[SymphonicDan] and the Checklist [level 9]

[lucky fire dragon]

catching up on all the flippin adventures here

 

Whoohooo on all the PRs and the courage to join circus training, hats off to you there! Yay also on the frontflip progress and I see you got your core work done, so yay for that, too.

 

Love the enthusiasm you put into things, feels like they just have to give in to you and your body will have no choice but to get it, with all the joyful determination you have

Keep rocking!

 

Is there something you love that could be combined with the core work to make it more tempting?

[SymphonicDan]

Is there something you love that could be combined with the core work to make it more tempting?

 

Good thinking - I guess I tried to do that with setting up some of the items on this challenge's checklist (upstart, toes to bar etc.) but probably should have added more, like L-sit progressions. Truth be told, it's a lot harder to find targets for the core strength compared to the rest of the body. Lots of things I enjoy doing involve the core (gymnastics, climbing, rings) but while they require the extra strength, they don't train it, because if your core isn't sufficiently strong then you simply compensate with bad form or technique.

 

On the other hand, I love doing skin the cats now - they're great for the core if you go deep enough, and feel really nice

 

Today I went to the weightlifting gym. It was quiet so I used the squat rack lots and lots:

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• squat: my knee was bothering me earlier today, but it seemed fine during and after the squats. 1-rep max attempt of 100kg (good, but no PB) followed by AMPRAP @92.5kg (3 reps) for a PB and another item off my checklist Did some single-rep work sets at 97.5kg reducing eventually to 90kg. At the end of the session, did 55kg x 20 for kicks.
• pull-ups: new PR of 14 (up from 12) No 15th rep though, so I can't quite yet check off "15 pull-ups" from my checklist...
• weighted pull-ups: @20kg: new PR of 3 (up from 2) which I thought were at item on my checklist, but apparently I need to get 4 reps, so I'll have to wait Tried lifting 26.25kg and failed, so did a bunch more high-volume work with standard pull-ups and various hand positions.
• overhead press: another PR of 40kgx7, but it's one rep short of what I need for my checklist. I like that only recently was this the limit of what I could do for one rep, and now I'm smashing out 7 of them as if they're trivial! Tried 45kg again, but only got single reps.
• deadlift: wanted to go super heavy today, but got to 115kg and some dry skin on my hand was threatening to get really sore, so I thought it would be wise to quit for the day. I'm also not really making much progress on the deadlift, with just a 5kg increase over the last month

Challenge #2: core exercises: finished off with some advanced tuck holds on the dip bars, and some V-sit sit-ups

 

Challenge #3: understanding Spanish: I found out at work that I'm spending March involved in a project on Polish grammar haha, so that might confuse my Spanish a little I quite enjoy learning how languages work, so I'm excited to be doing it anyway. I did some listening to Spanish yesterday which just about brought me up to my target of 2 hours of Spanish for the week (I started early so my week 2 ended on Wednesday). Next week I want to get considerably more than 2 hours otherwise I'll consider it as a fail.

 

Tomorrow: eating all the food, heavy recovery time, football, and maybe Spanish.

[Mad Hatter]

Polish grammar is beastly, why are you doing that to yourself? having said that I could use with more Polish practice. Thanks for the reminder to go pick up a book again.

[lucky fire dragon]

what a grand day 

[raptron]

I'm still doubting that you lack the core strength to do a kip/upstart, not that core work isn't still very important for gymnastics training in general and a good goal to keep up. If you can do a set of 5 hanging straight leg raises toes-to-bar style and skin the cats, you can absolutely do a kip/upstart. It's timing, timing, timing! 

 

This video has some good drills and upstart-specific conditioning ideas if you are looking for more core work though:

 

 

Coach Meggin is also pretty awesome for explaining technique. 

 

[Nymeria]

 Truth be told, it's a lot harder to find targets for the core strength compared to the rest of the body. Lots of things I enjoy doing involve the core (gymnastics, climbing, rings) but while they require the extra strength, they don't train it, because if your core isn't sufficiently strong then you simply compensate with bad form or technique.

 

Yup.  I feel like my core is pretty strong, but I find it really hard to specifically train it, too.  I'm sure in part it's because I find a lot of core exercises kind of unpleasant.  I somewhat enjoy that muscle burning, close-to-failure feeling with arm muscles.  I just hate it with abdominal ones.  And ab DOMS are the worst.  I don't know what the answer is, so if you figure out a great way to train the core, let me know.  

 

I think the kip/upstart is also taught in parkour.  So, if it comes up in the next few weeks, and if they approach it differently than gymnasts do, I'll pass along whatever info they give.  

[Lara]

How do you manage to squeeze so many things in your days?

¡Bravo por el español!

[KB Girl]

5kg is really not so bad for the deadlift in 1 month! 

Congrats on the PRs, real nice progression

[SymphonicDan]

Polish grammar is beastly, why are you doing that to yourself? having said that I could use with more Polish practice. Thanks for the reminder to go pick up a book again.

Haha, I agree about the Polish grammar. I've done a similar project in the Czech language and I was glad I only had to understand it on a theoretical level rather than apply all the grammatical rules in real-time while having a conversation For this project I'm going to be managing/supporting a native Polish speaker who will be doing most of the work, but I still need to understand enough to advise them properly. Luckily it seems very similar to Czech, except for the past tense conjugation and the "sie <verb>" construction.

 

AND CRAZY LETTERS WITH BITS MELTING OFF THEM  Ä…ęąęąęąęąęąę

 

Still, at least the spelling/pronunciation isn't completely arbitrary, or made up of phrasal verbs of arbitrary meaning like in English

 

I'm still doubting that you lack the core strength to do a kip/upstart, not that core work isn't still very important for gymnastics training in general and a good goal to keep up. If you can do a set of 5 hanging straight leg raises toes-to-bar style and skin the cats, you can absolutely do a kip/upstart. It's timing, timing, timing!

Thanks for the videos I've made some notes haha. I can't even do one straight-leg toes to bar though (it's one of the tasks on my checklist). Until about a year ago I couldn't do it even with bent arms and legs... I can blame being tall with heavy legs for why I find it so hard, but that's not very helpful, so I think the remedy is to do lots of core exercises that involve lifting my legs, like some of the ones from the video.

 

Yup.  I feel like my core is pretty strong, but I find it really hard to specifically train it, too.  I'm sure in part it's because I find a lot of core exercises kind of unpleasant.  I somewhat enjoy that muscle burning, close-to-failure feeling with arm muscles.  I just hate it with abdominal ones.  And ab DOMS are the worst.

Ah so I'm not the only one I quite like ab DOMS, maybe because it's so rare for me lol... With arm exercises they're either easy or they're hard, so I do the hard ones and enjoy the exertion... but with core exercises they're either easy or they're plain awkward Maybe I should try out like 20 ab exercises and see which ones I respond to the best...

 

Friday: so much leg DOMS today it's ridiculous! Given that I was particularly good with warm-ups etc. yesterday I'm hoping it means that my workout was super effective and I'll be squatting 110kg in no time I do actually have some core DOMS yay, and my shoulders feel like the pull-up sets yesterday really worked them hard, so I'm excited to see how I'm lifting after I've recovered.

 

Challenge #2: core exercises: Football was cancelled today, but I went to the playground briefly for some core work:

• hanging leg raise to bar
• hanging advanced tuck hold

Last challenge: mental calculation training: I've completely neglected my training since I hit 35 dates calculated in a minute at the end of last challenge, so I did some training tonight and still hit 27 dates/minute. Seems that my skill hasn't reduced much in the last few weeks, so whenever I feel like training myself up to officially break the British record, I'm in reasonably shape to do so

 

Tomorrow: probably no strength work, except maybe for core and for ring push-ups (I don't have pec or tricep DOMS!) but I'll do some Spanish and should prepare the minor secret thing I mentioned a few days ago!

[Mad Hatter]

Haha, I agree about the Polish grammar. I've done a similar project in the Czech language and I was glad I only had to understand it on a theoretical level rather than apply all the grammatical rules in real-time while having a conversation For this project I'm going to be managing/supporting a native Polish speaker who will be doing most of the work, but I still need to understand enough to advise them properly. Luckily it seems very similar to Czech, except for the past tense conjugation and the "sie " construction.

AND CRAZY LETTERS WITH BITS MELTING OFF THEM ąęąęąęąęąęąę

Still, at least the spelling/pronunciation isn't completely arbitrary, or made up of phrasal verbs of arbitrary meaning like in English

LOL melty letters. very cute.

I actually have no idea about Polish grammar or how it compares to Czech, I go completely by what sounds right. These days I don't get it quite right a lot of the time I, but I suspect that if I tried to learn all the rules now I'd just end up really, really confused.

But hey, I might not be able to speak properly or write anything more advanced than the odd text to my grandma, but at least I'm an excellent speller. As you say, once you learn all the sounds you can pronounce and spell everything, as far as I know there are no exceptions. Not like English for sure.

Interesting project!

[SymphonicDan]

Challenge #4: no lame days: today is totally the nicest day so far this year in England - not quite T-shirt weather, but warm enough for people to be sitting around on the grass in the park. Summer must be only a few months away Anyway, I went for a slow shopping trip, watched a guy juggle knives on a unicycle, and decided it was so nice outside that I'd take the rings out to the park.

 

Challenge #2: core exercises: lots of deep skin the cats on the rings, plus several batman holds and batman twists (where you're inverted, hanging underneath the rings, and rotate your whole body 90 degrees to either the right or left. My core certainly does feel it now! I actually watched the sun set over the city of Cambridge while hanging out of a tree in the batman pose just before I packed away the rings.

 

Challenge #1: the checklist: tried to break my record for ring dips but only got 9 (PR is 10, and need 12 to accomplish the next checklist item). Then did lots of work sets on the dips, so maybe in a week's time I'll break the 12 mark. Tried some push-ups but they were uncomfortable in my stomach because I'd eaten a lot a couple of hours earlier so stopped (not quite sure how the skin the cats were fine but the push-ups weren't but never mind.

 

Should be getting the slackline out tomorrow, and we might get a good view of the Cambridge half marathon from it Failing that we'll just have to go elsewhere and use it. My leg DOMS was bad all day but after a tired spell in the evening it seemed to reduce substanially, so maybe the tiredness was my body recovering extra hard...

[raptron]

I also like ab DOMS -- except when laughing! ;P

 

Sorry I didn't realize you were not in the high straight legs raise category yet! For some reason, I thought I remembered you doing big sets of them. My apologies! Glad to see you are finding things that really engage your core. 

 

Jealous of the nice weather! Send some our way.

[lucky fire dragon]

ooooh, the weather is gorgeous over here in Germany, too and I can totally picture you on your rings in the park. Jealous of parks with jugglers on unicycles and most of all jealous of you training outdoors! Wish I could take my pole outdoors, but those things cost a fortune (sigh) - and I don't dare make a fool of myself in playparks (yet, who know's what's coming)

 

That is something I am so impressed with you: you just go out and DO all the things, no matter what anybody thinks, wow 

Yay for finding more core fun things!

 

Celebrating spring with you, mmmh

[SymphonicDan]

I also like ab DOMS -- except when laughing! ;P

 

Sorry I didn't realize you were not in the high straight legs raise category yet! For some reason, I thought I remembered you doing big sets of them. My apologies! Glad to see you are finding things that really engage your core. 

 

Jealous of the nice weather! Send some our way.

Ah maybe that was the V-ups? I can do those pretty well, but leg raise to bar is a different matter! Horizontal leg raises feel easy though, so I should do some on an inclined surface again (I tried this last summer and it worked well, but kinda fell outta that habit).

 

*blows warm weather in the direction of Boston*

 

ooooh, the weather is gorgeous over here in Germany, too and I can totally picture you on your rings in the park. Jealous of parks with jugglers on unicycles and most of all jealous of you training outdoors! Wish I could take my pole outdoors, but those things cost a fortune (sigh) - and I don't dare make a fool of myself in playparks (yet, who know's what's coming)

 

That is something I am so impressed with you: you just go out and DO all the things, no matter what anybody thinks, wow 

Yay for finding more core fun things!

 

Celebrating spring with you, mmmh

Start with something that you can do easily in the playground so you feel more comfortable with it (such as inverted rows?) and then you'll eventually feel more comfortable. I'm generally very self-confident about doing what I like in public spaces (within reason ) but it does take a time even for me to feel more comfortable in a new place. A few times I skipped pull-up or handstand training because I was self-conscious about the people in the park.

 

Here's an article written by a guy who's very ostentatiously practises Assassin-style training (in particular he does "tricking" (see point 11 or the article)) in public spaces and describes the confidence problems he's had: http://acrobolix.com/overcoming-tricking-shyness/In particular, read points 6, 7, 9, 11 and the final positive note.

 

And then re-read that positive note at the end, because it's so true but counterintuitive

 

Challenge #4: no lame days: I went to a half-marathon today - but despite my reputation for doing ALL THE THINGS, nope I wasn't competing, just spectating A friend was racing, and the course runs just 3 minutes' walk from my house so it seemed a shame not to go cheer the runners on.

 

Later, some more friends appeared with a slackline, so we ritualistically welcomed Spring to Cambridge by kicking our shoes off, setting up the slackline, and watching the quarter of the runners run past with only their last mile left to go.

 

Turns out that 6 months of no practice made very little impact on our performance, and after a few tries I gotthe whole way across the line again, woo It's been ages since I made my last physical training video (that was the handstand progress video) so I'm planning to make a slackline video later in the year, with whatever crazy stuff we get up to. Probably there will be jousting involved

 

A couple friends wanted to play with my rings during slackline time, so I brought them out too, but I was too DOMS'ed out and just did a couple skin the cats.

 

I've noticed that I'm often very tired/headachey on the weekend afternoons, and not sure why. I have several theories, but no confidence in any:

• not eating enough sugar on the weekends compared to the weekdays (or conversely, eating too much on weekdays)
• not drinking enough water (I think I'm drinking enough)
• not enough fresh air in my house
• eating too much salty food (usually I have very little salt)
• stress at figuring out plans (workdays are easy by comparison)
• exhausted by the preceding week

I should try fixing as many as possible next time I'm at home on the weekend, then I'll know whether it's fixed by one of those easy things, or whether I'll have change more things...

 

Challenge #3: understanding Spanish: had a particularly good conversation with Talvi today, including a role-play exercise for giving directions. If we never hear from her again it's because my instructions weren't good enough and she's terribly lost down some back alley  haha. There was more fluency today, and some of the notes from my notebook are already coming in useful

 

Tomorrow: probably gymnastics (and hopefully my legs will have recovered by then! (nearly there now....) I'll sleep early tonight!

[bbonzo]

I really want to get a slackline! Are they hard to setup? I've only tried it a couple times but it was really tough and really fun!

[SymphonicDan]

Yeah, slacklines are fun It takes my friend and I together less than 5 minutes to set up and less than 5 minutes to put away - so it's fine if you're going to have it out for an hour or so. Not sure how easy it would be by one person by themself.

 

They cost about $110 for the 25-metre version (maybe shorter ones are a bit cheaper) and you'll need two trees around which to tie each end. It is really tough when you start out, but slowly and surely you'll get better until you can stand quite comfortably, and then walk, and then do more fancy things

[lucky fire dragon]

 

Start with something that you can do easily in the playground so you feel more comfortable with it (such as inverted rows?) and then you'll eventually feel more comfortable. I'm generally very self-confident about doing what I like in public spaces (within reason ) but it does take a time even for me to feel more comfortable in a new place. A few times I skipped pull-up or handstand training because I was self-conscious about the people in the park.

 

Here's an article written by a guy who's very ostentatiously practises Assassin-style training (in particular he does "tricking" (see point 11 or the article)) in public spaces and describes the confidence problems he's had: http://acrobolix.com/overcoming-tricking-shyness/In particular, read points 6, 7, 9, 11 and the final positive note.

 

And then re-read that positive note at the end, because it's so true but counterintuitive

 

 

Great advice, thank you. Yes that last note hits the nail on the head

summer is coming with plenty opportunities and I will tell you how it went.

 

Our local playpark has some bars good for inverted rows and I even managed once to go up with a kind of pullover which made my kids giggle a lot, then try themselves, was a lot of fun. The vertical bar they have is no good for pole training really as it is built too close to the other things next to it, but now that I am learning new moves I might find stuff that can be done. Adventure for sure!

 

About headaches/tiredness on weekends:

lots of people have that really due to difference in rhythm and diet compared to during the week. My hubby for instance gets weekend headaches when he has way less coffee than during the week and relaxes too much (meaning body circuits are asking what's up) so now  I kick him out of bed first thing to make himself a cup of coffee - which gives me a nice cup of tea in the process   and it really does help (him) (and me...)

Jokes aside, I think checking the difference in habits is a good approach here!

[Nymeria]

 I can't even do one straight-leg toes to bar though (it's one of the tasks on my checklist). Until about a year ago I couldn't do it even with bent arms and legs... I can blame being tall with heavy legs for why I find it so hard, but that's not very helpful, so I think the remedy is to do lots of core exercises that involve lifting my legs, like some of the ones from the video.

 

 

How close are you to the straight-leg toes to bar?  I found that the best way to train myself to do them was to just start with my legs bent, and then progressively straighten them as I became stronger.  If you can do the motion with the knees fully bent, or you can at least lift the legs beyond horizontal, you should just be able to train the toes to bar rather than working on V-ups or other quasi related exercises.  The other weird thing is that even though when I film myself doing them, they look static, the motion really isn't at all static.  I feel like from the hang I'm REALLY STRONGLY jerking up with my legs and abs.  If I'm trying to be slow and static with the motion, I'll get stuck in an L hang.  

 

 

I'm jealous of the slack lining.  I've thought of buying one, but I'm not sure where I would be able to set it up.  I almost want to wall-mount some support fixtures in my basement, and then string it up there.  

 

I don't dare make a fool of myself in playparks (yet, who know's what's coming)

 

That is something I am so impressed with you: you just go out and DO all the things, no matter what anybody thinks, wow 

Yay for finding more core fun things!

 

 

On one of my first NF challenges, I had a goal of doing playground workouts however many times/week.  I was so self conscious at first, but eventually you just get used to any stares.  For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure I've had more positive feedback from people than weird stares.  I don't know if you have kids, but a lot of fun games can help you not feel weird but still get a workout.  You could always play parkour tag, or "the ground is lava".

[Ocelot]

That sounds like a truly gorgeous rings session. Fun fact: I was born in Cambridge. Only ever been back once though.

 

I'm going to buy some rings! Any recommendations, stuff to look out for, etc?

[SymphonicDan]

Great advice, thank you. Yes that last note hits the nail on the head

summer is coming with plenty opportunities and I will tell you how it went.

 

About headaches/tiredness on weekends:

lots of people have that really due to difference in rhythm and diet compared to during the week. (...) I think checking the difference in habits is a good approach here!

Yay, I wish you many fun summer adventures I think you're right about the difference in rhythm... maybe I should change my schedule so that my weekend/holiday days are more like my workdays (when I generally have lots of energy, except for today, bleuargh)

 

How close are you to the straight-leg toes to bar?  I found that the best way to train myself to do them was to just start with my legs bent, and then progressively straighten them as I became stronger.  If you can do the motion with the knees fully bent, or you can at least lift the legs beyond horizontal, you should just be able to train the toes to bar rather than working on V-ups or other quasi related exercises.  The other weird thing is that even though when I film myself doing them, they look static, the motion really isn't at all static.  I feel like from the hang I'm REALLY STRONGLY jerking up with my legs and abs.  If I'm trying to be slow and static with the motion, I'll get stuck in an L hang.  

 

 

I'm jealous of the slack lining.  I've thought of buying one, but I'm not sure where I would be able to set it up.  I almost want to wall-mount some support fixtures in my basement, and then string it up there.

I'll bear that in mind for the leg raises, thanks I often do it quite slowly, where maybe I should be doing it more forcefully.

 

Really for a slackline you'll need two trees I wouldn't try setting up one in your house because it puts a lot of strain on whatever it's attached to. I'm sure there are some appropriate trees nearby you can use?

 

That sounds like a truly gorgeous rings session. Fun fact: I was born in Cambridge. Only ever been back once though.

 

I'm going to buy some rings! Any recommendations, stuff to look out for, etc?

Cool

 

Main recommendation is to get one with at least 3 metres of cable, so you have more options about where you hang them and the height at which you hang them (for pull-ups, push-ups, etc. and the cool stuff in between)

 

Also the plastic ones are cheapest (£15) than wooden (£50) but the latter have more grip. I haven't had much problem with my wooden ones, but they make muscle-ups a little harder.

[SymphonicDan]

Just back from a gymnastics session, and feeling more positive about it than last week I was feeling super full from lunch before the class started (I didn't even have that much, so I'm not sure what that was about) but it didn't bother me at all during the session.

 

Challenge #1: the checklist:

• frontflips: still the same problems, but there were lots this time where I was mostly getting the hang of jumping up straight, pausing, and then tucking. Problem is that sometimes when I get it right I end up doing more than 1 rotation and land on my face haha. I wonder whether that is putting me off tucking tightly enough sometimes? Maybe I should try some double frontflips into the foam pit. I won't make it around, but it will teach me the aggressive long tuck that I need for a real single frontflip landed nicely on the ground.
• backflips: did I mention the foam pit? It's the first time I've used this for months, and the first time I've done any backflips for weeks, and I've always been too scared to do them anywhere without heavy psychological support from a spotter. Or a decorative chicken. I've had a theory for a while though that the spotters distract me from committing properly to the correct technique. I'm too worried subconsciously about not smacking them in the face haha. So today, without any spotting preamble, I just went to the foam pit, forgot that I'm supposed to be scared of these, and did them anyway I'm super pleased that I could overcome the fear (I've been working on these for nearly 2 years without much progress). Next, we put a crashmat on top of the foam pit so I could try landing them, and I just about get around to my feet every time yay, but I'm hitting the ground more than landing so I can work on that. Also, my tuck could be even tighter.

Gymnastics people: when you tuck and grab your legs, are you pulling with your arms to help hold the tuck at all? An instructor mentioned this today, which I've never thought of before and kinda makes sense, but then again I see people throwing backflips and loudly slapping their legs, so probably they're not using their arms much to help with the tuck?

 

Bonus: rope pull-ups: tried these for the first time and managed 8 okay. I thought they'd be a lot harder than bar pull-ups but apparently they're not too crazy!

 

Challenge #2: core exercises: I still have DOMS, and my core will probably respond well to the backflips.

 

I'm looking forward now to trying out the backflips on the tumble track on Wednesday, and maybe playing more with the high bar. I should also be going weightlifting afterwards on Wednesday, searching around for more PRs

[raptron]

Hmm, most people I know only tuck + PULL for double tucks or sometimes on their standing front tucks or back tucks. You should take some video of your front tucks. It sounds like you are not holding long enough when you try them on floor -- this is probably just from doing a bunch on the trampoline/tumble track, as you can't hold on too long when you do them on tumble track/trampoline or you land on your face. Spotting becomes pretty important for timing -- spot forward before you tuck and spot forward again or down when it is time to land. Maybe try just SEEING what is around you when you are throwing them into the pit?

[StoneMonkey]

Great challenge! I'd have been cheering you on far sooner if I'd known about it beforehand. 

Your challenge is remarkably similar to my own goals in gymnastics and body-weight training. Best of luck in achieving them! I'd very much appreciate some tips in the future.

 

Also, in regards to the front somersault, what progressions are you using to get the skill down? I've got a notepad detailing the progression I used to get front somersaults down, maybe it could give you a couple of ideas on training?

[SymphonicDan]

Hmm, most people I know only tuck + PULL for double tucks or sometimes on their standing front tucks or back tucks. You should take some video of your front tucks. It sounds like you are not holding long enough when you try them on floor -- this is probably just from doing a bunch on the trampoline/tumble track, as you can't hold on too long when you do them on tumble track/trampoline or you land on your face. Spotting becomes pretty important for timing -- spot forward before you tuck and spot forward again or down when it is time to land. Maybe try just SEEING what is around you when you are throwing them into the pit?

Ah, thanks for the advice I took some videos of the front tucks on the tumble track and on the floor, and on the tumble track I seem to barely tuck at all (but still land on my feet because I have enough height, so it's more like a layout). On the floor usually I tuck too early and get no height at all. My other problem on the tumble track is failing to jump up vertically - it's almost like I'm making the rotation just by rebounding off the tumble track at a funny angle haha. I think that if I iron out these mistakes then I'll have good frontflips, but gymnastics is complicated

 

I absolutely don't spot my landing ever for anything, but you're right, it's something I should start doing I think that just seeing what's around when I flip into the pit is good advice - means it will distract me to the minimum and I can start responding to what I see later.

 

Great challenge! I'd have been cheering you on far sooner if I'd known about it beforehand. 

Your challenge is remarkably similar to my own goals in gymnastics and body-weight training. Best of luck in achieving them! I'd very much appreciate some tips in the future.

 

Also, in regards to the front somersault, what progressions are you using to get the skill down? I've got a notepad detailing the progression I used to get front somersaults down, maybe it could give you a couple of ideas on training?

Hey, glad you've discovered us here are you thinking of becoming an Assassin in your next challenge?

 

For frontflips, rather than a progression, I've been gradually evolving my bad low frontflip onto my ass, to something more respectable. Some progression I did try include:

• high dive rolls, and dive rolls over a bar
• frontflips from springboard onto a raised padded surface
• fast sit-ups with the correct arm movements etc. for a frontflip

These were useful to an extent, but my problem was always that every time I tried a frontflip, my body would ignore the progressions and just do it badly again. So instead I'll do them, but concentrating on a different feature each time (hard tuck, tight tuck, powerful jump, vertical jump, arms straight up, looking ahead, arms coming down during the tuck, etc.) and slooowly it's getting there :S

 

Tomorrow: several gymnastics/weightlifting checklist items on my target list tomorrow... hopefully at least some of them will succumb to my efforts

[StoneMonkey]

Hey, glad you've discovered us here   are you thinking of becoming an Assassin in your next challenge?

 

For frontflips, rather than a progression, I've been gradually evolving my bad low frontflip onto my ass, to something more respectable. Some progression I did try include:

• high dive rolls, and dive rolls over a bar
• frontflips from springboard onto a raised padded surface
• fast sit-ups with the correct arm movements etc. for a frontflip

These were useful to an extent, but my problem was always that every time I tried a frontflip, my body would ignore the progressions and just do it badly again. So instead I'll do them, but concentrating on a different feature each time (hard tuck, tight tuck, powerful jump, vertical jump, arms straight up, looking ahead, arms coming down during the tuck, etc.) and slooowly it's getting there :S

 

 

 

I'm absolutely hoping to join the assassins for the next challenge. No question about it.

 

As for the front flips, you've got the basic progression that I went through. My coaches absolutely drilled me through these progressions and didn't let me progress until I could complete the exercises consistently.

One exercise that really got me understanding the movement was learning how to somersault over things. My coach stacked a couple of foam cubes on top of the mat I was trying to land on and told me to pretty much forward roll over them. This seriously helped with my blocking technique and transferring the horizontal momentum gained from the run-up into vertical momentum for the height.

Also, about the somersaults that go too far and end up causing a face-plant; I am no stranger to these! However, it might signify that you need to put a bit of work into your run-up and blocking (which, incidentally, took me ages to figure out myself.)

 

In any case, keep at it! Other than my awesome coaches, the main reason I managed to get my own somersault in a relatively short period of time was because I went at it like a mad dog.