The Assassin's Path

[Mad Hatter]

I have never checked. If I were committed to a single type of training then both 600 euros and one off feedback seems entirely reasonable to me. You're right in that 12 weeks is a very short period in handstand time, but then again I pay loads for classes anyway and I don't mind spending money on training.  And then I'd have someone that I could call "my" coach, which I love the thought of. The problem is that I'd be a garbage student wanting to do 18 different things, at the same time, and tire myself out doing stupid shit instead of the training plan.  Maybe one of these days.

[WhiteGhost]

11 hours ago, @mu said:

@WhiteGhost I have really sore anterior delts and triceps today and I blame you for that

Your welcome ?

 

My pecs, traps, and middle delts are dead today and I blame whoever invented gymnastics rings

[KB Girl]

Very reasonable pricing.. especially for quality feedback. 
 

and hah @Mad Hatter I feel you on being a terrible student  people tell me all the time I should get a coach, but I don’t want to inflict myself on anybody. 

[@mu]

On 4/8/2020 at 9:42 PM, Mad Hatter said:

And then I'd have someone that I could call "my" coach, which I love the thought of. 

 

Years ago, when I started powerlifting, I hired a coach (not online, I'd go to the gym with him) and I totally see what you mean, it was awesome I really enjoyed that kind of 1 to 1 relationship "master/apprentice" on skills.

 

15 hours ago, KB Girl said:

people tell me all the time I should get a coach, but I don’t want to inflict myself on anybody

 

You are not too much of a ranger type though, are you? What is it that you feel would be that bad?

 

Wednesday => rest

 

Thursday

 

Warm-up – from the bent-arm series I could tell my body was not recovered enough, ouch... the DOMs...

Some ball work + silks (alignment / straddle) + leg raises

HS prep => definitely too tired, I could barely kick up

Straddle flag chest to wall => got a feel for it (hinging and not rotating), but that was it. I was too tired and getting sloppy (parallettes chest to wall is a little tricky), I did not push it and stopped after 3 sets. Tomorrow will be rest again.

It was probably good for the DOMs to train some but wooaaaa I'm so dead right now.

 

Friday => rest

 

Following our previous discussion, I checked Handstand Factory podcasts and I looked up their programmes again. I had pretty much ignored “Push harder” because it's presented as a OAH programme and I'm not ready for that, plus a lot of the OAH drills are not exactly parallette friendly. I though I might buy the earlier programmes when I start getting more consistent on blocks and progress from there, or when I want to start working on the lower press for instance. That was my reasoning.

 

But this time, I looked it up and in the blurry table of contents I saw “Head in” and “Flagging”, and I was like, wait, tell me more.... Because I'm working on those exactly based on room 21 videos. The videos are good and my seven has improved. BUT I'm a little stuck with head in and they are not breaking it down really. Same for flags (That's the bit Kirsty helped with.) Room 21 is not really a programme, it gives a lot of ideas and things to try out with samples in good form but that's it.

 

After some yes/no/yes/no cat-in-the-door pondering, I bought the Handstand Factory programme. I'd like to get the earlier ones too, but the whole package was a bit too much for my level of buying spree.

 

So I read the “head in” part and it's really cool! It explains EXACTLY the difficulties I have come across. It's broken down in small progressions with static time and rep ranges. And a nice little routine to try out with a head-in seven!

I started checking the flag section as well and the first bit is exactly what Kirsty suggested and I already know from her what I have to watch out for.

 

I haven't finished to read it all yet and I have to watch the videos. But it looks like there is actually a lot of prep work that I can do on my parallettes and on 2-arms before having to think about actual OAH drills (which would require me to have the same fluency on blocks that I have on pbars). There is a flexibility section as well. The programming section also looks interesting. There are beginner and intermediate sections that'd fit well with my current level (they include press to HS work). I don't foresee working on the advanced bits anywhere in the near future. But there is definitely enough biscuit to chew on in the first levels! Overall it looks much more accessible than I thought it would be.

 

I'm excited! I have a lot to think about between Kirsty's feedback + this new chunk of input data, some re-programming is likely to happen soon. 

 

[WhiteGhost]

Woohoo, so great to find the exact details you were looking for. Major win there 

[KB Girl]

That is exciting! Good buy

 

2 hours ago, @mu said:

 

You are not too much of a ranger type though, are you? What is it that you feel would be that bad?

Hm.. Id want to know the reason behind everything and I’d disagree with everything and I have no will to suffer or any work ethic really. 
ok that last one is a little harsh, but the rest is truth. 

[Mad Hatter]

Cooool, I'm glad you like the program! Mikael really is one of my favourite teachers. He's got an excellent balance between nerdy precision/analytics and grind and suffering!  

 

I'd say that the program I got is definitely too low level for you. If you have specific questions I'm happy to share, because honestly I don't think it's worth it for your training level. 

 

3 hours ago, @mu said:

Years ago, when I started powerlifting, I hired a coach (not online, I'd go to the gym with him) and I totally see what you mean, it was awesome I really enjoyed that kind of 1 to 1 relationship "master/apprentice" on skills.

One day I will try!

 

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

Id want to know the reason behind everything

This is not necessarily being a bad student...

 

1 hour ago, KB Girl said:

I have no will to suffer

Hahaha so what you're saying is that you wouldn't want to inflict your own coaching on yourself?  

 

 

[KB Girl]

17 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Hahaha so what you're saying is that you wouldn't want to inflict your own coaching on yourself?  

Yes

But really, from this side of the fence.. It’s this winning of trust (in your methods, in that you’re seeing them as unique, in that you’re balancing cost/reward for them specifically) and if you have the trust then you can ask them to do all sorts of things because they’ll trust it’s going to make them better..

I just don’t think I could find someone I can trust like that

[Mad Hatter]

3 minutes ago, KB Girl said:

Yes

But really, from this side of the fence.. It’s this winning of trust (in your methods, in that you’re seeing them as unique, in that you’re balancing cost/reward for them specifically) and if you have the trust then you can ask them to do all sorts of things because they’ll trust it’s going to make them better..

I just don’t think I could find someone I can trust like that

I can see that. When you're at that high a level the pool of potential coaches gets very, very small in an already small sport. Then you'd have to exclude the ones who only train Russian machines. Then you'd have to find someone who has a very similar philosophy because otherwise you'd just end up clashing all the time... Maybe a similarly level training partner would work better? 

[@mu]

I'm glad a longer week-end is coming. I spent a good part of the day talking to a hardware security module and on one specific request, it keeps giving me bloody easter eggs in ascii art ? I always find it a little bit exciting to talk to actual hardware but I've reached my threshold just right now.

 

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I can see that. When you're at that high a level the pool of potential coaches gets very, very small in an already small sport.

 

Mhm, yes, I can see that too. Sometimes it can be worth looking outside your field for complementary rather than perfect match?

 

7 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Cooool, I'm glad you like the program! Mikael really is one of my favourite teachers. He's got an excellent balance between nerdy precision/analytics and grind and suffering!  

 

I'd say that the program I got is definitely too low level for you. If you have specific questions I'm happy to share, because honestly I don't think it's worth it for your training level.

 

ha ha yes, I like his insta feed, I like his kind of humor too   I did get a little bored by repetitive 1-arm L-sit press to HS   but it's still oddly interesting to watch and I usually find interesting what he has to say. 

 

I'm not sure that's true (too low level). I would definitely benefit from it on blocks for instance. And it wouldn't hurt on parallettes. As you know, I kinda started with P2, which might be a bit of an unusual start for HS practice. I'm sure there are drills in Handstand Factory that I haven't come across or not done properly. Blunt practice can get me there eventually but a little technique or a progression plan can really make practice much more efficient. For instance, in the "head in" section, it seems I have worked it backward a little by starting to practice it in seven when I actually can't hold a full head in straight HS more than a couple of seconds. I do practice that one as well but not at all to the range of overall static time that they indicate (30-45s). I might be at 6s overall, at best. 

 

What sort of shape transitions do you have in your programme? I can roughly see it's about straddle / tuck / diamond (is there a difference with froggy?) / pike.

Are there little routines like the one I made up (straight / straddle / seven / close tuck / open tuck)? I'm not that smooth in those transitions, nor super consistent. It's fun though, I really enjoy those.

 

Talking about slightly backward, the one thing I fear a little is to be told off because I primarily train on parallettes. You know.... to be told that I should first get a good HS on the floor before thinking about trying flags on anything else. Which I think is true to some extent and I am starting to come down a little from parallettes via blocks. But parallettes are the one tool that really made me stick to HS practice. I have tried before and I'd lose interest after a while. I just don't have the same level of attraction / grind endurance on the floor ?

 

Have you used the reddit group at all?

 

[KB Girl]

8 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I can see that. When you're at that high a level the pool of potential coaches gets very, very small in an already small sport. Then you'd have to exclude the ones who only train Russian machines. Then you'd have to find someone who has a very similar philosophy because otherwise you'd just end up clashing all the time... Maybe a similarly level training partner would work better? 

You do overestimate my skills as an athlete! But the philosophy/methodology match is a must otherwise I’ll go crazy. I don’t know anyone I’d really align with.. yes, one, but he’s crazy. 
 

7 minutes ago, @mu said:

Sometimes it can be worth looking outside your field for complementary rather than perfect match?

That’s brilliant actually. May look into that when I’ve rehabbed a bit! 
 

 

[KB Girl]

I obviously can’t follow even half of the HS talk here, but two things come to mind;

 

1. The simple program might work really well, drilling those ‘simple’ things really help widen the base of the skill pyramid.. 

 

2. there are more ways to Rome right? Starting from paralettes probably gives you some advantages! And if anyone would tell you off, then fuxk em. 

[Mad Hatter]

10 hours ago, @mu said:

ha ha yes, I like his insta feed, I like his kind of humor too   I did get a little bored by repetitive 1-arm L-sit press to HS   but it's still oddly interesting to watch and I usually find interesting what he has to say. 

Same! I skip over the 1 arm presses, except for when there's a rant coming, those are pretty entertaining haha. The main lesson there is that the grind never ends ?

 

10 hours ago, @mu said:

Blunt practice can get me there eventually but a little technique or a progression plan can really make practice much more efficient.

And here lies the problem with training without a coach. One one hand you learn a lot by making mistakes and trying to figure out how to fix them on your own, on the other hand it will be a less efficient process. Pros and cons!

 

10 hours ago, @mu said:

What sort of shape transitions do you have in your programme? I can roughly see it's about straddle / tuck / diamond (is there a difference with froggy?) / pike.

Are there little routines like the one I made up (straight / straddle / seven / close tuck / open tuck)? I'm not that smooth in those transitions, nor super consistent. It's fun though, I really enjoy those.

Froggy and diamond are the same, one just has a prettier name haha. Maybe froggy should be the flexed feet version. I think there's both combos and a lot of free play with the shape changing, but those come later in the program. Towards the end there's also this rotational splits thing that could be nice for you and also playing with asymmetric shapes. I'll check in more detail and get back to you!

 

10 hours ago, @mu said:

Talking about slightly backward, the one thing I fear a little is to be told off because I primarily train on parallettes. You know.... to be told that I should first get a good HS on the floor before thinking about trying flags on anything else. Which I think is true to some extent and I am starting to come down a little from parallettes via blocks. But parallettes are the one tool that really made me stick to HS practice. I have tried before and I'd lose interest after a while. I just don't have the same level of attraction / grind endurance on the floor ?

I really don't think so, there's nothing that says you have to train on the floor. OAHS is a bit more difficult, but perfectly doable on parallettes so I don't see the problem. The programs assume you'll be working on the floor, or blocks for your drills I guess, so the cues might not always apply. (Like how wide you keep the hands, to me it's crazy wide) I might be wrong, but I haven't seen anything that indicates that they'd be against you working on parallettes if that's the apparatus of your choice.

 

10 hours ago, @mu said:

Have you used the reddit group at all?

I check it occasionally and read other people's questions, but I haven't asked for any specific advice yet.

[Mad Hatter]

Ahh sorry I take it back - froggy is with the feet apart and flexed, diamond is feet together and pointed! 

 

The interesting drills that come late in the program are

 

1. shoulder circles

2. rebalancing by either moving the hips, or the shoulders

3. hip rotations where you go from straddle -> front split -> straddle -> front split on the other side. At first you start with keeping the hips in place, but as you get more comfortable you can add in both momentum, and also let your hips and shoulders rotate so you get these big swooping circles. It looks super hard, but pretty!

[@mu]

Thanks!

 

1. Is that shoulder circles as in shifting shoulders in a circle around the hands?

2. ok I think I see that one

3. In room 21 they call it helicopter I think I gave it a try some time ago but since my front split in HS is pretty lame, I was not super motivated. But this is reminding to practice front splits HS every so often. It has kind of fallen out of my radar.

 

I might still buy that programme at some point. I agree with @KB Girl that foundation is always worth drilling and re-drilling. I don't think it ever stops.

 

As for pbars, so far I see a couple of exercises that are going to be unpractical on parallettes.

One where you have to walk in a circle. My parallettes are too long to be moved and rotated as I walk And doing a circle while staying on pbarz would involve a full 45 degree rotation with a change of grip, lol, I don't think that's the purpose of this exercise.

The other one, narrow hand HS, I could manage until it gets to actually having finger crossing and then one hand over the other. On pbarz on single bar, it would be one hand in front of the other but maybe it's a bit different from the actual exercise. However, seeing how the ultimate move is obviously tough even for Mikael, I'm in no hurry to solve the end range of it

 

I started modifying my existing training plan based on their beginner section + the feedback I got from Kirsty. It goes well together since they actually suggest to do press to HS twice a week along their blocks. But there is still a lot to juggle with between flexibility training, HS and things I want to keep for balance (pull/silks, bent arm). Let's see how it goes, I'm sure I will have to adjust when I get to feel the actual load.

 

Today was HS press

 

so my warm-up including bent-arm series + ball + silks + Cirque Physio (and joint prep and a bit of flexi activation)

a little HS warm-up (straddle and tucks entries with leg movement)

HS head in wall prep – I did 3 sets with 20-30s of work each (splits in several reps, 3 got me there) => nice once, I feel it will help indeed. They suggest doing 5 sets but that would be too much for me with press afterwards. I will work on that one a while anyway and build up hopefully.

HS press negatives (L-sit, stalder)

HS press bottom iso – 15s x4 @8cm – let's be honest, I HATE IT

HS press – press @8cm => only floats because pushing the earth killed me. I had to slap a fair amount of puppies coming up. I did one full press from bench. I'm suffering here but I think it's good for me.

Hanging straddle leg raises to toes 6

Snow angels variation with pbarz (it's a floor exercise for shoulder mobility)

Lazy shoulders and wrist stretches

And that took 1h30 (warm-up takes about 20 to 30mn).

 

I'm tired and HUNGRY

 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, @mu said:

1. Is that shoulder circles as in shifting shoulders in a circle around the hands?

Yep

 

1 hour ago, @mu said:

I might still buy that programme at some point. I agree with @KB Girl that foundation is always worth drilling and re-drilling. I don't think it ever stops.

That is very true! Then again, since you're already comfortable with the movements another (or additional) option is to get a coach's feedback on the basics. I think it might be more valuable than reading text. Not that I'm trying to dissuade you, I think you'd find it interesting and you would probably find things that are useful too. But if it's a matter of prioritizing the monies I think direct feedback and more targeted drills would serve you better.

 

Ah yes those drills would be difficult! But it doesn't mean they hate parallettes.  It's very curious that you lose interest without them though. But you do you!

 

I feel like that workout would take me way more than 1h30! But I'm reeeally good at dawdling.  

[@mu]

17 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Then again, since you're already comfortable with the movements another (or additional) option is to get a coach's feedback on the basics.

 

yes maybe. The press one would be relevant because Kirsty's programme is for standing press only. I think for low press you basically need a kind of tuck planche... I got close to one with P2 at some point but I probably lost that progress. Reading between the lines on Reddit, I can get a sense that they have a progression plan that might be a bit different from P2.

And I could definitely benefit from leaning more. Even Kirsty who gives tips on NOT to lean too much in press, is telling me to actually lean

 

Ok this morning I woke up, checked my email and saw an order confirmation for a pair of parallettes

I guess you can tell I'm in a bit of a spending spree these days..... Maybe it's my way of handling lockdown anxiety....

 

But I remember what happened now. During yesterday's session, I was a little annoyed by my PVC pbars. One has definitely "grown" longer than the other. Which is to be expected I have had them for YEARS and used them a lot.  And they are fairly long. I'm sure it affects the PVC tension. They still seem to be at the same height, but the longer one feels a little more supple / less rigid than the other. And I got more instances of my right arm sliding forward a little. Of course I swap the bars and then it feels a little funny and I still have to compensate a little bit. It's just annoying you know.

My wooden pbarz are at my parents. And the rotating push up bars are fun but I'm not going to use them to train foundation static moves....

So I think that late in the night, I checked what pbarz were still available as "first necessity and emergency" supplies and  CLICKED BUY.  I'm bad...

There are small wooden parallettes, 11cm in height. I expect L-sit and stalder to get a lot more challenging on those. But at least that should resolve the hardware part regarding my left versus right arm thingy.

 

I feel like I have been totally indulging, sigh... I'll try to stop here?

 

[Mad Hatter]

9 minutes ago, @mu said:

yes maybe. The press one would be relevant because Kirsty's programme is for standing press only. I think for low press you basically need a kind of tuck planche... I got close to one with P2 at some point but I probably lost that progress. Reading between the lines on Reddit, I can get a sense that they have a progression plan that might be a bit different from P2.

The press program would definitely be a lot more interesting to you. It's organized in a high press progression, which also includes pike presses as a further progression, a low press progression which is L/straddle sit to standing, and one progression for combining the two. 

 

L-sit press to tuck planche is indeed one of the important progressions, level 3-5/6. There's no focus on holding the tuck planche, but it also says that the low press will be pretty much impossible without a solid tuck seeing as the Stalder press transitions through something that resembles it.

 

I've only skimmed over the Stalder parts, but there seems to be a lot of good information there with many levels of progression. My guess is that it would be very useful for you, but I don't know what Kirsty or P2 covers.

 

6 minutes ago, @mu said:

And I could definitely benefit from leaning more. Even Kirsty who gives tips on NOT to lean too much in press, is telling me to actually lean

Hah, I'm actively trying to lean even when doing tucks and straddles to get a straighter back line. And even when I try I barely move forward! My lean is so weak. I think my only hope for learning to press this decade is to get killer active flexibility tbh.

 

28 minutes ago, @mu said:

I feel like I have been totally indulging, sigh... I'll try to stop here?

I really don't see the problem. ?It's not like they've been huge expenses. Even with the occasional training treat I'm still saving way more on lockdown than before haha.

[@mu]

11 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

The press program would definitely be a lot more interesting to you. It's organized in a high press progression, which also includes pike presses as a further progression, a low press progression which is L/straddle sit to standing, and one progression for combining the two. 

 

L-sit press to tuck planche is indeed one of the important progressions, level 3-5/6. There's no focus on holding the tuck planche, but it also says that the low press will be pretty much impossible without a solid tuck seeing as the Stalder press transitions through something that resembles it.

 

I've only skimmed over the Stalder parts, but there seems to be a lot of good information there with many levels of progression. My guess is that it would be very useful for you, but I don't know what Kirsty or P2 covers.

 

ha thank you very much for the info!

 

For planche, P2 is a combo of static progressions (low frog, high frog = crane, tuck planche etc). But the gap between crane and tuck planche was huge for me. I had started doing half cranes, one knee above elbow the other free. A bit like the one-leg crow progression but on straight arms.  The gap was still very tough on elbow joints. I mean really painful to the point I had to be really careful about those.

Then they have a dynamic approach via pbarz swings where you get in the tuck planche position with momentum and little by little start to hold there. It's not easy either. When I add momentum, I quickly become a flying mess. There are pros and cons.

 

Kirsty's programme is really about working compression, shoulder strength and pelvis rotation technique. There are also bits for shoulder flexion + hips + spine flexibility.  There is a good mix of conditioning (push and some pull), flexibility, strength and skill work. Very varied. After doing cycles and cycles of the same P2 blocks, it was super refreshing to say the least  

It follows a progression along those lines: HS line / straddle HS / negatives at the wall / negatives / elevated press / press. And it is straddle and standing only.

It works well, I mean technically it got me to a first press from ground 0 in 5-6 months. It also really changed my HS shape. I still have my slight S pattern when I get tired but I'm much straighter than I used to be. And my balance improved a lot.

But I think no matter how good the programme is, at some point the body needs to be challenged again, with new drills, or slight mods like isolating one bit. Some kind of disruption in any case. That's what progressions are for but sometimes you get stuck at one standard progression and it's not working for you, you need to tweak it, it's not easy.

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

13 minutes ago, @mu said:

It follows a progression along those lines: HS line / straddle HS / negatives at the wall / negatives / elevated press / press. And it is straddle and standing only.

I see. HSF includes those but also some easier wall work and press walks, stuff like that. So you start earlier with kinda sorta attempting to press from the ground.

 

5-6 months is really good! I'm sure it helped a ton that you were already super strong from the P2 work. It seems like consistency from floor is still tricky though, why do you think that is?

 

8 minutes ago, @mu said:

But I think no matter how good the programme is, at some point the body needs to be challenged again, with new drills, or slight mods like isolating one bit. Some kind of disruption in any case. That's what progressions are for but sometimes you get stuck at one standard progression and it's not working for you, you need to tweak it, it's not easy.

For sure. This is really where a good coach can be invaluable. Not just for switching things up, but also to help figure out if you're at a point when you need to grind, or when you need to tweak. It's a much easier thing to do when you have a sample size larger than n=1. But I have to say you've done amazingly well! You're consistency and dedication is quite something, very inspiring.

[@mu]

22 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I see. HSF includes those but also some easier wall work and press walks, stuff like that. So you start earlier with kinda sorta attempting to press from the ground.

 

Kirsty has press walks in the warmup part / easier block of the session. I just checked the iso push she wants me to do now is actually in the straddle HS section / conditioning.  I had forgotten   Except I have to do much longer holds now.

 

22 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

5-6 months is really good! I'm sure it helped a ton that you were already super strong from the P2 work. It seems like consistency from floor is still tricky though, why do you think that is?

 

Back in october / november I had good ground 0 sessions with several singles in a row. But I was using this puppy foot every so often. So there were not strictly speaking consistently good presses.

The puppy bit is not always even obvious but it allows me to grab a couple of centimeters and that makes a big difference. The funny thing on the video that Kirsty broke into is that puppy is not allowing me to get my hips higher UP, it allows me to move them FORWARD a bit more (lean) with less intensity on the shoulders maybe. That's all it does. It was intriguing. Kirsty says I have enough strength to lean, I just need to be more confident.

So I  just spent a lot of months working hard but not exactly the right way, cheating a little bit.  And probably adding some left/right imbalance as I went along with that cheat. And that's why progress has not been coming as steadily. Frogging is actually much more acceptable (it will sort itself out over time) than using puppy. But puppy looked better... That was a mistake.

 

Thanks!

[@mu]

Sooo today I did a session following rather closely HSF template. It was hard. And it was long. I didn't even do all the sets they advise and it took 2 hours. My own warm-up was shorter than usual. I did 2 exercices from Emmet's list (tailor pose and side split entries), and then:

 

Head in wall prep (with some freestanding work): 5 sets of 3 reps

=> I felt some progress compared to yesterday!

 

Tuck head in: 3 set of 3 reps

=> I had never tried before. I could balance a bit at times but not consistently at all. I kept falling into a closed tucked or fall over to the wall. It was super tiring.

 

Weight shifting prep chest to wall: 3 sets of 3 reps

=> I think I need to get a better handle on flags before I do this. It doesn't feel very useful yet. I can shift my weight on one arm, sure, but I think it's missing the point of the exercise. I sense some rotation going on, the non-support trapezius is disengaging and my scapulae are all over the place. By the way it's difficult to get on fingertips with pbarz ... The whole chest to wall setup with pbarz is also a pain! I think that's what tired me the most!

 

Narrow HS straddle

=> I manage pbarz feet crossing instead of thumb crossing. So it's still pretty wide! for me it felt crazy narrow and kicking into it was hard. Once there I could control my balance decently enough though. The kick does feel really funny though, and requires a lot more power.

 

Flagging 3 sets of 3 reps (each rep = left/right)

=> this will need practice really. I want to rotate on one side. On the third set, I started feeling my obliques cramping so I guess I was getting there but it does really feel like a new move.

 

I had planned to do block training after that, lolz, nope, that did not happen

 

So I will adjust a wee bit. I think I can ditch weight shifting prep for now. Once I start getting a better understanding of flags, I'll try again.

 

[Mad Hatter]

9 hours ago, @mu said:

Frogging is actually much more acceptable (it will sort itself out over time) than using puppy.

Still scribbling away my notes!

 

9 hours ago, @mu said:

That was a mistake.

Lesson, not mistake.  

 

Super excited to see what the new program will bring! I'm not surprised it's hard, after all it is OAHS prep and that does require quite the commitment. 

[@mu]

On 4/12/2020 at 9:01 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Super excited to see what the new program will bring! I'm not surprised it's hard, after all it is OAHS prep and that does require quite the commitment. 

 

I will just focus on head-in and flagging for now. That will keep me busy enough for a while.

I will set some first target goals:

 

straight head in entry from the wall 20s hold

tuck head in entry from the wall 10s hold

pike head in entry from the wall 10s hold

 

Head in is chin to chest, the hardest is that initial move. They say to do the move quickly, that slower is much harder, but it takes some faith and loads of stability to "head in"  quickly like that!

 

@Mad Hatter  I was looking at yesterday's videos and I found instances of uneven legs + right arm shift. From that video angle, the 3D aspect of the small rotation is not obvious at all. I slowed the speed at the end of the first clip to show the twisted bail. I land closer to the right but my right feet is also closer to the pbars. It's hard to see from that angle. But my pelvis was a bit rotated. It was really more visible from the back angle but I wasn't actively debugging, it just showed up on that exercise (narrow HS, which might be “normal width” for you )

I will keep watching out to get samples from the back.

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

39 minutes ago, @mu said:

Head in is chin to chest, the hardest is that initial move. They say to do the move quickly, that slower is much harder, but it takes some faith and loads of stability to "head in"  quickly like that!

They say the same about moving into the different shapes. I get their point, when I move slowly it wobbles a lot more. But when I move quickly the chance of screwing up overall is much higher! 

 

Ah yes, I see the shift. But anything goes when you're bailing.  

And no, that's definitely too narrow for me!   I measured that too and my comfy spot is a few degrees wider than shoulder width.