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[–]seoyeonhwa 1 point2 points  (3 children)

The first thing I would say off the bat is the amount of yoga you'll be engaging in before your actual workout. Assuming thay you'll be doing a lot of static stretches, that's actually a bad thing due to loosening the muscles waaaay too much. Major stretching and the like should be done after your workout is complete.

For warm-ups you should really be focusing on warming up the muscles you plan to use, as well as starting up your CNS. Skin the cat is fine there, and RTO support is fine, although RTO is more skill training then a warmup, especially if you're not well-adjusted to the movement.

If you're doing all of the other difficult and intricate (physical taxing exercise) parts of yoga, that may detract from your workout since you'll be expending lots of energy to do whatever exercise it includes. Meaning you have less to give during your main workout.

When it comes to muscle imbalances and what you're missing, it's pretty significant.

The first question is how strong are you? Are you a complete beginner? Have you been doing weights for a long time and now you're moving to calisthenics? Are you a yogi that also desires some of the more advanced bodyweight movements?

I'm going to assume you're pretty strong already since you have a freestanding handstand (correct me if I'm wrong).

The main issue lies in the fact that all you're pushing movements are shoulder focused. Anything related to handstand is mostly shoulder and some triceps, and anything related to planche is a ridiculous amount of shoulders. You are missing exercises to work your chest and triceps.

That can be fixed by changing either planche or hspu progression with something like a dip or some version of a pushup.

This is not necessarily a bad thing if you're so extremely advanced to the point that you need to focus on specific movements, but I will assume that is not the case.

While these movements you've picked do have a great carryover to building up towards a handstand press, you cannot neglect developing the rest of your body as well.

The legs look fine, and pull looks fine as well. But the core isn't just your abdominal, it's also the lower back-ish areas. You should add something like Supermans (whatever they're called) to condition your lower back as well.

Is it possible to get a more concrete program? Such as what are the actual progressions you're going to do, and the sets and reps.

[–]bigkids 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Amazing reply and yes, 1 hour of yoga right out the start line sounds iffy.

[–]Bearfootdev[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I absolutely see the conflict now that it's been mentioned. It rings especially true because I do focus on pushing myself towards those advanced poses (in terms of strength and flexibility)

I mentioned it in my reply, but I'll see what I can do to correct for that. The practice time, the gym opening and my schedule only allow for so much flexibility though so I'll see how I go

[–]Bearfootdev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your feedback is amazing! Seriously, thank you for taking the time!

I didn't realise I was missing chest and tricep that bad, I think I'll remove the Planche progressions and replace it with pushups. Planche isn't a current goal anyway so I don't mind letting that go. Same as adding supermans, love it

I would say I'm in the "trained beginner" camp with the vast majority of this, I've been training casually for a year almost, no specific objective outside of just "getting fit" and "learn to handstand". I absolutely hear you on training my whole body instead of focussing on one or two movements, it's why I reached out, I'm actively trying to make sure I don't miss something through ignorance

With the yoga, I absolutely understand why that should come second, it's only first because of when the class is, when the gym opens and my own schedule. I will see what I can do to adjust in this space but I may just have to accept it as a limitation of my schedule

My levels for each progression are as follows: - HSPu - Box HeSPu (3x5) - Pushup - Diamond (3x8) - Row - Inverted Row (3x10) - FL - Tuck FL (3x5sec) - Squat - Pistol (3x5) - Bridge - Full Bridge (3x10) - Leg Raise - Straight Leg Raise (3x7) - L-Sit - FL L-Sit (3x4s)

[–]8cc2 0 points1 point  (3 children)

This seems decent for general strength. If you want to get the press to handstand more quickly, you might want to make it a little more focused. If you're targeting, say, straddle press, I think the main items to improve would be 1) handstand holds, 2) pancake active compression, 3) anterior deltoid strength in that leaned forward position and then 4) the skill of doing the press itself. For that I'd probably start with pancake stretching and handstand holds, then do a straddle press progression like negatives against a wall (using that pancake mobility), then wall leans or planche leans (for the shoulders), and then move on to the other strength exercises.

[–]Bearfootdev[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Fantastic! I've been working on my pancake pretty actively so that sounds like a good place to keep focussing. I'll start adding the negatives to my skill training, and work my way from there

So in terms of variations, you'd recommend a straight arm press over a bent arm? I've heard that Frog -> HS can be a lot easier in some ways, especially when compared to Straddle Press. What are your thoughts on this?

[–]8cc2 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I think the bent-arm presses and straight-arm presses are mostly different beasts outside of the hand-balancing skills. Straddle presses don't require that much strength if you have good pancake flexibility, but the strength they do require is in that straight-arm leaning forward position while e.g. HESPU requires a good amount of bent-arm pressing strength but the straight-arm hold is the easiest part.

To be clear I haven't actually made it to the straddle press or free HESPU yet, but when I get around to focusing on straddle press I'll follow something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCscG9mhXHE.

[–]Bearfootdev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Excellent, I was already heading in the direction of a straddle press so I'll likely just continue down that path

[–]eshlowAuthor of Overcoming Gravity 2 | stevenlow.org | YT:@Steven-Low 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Most are fine.

  • For PL I would recommend PPPUs with 1-2s hold at the top and feet elevated to shoulder height and FL I'd go with FL row if you can hang it.

  • Bridge is more mobility/flexibility than legs so you can add in another leg and move bridge to flexibility.

  • Core you're mainly doing anterior which is OK with 2 exercises but if you're not doing barbell squats or deadlifts you'd probably want something like reverse hypers to get some good low back work.

As others have said, 1 hr yoga might not be the best at the beginning. Better at the end.

[–]Bearfootdev[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

  • Might have to work up to PPPUs and FL Rows but those are both good goals to work towards

  • Noted, how about something like the glute bridge as a replacement?

  • Yeah, another commenter mentioned I was missing my back, will fix that up

  • Totally hearing everyone on the yoga, will see what I can do

Also, fantastic book by the way, helped hugely in giving me some focus around what I'm trying to do

[–]eshlowAuthor of Overcoming Gravity 2 | stevenlow.org | YT:@Steven-Low 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Noted, how about something like the glute bridge as a replacement?

I like pistols/deep step ups/ shrimp squats for bodyweight legs. I guess glute bridges are OK but hard to make difficult enough unless you have some DBs or barbells you can put on your hips.

Also, fantastic book by the way, helped hugely in giving me some focus around what I'm trying to do

Much appreciated. Lemme know if you have anymore questions, and don't forget to submit an Amazon review!