I unfortunately read this message at 3:30am.

I spent the next hour blasting out a response. Giving my current thoughts and ruminations about muscle-ups and many other related facets – proper pull-ups, kipping, shoulder mobility, and more.

When 4-something am rolled around, I was left with the hefty message you see below you now. I thought it too good to leave in just my outbox. I hope you can pick some useful bits out of all that I poured out on the screen. Enjoy!

————————–

Quint,

Alright, sit down. This may take a while.

I believe to work for the hardest skill first and foremost – and that means a strict muscle-up. I mean this for both men and women. And this means getting in your false grip time. It is one of the biggest limiting factors, along with inability to stabilize the shoulders (more on that later) that keeps people from getting a muscle-up.

Being able to do a strict muscle-up shows excellent stability in the shoulder, as well as forearm strength. It’s not even a skill in gymnastics – it’s how you get on the rings! If you want to be good at gymnastics, learn a strict muscle-up. It’s like wanting to be a racecar driver, but being unable to get inside your car. Let’s expect more from ourselves people, seriously.

That’s not to say a strict muscle-up is easy for the general gym member these days. Many are so ingrained with terrible motor patterns – in this case specifically, the inability to stabilize the shoulder. Just like people’s shoulders shrug up to their ears to stabilize in a crappy pushup, so too will people’s shoulders move when they are looking to stabilize in a crappy pull-up or failed muscle-up. People also don’t know what to feel/look for in the skill – that’s where our impeccable coaching comes into play.

So for a failed muscle-up, rather than muscles like the lower traps and serratus anterior keeping the scap down and in place, everything rises up. If your shoulders rise up, then your body ultimately goes down, and you fail to get the necessary height for a strict muscle-up . . . or a proper pull-up even.

Which is why I’ll have people test themselves on a strict, chest to bar pull-up. Most athletes don’t even understand what that means. I always reference that pic of Franco Columbu doing a pull-up. Chest to bar (presumably), and knees/feet back.

If the knees start to come forward and the body starts to curl up during a chin-up/pull-up, then the shoulders/scap have failed to stabilize fully, and you’ll tend to see people eek their chins over only, and their shoulders are rounded forward – far from getting their chest to the bar, and far from a strict muscle-up. How can you expect to get over the rings/bar, if you can’t even get TO them?

On a side note, I’ve also been thinking about how simply working pull-ups in this manner might not be enough to properly stabilize the shoulders. It will get you a muscle-up, but the lats may need some mobilization and the lower traps need additional attention.

Read this article from Cressey about pullups, specifically pay attention to the “gross extension pattern” and the #2 point – that the lats overpower the lower traps. I believe I have been guilty of this for years, and it was manifesting itself in my one arm handstand work – I was having a very difficult time getting full overhead range of motion! Instead of having lower traps strong enough to properly upwardly rotate my scapula and give me the shoulder range of motion and stability I needed, I was getting stuck at less than 180 degrees of flexion (i’m still not quite there, but definitely improving), and my one armer was suffering as a result.

What have I been doing about it? Cressey has the forearm wall slides in that article at 135 degrees, but I’ve been really liking his regular wall slides with a band -

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h08gMXfk-rQ)

The band really engages the posterior delt. Proper cues on this are to keep the upper traps relaxed, abs braced, ribs down, and head/neck not cranked forward – the same alignment as an efficient handstand!

I’ve also been playing around with Mike Reinhold’s take on the ytwl, specifically the need to relax the neck when doing these scapular stability exercises. He makes a good point that tight neck (as when laying face down on an incline bench, or jutting the head forward on the wall slides) will cause problems when looking to properly recruit the lower traps.

http://www.mikereinold.com/2011/05/why-i-do-not-like-ytwl-shoulder-exercises.html

He also mentions lumber hyperextension as a compensation pattern, which in my mind references back to Cressey’s idea of a gross extension pattern that is a sign of lower trap weakness.

Anyway…

Getting a proper pull-up and additional lower trap/serratus work is the base work.

Now, I understand that CrossFitters need to do 1,000 muscle-ups in a row, so I definitely understand the need for a leg-assisted muscle-up in the repertoire. I say “leg-assist”, because I don’t like to throw around the word “kip”, unless I mean it. Continue to work toward a strict muscle-up, but hear me out on the leg-assisted techniques.

In the case of a kipping pull-up, power is gained from explosively extending the hips. This gives a lot of power, but I do not believe it is the most efficient method for a leg-assisted muscle-up on the rings.

If you freeze-frame a kipping muscle-up on rings after an athlete has ‘popped’ their hips, you will see an athlete who’s body is supine and usually parallel with the ground. Like so-

Now in order to get to a dip, they have to violently throw themselves forward. Maybe not the best to ask the athlete to repeatedly brace themselves like that? But it definitely seems like an inefficient movement to me – why do we lean our body all the way back, just to go forward again?

What I like instead is a swing from the legs that keep the torso much more upright. Think of hanging from the rings (shoulder engaged and stabilized, of course), and then swinging the straight legs up like you’re about to go into an L-sit pull-up.

What this does is gives us lift (from the legs swinging), while keeping the body upright. The athlete then only has to lean forward and over the rings at the top a small amount in order to arrive in their dip, rather than the long and violent journey of a traditional kipping muscle-up.

These are not pie in the sky theories. I’ve applied this technique to many, many CrossFitters who were stuck below the rings. I have seen many of these CrossFitters get their first muscle-up right before my eyes with this new technique. I don’t know if it’s the best or only way to do things, but it’s got legs.

This technique also carries over quite well to bar muscle-ups, and if you think, you can understand why the traditional kipping muscle-up technique would fail. If we kip and put our hips up super high, we will smash into the bar. The rings allow this because there is nothing stopping the hips, but the bar does not. Keeping ourselves upright instead, and swinging the legs, will allow the body to rise behind the bar, and the allow you to flip over top the bar to complete the muscle-up – just like climbing up and leaning over top of a wall.

I will say too that the technique I teach also keeps the shoulders closed and engaged much more. Rather than the huge open shoulders of a traditional kipping pull-up -

- which as you know, can wreak havoc on inflexible shoulders, we keep more of a hollow body position on the rings and bar.

So with an inability to properly stabilize the shoulder, lack of grip/forearm strength, dominance of the lats/upper traps over the lower traps, and kipping hard into weak/stiff shoulders, is it any wonder why we see injuries and lack of results in our gymnastics?

Would love to hear your experiences/feedback. Hope you’re doing well too, I’m long overdue for a visit!

-Jim

AND CONGRATS TO SIMON B, THE WINNER OF THE IPOD NANO!!

Hello everyone! It’s almost that time of year again!

For the past couple years, I’ve participated in the Cupid Undie Run. It’s an event where we all raise money to fight neurofibromatosis (NF). NF is a genetic disorder that causes painful tumors to grow throughout the body, often on children and adolescents.

How do we raise awareness and fight this disorder? By stripping down to our underwear to run in the freezing cold!

That’s me! And that’s how I run.

Now, The Cupid Undie Run offers various prizes to fundraisers in order to encourage our participation. One such prize for raising $1,000 is a brand new, red, special edition Ipod Nano!

I want to raise $1,000 this year, but I’m not keeping the Ipod Nano…

I’m giving it to one of you!

It’s simple – for every $10 you donate to my Cupid Undie Run page, you get one entry to win the Red Ipod Nano.

Donate $20? You get two chances!
Donate $50? You get five chances!
Donate $1,000? If you’re the first one, then the contest ends and you automatically get the Ipod Nano!

If no one donates $1,000 in one lump sum (therefore instantly ending the contest), then on February 10th, 2013, a winner will be chosen at random from all eligible participants. I will then personally pay out of my own wallet to ship you your Ipod.

Now, the catch – if I don’t raise $1,000 by Saturday, February 9th, 2013 – then there is no Ipod Nano to give away! There is no contest!

So it benefits you (and all the children who are suffering from neurofibromatosis) to give  from the heart so we can reach our goals this year.

Here’s my donation site again.

Thank you very much for your kindness and generosity!

-Jim

Handstand in front of the Capitol Building!

Why the last Beast Skills seminar in a while? Because I’m getting married in the spring! I love doing the seminars, but I need the extra time to plan!

We’ll have a beginner seminar in the morning, and an advanced seminar in the evening. Attend one or both! Full information here!

http://www.facebook.com/events/533273840036095/

Hope to see you there!

I will be holding a beginner seminar in the morning and an advanced seminar in the afternoon! Come to one or both, there will be something for everyone!

This is a return trip to CrossFit Local. I had a blast last time, and I know this will be another fun day of handstands, ring work, and MOVING!

Here is the link for more information and to sign-up!  - https://www.facebook.com/events/360829280662151/

Hope to see you there!

-Jim

“This is the very perfection of a man, to find out his own imperfections.”
- St. Augustine

This post is a precursor to a one arm handstand tutorial I’ll write in the distant future. In this post, I want to take you through my one arm handstand over the years. Some of it is good, some of it is horrendously terrible, but throughout it all I hope you learn something.

A bit of background – I never did gymnastics as a kid. My younger days were spent playing baseball, soccer, and riding my bike around the neighborhood. It wasn’t until I was around the middle of high school, when I was about 16 years old, that I even starting playing around with this stuff. A friend’s uncle would tell us stories of his days on a gymnastic troupe – of doing handstands on chairs, and fingertip pull-ups off door frames. Those stories, and the handstand training we started that summer, would irrevocably change my life forever.

I couldn’t tell you exactly how my friend and I first learned the handstand. Or what specific progressions we took, but I will tell you that I practiced like a man obsessed. In my tiny bedroom – often bringing my foot down onto my nightstand and falling into a heap on the floor. Out in the backyard – stumbling around on my hands to find balance. Anywhere I could manage, I practiced my handstand. I didn’t wait for perfect conditions and knowledgeable teachers, I just put in a lot of brute force work.

My friend and I continued to work on our handstands – even challenging each other to press into a handstand (one of my first skills). I continued working handstand pushups up against my bunk bed in my bedroom. Several years later, by the time I joined my own gymnastics troupe, I was able to hold a solid handstand and do freestanding handstand pushups. I even managed to win a handstand holding contest my first day on the troupe!

I can’t tell you when the one arm handstand bug bit me, but it feels like I’ve been working the skill for ages. I still have plenty of work to do, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made and grateful for the journey – however long and winding it has been.

I’m going to post up pictures and just briefly describe the technique/lack thereof for each one. This isn’t a step-by-step tutorial, but I hope that by pointing out my countless mistakes, it helps you in your practice. I also enjoy looking back on all the memories.

I’ll also note that there are many one arm handstand styles. You’ll be taking a look into mine, but I do not have the final say on this by any means!

Alright, onto the one armers!

—

August 2007 – Acadia National Park, Maine

This was taken by my good buddy Alex on an awesome trip to Acadia National Park. The excellent background distracts from my less than excellent technique. Let’s start from the ground and work our way up.

- Supporting arm is locked and the shoulder is right over my hand. This is all good.

- Head - I am trying to put my ear directly next to my supporting arm – like I’m looking down the barrel of a gun – which was not the best technique for me. A bit of natural space between the head and arm, as opposed to trying to force it over, has worked much better for me.

- Free arm is way off to the side and most likely brought off the ground way too quickly. Throwing that free arm up too quickly would send me cartwheeling out of my one arm handstand for years. Pick it up slowly when you first start!

- Body is in line with the hand because I’ve shifted my head close to my arm. This is not the way I do my one arm handstand now – preferring a slight body lean in order to engage my shoulder and stay balanced.

- Legs look a little loose and are clearly arching over a bit. They are not in line with the rest of my body. Trying to hold a one arm handstand with the legs this close is also significantly harder. One should start practicing with the straddle position first.

Beautiful photo, but just dumb luck that I was even able to balance in this position.

—

December 2007 – San Francisco, California

The photo that would live on the front page of Beast Skills for years. I love it for the background and how it looks like I know what I’m doing. Let’s break it down.

- Head – I was still convinced that you needed your head directly next to your arm, so I’m doing the same thing here.

- Free arm was still “whipped” into place. Allowing momentary balance, but usually throwing me off in practice.

- Straddled legs are a better option and much more forgiving in the one arm handstand, but with the previous head shift, they were not brought into the optimal position.

- Legs look a bit arched over – this often threw me out of alignment and caused problems with balance.

Looks better than the last photo, but still plenty of things to change!

—

August 2008 – Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Grand Canyon is awesome, and I recommend that everyone see it sometime in their life. Pictures don’t convey the enormity of the landscape. This one armer was the closest to the Canyon that my girlfriend (now fiancee) would let me get at the time.

- Supporting arm is still upright and strong. This was at least one thing I was getting right.

- Head looks to be in a better position, no longer cranking it toward my supporting arm

- Free arm – can’t keep that damn thing down! Again, it was probably whipped up into position.

- Body – we can see a slight lean, but I can guarantee that was probably not intentional.

- Legs – straddled, which is good, but still arched over and out of line. From things I had read, I long believed that one needed to shift their weight forward and to the side in a one arm handstand. In the above photo, that means that I’m trying to aggressively shift my weight to what would be the lower left corner of the photo. The legs are arched over as a result. Don’t do this. Keep the body in line! (More on that below).

Cool vacation photo, still plenty to work on though.

—

August 2008 – Grand Canyon, Arizona

Take 2

Another cool looking photo, but issues abound. First, the complete lack of consistency in my attempts. Also, it appears that no one is interested in what I am doing. The Grand Canyon is more impressive than a one arm handstand, ‘natch.

- Supporting arm – totally vertical, this is still great.

- Head – looks like I’m pulling it inward to the supporting arm again. This gives the entire torso a very vertical look to it.

- Free arm – still brought up fast. Have I mentioned that one should lift it slowly when first learning??

- Legs – Not shifted over, straddle could be wider to facilitate balancing

Love the photo, but hate all the mistakes!

—

January 2009 – Trellis Bay, BVI

I show this two arm handstand to raise a few points. If your handstand is a bit arched like this, then learning the one arm handstand will be problematic. You want to get the entire body in a straight line. This means opening up the shoulders more (through increased flexibility and increased strength) and then bringing the midsection and legs back into a line.

Getting a good line in your two and one arm handstand is a never ending process, but know that the further off-line you are, the more problems you may encounter. All my handstands didn’t look like this, but I hadn’t realized the importance of getting into a line for the one arm handstand yet.

—

February 2009 – Washington, DC

This is taken in my own neighborhood! Looks ok on inspection, but let’s look at some new issues.

- Head, not pressed up against the supporting arm, which is a good step.

- Free arm – not whipped up violently like in the past, but still most likely brought up too fast. The arm does not always need to be ramrod straight either. Lifting up the free arm with the lower arm dangling (as you’ll see in the videos below) can often times afford better balance when first starting.

- Legs are straddled, which is good, but you can see how the legs and hips have shifted a bit to my right side (to the left edge of the picture). When shifting the legs now, I focus on dropping the outside leg (my left leg in this photo), and preventing any sort of shift/twist to the right side. So my legs/hips are not in the best position here.

I can’t even remember what I was taking this picture for, but I’m glad I have it.

—

March 2009 – Seminar in Chalfont, PA

Showing the one arm handstand at a seminar in Pennsylvania. Snowed a lot that weekend.

- The head and body are in a decent position – leaned off to the side slightly

- Straddled legs could be straddled wider. I may have been at the limit of my flexibility though. Getting a wide straddle or even full splits will help a lot in learning the one arm handstand. The split legs will drop your center of gravity and allow you to put your hips and legs in a better position.

- Legs are definitely arching over. I’m still trying to aggressively shift my weight forward and outside, as I still thought that to be the best technique.

I thank everyone who went to a previous seminar to hear my thoughts on the one arm handstand. I am always constantly learning.

—

May 2009 – British Virgin Islands

Another photo from the week-long sailing trip. In my defense, I probably had a few drinks in me at this point.

- Head is pulling back to the supporting arm. No good.

- Free arm has clearly whipped up into position

- Straddle needs to be wider

- You can even more clearly see the shift in my hips/legs to my left side. They should be dropped more to my right side so it doesn’t look like I’m bending to the left.

Pusser’s Rum does not make for a good workout supplement.

—

February 2010 – Seminar – New Jersey

As I mentioned at the start of this post – there are many one arm handstand styles! The one I was working on at this point just didn’t work the best for me in the end. Let’s review -

- Supporting arm looks good.

- Head is in normal position.

- Hips are shifted only to the right – this is also good.

- Free arm is giving a light finger assist. I’ve always really enjoyed this exercise, as it allows one to stay up longer and feel the position. I still use this exercise frequently, albeit with better alignment!

- Legs should be opened to a full straddle before attempting to learn this narrow straddle or legs closed positions.

- You can clearly see my arching over and to the side. I was able to feel the balance point while doing this, but ultimately it caused more problems then it fixed. Namely, I ‘spin’ out of the one arm handstand often.

Looking stronger in the position and getting things better, but still short of some breakthroughs.

—

March 2010 - Old Rag Mountain, Virginia

No better way to finish a beautiful hike up a mountain than by doing a handstand on top of that mountain. Held this one long enough that another group of hikers actually took a picture of it too! So that was cool. Getting better, but still problems.

- Free arm – you know the issue. Probably still lifting it too fast.

- Head and body – slightly leaned to the side, which is a better position for me. So that’s good.

- Legs straddled as wide as my limited flexibility will allow. Good.

- You can see that my right leg is twisting over (going toward the camera). This issue would continue to haunt me and spin me out of many a one arm handstand.

Improvement, but I just felt I was holding the one arm handstand, and not really controlling it.

—

May 2010 – Seminar – New Jersey

Back to Jersey for another seminar. You should start to see trends in my form by now.

- Head and body in decent alignment, but hips are slightly shifting to my right.

- Free arm. Brought up for balance, but again whipping up the arm too fast will throw one’s balance off.

- Narrow straddle is less forgiving than a wide straddle. Get those legs apart to start!

- Still focusing on balancing my leaning forward and away (to my left). I can even see notes on the board describing this.

Held but not controlled. Still not progressing on the one arm handstand, despite all the time put into it.

—

March 2011 – Philadelphia Circus School

It was the start of 2011 when I realized that I needed to seek out professional teachers if I was ever to get better at the one arm handstand. First stop was the Philadelphia Circus School for an afternoon.

My teacher, Lin, gave me pointers on improving my hand strength and training protocols for the one arm handstand.

In this picture, I am shifting better to one side, but you can see that I am out of line. My shoulders are closed off a bit and my legs are arching over as a result. Take a look back at the Trellis Bay two arm handstand photo, now picture that same guy on one arm.

While some can hold this arched one arm handstand….

Lunch on their hands

…many more people will have problems and twist out of the one arm handstand (myself included). Not to mention that aesthetically speaking, it’s not as pleasant as a straighter body position.

Progress in some regards. Only had a chance to work one afternoon with Lin though. The biggest thing though was that I turned to expert help for once.

—

July 2011 – Seminar – Maryland

This one arm handstand is after only two month’s under the tutelage of Ido Portal. Ido is a tough coach and can often be an S.O.B., but he knows his stuff and I found his coaching extremely helpful.

Much has improved – I am tighter throughout my whole body. I have better alignment in the body/hips/legs. Notice how there is no counter-shift to the left side, as you saw in previous photos (especially the 2009 British Virgin Islands shot).

Arm could still probably be raised slowly and/or kept lower to the ground right now, but you should be able to see the huge differences between this OAHS and previous ones. This just looks better. Working on keeping the body in a line was also key at this stage in my development, and Ido had me practice up against the wall (CHEST facing) for many a day.

Big steps in the summer of 2011. Searching out a knowledgeable teacher and being willing to PAY for their expertise (in both time and money) paid off dividends.

Another interesting note is that in May of 2011, I received an anonymous email regarding my one arm handstand technique. The sender had suggested I work with Ido Portal and Yuval Ayalon.  So I did. The world works in mysterious ways.

—

November 2011- Washington DC National Arboretum

First off, this photo was taken in Washington DC at the National Arboretum. The columns behind me have an awesome history. If you’re ever in town, come on out and see this “hidden monument”.

Anyway, it looks like I’m a bit twisted in this, but I’m looking much more consistent in my one arm handstand technique. I’ve stopped working with Ido by this point (just a 6 month coaching session). Things are going well enough, but the control in the one arm handstand is still touch and go. Every time I lift my free hand, I have to fight to stop myself from spinning on my supporting arm.

It took my next teacher to show me what to do.

—

December 2011 – Mexico

Off to Mexico for a week-long trip (where I got subsequently got engaged!). This was just a few weeks after I first met Yuval Ayalon. He is a professional acrobat in Las Vegas for Le Reve, friend of Ido Portal, and one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

I traveled out to Las Vegas for a friend’s birthday party, had heard of Yuval before, and knew that I wanted to meet with him for a private session. I ended up flying into Los Angeles, and driving 5 straight hours to get to Yuval’s house at the last possible moment. Not ideal for training, but one pushes through anyhow!

Yuval quite clearly showed me how lacking I was in shoulder mobility. I’ve shared this picture before, but here I am in his house with a dowel rod connected to a rubber tube. Ideally, the tubing should draw a nice straight line from hands to shoulders to hips to feet. You can see how much I need to improve.

This deficiency in shoulder mobility was a main cause of why I twisted out of my one arm handstands all the time. Getting yourself into a straight line is much more efficient in the one armer, and you don’t have to fight yourself.

On a related note, at this time I was unable to lay in bed and put my arms over my head without my hands falling asleep. You’d think I would’ve realized that my shoulder mobility was terrible.

Yuval gave me various drills for alignment and positioning. He gave me feedback over the next several months on my one arm handstand form. This was invaluable toward my progress.

I worked incredibly hard on my shoulder mobility after that. While I still have more work to do, the difference between today and that November is significant. The shoulder is a complex joint. For those looking to improve their shoulder mobility though, get acquainted with some of the various muscles that can cause problems -

Latissimus dorsi

Pec major

Pec Minor

Long head of tricep

Teres major/minor

Levator scapulae

Rhomboids

Trapezius

Scalenes

Deltoid

No one ever said it was going to be easy. But get these areas loosened up with soft tissue work. This could include massage, or something as simple as rolling the muscle out with a lacrosse ball. Learn proper stretches for them all. I am not going to make this a post on how to improve shoulder mobility, I just want to stress the importance of shoulder mobility in the one arm handstand. And I also want to stress that you must understand how the shoulder blades move around the body to understand how the shoulder moves.

Check out these resources, which I’ve found very helpful, for further reading -

Yoga as Therapy – by Doug Keller – An excellent book that gives a very easy to understand explanation of how the shoulder blades and shoulders move.

Anatomy Trains – by Thomas Myers – A fantastic book, but often heavy read. Doug Keller references this throughout his ‘yoga as therapy’ books. Pick this up if you want to delve further into the topics covered by Keller.

—

May 2012 – Balance Gym, Washington DC

This is a screenshot from this video. It’s been about 6 months since I first met Yuval, and progress is the best it has ever been.

Increased mobility in the shoulders means that don’t spin out of my one arm handstand as easily.

The legs are stretched out as wide as I can, and kept tight.

When shifting onto the supporting arm, notice that I focus on dropping the outside leg (right leg in this case). There is no counter-shift back to the left (which twists the body).

My supporting shoulder is engaged enough to steady me, but not pushed out to its end range. Just enough, no more.

Notice in the video how I slowly lift my hand up. I keep my left forearm relaxed and hanging down to the ground. This has much less tendency to throw me off balance.

Instead of focusing on shifting my weight over and out, I am focusing on keeping a good line.

An important note as well, when finishing up a one arm handstand attempt – look to bring yourself back to the center! Do this under control! Getting into the habit of falling out of the one arm handstand will create bad habits.

Holds of 3-5 seconds now common. Best progress yet.

—

June 2012 – Seminar – Chicago, IL

All the same things as the video above, just done against a wall. This is a good drill for getting use to the shift. Notice that there is NO counter-shift with the hips to my right, as in previous one arm handstands. This is one of the most common issues that I see. Also notice the relaxation in my free arm. I am not whipping it up. Moving the arms and legs in a one arm handstand in various artistic positions will come in time, but make it easier on yourself to start! Move slow!

Good consistency in technique now.

—

July 2012 – Balance Gym, Washington DC

This is a screenshot from this video. I’ll start by saying that one should shoot videos of their handstand from the back AND the side. One must be able to see all angles of the one arm handstand. The side shot, in particular, helps one see their line.

In these side shots, I want you to see the alignment that I’m fighting for. Foot over hip over shoulder over hand. Also, keeping both feet in line with the body. If the top foot or bottom foot is out of line, then I’ll find myself twisting out of the one arm handstand in quick order.

Continuing to improve my shoulder mobility will help with the ease that I can hold the one arm handstand and should increase the amount of time I can hold the skill.

“Feeling” the one arm handstand better than ever. 5 second holds on a regular basis.

—

This post wasn’t meant to be a step by step guide to the one arm handstand, although I hope  you learned something. It was to show the mistakes and developments that one often has to go through in learning skills. If you do not enjoy the process of trying and failing repeatedly, then you will never progress. Tenacity is often more valuable than talent.

No detailed tutorial, but I will leave you with these words of advice -

1. Seek out a qualified teacher as soon as you can. This can literally eliminate years of frustration.

2. Work on your shoulder mobility.

3. Move slowly into position. Do not be in a rush to lift your free hand. I still spent many practices just assisting myself with a few fingers from the other hand.

A more detail tutorial may arise as I feel more comfortable with this skill, but for now I hope you enjoyed this 5+ year journey, I know I have!

These are such a fantastic piece of equipment for a variety of exercises, and essential for skills like the iron cross and muscle-up. If you’ve never done exercises on the rings, then you’re in for a big surprise – everything is harder to do. I got mine from Ringtraining.com. Since the original design pictured, Tyler Hass has released several updated versions, all top quality.

    Here’s a picture of Bert Assirati.

    This guy weighed 240 lbs (~109 kg) but was able to do three one arm chin-ups, as well as an iron cross. And as you can see by the picture, he was also quite an impressive acrobat!

    And here is Jim Holloway.

    This guy is a rock climbing legend, and at 6’6″ (~198 cm) is a good foot taller than most gymnasts. Yet, he is recorded as having held a front lever for 20 seconds, possibly a minute.

    What excuse can there be after seeing guys like this??

Head on over to the Lost Art of Handbalancing to find several great books re-released by Logan Christopher. Pictured is “The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing”. A fantastic book that taught me several tips and exercises for advanced handbalancing skills.

I’m also featured in an interview in the “Hand Balancing Mastery Course”. Which is available on the site.

I am working on providing online group training. Keep an eye on the page for that!

For skills requiring quite a bit of strength (handstand pushups, the flag, the back lever, etc), some find that frequent sub-maximal training while staying as fresh as possible will work for them. This is often referred to as “greasing the groove” and would have a person doing a couple repetitions of an exercise several times throughout the day for several consecutive days. This may or may not work for you depending upon your schedule.

If you do all your training at one point in the day, I would suggest working these strength skills for a smaller number of repetitions and giving yourself adequate rest between each set to recover. This is the classic formula for strength building. You’ll also want to alternate rest and training days to let your body recuperate.

Of course, combining skill training with any other sort of physical activity is going to change how you set up your workout.

Whatever you decide, record your training and make notes on your progress. Use this to evaluate your program and change things if necessary. For any training program, give it time to show results. Don’t jump from one training routine to another to another. And don’t hold off training while you try to find the perfect workout routine. Just get out there and start training!

Nothing I say in this post is revolutionary. Nothing I say here is all that new. But what I will cover in this post needs to be repeated time and time again. Every new lifter that comes up through the ranks should be acquainted with good movement standards, and I just don’t see it happening as much as I’d like.

Movement standards are rules about how a lift should be performed. They have been discussed, revised, and developed over the decades so that every lifter knows what is expected of them when they perform a lift. This is assumed that the lifter is of normal function with no inherent anatomical restrictions. Inflexibility is not an inherent anatomical restriction. Missing one leg is.

To clarify, bad form is not necessarily a bad movement standard. Someone may successfully perform a squat, but their knees may cave in a bit, or they may start to collapse forward. They’ve still completed a squat, but they could improve their form (knees out and chest up, respectively, in this case). In contrast, someone could keep their knees out and chest up (good form), but fail to get low enough to consider their movement a squat. (bad movement standard)

As a general rule of thumb, having a bad movement standard will allow you to move more weight in the given exercise, while having bad form will generally limit your ability to move more weight.

Common Movement Standards

So what are some common standards? I give a brief description.

Squat

Lifter must squat down until the crease of the hip is at or below the top of the knee. These are the two points we are looking to get parallel in a “parallel squat”. Different powerlifting federations will have different rules regarding depth, but I and many others believe that the harder option is the better option.

A good, deep squat on the left, and an emphasis on the hip crease on the right.

Image from 70′s big.com, in an article discussing this same topic.

The crease of the hip and the top of the knee can be seen and judged, regardless of the size and dimensions of the lifter. If other biological markers are used, say the bottom of the hamstrings, then squat depth would vary among lifters – as those lifters with bigger hamstring would ironically not have to squat as low! Here’s another fantastic article on what I’m about to cover.

Biggest Common Infraction – Not squatting low enough! Enough of the excuses, I’ve heard them all –

Poor flexibility?

Work on it. A squat is a privilege, not a right. Why should people who lack proper mobility be rewarded with less work? If you can’t squat to proper depth, and as I mentioned you have no inherent anatomical restrictions, then your most important order of business is to work on proper depth. Don’t start bragging about your squat numbers, until you can actually squat. Need help on getting lower? Check out MobilityWOD.com for more than enough ideas.

Close enough to parallel?

Wrong. The definition of a parallel squat doesn’t leave room for interpretations. That’s why it’s a movement standard! If it was “close enough”, then you should have no problem squatting low enough. “Close” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

It helps me get ready for bigger weights/jumping/unracking heavy weights?

I use to believe this too, and admittedly tried doing half and quarter squats with 400-500 lbs. It felt like it really worked . . . my ego. It was great to say you just moved 450 lbs in an exercise, but not nearly as much is accomplished as if you just squatted the weight to full depth. I can load up a bar to 500 lbs and roll it across the floor, but that doesn’t mean I got stronger from it. Speaking of bars on floors…

Deadlift

The lifter must stand up with the bar in one motion. The bar can slow down, but can not descend again until the lift is complete. Hitching, the act of bending the knees and scooping them under the bar, is prohibited. Trying to jerk the weight up and down in order to raise it, is also prohibited. This would violate the standard of allowing the bar to descend.

Biggest Common Infraction – Hitching is by far the most common violation that I see. Get yourself intimately acquainted with what a hitch looks like, as you want to avoid it.

Here is a video showing a severely hitched deadlift.

And while I’m no master at these movements, here’s my 500 lb deadlift in comparison. Even taken with a sumo stance, the knees stay back and hips extend in one smooth lift.

Why do people hitch? They same reason they don’t squat to parallel – they are using weights that are too heavy for them. But while a shallow squat will simply cause me to ridicule you, a hitched and jerky deadlift can have much more serious consequences. There is a video out there that gives the full story of a crossfit guy who put himself in a wheelchair for a year from a bad deadlift. I can’t find the link at the moment, but will post it here when I dig it up again.

Bench

As with the squat, different federations will have different specific rules. Generally speaking, you need to press the bar from chest to arms length under your own power, while keeping your feet, hips, and upper back on the bench.

Biggest Common Infractions – The two I see a lot are lifting the hips off the bench, and getting excessive help from your spotter.

For those unfamiliar, let me explain why lifting the hips off the bench is advantageous in the first place. If you’ve benched, then you might possibly have also performed the decline press.

the decline press. notice the hips are very high in relation to the  shoulders.

If not, let me tell you that you’ll be able to move more weight on the decline press than on the regular bench press. Your body has better leverage to press more weight.

What does this mean on the regular bench press? It means that lifting your hips 10 feet off the bench will give you greater leverage. This is great to move more weight! But, it’s not a bench press anymore, so don’t call it as such! This standard has no room for interpretation. Your butt is either on the bench, or it’s not.

The next infraction I mentioned is excessive spotting. Your spotter is there for three primary jobs. Helping you unrack the weight (if you want), helping you re-rack the weight (if you want), and picking the bar up off of you if you fail to make the lift (I hope that’s what you want). Past that, any contact with the bar during the press from a spotter will nullify the lift.

If your spotter touches the bar in any way shape or form while you are pressing, then sorry Charlie, the lift was no good. The old line of “he was barely helping” is just an excuse. The lift can’t be judged fairly if there’s a likely chance that the press was assisted. The bench press is a one person lift, not two.

An actual two person lift, the two man clean and jerk

Picture from GoHeavy.com

The best summation of all this comes from an article by Dave Tate and Jim Wendler on bench press spotting -

“Having your hands on the bar THE WHOLE TIME is just as bad as not having a spotter at all. The lifter can’t see (you are giving him Chinnuts), and he can’t focus on the task at hand. Furthermore, 100% of the time, the spotter is helping the lifter lift the barbell. So if you do this, not only do you want the lifter to get hurt, you want them to get weak. Hence, you are the worst training partner or spotter ever.”

Beautifully put.

Last note on the bench, many contests will also forbid bouncing the bar off of your chest as you press it. Many federations will actually require you to pause the bar on your chest for a split-second while waiting for a “press” command from a judge.

You can watch me bench in the video below. Watch how I am required to pause on the chest before given the command to press. Ever done that before in your lift? It’s much harder!

Snatch

The lifter must lift the bar from the ground to overhead in one motion.

Biggest Common Infraction – Without a doubt, it’s pressing out the snatch. This means that you catch the bar with bent arms, then straighten them out as you stand up. The increase in popularity of the Olympic lifts over the years is fantastic, but athletes must be kept safe. The position of the bar at the completion of a snatch is quite close to the head and neck. If the arms aren’t fully locked out, then one risks serious injury.

If you need examples of pressed out snatches, or just ridiculousness in general, check out this video -

Why have movement standards?

Many will say that I’m being too anal with these movement standards, or that it doesn’t matter that much. Or my favorite line is, “People’s form inevitably breaks down during max lifts”. Yes, that’s true that one’s form breaks down during a max attempt, but again please refer to my description of form vs. standards. You should still be performing up to proper standards.

And as for breakdown, please tell me how bad Benedikt’s form and movement standards break down during this World Record Deadlift (Hint, they don’t. Champions strive for the best form and movement they can).

Also of note is the #1 comment for the video -

“He deadlifts 1015 lbs and then instead of dropping it, he gently puts it back on the ground. You better be taking notes the wusses that are dropping 135 lbs”

That sound you hear is me slow clapping to this wonderful comment.

Anyway, onto the reasoning for movement standards -

1. Give an accurate comparison – This is probably one of the biggest reasons to have standards. In the very least, it’s the reason people like myself write articles like this. Nothing gets the blood boiling more than someone who says “Yeah I squat X amount of weight”, only to find out their squat is barely a dip (What I like to called a ‘weighted curtsy’). It’s an insult to those athletes that have actually put in the hard work to squat X amount of weight in the proper way.

Besides keeping things fair, if you allow me to wax sentimentally, the concept of movement standards allows us to compare our lifts to legends through the ages. You can watch video of a great lifter like Tommy Kono, and compare your lifts directly (I still have a ways to go!), and then head into the gym and work to improve.

Good movement standards connect us with the legends of our rich weightlifting past. Bad movement standards disconnect us, all for our own ego’s sake.

2. Keep you safe – Ok, maybe this is the biggest reason to have standards. The guidelines are not put in place to ruin your day. Hitching a deadlift can hurt you severely. Catching a snatch with bent arms can break your head if you drop the bar. It’s harder to train and get awesome when you’re injured.

3. Get you strong – Squatting high or bridging your hips 10 feet in the air for the bench limits the work done on the various muscles of the body. In the long run, you will become stronger if you adhere to the movement standards. And trust me, lifting is a long run. You are cheating yourself from progress.

Let me note that this does not mean that those violating movement standards are not strong. They might still be very, very strong. And the shame is that they’ll use this strength as a rational for continuing to lift with bad form and bad movement standards.

I didn’t touch upon the clean and jerk, but I’ll say it’s the one lift that I see people moving tremendous weights with such terrible, terrible form. This is seen so often, that the term “football lifting” or “bro lifting” generally describes this big, heavy, sloppy lifting. Generally accompanied by the whole team screaming and shouting around the lifter.

Again, I’ll repeat, this guy is very, very strong. He could clearly cause bodily harm on the football field. And he’s not necessarily interested in what his clean would be in a competition. But by catching this clean on his toes, feet splayed out, with his elbows not nearly high enough, he puts himself at a much higher risk for injury. Why injure yourself in the weight room, so that you can’t perform on the field?

If your clean looks like this, it needs some work.

All this talk about cleans is a talk about good form. They are still performing the clean, it meets all the standards, but their form is atrocious. All of them could move even more weight with better form. Are we starting to see the differences between form and standards?

Why People Stray

Failing to meet movement standards has been around for as long as weightlifting. I find it an interesting and frustrating situation any time it occurs. Some people really don’t know where their body is, and therefore don’t know what they’ve done. Others are just not being honest with themselves, and think it’s “close enough”. Others want to keep moving heavier and heavier weight, even if it means they shouldn’t be.

But I don’t want to simply write it off as an out of control ego. Sometimes, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

To go back to the video above of the football power clean. It is an electrifying atmosphere. Everyone is cheering and clapping and routing for the lifter. You can feel the energy. Now, in a situation like that, do you think that ANYONE would want to step forward against the entire group and say something like “well, great effort, but let’s not splay your feet out like you’re trying to do a split.” No, people don’t work that way. Everyone will continue to clap and cheer because the athlete got the weight up.

Now, take that same situation and replace the clean with a back squat. The athlete descends with the bar, fails to make proper depth, and then spits and struggles to stand up again with the weight. All the while, his or her teammates are screaming words of encouragement – “you got it man!!”, “come on!!”, etc, etc, etc.

The athlete finally stands up with the weight after an eye-popping struggle and racks the bar. Is anyone in that group going to tell them – “great fight, but you didn’t get low enough.” If they were good teammates and training partners, they would, but I have seen far too many instances where everyone pats the athlete on the back and congratulates them on their new PR.

The group energy takes over. The athlete feels good, but he has been done a great disservice. He has been limited by his teammates, and he doesn’t even realize it.

No one wants to be the bad guy. No one wants to tell someone that they gave it their all, but their all just wasn’t good enough.

(despair.com)

Telling someone they didn’t go low enough in a squat, or they hitched their deadlift, or the pressed out their snatch, this isn’t being a bad guy. This is being a good coach. A good teammate. You are helping them identify and correct their weaknesses so that they can eliminate them.

Of all the athletes that I’ve coached, the best ones are the ones that trust in your expertise and listen to your cues and corrections. The bad ones are the ones that argue every suggestion you offer, or dismiss cues entirely, or say such loser lines like “knees out? easier said than done!”

So good form and good standards are a responsibility of both the coach and the athlete. You should always believe you can improve and strive for that. And you should always help your fellow lifters and teammates improve as well. We all rise up together. Bad standards and fake PRs pull us all down.

Conclusion

This is not an exhaustive list of the rules and regulations regarding the lifts. But please note that there are standards, and that there’s a reason for those standards.

I have not covered various standards for gymnastics and acrobatics in this article. That is another article in itself. The barbell lifts warrant a blog post first, as they often have a greater risk for injury when done improperly.

If you are interested in gymnastics standards, there’s an entire federation that determines this stuff out! FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique) posts out their code of points for each event so that judges can accurately compare each athlete and judge them fairly. Check out their page here.

I’ll cover those details in a future article. For now, I hope I’ve enlightened some people.

- Just because you go down and up, doesn’t mean you squatted the weight.

- Just because you stand up with a weight, doesn’t mean you deadlifted it.

- And just because you got a barbell over your head, doesn’t mean you snatched it.

Strive for good form. Strive for good standards.

-Jim

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I am writing up this post because I often get asked – “How do you combine gymnastics and weightlifting?”. I know I have a lot to learn, but this post will take you through how I attempt to juggle all my goals. I hope you find it useful and interesting to some degree.

Always hanging around the gym.

On the topic of misinterpretation, I will mention several coaches/athletes through this post that have helped me directly and indirectly. I am extremely grateful for each and every bit of help I have received from them. I am in a state of constant learning. That said, I apologize if I misinterpret or otherwise screw up what they’ve taught me when I write this post. My writings are not their writings, please keep this in mind. If you are curious what each coach/athlete believes, then you can easily research further into their teachings.

I will not go into all the specifics of my training (exact reps, sets, rest, etc), for four reasons.

1. Things change constantly (see first paragraph)

2. People tend to see the post as a routine written for them. They then stop thinking.

3. I am not doing anything revolutionary. If I want to build strength in an exercise, then I keep the repetitions low (1-5). If I am doing an assistance exercise, then I tend to perform more reps (6-12). A look at any traditional strength training program – Westside, Wendler’s 5-3-1 program, or Starting Strength Program will give you an idea of the background which I apply to my training. I am not reinventing the wheel.

4. It’s boring to write it all out.

Finally, I’ll say that it’s not the easiest to write up training posts. Egos tend to flare up when anyone writes posts like this and most people write like they’ve got all the answers. I want to avoid that in the post below. Here is my training, lumps and all. I’d like to take you through my thought process.

Oh, and I apologize if some of these videos do not load. I’ve included various background songs in some of them, and YouTube sometimes locks them down (no mobile viewing, limited country viewing). Sorry for that.

Alright, Ready? Let’s go.

Goals

In order to have a plan, we need to know where we want to go. In order of importance, here are my current goals.

1. Hold a one arm handstand for 10 seconds.

I love working handbalancing, and the one arm handstand is such a difficult skill for me. I have traveled to learn about it ;and learned from experts. A consistent 10 second hold is a very respectable mastery for this skill, in my opinion. Additionally, the one arm handstand has forced me to deal with my mediocre shoulder and hip mobility. I have enough mobility for a solid overhead squat, but not enough for a solid one arm handstand. Strange, I know.

Here is some progress so far.

3-5 second holds on each arm are the norm. Ok, but I want to do better.

2. Close the #3 Captains of Crush Gripper

I’ve closed the #2.5 gripper , but the #3 eludes me. I had put grip training as a lower priority as I focused on my Olympic lifting in preparation for a recent meet. ;Working from the #2 to the #2.5 was easy compared to this current jump to the #3 gripper.

The #3 close is also part of a bigger picture of completing the GNC Grip Gauntlet. The other two lifts are going to be a fight as well. I have picked up 165 lbs on my Rolling Thunder (165 lbs + weight of the loading pin), and a 40# blockweight (although the 50# blob is a far shot off that). I have a loadable blob and my own Rolling Thunder, so I am working them into my weekly grip work.

3. Improve Olympic Lifting and Lower Body Strength

The Olympic lifts are very technical, and I enjoy the challenge. ;In my recent meet I snatched 90 Kg, clean and jerked 120 Kg. I want to snatch 100 Kg, and clean and jerk 137.5 kg (over 300 lbs). I want to continue pushing my squat ;so that I can squat 405 lbs x 3. Why a triple? Because I find that one rep maxes tend to be a bit sloppy, a bit high. People don’t fudge triples so much. A triple shows mastery of that weight. I want to master weight over 400 lbs.

4. Improve Upper Body Strength

I want to hold a solid five second planche, and a solid five second iron cross. A full planche of 2-3 seconds is a max effort for me, so I want to be stronger in the skill. My iron cross training has been historically riddled with injury to my left shoulder (I once hurt it so bad I couldn’t pick up a cup), but with improved mobility and training and a new set-up, I am tackling the skill again. I also want to continue strengthening my 90 degree pushup (called a Bower, I believe). I am working to lower down to essentially a back lever on a set of boxes, then push back up to a handstand. Here’s some video of myself lowering down into the position -

I am also interested in “The Elevator” also know as the Reverse Muscle-up.

Both these skills have come about as a way to further challenge myself past a regular handstand pushup.

And what of the one arm handstand pushup?

People seem to ask me about this old video and skill quite often. I am going to push the other exercises hard and see the effect it has on that one. I still believe the skill to be possible!

Goal Recap

Let’s recap so far what I want/need to include in my training -

- One Arm Handstand work

- Grip work

- Lower body (Olympic lifting)

- Upper body (Gymnastic skills)

- Mobility (as a good practice in general, but to help with the handstand work)

And to complicate matters a little further, I like to do various physical activities outside the gym. Shocking, I know! I’ve recently rediscovered a love for Bouldering.

John Gill, Bouldering

and a newly-discovered love of slacklining.

me, slacking in the park.

The bouldering has been easy to incorporate within my training with the goals of increased upper body strength and improved grip strength. The slacklining has no apparent cross-over to any of my training goals. Although the focus needed and use of arms for slacklining has a bit of similarity and possible carryover to the one arm handstand, at least in my mind. There’s a subtle movement in the lower arm that I’ll let veteran slackliner Frankie Najera describe here (go to 4:11) -

The movement in the slackline feels a bit like an upside-down (right side-up?) arm movement in the one arm handstand. I may be off mark with this.

In any case, I slackline now because it’s fun, challenging, and it gets me outside. I don’t need much more reason than that. Also, if you’re looking for awesome adventure gear (backpacks, clothes, and even my Gibbon slackline) then check out The Clymb. The site has incredible deals that are always changing, and a purchase kicks a little bit of money back to me, which I greatly appreciate. Seriously, there is some awesome stuff. Go There!

Conflicts

Ok, let’s update the list -

- Handstands

- Grip

- Upper Body/Gymnastics

- Lower Body/Olympic Lifting

- Mobility

- Bouldering

- Slacklining

Now, let’s talk about various conflicts that arise. Many come about when you try to work two of these goals within the same training session. Below are my own observations from training.

- Handstand and grip work tend to conflict. Working handstands before grip work definitely makes the grip work more difficult and less productive, and vice versa.

- Grip work before Olympic lifting work also causes problems, unless you use lifting straps.

- Handstand work can intefere with upper body work. If I have a long handstand session immediately before an upper body session, then my arms and shoulders are a bit spent. If handstand work is right after, then my shoulder are too shot to balance finely. If I only have a limited amount of time to train, then I will put the handstand before any upper body strength work, but my own preferred schedule is to put the fine motor control (handstand work) an hour or more away from the strength based exercises (gymnastics work). We work with what we’ve got though.

- Excessively long stretching session for the lower body can reduce power production if one immediately goes into Olympic lifting. Going back to the previous example of limited training time, if I only have a limited time to work with a client then I’ll still work mobility right before Olympic lifting. I would rather have them be able to safely get into a position, even if it means a slight loss of power. ;But personally speaking, I’ll avoid an excessively long lower body mobility session before lower body power.

- Bouldering currently fries my grip for a day or two, so little to no additional grip work is needed during that time. This is the goal anyway.

- Slacklining doesn’t seem to interfere with much, although I probably wouldn’t do it on the same day as a heavy or medium lower body session. The legs do get a bit fatigued as you balance/squat on the line.

- Olympic lifting tends to interfere with handstand work. Supporting heavy weight overhead in the snatch and the jerk tires the shoulders out and makes finer motor control directly afterward difficult.

understandable that a handstand would be difficult afterward

Read and re-read these points. They’ll allow you to make more sense of the program I’ve put together for myself.

As for my training outlined below, I talk about AM sessions and PM sessions. Rather than describing a specific time, the AM/PM means that there is significant time between training periods in order to rest and recover. This might mean one to six hours. ;I get in my training during the day when my free time allows, so it is not always the same exact schedule. ;I simply want to indicate that there is time between sessions during the day. As I previously mentioned, I find conflicts arise when I try to do too much during one session. ;

Ok, let’s get into specifics. I’ll elaborate as needed.

My Training Routine

SUNDAY AM/PM

- Mobility. Handstand

My mobility in the hips and shoulders have improved dramatically over the past 6 months. I’ll thank Yuval Ayalon for pointing out how bad things were, and then tireless research to find the best methods for opening everything up.

I have found Thomas Myers book, “Anatomy Trains“, to be incredibly useful in this regard. It is technical, so I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, but those with a solid anatomical knowledge with benefit greatly. I perform soft tissue work on various muscles of the body that bind up the hips and shoulders. For those looking to open up the shoulders for their handstand, look to work on the pec minor, the lats, the long head of the triceps, the rhomboids, the levator scapulae, the anterior edge of the trapezius, and the deltoid. The shoulder is a complex joint! I will write up more on mobility at a later date.

I am currently working one-on-one with a yoga teacher/thai massage practitioner every tuesday, and she has turned me onto this book, “Yoga As Therapy“, which actually references Anatomy Trains extensively. I’ve just started digging into Yoga as Therapy, but I like it tremendously. It is a little easier to read, understand, and apply in some cases. It also comes with the perspective and goals of “I do yoga and want to improve my handstand”.

MONDAY AM

Mobility, Handstand, and/or Slackline

None of these tend to intefere with each other.

MONDAY PM

Upper body Light Work, Grip Work

I go through an upper/lower split over the course of the week. I found I can focus much better when doing this, as opposed to trying to hit the entire body. I also like Bill Starr’s simple rotation of a Heavy – Light – Medium training stress. This variation will mean different things for each person, but for the light upper body work today it will generally be easily done and/or higher reps, plus a lot of remedial rotator cuff work. I keep things moving, but still get ready for tomorrow – the most stressful day of the week.

In working with Ido Portal, ;he introduced me to the idea of straight arm strength versus bent arm strength. Straight arm pressing would be things like the planche, or a straight arm press to handstand.

straight arm tuck press to handstand – @CrossFit Fort Meade

Bent arm pressing consists of things like handstand pushups (full range of motion!) as well as bench press/overhead barbell press and things like that. Straight arm pulling would be exercises like the iron cross, the front lever and various other related movements. Bent arm pulling consists of one and two arm chin-ups/pull-ups, as well as any dumbbell/barbell rowing.

With this delineation of bent arm pressing, bent arm pulling, straight arm pressing, and straight arm pulling, I will rotate through various exercises throughout the week. For each upper body day, I like to pair a straight arm exercise with a bent arm exercise. For instance, I’ve really enjoyed a middle split hold to straddle planche for my straight arm pressing -

It’s a little rough, especially using the handbalancing canes, but I’ve seen progress and this looks to be beneficial. By the way, the middle split hold is a progression into the manna. Here Coach Sommer outlines his training progression. I have enjoyed adding the middle split hold to the training also on the advice of my friend and former college housemate, Steven Low. He recommends manna training as a great compliment to handstand training. Read all about his training thoughts and progressions in his enormous and intense book, Overcoming Gravity.

Anyway, I’ll take that straight arm pressing shown above and combine it with something like one arm chin-up work or weighted muscle-ups -

Grip work tends to be on the lighter, easier side. I’ll work whichever implement feels the best to me – Rolling Thunder, Loadable Blob, or Plate Pinching.

TUESDAY AM

Mobility, Handstand work

TUESDAY PM

Lower Body Heavy, Grip Work

This is my heavy Olympic lifting day, then I work heavy back squats, then I add additional assistance work for the Olympic lifts and squats – things like glute ham raises, RDL’s, or midsection work. I’ll work both the snatch and the clean and jerk, as they both need a lot of work to improve technique. I’ll kick this one up to 85-90% of my max. I’m fresh off a full rest day (Sunday) and lighter upper body day (Monday), so I’m ready to go. I like to work my Ironmind grippers in between sets of squats.

WEDNESDAY AM

Mobility, Handstand, and/or Slackline

Same as Monday, still works well together

WEDNESDAY PM

Bouldering

I’m climbing once a week at the moment, as the schedule and finances allow. I consider this to be an upper body medium day combined with grip work. I’ll work some additional pulling/pressing work after climbing either at the rock climbing gym, or back at my own gym.

THURSDAY AM

Mobility, Handstand

THURSDAY PM

Lower Body Light

Recovering from Tuesday/Wednesday. I’ll hit the snatch, clean and jerk, and some snatch grip deadlifts. Everything is lighter – 60%ish – and faster. Working on improving technique and timing. I’ll finish with some lower body assistance exercises too.

FRIDAY AM

Mobility, Handstand

FRIDAY PM

Upper Body Heavy, Grip Work

I’ll push skills to their max, either do singles or clustered triples in many cases. A clustered triple is where you do singles with minimal rest in between reps, as seen here -

I’ll finish off with grip work, just as I did on Monday. I work whatever feels best to me that day.

SATURDAY AM

Lower Body Medium, Grip Work

Snatches, Clean and Jerks, Front Squats, Assistance work. Keeping things in the 70-80% range. Hard work, good amount of volume, but nothing approaching failure.

Grip work is usually the grippers again. I want to keep my hands use to extreme tension on the grippers. I won’t max out with the grip work but keep it hard enough.

SATURDAY PM

Mobility, Handstand

As you probably figured out, I’m stretching and/or working on my handstands every moment I’m not lifting a barbell.

General Thoughts

- I look to keep things as simple as possible each workout. I’ve gone through numerous programs over the years. The overly-complicated ones never delivered for me. Never more than 4 or 5 exercises per session. Sometimes I only have one or two exercises. ;Far too many people email me their training programs and all I see is a huge list of exercises. How could they possibly know what’s good and what’s bad? What helps and what hinders? When in doubt, cut back.

- I will adjust my training based on how I’m feeling. Not feeling good? I’ll cut back on total number of sets. Feeling great? Maybe I’ll push the weight a bit heavier then planned or do more reps/sets. I’ve found it very beneficial to listen to your body. Push when you can, pull back when you need. But above all, I get something done! Those that have an off day and skip the gym without even warming up are those that never make progress. There have been countless times when I felt terrible, then warmed up and PR’ed. Get into the gym in any way you can, decide how good or bad you feel after you warm up.

- Practice something more often to get better at it. I work the Olympic lifts three times a week to improve my technique. That is not enough for some! I am squatting in some capacity at every one of those sessions. Not surprisingly, my squat is improving. Handstands are the same way. They need a lot of love and attention to grow. Legendary Wrestler Dan Gable said it best – “If it’s important, do it every day.”

- Work on what’s important to you. No one can tell you what your goals are, although they will try.

Conclusion

I’ve come to a balance between my goals that works well for me. It’s taken a lot of time and experimentation. I’ve followed good and bad programs along the way. Each one has taught me something about what works and doesn’t work for me. I hope that this post makes you stop and think about your own training. Is it accomplishing what you want it to accomplish? Or is it just something you think looks good? Or is it geared towards someone else’s goals entirely?

Whatever you do, find your own path and train hard.

-Jim