dislocation. One thing I discovered near the end of the 2nd year is if I lay on my stomach on a bench and did the same motion with a very light weight (I used 1lb and worked up to 5lbs), it made the wall slides a lot easier.

I'm interested to see how you tackle the front lever, and curious about your top secret long term plan

[WhiteGhost]

On 8/4/2020 at 2:30 AM, Vidd said:

I have a top secret long term plan

Is it muscle up to front lever?  Because that is my secret long term plan. 

 

Uhhh, don't tell anyone, OK  

 

On 8/4/2020 at 2:30 AM, Vidd said:

I had no idea how to warm up for this lever training so I did a few dynamic stretches then went straight into it which probably wasn't ideal.

I was thinking about this as I was working on front levers myself a couple of days ago and realized that the best warmup I have, and would highly recommend, is slow controlled hollow body holds.  From a dead hang activate the shoulders, abs, and quads to get yourself into a nice curved hollow body hold for a few seconds and relax.  a few of those and you should be nice and warmed up.  If what I am describing doesn't make sense, let me know and I will film a few for you.

 

I have been doing these as a warmup for a couple of years now and have discovered this week that if I tuck one of my legs in, I can continue the shoulder activation from the hollow body hold and lift my chest all the way into a single leg lever.  

[Vidd]

@moms2sjm Yep same here I've been out of the office since March 15th I believe. What really gave me the inspiration to make that a priority was a meetup I had recently where I literally forgot how to communicate with other humans lol. The way it's looking I won't be returning to the office until 2021.

 

@Mike_Wazowski Thanks! Yeah I think basing workouts around a skill really gives me a roadmap and also something tangible to prove to myself what I'm doing is working... and not only that but break down mental barriers I've had about myself that came as a result of not being a very athletic kid. The more things I learn, the more I wonder just how much I'm capable of. The confidence just builds on itself. As for turning 30, I don't know how to wrap my head around it still but yay for not being alone in these feels! lol

 

@DoubleTrouble Thanks Huh that's interesting, I'll need to do some reading on that. I do own a weight vest and each of those blocks weigh about 2lbs so I could see about replicating that move on a surface of some sort by holding one of those blocks in each hand. No benches still, my plan is to remain gymless until at least Winter. One thing I've found with the wall slides is it actually tires my shoulder out real quick. I'll do 10 reps and my shoulders are exhausted which is strange because I'm not using any external resistance, I'm just sliding up the wall. I am noticing less cracks and pops when I move my shoulder so this is all really promising.

 

@Whiteghost Ok Muscleup into Front Lever sounds freaking cool and would really tie this challenge, and my previous altogether nicely into something awesome. That's not it, but now I have something else to tempt me lol. Okay, I'll spill, I've hid it in spoiler tags >.>

 

 

When I first saw this quarantine had just begun and I had fallen down into the calisthenics rabbithole as what was initially just me looking for a way to maintain my muscle long enough for the gym to open. I was stunned and had to replay the video. I'd never seen someone actually jump onto the bar it was like wizardry. It's one of those things you watch someone do and think it's impossible. So there may be a Vidd's Journey to the Top of the Bar V2 someday...we'll see.

 

The way I'm visualizing your warm up  is, it's almost like an L sit but the legs are only pointed up just enough so the abs are somewhat engaged. I have a feeling I'm completely off x_x lol

 

Alright so quick update on my goals

Goal #1: After doing so well Sunday with hitting just about 10k steps, I've really fallen short these past two days. I think Monday I only got 2.5k, and today 4k. I could list off some excuses but I just gotta commit to getting off my chair, taking my 15 minute breaks, and going for walks. It's really easy for me to just not move much at all during the day unless I really make a conscious effort due to my accounting job, and there is this strange almost community at work of everyone collectively not moving much, and feeling ok about it because no one else is moving either... I don't know if that makes sense I just need to avoid getting drawn into that inertia, and go my own way.

 

Goal#2 Called a friend and turned out she was really struggling at her new job. I think I called at the right time because she felt relieved to have someone to talk to about it all. It's easy to feel alone and isolated right now and I mostly listened, I could tell she mostly just wanted to be heard(I used to have a problem with being the 'solutions man' so I'm proud of myself for this lol). I did some more cleaning of my workstation. Threw out a bunch of energy drink cans, and other trash. I really need to upgrade to black coffee.

 

Goal#3 I spent some more time on the bar working on those requirements. I have some wins, and some losses. The win is I held an L-sit for 20 seconds, the loss is it wasn't actually an L-sit due to my back being so curved and legs not being as high as they should be. To work on this I need to keep working on my hamstring flexibility, and maybe instead of giving up once I can't hold it anymore, bring one leg in, and then change to the other leg, and when that is too hard, bring both legs in until it's a tucked L-sit, before finally ending the set. My next lever training session is going to be me really drilling the L-sit hard, because this is the first requirement, and the foundation to me having the core strength to execute all of the other progressions.

 

Tucked lever hold is actually a big win here. I did it for the 15 seconds, but when I say tucked, I was really tucked I was basically in a ball. So a way to advance on this is work on a flatter back and not being as tucked as before.

 

Upside down deadlift was a miss. I got my toes to the bar and tried to do it, but it just wasn't happening. So I think I'm going to just drill toes to the bar instead of trying to skip steps. How I got my toes to the bar was I raised up with my knees first, then straightened my legs once I was at the top. All in all I'm making some progress but still a long ways to go before I even get into the technique guide If I can get the park to myself I'll try to film a few clips of me working through some of these. I'll be back with another update on Thursday.

[raptron]

Oh dude, you could probably jump on the bar right now, lol. It's just a momentum and fear thing. Just try not to fall from a high bar... 😂

 

11 hours ago, Vidd said:

Goal#2 Called a friend and turned out she was really struggling at her new job. I think I called at the right time because she felt relieved to have someone to talk to about it all. It's easy to feel alone and isolated right now and I mostly listened, I could tell she mostly just wanted to be heard(I used to have a problem with being the 'solutions man' so I'm proud of myself for this lol).

Aww, yeah! That is awesome and like the whole point of a goal like this. I love it

 

[WhiteGhost]

23 hours ago, Vidd said:

The way I'm visualizing your warm up  is, it's almost like an L sit but the legs are only pointed up just enough so the abs are somewhat engaged. I have a feeling I'm completely off x_x lol

This is what I was trying to describe

 

23 hours ago, Vidd said:

Okay, I'll spill, I've hid it in spoiler tags

That second part of the move isn't really that hard, it's more mind game than anything.  You see it a lot in parkour to get on top of a wall or railing and if you want to learn that one there are tons of parkour tutorials for it.  You could easily have that move down in a month or less with a safe place to practice 

[PaulG]

As Raptron and WG said, the second half of that bar jump is actually pretty easy strength-wise. I’ve never been able to do a muscle-up but I’ve been able to do the jump half of that motion for years. I hear you though, finally being able to do that whole motion is a big part of why I want to achieve the MU myself.

 

If you ever show up at a PKV thing we can totes help you practice it. Raptron is also right that you will probably want to practice some falling-from-height drills first, just in case.
 

On 8/4/2020 at 9:29 PM, Vidd said:

I'll do 10 reps and my shoulders are exhausted which is strange because I'm not using any external resistance, I'm just sliding up the wall.

YEEEESSSSS. This is how you know it’s working! Embrace it! Let the ROM gains flow through you!!

 

On 8/4/2020 at 9:29 PM, Vidd said:

the loss is it wasn't actually an L-sit due to my back being so curved and legs not being as high as they should be. To work on this I need to keep working on my hamstring flexibility

I’ve been there too. Flexibility is a part of it, but there is also usually a component of missing hip flexor strength. Have you ever heard of pike compression drills? Those usually improve your L-sit height pretty quickly, they are like wall slides for your legs.

[Vidd]

Huh I always imagined hopping on the bar took some sort of insane explosive dip strength, but I would really need to try it myself to assess its difficulty. Learning to fall, first, would probably be wise yeah PKV is still on my radar, according to the website they've stopped accepting new students in their classes to keep things small due to the pandemic. I'm ok with this because before I delve into it I wanted to get to my goal leanness(Need to lose 10lbs). It's going to make traversing obstacles way easier if I'm not carrying extra bodyfat, and it's a big deal for calisthenics too. If I were to lose 10lbs I don't think I'd be stuck struggling in such low rep ranges on my one arm pushups, for example.

 

Anyway thanks for the encouragement you all, on the jump on the bar move. It may not be such a distant goal as I made it out to be.

 

@Whiteghost, Thanks for the video I really was visualizing it wrong, I can see how that can help warm you up for the actual front lever work. I'll give it a shot next training session(Saturday).

 

@PaulG, I've never heard of pike compressions, are they like a seated leg raise? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NU3HsSvP3Y

 

Alright quick update for what was meant to be my third session of training the front lever prereqs. The park was unfortunately swarming with people and I wasn't able to safely use the bar, I went for a walk instead, and 8k steps later(one goal achieved for the day at least!) I returned and saw it had cleared up some. I managed to do two L-sit holds before getting a call that I needed to get back home for dinner.

 

I can't say much progress was made today. I've really been dragging this past week. My next session is going to be on Saturday and I think with the stresses of work temporarily alleviated, and an ideal amount of sleep, I'll be set to make a solid stride in the right direction. My fear is I may end up getting stuck on these prereqs and never even actually get to the technique guide in this challenge. If that happens, it happens, sometimes a skill may take me more than one challenge to obtain, but we're still so early that I have no idea what will happen yet.

 

I'll be back tomorrow over in my battle log for an update on my usual strength work, have a great night

 

[Nyx, Daughter of Chaos]

13 hours ago, Vidd said:

I can't say much progress was made today. I've really been dragging this past week. My next session is going to be on Saturday and I think with the stresses of work temporarily alleviated, and an ideal amount of sleep, I'll be set to make a solid stride in the right direction. My fear is I may end up getting stuck on these prereqs and never even actually get to the technique guide in this challenge. If that happens, it happens, sometimes a skill may take me more than one challenge to obtain, but we're still so early that I have no idea what will happen yet.

 

Something I've been working on a lot lately, is that sometimes it's more about the journey towards the goal than the goal itself that matters. Don't get me wrong, setting/having/reaching for goals is great and *super* helpful, just don't feel bad if you don't reach the goal this challenge. It's not just about being able to *do* the thing, it's also about being able to do what it takes to get there, and sometimes that takes longer than we expect.

[Vidd]

@Luxia Yep that is very true.. When I chose to make this my challenge i knew it would really test me and maybe I wouldn't land it in my first challenge going after it but I'll at least be closer

 

Alright quick update on where ive been and my progress towards my goals. So this is turning out to be a reoccurring theme with my challenges. I somehow injured myself again bailing out of a handstand in an unsafe way after failing a rep. I banged the ball of my left foot pretty bad and my big toe got real swollen and lost most of it's range of motion.I detailed that situation a bit more in my battle log. I told my ex about it and she didn't even seem surprised she was like 'well if you'd stop training like a monkey and just do normal exercises...' Lol. The good news is I don't think this will be as big of a roadblock as the shoulder was in my muscleup challenge but it's still something I need to get checked out. Its improving every day and may put a bit of a freeze to my 8k steps a day goal as I rest it up but after work today I plan to work on some more lever drills.

 

Thanks again for everyone following and supporting me on this challenge. And I'll work on listening to my body a bit more. That entire week I was dragging and just didn't feel like myself so i should've backed off on the handstand pushups instead of trying to match my usual reps.

[WhiteGhost]

19 hours ago, Vidd said:

stop training like a monkey

If you want the awesome skills and abilities that a monkey has, you gotta train like one

[Mike Wazowski]

Training injuries are always the worst - double whammy of being injured (which sucks) and not being able to do the training you enjoy for a bit (which double sucks). Hope you've gotten some time to rest and recover this week so you can come back stronger!

[Vidd]

Thanks for the support. I've laid low some and this has been the longest I've gone without an update since I began logging my training here. This is because there hasn't been a lot to say. My situation has really changed because the park that has been such an amazing resource during this time of lockdown(Is it still lockdown?), is now constantly flooded with people, and other times my car just wouldn't start(I think I fixed this, fingers crossed).. There is an area for kids to play on, then a pullup/workout station that is intended for adults primarily, but kids love to climb up on it and I choose not to use it if there are kids already playing on it, and that has been the situation for some time now. The way its looking, I don't anticipate this changing until the weather gets cooler.

 

I still have a nearby school that receives far less visitors due to some construction going on there. It has parallel bars that I use to do my single-arm inverted rows. This has been my primary pulling move due to not having access to a great pull up bar. But yeah I'm halfway through this challenge and not a lot to show for it so far. One thing that is fully in my control is my weight loss goal, but even that has fallen by the wayside because with the foot injury my maintenance calories is now off because instead of 4-8k/steps a day, it's more like little to none.

 

Now about the foot, I have an appointment on Thursday to get this checked out. At this stage it's just painful to be on the foot for too long, or for long walks, but brief walks up and down the stairs, I don't really feel it. So I think for a normal person this wouldn't really be a big deal. But for someone with a lot of fitness goals it's something I need to get sorted out.

 

So to sum up all of this, I'm going to be freewheeling it a bit this challenge. I don't expect any big accomplishment to come from it, but I do hope I get a little closer to at least some of my goals. On the bright side even though this isn't a challenge goal, I've been very consistent with my shoulder health routine and am feeling better every day because of it. I also managed some at-home ab workouts for some of the days where my car was acting up. Anyway I'll be back hopefully tomorrow with another update

 

 

 

 

[raptron]

Aw, sorry about your workout space getting mobbed.

[Mike Wazowski]

Hey man! How's the injury recovery going?

 

Hope you're managing to stay positive in spite of the setback!

[Vidd]

Hey Mike, thanks for checking in on me. I heard back from the doc after my x-ray this morning and he sees nothing wrong bone-wise, and that if it doesn't improve in the next 4 weeks, that we'll try getting an MRI.

 

I've still been hitting my regular workouts but have admittedly entered into a bit of a slump. Some of it is my own doing, the other is the influx of people taking over what used to be my own private workout spot when this quarantine first began. This has demotivated me some because when it comes to training skills, frequency is important, not only to build the strength but also the neural pathways in your brain to even get yourself used to doing things you've never done before. So it feels like a one step forward, one step backward, because some days I can't use the bar, other days I can, so there is no consistency, I'm treading water and not getting any closer to meeting the requirements I outlined in my initial post for the front lever.

 

I also made a big decision recently and am not sure if I made the right move. I've been a member at my gym since 2013 and it was life changing signing up. I recently cancelled that membership. I made the right decision from a safety standpoint, but many people in my life are urging me to just 'accept the virus as a reality' and sometimes it feels like I'm the last guy in quarantine, and now that families are mobbing the parks as a last ditch effort to enjoy what's left of summer, I sometimes wonder if the gym could've been ok if I kept my mask on and used sanitizer.

 

Anyway with all this said, there are peaks and valleys when it comes to motivation and I've been hitting goal after goal for awhile now. This is a bit of a valley, but I'm not going to stay here. The front lever hasn't been abandoned. I have managed to start to shed some pounds as I planned to in this challenge. I believe I am 3lbs down, and so as long as I preserve my strength and muscle, each lb lost is going to make the lever easier when I am able to consistently train it.

[WhiteGhost]

4 hours ago, Vidd said:

I made the right decision from a safety standpoint, but many people in my life are urging me to just 'accept the virus as a reality' and sometimes it feels like I'm the last guy in quarantine, and now that families are mobbing the parks as a last ditch effort to enjoy what's left of summer, I sometimes wonder if the gym could've been ok if I kept my mask on and used sanitizer.

That's a rough situation to be in, but I think you are probably not going to regret acting safely 

 

4 hours ago, Vidd said:

The front lever hasn't been abandoned. 

Don't worry, the front lever will always be there waiting for you.  Keeping it as a long term goal is probably a healthy way to approach it, because it typically takes a long time to work up to it.

[PaulG]

Sorry to hear about your slump, I hear you. I think most, if not all, of us have been where you are now.

 

On 8/24/2020 at 6:46 PM, Vidd said:

I also made a big decision recently and am not sure if I made the right move. I've been a member at my gym since 2013 and it was life changing signing up. I recently cancelled that membership. I made the right decision from a safety standpoint, but many people in my life are urging me to just 'accept the virus as a reality' and sometimes it feels like I'm the last guy in quarantine, and now that families are mobbing the parks as a last ditch effort to enjoy what's left of summer, I sometimes wonder if the gym could've been ok if I kept my mask on and used sanitizer.

 

For what it's worth, I agree with WhiteGhost, I don't think you're likely to regret taking safety precautions. A lot of us, especially in the US, have started to think that safety against the pandemic is a matter of ideology. Even those of us who are worried about it have started to have our thinking pulled that direction. However, it's important to remember that these are not ideological decisions; our decisions are a matter of logic and risk assessment. It's entirely possible for you to accept the virus as a reality, and also intelligently choose the risks you are willing to take to expose yourself to it. Accepting the pandemic "as a reality", and even accepting that you may be exposed, is not the same thing as deciding that contracting it is inevitable.

 

Also, as far as that gym goes, I don't think cancelling your membership is something to feel bad about either. From a safety standpoint, even if you're not the only person on the playground, using that outdoor equipment is probably more safe than being indoors with a bunch of sweaty, heavily-breathing people, masks or not. And you can also use sanitizer outdoors while you're using that equipment, too.

 

On 8/24/2020 at 6:46 PM, Vidd said:

This is a bit of a valley, but I'm not going to stay here. The front lever hasn't been abandoned.

 

@WhiteGhost is totally right here too, the lever will still be here for you and you can certainly keep working on it, even if you're just practicing toes to bar and L-sits on a tree branch or a doorway pullup bar for a little bit.

 

It's also worth keeping in mind -- the full front lever takes a long time to attain, long enough that I don't know of anyone who hasn't experienced at least one or two setbacks along the way. It's really a months/1+ year-type goal. Even if you hadn't had the toe issue, I think just getting to the advanced tuck version would be impressive for a five-week timeframe.

 

If your main concern right now is equipment problems -- do you have a doorway pullup bar, or have you considered building one? Building a pullup bar is not difficult, and with that and a set of gym rings folks are usually set for pretty much anything upper body-related. Gym rings are not so popular an exercise tool that I'd imagine you need to worry about a shortage.