Day One

[Dreamliner]

Sunday night I had four servings of alcohol and Monday I stuck a free handstand and came out in a forward roll.

Last night I only had two servings of alcohol and crashed on my already suspect shoulder.

I'm beginning to think that alcoholism may be the answer.

[LeafUF]

Haha, clearly your performance is directly related to the amount of drinks consumed. Tonight I recommend 6 servings.

[Dreamliner]

Think I dodged a bullet on my shoulder. I was fearing an A/C sprain but suspect I just strained some muscles, something akin to whiplash.

[LeafUF]

I really hope that didnt happen after you followed my advice to up your alcohol content.

[Dreamliner]

I'm suing! No, that happened after the light alcohol evening. I might have to up the drinking to get over my fear of crashing again.

[Dreamliner]

I just heard back from a gymnastics coach who advised me to practice forward rolls, religiously, make them automatic, before trying the handstands again.

[Dreamliner]

Morning: while downtown I ran up and walked down the 18 flights of a downtown highrise. That was my leg workout.

Afternoon: caught the gymnastics bug again. Practiced forward rolls and planche and lever progressions (which I've experienced a bit of a breakthrough on).

[GatorAvatar]

Just discovered this thread today lol. Question - have there been good progress since 2010? What have you learned in all those months? How do you stay motivated? Any b4 and after pics (faceless off course). Last point is a joke lol

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Just discovered this thread today lol. Question - have there been good progress since 2010? What have you learned in all those months? How do you stay motivated? Any b4 and after pics (faceless off course). Last point is a joke lol

Not sure who you're asking but I have achieved certain benchmarks over the last year. Chief among them are the one-armed pushup, handstand pushups and pistol squats. I'm still chasing a double-bodyweight deadlift but not sweating it too much. Now, I'm getting more into basic gymnastics skills. I'm pretty happy with my body composition. Sure, I'd like to have a few more pounds of muscle. But it's too much trouble to keep it. I'd rather just focus on movement.

[Dreamliner]

These are the two progressions (along with free handstands) that I'm currently working on. I'm on advanced tuck planches and advanced tuck front levers presently:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/b...-conditioning/

[LeafUF]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Just discovered this thread today lol. Question - have there been good progress since 2010? What have you learned in all those months? How do you stay motivated? Any b4 and after pics (faceless off course). Last point is a joke lol

I actually had to go back and read my first post to see where I was at when I started this thread. Can't believe its been so long. Looking back I actually might have been in even worse shape at that point than I thought.

This may be a longer story than is needed for this response so ill apologize in advance for that. I have been into fitness since I lifted my first weight (50 lb bench press btw) for freshman football and was very consistent with it for years until a number of circumstances led me to slack off for a long time. Between having shoulder surgery which kept me out of the gym, the travel requirements of my job and finally the girl I was dating actually wanting to spend time with me I rarely worked out. And I ate even worse.

Anyway, around the time I started this thread I had broken up with the girl, taken on a new project with no travel and finally started getting back on track. I still needed the extra motivation then to push myself but not so much anymore. I look better than I did back then by a long shot and I am a lot stronger. My goals now are much more strength based than they were back then when I just wanted to not feel so fat and out of shape.

I dont even know if that answered your question. I guess one thing that probably started around that time that I still do now is I am methodical about my approach, I know my goal for every workout, every week, every month. And I track everything in spreadsheets so that I can recalculate as needed. I do this for diet too.

So there you have it.

[LeafUF]

Funny, I have also since starting this thread changed projects at work again, started traveling again, moved 3 times and I am about to move a 4th and I quit my job. Its been a busy 18 months or so I guess.

[GatorAvatar]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Not sure who you're asking but I have achieved certain benchmarks over the last year. Chief among them are the one-armed pushup, handstand pushups and pistol squats. I'm still chasing a double-bodyweight deadlift but not sweating it too much. Now, I'm getting more into basic gymnastics skills. I'm pretty happy with my body composition. Sure, I'd like to have a few more pounds of muscle. But it's too much trouble to keep it. I'd rather just focus on movement.

I was asking the OP, but I am also glad you responded. Seems like you have made great progress and I am impressed - keep it up. I am trying to stay away from dead-lifts and certainly one-armed pushups for now.

At what point does muscle build-up stagnate? Do you want to keep up building muscle or you are happy with a toned body?

[GatorAvatar]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

These are the two progressions (along with free handstands) that I'm currently working on. I'm on advanced tuck planches and advanced tuck front levers presently:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articles/b...-conditioning/

Holy cow - those stances seem impossible to achieve.

[GatorAvatar]

Originally Posted by LeafUF

I actually had to go back and read my first post to see where I was at when I started this thread. Can't believe its been so long. Looking back I actually might have been in even worse shape at that point than I thought.

This may be a longer story than is needed for this response so ill apologize in advance for that. I have been into fitness since I lifted my first weight (50 lb bench press btw) for freshman football and was very consistent with it for years until a number of circumstances led me to slack off for a long time. Between having shoulder surgery which kept me out of the gym, the travel requirements of my job and finally the girl I was dating actually wanting to spend time with me I rarely worked out. And I ate even worse.

Anyway, around the time I started this thread I had broken up with the girl, taken on a new project with no travel and finally started getting back on track. I still needed the extra motivation then to push myself but not so much anymore. I look better than I did back then by a long shot and I am a lot stronger. My goals now are much more strength based than they were back then when I just wanted to not feel so fat and out of shape.

I dont even know if that answered your question. I guess one thing that probably started around that time that I still do now is I am methodical about my approach, I know my goal for every workout, every week, every month. And I track everything in spreadsheets so that I can recalculate as needed. I do this for diet too.

So there you have it.

Yes, that answered my questions and I am glad you stuck with it. So often people decide to start working out, only to fall by the wayside. It seems like you have managed to make the workouts a regular routine. Well done!

[LeafUF]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Yes, that answered my questions and I am glad you stuck with it. So often people decide to start working out, only to fall by the wayside. It seems like you have managed to make the workouts a regular routine. Well done!

So I went back and read through some of my older posts and noticed that my bench is up 40 pounds and deadlifts are up 140 pounds and I can now almost overhead press my body weight. All that and my weight has stayed between 175 - 180 like I wanted.

My current goal is to get my big three total over 1000 lbs. I'm sitting around 850 currently. Should be able to get there in 6 months.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

I was asking the OP, but I am also glad you responded. Seems like you have made great progress and I am impressed - keep it up. I am trying to stay away from dead-lifts and certainly one-armed pushups for now.

At what point does muscle build-up stagnate? Do you want to keep up building muscle or you are happy with a toned body?

Don't worry about one-armed pushups. They haven't added an ounce of muscle for me. It was just one of those little challenges I wanted to undertake and, by golly! at the age of 55 I accomplished them and other movements.

On the muscle plateau question, I can only provide a general answer along with an encouragement: (1) everyone has a genetic limit and (2) almost no one I know has tapped into it.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Holy cow - those stances seem impossible to achieve.

I'm pleasantly surprised with my progress to date but will say this: static holds like these provide an extra incentive to keep bodyfat down. The less deadweight you have to suspend in the air the better!

[Dreamliner]

These are what the ultimate goals look like:

http://www.lostartofhandbalancing.co...hand-position/

http://www.arthlete.com/2011/05/front-lever-tutorial/

[LeafUF]

Dream, I think you should add the human flag to your list of movements to achieve. Just a suggestion.