Weekly Progress Report: 2012-05-15
What a weekend. Such great weather!
Challenge #6: Straddle Press to handstand
Planche work still does me no good these days, but I think working presses is where I need to focus to get closer to the goal. As handstand push-ups get easier, it will allow me to start progressions on actual press-to-handstands, which is the biggest part of the full motion.
Challenge #10: Iron Cross
Muscle-up progress is still looking good. What felt well recently was to Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-05-06
Almost a week back from vacation! My first (except holidays) in pretty much 5 years! A lot of shenanigans happened with my fellow classmates, and it was nice to press the reset button, mentally and physically.
Now I’m back to business with my last semester to go and many other projects this summer. It’s gonna rock, let me assure you.
On with the challenges.
Challenge #6: Straddle press to handstand
Tuck planche holds starting to feel good again. I’ve also been working handstand and pike push-ups regularly in the last few weeks; progress is being made.
Challenge #8: Iron Cross Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-04-16
Hiyaz! Most of my exams are done (1 left!) so I finally have some minutes to write this up.
Challenge #6: Straddle Press to Handstand
Moar presses on the handstand push-up!
I tested less planche positions in the last moth or two, but recently Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-04-02
End of term, quick update, no time, blah blah blah.
Challenge #8: Iron Cross
Intensity PR on the Muscle-Up! I was able to use the -50lbs deloading band for the first time this week. Here’s me doing 2 of them:
I started exploring my options to improve my keeping close to the bar as I come up. It turns out I have the flexibility, but lacking the strength to pull while closer. As I’m working up the load, I’ll also be working smaller movements with the bigger band (-75lbs) to increase strength in weaker areas of the muscle-up.
Varia
The technical constraint I was talking about in my previous report, was that this website’s server went down. Since I had no control over it and/or contact information, I realized I was really vulnerable to that kind of event. Of course I make regular backups, but it still had been a while.
Now I have transferred the site over a hosting service with which I have full management control, and paying for my own account. Uptime should be pretty decent in the future.
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-03-25
This is gonna be a quick report; it was intended for last Sunday, but time and technical constraints made it come out later. But here it finally comes.
Challenge #8: Iron cross
Recently, I started practicing the full Muscle-up movement using deload bands (and wondered at why I hadn’t thought of it before). I started off at 2 or 3 and I’m already at around 7-8 for a set; it’s getting easier.
Filming myself, I think the most important point to work on for more efficiency, is to try to keep closer to the bar, so as to eliminate the superfluous back-and-forth movement away from it. For some reason though, so far it has seemed more natural for me to do the movement like this, despite attempts at aiming my head to cross the bar at the top. I shall analyze further why that is the case.
Challenge #10: The Picletters
Hey I guess I’m on a spree these days. Last week I went to Chicago for work; those pictures were taken really fast, on the spot as we had very little time to visit downtown. As a side comment, Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-03-19
Challenge #6 : Straddle Press to Handstand
I told you last week I had successfully touched my head on a handstand (wide) push-up. Here’s a video with some more of them.
I feel presses and core work are what’s going to work better for a while, so I’ll be concentrating on that.
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-03-12
Challenge #6: Straddle Press to Handstand
Shoulders don’t feel that good these days for the actual Tuck Planche practice. But the higher-volume movements are what work well.
MOREOVER, on the hand balancing portion, quite some progress… not fully in control yet but getting there quicker. Can’t wait to reach an proper balance.
AND. For the first time, Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-02-26
What’s up folks!
Challenge #6: Straddle Press to Handstand
This week the actual Tuck Planche hold didn’t agree really well with my body’s state, so I practiced more of these instead:
I called them Parallels Tuck Planche Up. Some variations include arms bent as if about to press (like in the video), arms straight (as in a planche), and the latter with lowering and rising the feet.
Moreover, I’m working on acquiring a proper, sustainable L-sit position. I think it’s a minimum if I am to get a good straddle position… I think I may even need to work up to the V-sit to get the proper amount of strength. I may remind you of the unusual length of my legs, that make these positions rather challenging.
Here I’m doing a Tuck-to-L-sit movement, to work it out. As I got it on video, I notice it may be beneficial to work on bringing my knees even closer when I tuck, to obtain a full range of motion.
Varia
I just finished another level (7) in my studying of the Spanish language. Only one more to complete the whole lot available at my YMCA. It’s gonna be time to start some real conversations, if I am to make that last any bit!
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-02-19
Challenge #6: Straddle Press to Handstand
Here’s the latest hold PR… 17 seconds!
I’ve also found another way to work the press transition, using parallel dip bars. Currently, all I’m able to do is lift my hips up to parallel, while bending my arms. Goal would be to: Read more
Weekly Progress Report: 2012-02-12
I got the chance to try out the Nissan Leaf yesterday. Surprisingly interesting! And that’s coming from a guy who loves manual transmissions. But… there seems to be only one gear on that electric engine 
It just…goes. Accelerations are surprisingly powerful!
Challenge #6 and #8: Straddle Press to Handstand & Iron Cross
Welp, here’s a small medley of movement variations I’ve worked on to progress on the main goals.
When the Tuck Planche doesn’t test well or I don’t feel that strong in the position, I figured I could do reps instead, which allow for Read more
