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21 Oct
Raised Plank Lean – 5 x 20 secs
Advanced Frogstand with Toes – 15,20,15,15,15 secs
L-Sit Hold – 20,15,15,15 secs23 Oct
Narrow Pushups – 20
Raised Plank Lean, Tucked Feet – 3 x 20 secs
Advanced Frogstand – 4,4,4,4,5,5,9 secs (39 total)
Hanging Knee Raises – 12,10,10,10Minor concern that I’ll lose some strength so I started with some narrow pushups. I stopped after 3 sets of raised lean with tucked feet as it felt roughly the same as the straight body version, so I knew I could complete the final 2 sets. I jumped straight into the advanced frogstand with no support, feeling that I can now build some balance. I failed ‘forward’ mostly, but could quickly shift my legs to catch myself and so the concerns of falling on my head during practice were unfounded.
25 Oct
Narrow Pushups – 15
Supported TRX Tuck Planche – 12,20,12 secs
Advanced Frogstand – 9,12,17,12,15,19,4,20 secs (108 total)
TRX Tucks – 9,8,10,11I dusted off my TRX bands and tried to hold a tucked position with planche but the stability wasn’t there and the body position looked awful when watching footage back. I abandoned that and went for a frogstand on the parallettes, pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I’d become so soon. I’m quietly confident that I can nail 30 seconds on Monday but otherwise hope to do so within the next week. That would take me onto tuck planche and one step closer to full planche.
The progression I’m following is Frog Stand, Advanced Frog Stand, Tuck Planche, Advanced Tuck Planche, Straddle Planche and Full Planche. The texts I read suggested being able to hold one for 30 seconds before moving on. Here’s ~20 secs of the Adv Frog Stand.
20 Oct
Depth Drop – 4 x 5 x 40cm
Rhythm Jump – 5 x 10
Rebounds – 3 x 20
OH Squat – 4 x 5 x 20kg
Hex DL – Singles @ 100, 110, 120, 130, 135, 140 ,145, 150kg, 155kgI felt crap today and not in the mood for OH squats so stuck with the bar. Cranked out the DL singles and although it was only 9 instead of 10, I did finish with my estimated 1RM.
22 Oct
Depth Drop – 3 x 5 x 40cm
Skips (Height) – 5 x 10
Rhythm Jumps – 3 x 10
SL Line Hops – 2 x 25 secs per leg per direction24 Oct
Standing Vert – 55cm, 56cm, 56cm, 57cm, 56cm
2 Step Approach – 5 x 1
Full Approach 2 foot – 10 x 1
Full Approach 1 foot – 5 x 1 per leg
OH squat – 5 x 20, 30, 35, 40kg
Box Squat – 4 x 80kg, 100kg, 110kg, 110kg, 110kgWet court again so couldn’t commit fully to jumps, still good for technique. I tried a 2 foot approach from the opposite side and if anything I felt stronger. A few of the single footed jumps were quite high, it would be interesting to see what my vert is off one leg. Strong in the gym, OH squats were comfortable at 40kg and stable in the hole, box squats were a breeze.
Here is today’s overhead squat, I seem to drop lower on one side as the bar is wonky.
14 Oct
Straddle Plank Lean – 10,11,14,17,13 secs
Frog Stand – 4,7,6,7,5,10,15,12,7,15,28,8,5 secs (119 total)
L-Sit – 5 x 20 secsVery scrappy frog stands, switched to the bars to accumulate some longer holds. L-sit strong.
16 Oct
Straddle Plank Lean – 20,18,20,18,15 secs
Frog Stand – 7,7,5,23,14,9,16,20,7,30 secs (136 total)
Straddle Sit – 5,12,5,5,8,12 secsHard to judge how far my straddle lean should be but it feels right. I was repeating the scrappy holds of the last session until I re-watched the frog stand tutorial from School of Calisthenics and that made all the difference (note the jump from 7,7,5 second holds to 23 secs). Previously my hands were turned out too much, trying to mimic the plank lean, whereas if the fingers face forward then they can provide a force to balance me when I lean forward too much.
Ended with a 30 second hold from the floor, meaning I can progress to the next variation.
18 Oct
Raised Plank Lean – 2 x 4 x 3 sec holds, 11, 14, 14 secs
Advanced Frog Stand (still in contact with floor) – 9, 6, 15, 12 secs
Advanced Frog Stand (no support) – 2 x 1 sec (haha)
Raised Plank Hold – 60,50,50 secsI didn’t enjoy the handstand lean so I tried to mimic it by raising my feet and walking them forward for brief holds at end range. I then realised what I’m doing is the next progression after straddle plank lean, and so I did them for single long holds of 10-15 secs.
The advanced frog stand is a whole different challenge to the normal one and I was struggling. Rather than continue doing < 1 second holds I tried to simplify it by placing my hands ~14 inches from the wall so that if I did go forward my head would rest on the wall for support. I also had a footstool so I didn't have to "pop" off my feet into position and could turn it into a gradual lean. I had to simplify it again by getting to the point where my toes were about to leave the stool and holding it there. The advances frog stand is a serious amount of tension in the arms and was quite a strength challenge for me, and even holding just prior to toes off was something I couldn't hold for long. I read online that some people believe Tuck Planche (the next progression) to be easier or equivalent, so I'm not intimidated about being so many difficulty levels away from full planche. My experience of the human flag has shown me that I can be innovative and find some sort of hold I can do for 10-15 secs that I can make more difficult week on week to always ensure I'm progressing.
13 Oct
Depth Drop – 4 x 5 x 40cm
Rhythm Jump – 5 x 10
Rebounds – 3 x 20
OH Squat – 5 x 20kg, 22.5kg, 22.5kg, 25kg
Hex DL – Singles @ 100, 110, 120, 2 x 130, 135, 140 ,145, 2 x 147.5kgAfter the first few sets of overhead squats I tend to find my groove and can go to depth, and since 20kg isn’t troubling me at all I thought I would increase it a little. Hex DL was fun, I tried to ramp it up as fast as I could and needed to do 130kg twice to feel like I could move on. Pleased with 147.5kg, not a huge strain.
15 Oct
Depth Drop – 3 x 5 x 40cm
Skips (Height) – 5 x 10
Rhythm Jumps – 3 x 10
SL Line Hops – 2 x 20 secs per leg per directionLine hops were much more coordinated already and I saw a similar exercise being done in water to develop a swimmers fast twitch muscles so I believe that’s why I’m doing them.
17 Oct
Standing Vert – 54cm, 54cm, 56cm, 55cm, 56cm
2 Step Approach – 5 x 1
Full Approach 2 foot – 8 x 1
Full Approach 1 foot – 5 x 1 per leg
OH squat – 5 x 20, 25, 27.5, 30kg
Box Squat – 6 x 80kg, 3 x 6 x 97.5kgDisappointed in my standing vert but not concerned. My running vert technique is getting there but I need more practice, so I did 8 full approach to 2 foot takeoff. I hit a few good ones and there was a difference of 1-2 inches when I get it right. It was chucking it down so my run up was a bit cautious, not wanting to slip on the court. Single leg takeoff was equally bad until I realised I could treat it like a long jump and put a marker down for where my leg should hit. This was after I’d done 3 and the last two felt better. Straight in the groove with box squats, really comfortable with these so straight to the max. allowed weight after set 1.
A positive week overall, I notice week 3 is very similar and I will do a few extra approaches when that session comes round. Here’s me wobbling my way through some overhead squats, I’m trying to up the weight slightly so I take it seriously and pay attention to my balance.
6 Oct
Depth Drop – 4 x 5 x 30cm
Rhythm Jump – 4 x 10
Rebounds – 3 x 20
OH Squat – 4 x 5 x 20kg
Hex DL – Singles @ 2 x 100kg, 110k,g 120kg, 2 x 130kg, 2 x 135kg, 2 x 140kgReally liked this session, anything with deadlift singles is a winner in my book. Only used the bar for OH squat as it’s more about gaining flexibility than setting PB’s.
8 Oct
Depth Drop – 3 x 5 x 40cm
Skips (Height) – 4 x 10
Rhythm Jumps – 3 x 10
SL Line Hops – 2 x 15 secs per leg per directionI know depth drop as “shock jumps” and I’ve done up to 1 metre at Uni, so didn’t want to mull around at 30cm when I know I can cope with higher. Also used to do skips for height at uni for our sprints warm up and it was nice to do them again.
10 Oct
Standing Vert – 56cm, 56cm, 57cm, 57cm, 57cm
2 Step Approach – 5 x 1
Full Approach 2 foot – 6 x 1
Full Approach 1 foot – 5 x 1 per leg
OH squat – 4 x 5 x 20kg
Box Squat – 8 x 65kg, 3 x 8 x 85kgAlready tired my legs out enough that I’m down on my CMJ best. His technical cues helped me feel really explosive off two feet, I have never ever tried a single leg approach for a dunk and it showed. I will keep at it if only to improve co-ordination. Box squats were capped at 65% 1RM which for me is 85kg, felt really strong here.
As well as this I’m doing his full daily routine which involves a few bodyweight exercises for sets of 20 and then a series of about a dozen stretches.
