[SymphonicDan] and the Checklist [level 9]

[lucky fire dragon]

ALL the PRs, whoooohooooooo!!!

 

better look after yourself well now, and the happy feelings from all the success will surely help

 

Am so impressed by all the pull-ups, I can only do a half one unassisted, so I goggle with big eyes at all of you who do full ones in sets like these.

Is the tuck hold that you hand and hold your legs up tucked in? If so, it'd be similar to one of the pole moves I am training, excited to see you rock these, will add incentive for me So far I can hold them for ever so briefly only and I'll have to check my feet being higher than my hips.

 

Wishing you the best rest for all your adventures to come again!

[Mad Hatter]

Way to start the challenge!!!

What kind of weird handstands were you doing? The two most likely candidates that come to mind are Mexican handstands and contortion handstands. Both of which could easily lead to crazy DOMS if you're not used to it. And even if you're used to it to be honest.

[Ocelot]

Whoa, its day three and already this thread has achieved about as much as the average challenge thread in the whole 6 weeks.

 

Slight exaggeration maybe? No not really, haha.

 

Great work. I love the checklist idea. Makes it easy to see and follow your progress. I might borrow the idea for my as-yet-undefined life goal.

[SymphonicDan]

ALL the PRs, whoooohooooooo!!!

 

better look after yourself well now, and the happy feelings from all the success will surely help

 

Am so impressed by all the pull-ups, I can only do a half one unassisted, so I goggle with big eyes at all of you who do full ones in sets like these.

Is the tuck hold that you hand and hold your legs up tucked in? If so, it'd be similar to one of the pole moves I am training, excited to see you rock these, will add incentive for me So far I can hold them for ever so briefly only and I'll have to check my feet being higher than my hips.

 

Wishing you the best rest for all your adventures to come again!

I remember in 2013 when I couldn't even do one properly - once you get them you'll be doing sets of 3-5 before too long Keep working at them - the difficult part is working up to them in the first place.

 

And yep for the tuck, it's part of the standard progression for any static hold (like the L-sit) involving having your legs at horizontal (L-sits, levers, and undoubtably many pole moves) - you do:

• tucked, as tightly as you want
• advanced tuck, where you open out your knees to about 90 degrees and keep your feet higher than your hips
• one leg straight and the other leg bent (both legs)
• straddle (legs straight but as far apart as you need)
• both legs straight in the proper position

 

Way to start the challenge!!!

What kind of weird handstands were you doing? The two most likely candidates that come to mind are Mexican handstands and contortion handstands. Both of which could easily lead to crazy DOMS if you're not used to it. And even if you're used to it to be honest.

Wall handstands, but with the hands farther from the wall than usual, and then looking forward at the wall and bringing the feet as low as possible, like toes-to-head, arching the back as much as possible. It looked passive enough, but probably still quite likely to give DOMMMMS

 

Whoa, its day three and already this thread has achieved about as much as the average challenge thread in the whole 6 weeks.

 

Slight exaggeration maybe? No not really, haha.

 

Great work. I love the checklist idea. Makes it easy to see and follow your progress. I might borrow the idea for my as-yet-undefined life goal.

Haha, I've only checked off two of the easiest ones so far... the big challenges like the 110kg squat, 30kg weighted pull-ups and the frontflips are still a way off! You have your challenge up yet? If so, you should update your signature so I can dive in and stalk you

[Lara]

Lots of PRs to start the challenge! Bravo!

[Mad Hatter]

Those are contortion handstands. And they are not passive at all, the upper back has to work like crazy. They're more strenuous to hold and get into than regular handstands but actually a bit easier to balance because of the lower center of gravity. Mexican handstands are still arched but with fully extended shoulders. Never tried them though, even against a wall, but I imagine they are really difficult to hold because of the shoulder angle.

[SymphonicDan]

Those are contortion handstands. And they are not passive at all, the upper back has to work like crazy.

 

Ah cool Strange that I didn't feel my back working much at the time, but I guess I was distracted by executing the new position correctly and didn't realise that my back was doing crazy eccentric work to hold me up!

 

Last couple of days have been full of DOMS and good food and water... I have weird DOMS in my abductors (outside side of the thigh) which must be from squatting, but i don't know how... I have standard DOMS in my triceps, presumably from pushing boundaries with the overhead press... and lots of other DOMS that didn't hang around for too long... must've been a good workout to necessitate all this recovery!

 

Today I went climbing, with a few friends including one who had never climbed before, so that was fun... my muscles hadn't recovered enough to do any muscle-up work, but I did the crazy jumping balancing 7a-rated climb again, just because it's not often I get to complete anything harder than a 6a. I can't do normal dynos though - my timing is always all wrong and I end up not using my legs much...

 

Challenge #2: core exercises: haven't done nearly enough core stuff since the weekend (just general weightlifting/climbing stuff) so I should fix that soon - maybe at the park after football on Friday, with rings on Saturday, or just bodyweight exercises at home...

 

Challenge #3: understanding Spanish: from Thursday-Wednesday I had 2 hours of speaking with Talvi, 30 minutes of note-taking and 10 minutes of reading my Spanish book, so that's my Spanish time criteria accomplished for this week Still haven't done any listening to the radio in Spanish, but that can be fixed soon!

[raptron]

WHOA WHOA WHOA.

 

BOOYAH! 

 

Nice lifts!

[Lara]

[SymphonicDan]

Challenge #4: no lame days: today was a good day for going outside and doing things In fact I've hit several PRs on a workout I wasn't expecting to do!

 

So I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about things this morning, but just about persuaded myself that I ought to have a haircut before I look like a hedge... and remembered that there's a good rings location nearby the barber's where there's lots of space, so I brought my gymnastics rings on the off-chance that I felt like suspending myself beneath a playground zipline on a dreary February afternoon.

 

There's also a circus group in Cambridge that I knew have casual practice sessions where I could work on frontflips and handstands etc., but I'd never summoned up the courage to go check it out. What happens if it's really busy and I don't have room to do anything? What happens if they don't actually have crashmats to crash onto? What happens if next weekend is a better time than now to check it out?

 

Anyway, I wore my blue gymnastics shorts under my jeans, just to leave the option open to go bounce around an unfamiliar room if the fancy took me, although deep down I highly doubted it...

 

I nearly did none of these things, but somehow - maybe because I had been reading a book about motivation while queueing for the barber's haha - I took a small detour to the zipline and before I knew it I was having a full-blown rings workout followed by two hours of flips and hand balancing at the circus

 

More details about the rings later (some cool PRs!) but the circus thing was pretty good. There were just 3 of us there, in an annexe of a church with hard wood floors. The others were mainly juggling but joined in a bit with my gymnastics stuff. Because gymnastics is cool and everyone wants in

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• pull-ups: casual set of 9 despite not (yet) being warmed up
• upstarts: found a place to drill a preparatory drill for this... although it turns out that I'm even worse at this when not warmed up
• ring muscle-ups: I could do these, but not negatives of them (negatives of most skills require less strength but more control). Furthermore, I've never done them on my slippery plastic rings anywhere where there's enough height to not cheat with my leg positions. Well today I had all the space to do these properly, and furthermore managed the negatives fine, and as a result got a set of 3 muscle-ups all with good form So, that's two items off my checklist, and +0.50 CHA yay. I think sets of 5+ will be very manageable soon
• horizontal ring rows: this wasn't on my checklist, but anyway, I got a PR of 13 today (feel I should be much better at these)
• archer ring rows: 5 on my right arm, and 0 on my left. Strange, as my arms are pretty well-balanced usually
• ring dips: new PR here of 8 (up from 10) but I'll need 12 to start getting points on my checklist
• frontflips: set up a thick crashmat, a thin mat for jumping off (for safety of falling back, and also to get more friction)... The mat makes it harder to get the proper amount of height, but I'm happy to practise in a difficult set-up like this as it will make it easier when I try it on plyo floor or on grass. I think I only actually landed one on my feet rather than my ass, but I feel I made progress in terms of jumping up straight and tucking at the right time. Plus I now have a new place in which to practise

Challenge #2: core exercises: did a few skin-the-cats and batman holds on the rings, the flips are core exercises, and did some work on handstands and crow pose at the circus. Nothing very strenuous for the core though, maybe I'll do that tomorrow as some friends want to play with the rings with me.

[Mad Hatter]

Nice PRs! But really awesome that you mustered up the courage to join the circus!

[Nymeria]

You've had such an amazing start to the challenge.  The PRs are everywhere!

[Lara]

So cool you decided to go to the circus group!!

[SymphonicDan]

Today I have DOMS is strange places... my upper tricep (I think that's from the muscle-up negatives) and my right hip (okay that might just be a bruise) and probably I should've done more for recovery... I slept too late yesterday and didn't eat much today until 3pm...

 

Still, today three of my friends wanted to use my rings as it was beautifully sunny, so I brought them to my favourite tree branch (is it weird to have a favourite tree branch? haha) and set them up. Unfortunately it was hilariously windy, which meant two things:

• you had to chase the rings around to catch them before doing any exercise with them
• it was super cold even in 3 layers

Because of the latter point we didn't stay long, but I found out that one of my friends is actually quite good on the rings! He can't quite do dips, but can do skin the cat and batman holds and some other stuff really easily, so hopefully he'll do more training with us.

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• ring push-ups: only thing I worked on today really was these - hit 15 while feeling like I were in a wind tunnel, and with a branch that was swaying slightly in the wind... and did some more work sets afterwards so that I might be able to hit 20 sometime soon and work up from there

Challenge #2: core exercises: hmm, nothing because it was too cold to do much I'm at a grade D for this so I need to fix that. I'm actually planning to make a plan of things I need to do to help me complete as much of this challenge as possible, otherwise I'll end up ignoring about 1/3 of it as usual!

 

Challenge #3: understanding Spanish: spoke with Talvi today, which was good but I wasn't as fluent as normal. Found some more phrases for my notebook though. Ya estoy a punto de escribirlos.

 

Challenge #4: no lame days: shopping and rings and shopping, so today was officially also not lame

 

Tomorrow: probably gymnastics, but that depends on my ride confirming

 

Other things: I've had a secret project going on for the last 12 months - so secret that I didn't even let myself know about it - I should be sharing some of the results soon And I've ordered more protein powder so that I don't have to eat a ludicrous amount of animal to get enough protein in my diet. I feel I have loads of the protein powder but calculation shows me that it's actually <10g/day which seems fine.

[KB Girl]

Working on something without knowing about it seems tricky, I'm curious! 

Congrats on the mu negatives, that's great

[Mad Hatter]

That's one well kept secret.

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

 

More details about the rings later (some cool PRs!) but the circus thing was pretty good. There were just 3 of us there, in an annexe of a church with hard wood floors. The others were mainly juggling but joined in a bit with my gymnastics stuff. Because gymnastics is cool and everyone wants in

• frontflips: set up a thick crashmat, a thin mat for jumping off (for safety of falling back, and also to get more friction)... The mat makes it harder to get the proper amount of height, but I'm happy to practise in a difficult set-up like this as it will make it easier when I try it on plyo floor or on grass. I think I only actually landed one on my feet rather than my ass, but I feel I made progress in terms of jumping up straight and tucking at the right time. Plus I now have a new place in which to practise

 

 

 

Way to go trying someplace new!  Always scary!  Great work on front tuck progression too!

[SymphonicDan]

Gymnastics!

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• frontflips: will I ever get these? My lower legs were sore today from the flips on hard ground on Saturday, so I concentrated on the rotation part today by using the tumble track. It seems that I can complete the frontflips without actually tucking properly, and still land on my feet standing fully straight. Problems are that I don't seem to be able to put much tuck in there anyway; I'm still diving forward even when I think I'm jumping directly straight up, and I don't land the frontflips, but rather the ground just meets me at some point Not sure what to do here... maybe I should try exaggerating the upwardness of the jump by jumping backwards? Maybe I should try some onto crashmats where I land in the foetal position rather than attempting to land on my feet?
• upstart: now I've been practising the upstart drill a bit, I'm finding it much easier to get the correct rhythm for this, and I think I almost have the technique sorted now The main weak point is still my core, so that's what I should work on BUT KEEP NOT DOING, GRRR.
• cartwheels: intended to work on these but didn't (mentioning this for shame more than anything else haha)
• muscle-ups: actually couldn't do these today, but I think it's because I have lots of DOMS from these over the weekend, so I'm not bothered, and left these muscles to heal properly so I can come back and do them another time
• backflips: the foam pit at Huntingdon is finally available again, so I have no excuse now not to start working on these. I actually could have done it today but forgot, so that's another fail on my part...

Challenge #2: core exercises: again, didn't do anything except for the flips, where I never feel myself doing much tucking so that doesn't count... I guess I did some skin the cats and some upstart drills, but that was minimal.

 

Sorry, I feel quite negative writing this, although it was a fun gym session overall and that's why I'm doing it.

 

Tomorrow: probably a quick core session, and then do Spanish or something

Wednesday: gymnastics and maybe weightlifting, I'll see how I feel

[Mad Hatter]

Yes you WILL get the front flips.

Are you working with a coach by the way?

[SymphonicDan]

Yes you WILL get the front flips.

Are you working with a coach by the way?

 

It has now been foretold! Those frontflips shall be mine! I have high hopes for gymnastics tomorrow. I'm going to focus on tight aggressive tucks. There are coaches in the two gymnastics places I go to, and I often ask questions about how to improve. The coaches are useful, but I find it's often difficult to put into practice what they suggest even though it's obviously correct and important... my body just does its own thing

 

Challenge #3: understanding Spanish: listened to the radio, and understood a decent amount but I still get lost very quickly (especially when someone's speaking English in the background and I'm trying to concentrate on the language which to me is foreign!) I also made a page more notes in my note book. "Sin embargo"; "estar a punto de dormirme", "de hecho", "apenas me había levantado", etc. All grammar phrases that I keep slipping into English for because I never knew a nice way of saying it in Spanish.

[Mad Hatter]

It has now been foretold! Those frontflips shall be mine! I have high hopes for gymnastics tomorrow. I'm going to focus on tight aggressive tucks. There are coaches in the two gymnastics places I go to, and I often ask questions about how to improve. The coaches are useful, but I find it's often difficult to put into practice what they suggest even though it's obviously correct and important... my body just does its own thing

Doesn't that sound familiar.

It's good that the coaches are helpful. Sometimes a second pair of eyes is what's needed. And sometimes it's just trying things over and over and over again...

[Nymeria]

The coaches are useful, but I find it's often difficult to put into practice what they suggest even though it's obviously correct and important... my body just does its own thing

 

I'm having the same problems with parkour right now.  I'm sure you'll eventually get there.    Maybe using the foam pit for the front flips will help, too, just so you can completely forget about the landing or anything other than the tuck, and then focus exclusively on that tuck.  At least, I've found that if I'm thinking about too many things at once, it's tough to correct the details, whereas if I can prune away some of those things, I can usually manage to make my body cooperate a bit better.  

[raptron]

Stupid bodies not knowing when to listen! 

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

When I get told to change something or try something different, I end up concentrating on it so hard the rest of the skill goes to hell and I usually fall on my ass. But I keep doing that over and over till that change I was focussing on becomes what my body does more naturally and can focus more on the whole skill again instead of one part.

[SymphonicDan]

I'm having the same problems with parkour right now.  I'm sure you'll eventually get there.    Maybe using the foam pit for the front flips will help, too, just so you can completely forget about the landing or anything other than the tuck, and then focus exclusively on that tuck.  At least, I've found that if I'm thinking about too many things at once, it's tough to correct the details, whereas if I can prune away some of those things, I can usually manage to make my body cooperate a bit better.  

Yeah, it's definitely important to prune away some of the details like the landing, but luckily the crashmats or tumble track take care of that I think the tuck has atrophied because I've spent most of my concentration recently on getting the jump right (its it's still not right but it's improved!)

 

When I get told to change something or try something different, I end up concentrating on it so hard the rest of the skill goes to hell and I usually fall on my ass. But I keep doing that over and over till that change I was focussing on becomes what my body does more naturally and can focus more on the whole skill again instead of one part.

This is so true But what I find works best is to start by getting the first part of the movement correct (so for frontflips it's the jump) and then once that is second-nature, work on the next parts (like the tuck, and the landing). I found the same with handstands - I had to get the hands/shoulders in place first, and only then would I be able to concentrate on other parts of the skill (like the core position).

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• frontflips: practised the super-straight jumping, which I think helped, and also got the crashmat back so I could safely tuck as hard as possible without any worry about the landing, and actually had some where I felt my core doing some work, which is novel! So I think I'm getting the hang of this a bit better
• upstart / glide kip: the instructors said the next thing I need to work on is the strength of pulling my feet from the extended position to the bar as fast as possible (at the moment I'm slow) but otherwise it's looking okay... so I'll continue practising the relevant exercises
• cartwheel: did some lame attempts... seems I need to drive my first leg up harder and keep my hands on the ground for longer
• pull-ups: set of 11 out at the playground, with heavy clothes and in the cold, so that was pleasing
• bar false-grip pull-ups: first one was okay, but the second rep felt bad on my wrists, so I was probably losing strength in the false grip... should just be a case of more practice

Challenge #2: core exercises: a few sets of L-sit swings, hanging leg raises on stall bars, and hung from a bar with my knees and did some sit-ups. I would've done some more but I was supposed to be going to a friend's to teach her how to play guitar.

 

Tomorrow: probably weightlifting (will I hit the 105kg squat?) and need to do another 30 minutes of Spanish of some form either tonight or Thursday

Friday: football and maybe core exercises