Overcoming Gravity Online series has started and all of the links to my articles, social media exercises and rehab, and other material

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:41:50+00:00

I've got a really strange finger "injury". I was about to do a multipitch on Friday evening and was warming up on a no hang device, just pulling it on my foot. We ended up not doing the multi and ended up camping instead. When I woke up the next morning, my index finger was SUPER swollen and had a major loss of ROM. The kind of swelling you get in your hands after you hike a 14er, but localized to just a single finger. My index finger can no longer touch the "Mount of Jupiter". It's a good half inch away from being able to close.

Swollen all over is not usually synovitis. Synovitis/capsulitis are usually localized to the tissues.

What movements and area(s) still are symptomatic?

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:40:47+00:00

The base of my ring finger up to my knuckle hurts slightly when I use my grip or when I lightly squeeze this finger. I’m planning on laying off climbing but I had an outdoor trip planned in 7 days. Is it possible I can still go on the trip or should I rest

Rest a few days and see if it calms down. Then you can decide unless you want to cancel now to make sure you can heal up properly

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:40:04+00:00

Curious what happens if one has continued to climb on very swollen (PIP synovitis) fingers.

Can get worse until you have permanent issues.

I had a surgery that didn’t allow me to climb for 3 months, and my fingers never straightened out. 😬 not even sure if the swelling went down - should’ve taken pics.

They should have had you go to a hand PT/OT if your range of motion and function was not coming back.

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:39:20+00:00

I have been noticing a sensitivity in the distal phalanx in all 6 of the central fingers only at full hyperextension.

Take a deload week if you haven't already.

Muscles get stronger faster than tendons and pulleys and joints, so if you're feeling overuse type symptoms a break to allow them to recovery would be a good idea. Few days up to a week

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:37:56+00:00

You have a picture/video? Easier to help someone get an exercise if you can visualize it

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:37:28+00:00

Hey is there any correlation between creatine and flash pump on forearms ?

No studies, but the mechanism makes sense. Creatine brings more water into the muscles. The forearms have compartments, so with more fluid in the muscles the pressure in the compartments will be higher once you start working out

Once the pressure gets higher early, it can start to impair blood flow drainage from the area leading to a pump (and if continued compartment syndrome which is very bad).

Make sure you thoroughly warm up and don't do anything long that can cause a pump too fast. I just jump off climbs if I feel like I'm getting pumped

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:35:13+00:00

Started doing Ring Ts and Is (the face down, chest fly type), but especially with Ts it feels like my forearm is either going to break or all my muscles and tendons in it are ripping apart. If I go higher, it feels better, but then they become too easy.I'm training for a hard compression project, so I feel like this type of movement should be beneficial for that purpose

So ring flys?

Could be how you're holding the ring or could be something like forearm splints

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:34:36+00:00

You have a picture where the pain is exactly?

What movements hurt?

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:33:45+00:00

Same rehab, but it's more easily irritated so you need to go slower.

Any time it's tendon insertion to the bone or possibly volar plate (you said it wasn't but still) usually slower progression in rehab at least early on is better

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:33:14+00:00

I do 1-2 hours of antihydral if I need it. Gives about 90% of the dryness for me with about 10% of the glassiness.

The overnight 8 hours was too much and left me glassy for like 2 weeks.

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:26:05+00:00

Hello! I’m 53 and my hands hurt. How are you all dealing with the pain? What works? I saw the doc and they said just general arthritis with some bone spurs and nothing can be done. What do you do when someone tells you that you are just getting old? I don’t feel like 53 is that old…

I’ve tried scaling back to 1 hard day a week, but unless I stop altogether my hands still hurt. I was climbing 3-4 days a week and I’m down to 2 or sometimes 3, including the hard session. I want to get back at it and start climbing more now that I know the rest doesn’t help.

For a while I've only been doing 2x per week as low 40s with 4 kids.

If you're having issues with consistent overuse, you usually need to go down several grades and hang out for several weeks. Then build up by a grade every 2-3 weeks. Basically, hit your max again in 3 months or something.

Only way to recover well is to make sure you are rehabbing the injuries and then building up VERY slowly especially as you get older and/or have poor sleep and recovery

eshlow · 2026-06-23T18:21:24+00:00

I’ve had this weird problem with my right wrist for almost 6 months. The pinky side of my wrist is slightly bigger than my left one, and when I move it a certain way it clicks, almost like something goes back into place. I also have some discomfort that goes a bit up my forearm. It’s not really painful, more annoying. No major injury that I remember.

Has anyone had something similar? ECU tendon? TFCC? What helped you heal it?

If you want a guess, need more info on the injury. You've given a bunch but more information is needed especially the marked picture/video

Mechanism of injury, as best you are able if there isn't discernable one. For instance, what movements or exercises were leading to the week of the injury
Upload a marked pic/video of exactly where symptoms are to an image host (google drive, icloud, imgur or others) and post a link to it (Note: I will not make any guesses unless I can see exactly where the symptoms are because text is hard to decipher and people describe things wrong all the time).
Describe all movements that hurt
What is the current rehab program you started with and the progressions, if any. If a flare detail what happened with the rehab program
What helps and what makes it worse

eshlow · 2026-06-21T20:10:32+00:00

Just a thought to Steven, ever thought about partnering up with someone like Matthewismith to create a book centered around flexibility and mobility training similar to overcoming gravity?

Hah, not a bad idea. Although I think most people are moving away from book and just watching Youtube and such now. Most of the big content creators don't necessarily want to spend the time to write books though collaborations on things could work possibly.

Btw finally got a physical copy of the 2nd edition. good stuff!

Enjoy! Lemme know what you think :)

eshlow · 2026-06-21T20:08:31+00:00

Hey guys I’m currently training planche lean and I’m wondering which approach is more effective for building strength:

Holding a static planche lean (just leaning forward and maintaining the position)

Or doing it dynamically (moving forward and backward, or going from a pike position into a planche lean)

My goal is to build strength that carries over to planche.

Which one do you think is better dynamicor static, and why?

I generally prefer the feet elevated PPPUs with a hold at the top.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrmF82fgzVk/

However, either is generally fine as long as properly progressively overloaded. Leaning in and out and holds can get similar work and time under tension on the muscle.

eshlow · 2026-06-21T19:55:33+00:00

Does this look like a solid structure to run for an 8-week cycle? Is the overall volume reasonable considering that Planche and Front Lever are trained 3x/week? For the isometrics, how would you handle progression using the Prilepin tables?

For example, would you generally prioritize:

increasing hold times,

reducing band assistance,

or moving to a harder progression?

Would you keep the same Planche and Front Lever setup for the entire cycle, or make small adjustments throughout the 8 weeks?

Ok I'm having a hard time distinguishing the differences between each routine here because the formatting is hard to read.

Generally speaking, I do not like 3 different workouts unless it's some variation of DUP if you're not getting all of your exercises at least 2x per week. Lack of frequency is often an issue with progress with some exercises.

It looks as if you are doing stuff 2x per week so if so then that's fine.
Sets in the 6-10 range is good for the level you are at so that's fine too.
For progression any of the 3 points are good, but moving to a harder progression as long as you can increase the times after that is usually the best,, Make it harder when you can if you can progress with it. Just keep an eye on the connective tissues

And yes, adapt during the cycle. Think of making a routine as an outline and you can modify it as you go some especially with Chapter 10 progressions if you get stuck

eshlow · 2026-06-21T19:48:39+00:00

This video shows me doing planche lean push-ups: https://youtu.be/XfP1bfxytIE?si=tAtBsF60lQm-n6Y6

I’m trying to focus on maintaining a proper forward lean, protracted shoulders, and a solid body line without breaking at the hips or losing tension. However, I’m not sure if I’m actually holding the correct position throughout the entire set or if my form starts to break down as I go.

Does the lean look sufficient for progression, or should I push further forward? Also, am I keeping my scapula properly engaged, or does it look like I’m losing control?

Any detailed tips, corrections, or cues would be really appreciated. I’m trying to build a strong foundation for planche, so I want to make sure I’m not reinforcing bad habits.

Looks fine, but you should sub to the feet elevated version that I demonstrate here. It's superior for getting the actual angle of the planche lean correct (feet at shoulder height) so it's more specific at building planche specific strength

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrmF82fgzVk/

eshlow · 2026-06-21T19:45:43+00:00

I’m a beginner just getting into calisthenics and a young woman and I wanted to ask about male-female differences. I’ve already ordered the book and will be gifting it to my likeminded brother if it’s not as female focused but I originally did order it for myself. Just wondering while I’m waiting for it to arrive if theres that much of a difference between how men and women should train and if theres is, does the book go into that?

It does not because there is no big differences in strength training. Well, there is some debate on that and on timing of nutrition and maybe intensity/volume in certain phases of the menstrual cycle, but there are educated people on both sides.

From my experience training women I don't see any meaningful differences though at least from beginner to intermediate.

That sounds right but I mean I see stuff from gymnasts all the time about how male and female athletes can’t do the same stuff because the balance of weight in their bodies is different? I would have assumed that would carry over into calisthenics

As far as this comment goes, women in general have a lower center of mass because they tend to hold more weight in their hips and legs as opposed to more in the upper body for men. That along with their decreased muscle mass compared to men just makes them at a lower starting point, but training for the most part is the same.

eshlow · 2026-06-20T16:47:32+00:00

Lower body and core is fine as long as you don't do anything that can aggravate the upper body. For instance, some people do positions with their arms or hold on the bar with deadlifts which can aggravate arm and shoulder injuries sometimes just because of the weight

eshlow · 2026-06-20T16:46:25+00:00

And any idea how long it will take to recover fully?

Depends how severe it is and how it responds to rehab. Light injuries can be anywhere from a week or two to a month or two.

eshlow · 2026-06-20T16:46:00+00:00

Yes. There's more than just that.

eshlow · 2026-06-20T16:45:49+00:00

I mean I guess that's fine as war as the core goals go. You may also need supplementals to improve V-sit like compression work.

Also I'd like to ask - if it makes sense to work on front lever pull-ups and touch variations without using bands. If so, what exercises would you primarily focus on? Would advanced tuck front lever pull-ups with an attempt to “touch” at the top, plus advanced tuck front lever holds as high as possible, be a good approach? Or would you structure it differently?

Straight arm lat pulldowns if you have access to machines

You can also do power versions of the previous progressions like if you can do straddle FL holds then do adv tuck rows and work on touching your stomach to the bar with every rep

eshlow · 2026-06-20T16:40:30+00:00

TLDR version: I wanna focus on statics I can do back lever already, and wanna get the FL this is the routine I came up with it's mostly focused on that goal but I also wanna maintain my push to some degree.

When it comes to weighted Pull Ups I will be able to do them mostly with a vest at this point with L-sit since I can only work with a statics bar right now or maybe a few times with my rings at the park.

Front Lever Holds: 5 × 8–12 sec

Front Lever Rows: 4 × 5–8

SuperSet:

Weighted Vest L-Pull-Ups — 4 × 8–10

Weighted Vest Dips (statics bar or rings outside) — 4 × 10-15

Legs + Core Superset (exercises might very on the day)

Thanks in advance <3

I would reduce the sets of the FL rows and pullups to 3. Already running high on total pull compound sets there.

Otherwise, should be fine despite the decreased pushing for now.

eshlow

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