Exercise geekery

[flexagon]

I've been wanting to get my thoughts down regarding exercise, since I'm so confused now in this land of post-Toledo, pre-any-new-classes, not having a regular routine. This is based mostly on a recent post from nevers, though I used different categories.

Things I really like and want to keep in my program.

Ashtanga yoga, maybe advanced vinyasa. I missed yoga so much, but now that I'm getting back into it... it doesn't give me a workout the way it did 6 months ago. Rrrgh! Frustrating! Only ashtanga is still intense enough to satisfy.

Straddle work a la Toledo. If I do one particular series of warmups from him, I can touch my chin to the ground... maybe that's boring to some, but it makes my heart sing every time, because it's something I never thought I'd do.

Handstand presses against the wall -- I was thinking before the Toledo stuff ended that ideally I'd do them 3x/week instead of 2x/week. For the last couple of weeks it has been 0x/week.

Handstand balancing. I know the drills that have been helping me. How often can I fit them in? Would even one set per day help? Given that I have to warm up my wrists pretty extensively every time, how often makes sense?

Pistols. They are the most badass quad/glute exercise. (For calves, the most badass was the one-footed jumping rope, and I'm thinking of bringing that back in but maybe gradually.)

Kettlebell things: orbits around the head, figure 8s, Turkish get-ups, wood choppers (I haven't even tried those for ages).

Rehab/prehab shoulder things. Cuban rotations, external rotations, several of Toledo's other little moves. Trap 3 lifts, for handstand strength.

Skin the cats. Alternately, raising toes to the bar, because it is pretty amazing to do 10 of those.

Pullups, ring pushups, and ring dips. I'd better add rows to that for well-roundedness, although I do not love them.

Things I used to be good at, that I want back.

Splits. Lost 'em. When I got them I was working them very specifically 1x/week, as well as doing yoga. Now neither my hamstrings nor hip flexors really want to go there.

Hip flexibility of the pigeon, double-pigeon, box pose, outward rotating kind.

My backbend, in general. I want to do drop-backs in sets. Would that fit in with leg day?

Things I have never had, that might be great to work on

Ashtanga jump backs

QDR circles

Things I don't have right now that I'm okay with letting be

Back walkovers -- no good place to regularly attempt them. If my backbend comes back, so will they.

Muscle-up drills may fall in this category too. They hurt, and are hard on several joints.


OK. That's not an actual weekly exercise program, but I think it will help guide me when I make one. I think I need to go back to morning workouts in general -- evening is good brain-time for me so it's nice to have the option of staying at work, and (speaking of work) morning workouts come along conveniently before work can derail my focus on self-care.

Comments

[flexagon]

Bwahahaha!! Love how straddle-ups (pushing up from the floor to standing) didn't make this list. I hate them, but I need them. Love-hate-hate.

I also want to start listing random exercises that I have loved...

Pike-ups on a stability ball.

Hands on a bench, jumping up and over the bench from side to side.

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

It's funny that you and nevers have been thinking along those lines - is it something about that time of year? I'm trying like hell to get back to where I was physically when I was thinking about doing privates at circus school in addition to the once weekly family circus with dancing_crow et al. My list is pitifully small and mostly consists of trying to get back to being able to remember all the exercises my trainer taught me at the gym. Plus, starting up crocodiles again. I'm pathetically weak.

I'll be thinking of you and nevers, though! Both because what you guys can do is so very much goal-worthy and because I know what it's like to feel like you're stuck or floundering (but I know you'll get past that!).

Also, what's a pike-up on a stability ball? That sounds really dangerous cool!

[flexagon]

Well, for me it's definitely the being done with Toledo and unsure what to do next. I was content to take it easier for a couple of weeks, but now I'm getting bored and frustrated with that. Not sure what's up with nevers.

Here's a stability ball pikeup:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1118

...though you should really carry the motion further, take it more toward a handstand. That person is not doing a very full range of motion. Try it! They're hard. :-)

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Oh! I knew what they were, I just didn't know what they were called. :) I will put them on my workout schedule. Thanks!

[flexagon]

P.S. What is a crocodile? You and nevers have both been mentioning them.

Crocodile

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Here's a crocodile about as well as I could ever do one:http://spiralcircusarts.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-first-attempts-at-handbalancing-on.html

Here's a better one - at about 23 secs and 32 secs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miDiEqAH5vs&feature=player_embedded#!

The top link was photographed in the main portion of the NECCA training space. The video was filmed in a cemetery just up the street from NECCA.

Re: Crocodile

[flexagon]

Hey, I think I know that guy in the video. :-)

Anyway, right! Those things. I think they fall in the "not worrying about it right now" category for me, since I don't have regular access to handstand blocks. (Sometimes when my wrists feel super warmed up, I give them a shot on the floor, but usually that's too much flexion to be any fun.)

However. I just glanced across the room and saw the cat-scratching post in a whole new light. It's a strong one... holds my weight quite easily, actually.

Maybe I WILL do a croc or two. Thanks for the weird inspiration! :-)

Re: Crocodile

[islenskr.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, cat scratching posts work really well! :)
You're very welcome!!

Post pictures? :)

[nevers.livejournal.com]

i should ask for more info about the shoulder prehab exercises, because i don't recognize them by their names. but my shoulders are holding up pretty well and i don't feel excited about adding more to my to-do list, so...

if ashtanga is the best kind of yoga for you right now, i think it would be awesome to train jump-backs. and QDR circles are so freaking beautiful!

it's funny for me to hear that you got splits training them just once a week. yoga too, of course... but in the circusland that is my life right now, a person who wants to improve their splits trains them 3-5 days a week for 20 minutes or so.

i still think skin the cats are good for press handstands. or at least, i know that training press handstands helped my cats, so why shouldn't it go the other way?

i think since you've wanted a press for so long, it makes sense to keep training your straddle flexibility and wall presses. orrrr find a different way to get at the strength and flexibility for a month or two and come back to them.

and i too definitely struggle with things that i want to train daily but that require a lot of warm-up first. for me it's walkovers. backbending takes a good 10-20 minutes to warm up each day.

[flexagon]

Happy to share all my shoulder prehab tricks any time you want, even if it's years from now. :-)

Thanks for your thoughts! I agree my splits-talk sounds pretty strange. The thing is, at that time I felt I could only productively train the damn things when I was really exhausted after weightlifting. Other times I would stretch them, but wouldn't feel that my body was being receptive at all. Maybe that was an illusion, but it was a convincing one, so it's only the 1x/week I felt like I was actually getting anywhere. From my experiences in the last 6 months, I know you're quite right that real flexibility gains come from MULTIPLE times/week training... although some days still feel shitty and super-low-range-of-motion and I can't tell if it still helps to put in the time on those days. (Do you know? I feel like flexibility training is so badly understood!)

Yesterday I did my wall press-ups and stretched out my hips/splits in between each one, which was way more pleasant than just standing there waiting to feel strong enough to try again. I think plain old pigeon pose is also my friend right now: hip flexors in the back, and outward rotation in the front, are both things I need.

Skin the cats and presses are both part of "straight arm day" in Toledo-speak. They help each other for sure.

It helps to know that someone like you has things they have to warm up a ton before doing, too. My back is usually good to go after a couple of cat-cow type stretches. My wrists though... it's safest to stick to Toledo's entire 40-pushup routine before I bust the handstands, and even before yoga I'll do about half of that. Which makes press training especially hard because I have to do all that AND warm up the straddle. But -- some things are both hard and worth doing.