Nathan's Nook

[Nathan]

Busy few days. Heavy session today. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Parallettes (straddle): Wrists are feeling okay, so took this to the floor today. Feels good on the floor, so I'll probably stay with that as long as the wrists feel good.
  
• Weighted Chin Ups: Went ahead and bumped these up 5kg today. Around 70% BW. Tough!
  
• RTO Dips
  
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Been lowering into straddle, but tried pulling into a half lay today. Really tough after the weighted pullups, but going to work with pulling into it for a while.
  
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
  
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Bumped these up to 30kg today. Front rack is feeling really good - keeping a full grip on the bar. But 30kg is pretty tough!
  
• Deadlifts: Went ahead and bumped these up 5kg. Still feel really light. Only 5kg left before I'm out of weights.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. JC felt really light today for some reason.

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg). Just stuck with an iso hold for the extended butterfly today.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Just finished a light session. Started with the Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
  
• Bar Chin Ups: Still at 3x12.
  
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): Haven't done any HSPU progressions for a while, so decided to come back to these. Using parallettes for full ROM and started with legs lower to keep them in line with light day intensity.
  
• Ring Rows
  
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups
  
• Pistol Squats (hands behind the head)
  

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC. Work backed up a bit, so skipping today's ballistics. Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Did the usual daily stuff yesterday, and finally got in one of my lower intensity stretching sessions. Felt like it had been a while! Shoulder opener felt pretty intense, but I was able to pick up where I left off last with 3x45s. Had to cut down a good bit on the wall bridges - 15s and 10s. Then did some work in figure four, extended butterfly, and hip flexors before spending a while working tailor pose. Tailor got pretty intense toward the end as I was really getting some forward tilt of the pelvis. Finished up with some pancake work, which felt like it was all gracilis after the other stretches.

 

Skill/accessory session to come in a bit.

[Nathan]

Just finished skill session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
  
• RTO Support Holds: These are feeling super solid. Might start adding another set next time.
  
• Rings Muscle Ups: Still working scap depression here.
  
• Handstand Presses: Playing with different negatives on the wall and some various compression drills.
  
• Manna Work: Skipped.
  
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression)
  
• Pike/Straddle Compression
  
• Natural Leg Extensions: Skipped today. Right ITB/knee pain started to go away but seems to be coming back and these were aggravating it a bit.
  
• Skin the Cats (tuck): Pushing the stretch in the hang a bit - seems to give a bit of release to a tight area above the upper left scap.
  

Lying relaxation later this evening.

[Nathan]

Been a busy few days. Lots of earthquakes near here. Far enough away to avoid any damage, but plenty of shaking.

 

Last Friday was my heavy session. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Parallettes (straddle): Continued these on the floor.
• Weighted Chin Ups: These are tough at around 70% BW. Keeping reps low and upping sets.
• RTO Dips
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Sticking with pulling into HL. Trouble hitting parallel after the weighted chins, but expect they'll get better.
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Still at 30kg. Slowly moving reps up.
• Deadlifts: Went ahead and threw all of the plates on. Not hard, but feels substantial at least. Will work sets and reps up until this feels easy and then consider getting more plates.

Ended the heavy session there to go celebrate a birthday. Took it easy on the weekend - some R&R to go with the shaking.

 

Monday was a light session. Started with the Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
• Bar Chin Ups: First two sets felt strong, but fell a couple reps short on third set for some reason.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes)
• Ring Rows: These felt harder than usual today too. Lazy day for pulling muscles
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups
• Pistol Squats (hands behind the head): 3x13 - feels like cardio. Almost time to move the hands down to behind the back.

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC.

Flexibility: Normally a ballistics session, but felt like a more relaxed session so just went with holds. HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Lots of long holds, nice and relaxing.

 

Today was a skill session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel: Moved further away from the wall today. Getting close to full standing.
• RTO Support Holds: Still solid. Didn't add a set today.
• Rings Muscle Ups: Still working scap depression here.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall were feeling nice today. Pretty controlled until a few inches off of the floor.
• Manna Work: Did some work pushing hips forward/up in a bent-leg straddle. Going to wait a while longer before trying the wall slides again.
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression) Decided to cut these as they don't seem to be adding much at this point.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions: Planned 3x6, but stopped on second set because the knee felt a bit iffy.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Been doing lying relaxation at night with a rolled up towel under the neck and just focusing on really relaxing everything. Rolled out the whole right hip area front to back a couple night in a row - enough to make it sore, so I took a break. Will continue with that off and on. Hopefully it will help get rid of this ITB stuff. Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Heavy session today. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Floor (straddle)
  
• Weighted Chin Ups: Extra set felt good today. Might try upping reps next session.
  
• RTO Dips
  
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Closer to parallel today. Feeling more solid.
  
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
  
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Kept reps same and added a set today. Extra set was tough.
  
• Deadlifts: Added a set here today. Felt really solid. Will probably up reps next session.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. Less reps on dislocates and dropped STC today because left elbow is feeling a bit off.

Flexibility: Swapped ISO holds for ballistics again today. Just felt right.. HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Pancake is feeling good lately.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Light session today. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
• Bar Chin Ups: Fell short on the third set same as last time.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): These are starting to feel pretty tough at 3x10. Always had trouble pushing reps with the full wall-assisted HSPU, so not sure how these piked progressions will go with high reps.
• Ring Rows
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Hit 3x15, so will be increasing lean next session.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind the head): Jumped straight to 3x15 on these, so I'll move on to hands behind the back next time.

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC. Dropped weight on the CR a few sessions back and have been working higher reps. At 3x13 now and I think I'm finally feeling it in the right place. Bumped JC up to 35kg today. Wasn't sure if I wanted to push it any heavier, but I decided to push it up a bit and see how it goes.

Flexibility: Went for another relaxed ISO session today. HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Spent some quality time in tailor with the pelvis tilted forward. Not sure if the extended butterfly is really doing anything yet. I feel the right release, but left is stubborn as always.

 

Been really getting into the IT band deep over the past few days. Super intense, but feels lovely when it finally releases. Have tried getting up into the gracilis area while in my pancake, but I need to cut my fingernails before I can really put any serious pressure into it. Even so, getting up in there just a bit lets me go a bit further.

 

Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Just finished a skill session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
• RTO Support Holds
• Rings Muscle Ups: Still working scap depression here. Also testing some one arm chins with minimal assistance. Not very difficult. Could probably start working negatives, but will continue focus on weighted chins for now.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall felt really good today. Only doing a couple per session, but feeling solid.
• Manna Work: More work pushing hips forward/up in a bent-leg straddle. Felt crazy tension (good kind) in the lower traps/mid back coming down from the second set.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions: Skipped these today. Been working the IT band a lot lately and it doesn't like these right now.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Pretty quick, easy session today. Everything felt pretty good. Pancake has been coming along nicely, but I think the piri tightness on the left is starting to impede progress. I've been feeling it there and around gracilis as I get closer to the ground. Still enjoying the progress though. Haven't done one of my T/TH stretching sessions in a while now, though, so thoracic isn't getting as much work as it should. Moving soon, so things are kind of in limbo, but still working all of my goal areas with the bands/balls/etc.

 

Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Just finished a heavy session. Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Felt strong today.
  
• Weighted Chin Ups: These felt really solid today. Planned 2x3 and 2x2, but ended up doing 4x3 with almost no rest between the last two sets just because they felt so solid.
  
• RTO Dips
  
• Front Lever ISO Progression
  
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
  
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Same sets/reps as last time. Still tough, but feeling more solid.
  
• Deadlifts: Upped reps this time. Feels solid, but will probably do one more session before upping reps again.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. Heavier JC feeling solid. At 3x14 with the CR - will take them to 3x15 next time and then finally up the weight a bit.

Flexibility: ISO holds again today. HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Could rest my head on the floor during pancake. Bent back, of course, but still feels nice!

 

Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Due to scheduling, etc. (getting ready for a move) I made today a skill session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel: Only managed half of my planned reps today. Abs were sore/fatigued.
  
• RTO Support Holds
  
• Rings Muscle Ups: Scap depression again. I've noticed I can stay fairly straight when hanging from the right arm, but tend to want to swing out to the side when hanging from the left. Should probably figure out where the weakness is.
  
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives felt really good again today. Pretty much controlled all the way to the floor. I feel a lot of tension in the neck/traps at the bottom, so I'm hesitant to do too many in one session.
  
• Manna Work: Still working retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle.
  
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Trying these with minimal pushing into the ground (via fingers). Compression progress always seems so slow/minuscule, but I'm pretty sure it's improving.
  
• Natural Leg Extensions: Think I'm just going to take these off of the menu until the IT band thing is mostly resolved.
  
• Skin the Cats (tuck)
  

Felt like I wasn't 100% recovered from the last heavy session, so skill session today worked out nicely. Plan on doing the light session on Thursday before heading out for the new place on Friday. Lots of packing, etc. so we'll see how things pan out!

[Nathan]

Lots of packing to do, but got my light session in today. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
• Bar Chin Ups: Still fell 1 rep short on last set, but feeling better than last two sessions.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): Managed 3x11 today, but will probably keep it here until it feels more solid.
• Ring Rows
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Increased lean a couple centimeters and dropped to 3x8. Felt pretty good.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): Switched to hands behind back this session. Started with 3x8, which felt about right. Last couple of reps on the last set were tough.

No prehab/stretching today. Packing up all of my workout stuff and won't have it at the new place until Monday, so no RT sessions until probably Tuesday. Will probably get a couple of stretching sessions in before then though!

[Nathan]

Finally getting everything situated at the new place. Still working out how best to do some of my training in the new place, but got a quick skill session in on Wednesday.

 

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel: Back up to normal reps, although positioning is probably slightly different than before.
• RTO Support Holds
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Still controlling all the way to the floor, and feeling less pressure against the wall at the shoulders (nearly coming away from the wall towards the bottom).
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Been doing lying relaxation consistently, although lately I have not been using any recordings. About to do another session - trying to decide between light and heavy. Would like to do a heavy session, but still have to work out some kinks in my setup for using my plates.

[Nathan]

My plate tree was delivered shortly after making the last post, so I got my little workout area all set up, which means I was able to do heavy session.

 

Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Still feeling good. Am clearly pushing away from the arms (not resting on them), which is good.
• Weighted Chin Ups: These felt heavier than last time. Was planning on 3x4, but stuck with 4x3.
• RTO Dips
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Still pulling into half lay. I think I may try alternating between pulling into HL from hang and lowering into HL from inverted hang to make sure I address both angles.
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Was going to do 3x4 today but it felt heavier than I wanted it to, so I stayed at 4x3.
• Deadlifts: Upped to 3x4@100kg. Doesn't feel that heavy, but really hits the lats!

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations. Had to cut things short today, so only did 2x15 CR and no JC or STC.

 

To come later:

Flexibility: ISO holds: HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Lying relaxation before sleep.

[MattPark]

I always take feeling the lats on deadlifts as a good sign you're tight. The more lats the better!! 

[Nathan]

Well in that case I'm doing pretty good I just like feeling them because I never really do in my chin-ups. I'm using roughly 60% BW added right now and still don't feel it in my lats. I feel the front lever work later in my lats, though... so maybe it just takes pre-exhausting them with the chin-ups

[MattPark]

60% BW is heaps!! You'd have wings regardless whether or not you feel them haha. I find with chin ups if I pull the bar to lower on my chest it uses a lot more lats and less biceps. I can't do a front lever, just looks like a scapular depression and retraction drill haha but just trying to do one uses them heaps.

[Nathan]

Yeah, I always go for sternum, though not quite lower chest. And I meant FL progression. I think I might be close to a full front lever if I try fresh, but I'm certainly not repping them out! Not too far off in the future, I hope

[MattPark]

If it's any consolation I attempted a tuck FL shortly after reading your comment and could only hold it half a second before my abs and arms almost exploded so you're ahead of me haha.

[Nathan]

Helps that I'm basically a midget

[Nathan]

Light session today. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
  
• Bar Chin Pull Ups: Switching things up a bit with the grip. Supinated grip still isn't 100% comfortable, and I could feel it starting to annoy my left elbow. Had to drop the reps a bit.
  
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): New place and new setup, so not sure if height, etc. are exactly the same but seems pretty good.
  
• Ring Rows: Progress on these is really slow, but they're becoming more solid.
  
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Same thing with the new place/new setup. Found a position that seems good for the previous reps.
  
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): Hands behind the back is tough! Still managing to progress as planned.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC. Did 3x15 CR so I'm finally going to up the weight a bit. STC felt really solid today.

Flexibility: ISO holds: HF, extended butterfly, tailor pose, pike, and pancake. Pancake progress still feeling good.

 

Have adjusted to an earlier to bed/rise sleeping schedule since moving. I always considered myself a night owl growing up, but it's really just a matter of adjustment and there are aspects of both schedules that I enjoy. Even so, I think I prefer the more natural of the two now, guided by natural light.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Skill session earlier today. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
  
• RTO Support Holds: Added a set here.
  
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression. Added some shawarma work today.
  
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Still feeling better each time, but not really increasing reps yet.
  
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Working with reps instead of iso holds. Coming out of that last rep feels like a nuclear explosion in my lower traps (in a good way).
  
• Pike/Straddle Compression
  
• Natural Leg Extensions
  
• Skin the Cats (tuck): Cut these short today because my right bicep said so.
  

A bit rushed because I have a lot of work to finish today, but overall good workout. Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Been a while! I wasn't feeling very motivated to do my workouts for a couple of sessions, so I decided to just take a short break. Call it a deload  Been keeping up with lying relaxation and have been doing a bit of stretching every night - mostly pancake and piriformis work. Decided to devote June to cutting a few pounds of fat, so I dropped my calories and upped protein starting yesterday. Also going on daily morning walks. Getting started back up with training today. Decided to make it a short skill session to ease back in (and allocate more time to a job I have to finish today). 

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
• RTO Support Holds: Dropped the extra set I added right before the break. Will add it back next session.
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression and shawarma.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Think I will start pairing reps next session.
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Working with reps still.
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Nice and short session, but cramping on everything. Pretty sure I'm well hydrated, but body is still getting used to the reduced carbs. Should be better on Monday.

Lying relaxation and stretching to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

First light session today since taking a break and lowering calories. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits: ME ABS! Abs only thing still sore from Friday, and they really felt everything today.
• Bar Chin Pull Ups: Hit previous planned target but wasn't easy.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes)
• Ring Rows: Had planned to add a set and drop reps by 1 on the last two sets. Not enough gas in the tank, though.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Managed to hit planned reps, but was really feeling the calorie deficit by now.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): Hit planned reps. Last couple of reps on the final set were grinders.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates (dropped last set), Cuban rotations (upped weight and dropped reps), Jefferson curls (just one set today), and tucked STC (one set). First time doing my weighted prehab in over two weeks and was all out of gas, so cut down a bit. Next session should probably be back to normal.

Flexibility: Will hit most of my usual stretches before bed, so only did HF here. Used the sliders and did lunges.

I wasn't sure how this would go since it's higher reps and I'm in a pretty big deficit right now. I had planned the workout before taking a break and just used those numbers. Was happy to see that I managed to make pretty much everything except for the rows. Was definitely tough, though, and the abs were in pain. Don't usually get sore from training, but the 2-week break paired with the deficit seems to have taken care of that... Not looking forward to tomorrow

Plan on trying a sprint session in the morning. Should be fun!

Stretching/lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Sprints this morning. First time in a good while, so started with half the volume and didn't really push 100%. Not sure how the ITB felt about this, but will pay attention and see if things improve or worsen. Brutal (especially fasted), but also felt good to be doing them again.

Stretching/lying relaxation to come.

[MattPark]

Yea sprints after a layoff at 100% is such a bad idea from experience haha. What is the issue with your ITB?