Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

Gymnastics work! I love it!
I am glad you had the opportunity to learn so much!

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

ET,

Thank you for stopping by. Cert was a blast - - Second day was a real revelation for me a showed that one is never too old to learn body awareness. Tucker is simply a fantastic coach!

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

[I][B]090524 SUNDAY - GYMNASTICS CERT DAY-2, CrossFit Santa Cruz Central[/B][/I]

[B]Mostly hands-on today! Great body-awareness activities!
[/B]Lecture portion: discussion of athlete assessment and learning to judge strength and control through static holds. Dips on bars as an example, before progressions to ring dips, dips on parallel bars, swing dips. Scaling is so important to prevent injury and enable workout completion and progress at appropriate level for athletes. Power bands excellent method for scaling.

[B]Ring work:[/B]
Iron Cross Progressions and scaling
Muscle ups and MUs with kipping
Transitions for Muscle ups. - - Transitions allow development of the MU as a true strength movement and improve technique without momentum.

[B]Handstands:[/B]
Lunges, controlled kick-ups, and body positioning. Spotting for safety. This was really "hands-on" to ensure our training partners got up into a position for balance, didn't over-rotate getting into position, and didn't crumple into the floor when our shoulders failed to stay active.......
[B]More applicable to handstands:[/B]
Donkey kicks, Active shoulders(really important to keeping hollow and balancing), Forward rolls (Locked out arms),
Presses to handstands.
Coach discussed the headstand and how he preferred generally not to teach it unless athlete has fear of being inverted. Places large loads on C-spine. High tendency toward injury, especially if athlete has poor control and/or is not carefully spotted.
Note on hollow body position: Must be present or handstand will fail - - athlete should not use positioning of hips or legs to find balance. Legs together, toes pointed, tight core and hollow position.
Working with parallettes:
L-Sit progressions, Tucked L-Sit and V-Sit, Donkey kicks, Push-ups, Handstands, and handstand push-ups - - with ROM and EROM.

[B]My thoughts on the cert:[/B]
Coach Tucker was wonderful! Most of the attendees had 3 or more years of CrossFit experience. Though I was not the least experienced in CF at the cert, I was tied for being least experienced (eight months). I, unlike most others there, had little or no body awareness, so this cert was not just useful, but critical to my progress in CrossFit. I have never done most of the movements we accomplished this weekend.

Here's where I found I need the most practice:
[I][U]Kipping:[/U][/I] The gymnastics kip appears to be more efficient and is easier (for me) to learn, but my shoulders are far too inflexible to allow the kipping swing to work well. I end up using my arms to pull-ups hard to the bar.....not efficient!
[U][I]Handstands:[/I][/U] I don't kick-up hard enough to get inverted and will just have to practice this. I have a bit of timidity/fear in going past vertical - - no partner to spot, so acquiring bands will be a must. I also need to work on shoulder strength and muscular endurance so I can keep my arms locked out.
[U][I]Muscle-ups:[/I][/U] The strength is almost there, but it needs work.

My goal will be to hit flexibility and strength exercises over the next several weeks along with regular programming to develop my gymnastics movements.

Thank you Coach Tucker for a Kick-*** weekend of fun and learning!

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

[i][b]090525 Monday

Rest Day
[/b][/i]

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

hi stephen!!!

glad to hear that you had a blast!!!

how good was it when you do handstands!!!

i would definitely do the cert again if i had the opportunity

carter

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

[quote=Carter Jee;595511]hi stephen!!!

glad to hear that you had a blast!!!

how good was it when you do handstands!!!

i would definitely do the cert again if i had the opportunity

carter[/quote]

Carter,

Tuck says "hi!" He was glad to hear things are up and running there in Perth!

I am definitely here to tell you that even 58 year olds can discover body awareness.......now I just have to go practice it and do it! I sure appreciate all you warnings and suggestions about being hollow. Core work paid off and never was sore there. On the other hand, shoulders were (and still are) smoked and hammies/inner thighs are somewhat tight.

This was so much fun, I wish it went a couple of days longer. Now......to get a workout partner so I can do this stuff with a spotter!

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

Great notes from the gymnastics cert, Steve. I didn't even know there was a difference between a gymnasts' kip and the hip drive dip (I think I do a combo of both, know that I'm thinking on it:shrug:). Interesting stuff for certain....

I'm no gymnast, HSPU expert, or anything else, but I do a deceent amount of training inverted at work. One thing I've found that helped me is just spending time inverted-whether its handstands/headstands on a wall, piked, or using a GHD machine to get your upper body inverted. Once your body is used to being in the inverted position, you might find it a little easier to perform work ie HSPUs. Like I said, I'm no expert, but that really helped me with my HSPUs (not that I'm a HSPU expert).

Keep working those muscle-up progressions with your new kipping hints, and you may end up surprising yourself.

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

Wow, it sounds like that cert was a great time. I really need to go to one when it is nearby. Tucker is the man.

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

SL,

Thanks for the very kind words of support. Mercy me, you did take good notes! I was very proud of you guys and your group. Very proud to have met you. Hang in there and progress with time and the strength will come.


You humble me sir, take care.

tucker

Re: Steve's "I'm not aging quietly" log
 

[quote=Dave Coughlin;595622]Great notes from the gymnastics cert, Steve. I didn't even know there was a difference between a gymnasts' kip and the hip drive dip (I think I do a combo of both, know that I'm thinking on it:shrug:). Interesting stuff for certain....

I'm no gymnast, HSPU expert, or anything else, but I do a deceent amount of training inverted at work. One thing I've found that helped me is just spending time inverted-whether its handstands/headstands on a wall, piked, or using a GHD machine to get your upper body inverted. Once your body is used to being in the inverted position, you might find it a little easier to perform work ie HSPUs. Like I said, I'm no expert, but that really helped me with my HSPUs (not that I'm a HSPU expert).

Keep working those muscle-up progressions with your new kipping hints, and you may end up surprising yourself.[/quote]

Hi Dave,

Thank you! it really helps me (always has) to write stuff down, even if I think I might already know it. Seems the hand-eye thing reaches my brain - - at least some times!

Thanks too, on your thoughts of inversion work/training. I actually did just fine being upside down - - the only dizziness I encountered was doing the forward rolls without first doing a brief valsalva. My blood pressure is so low (thank you, CF!) that I have developed positional hypotension. GHD situp work has really helped me too - - I can reach clear back to the floor and as long as I valsalva, I can go the full ROM without getting dizzy. My problem lies in my functional strength - - not very good right now. Shoulders and lats are good examples. I have five or six good, solid pull-ups or chins, but only chin over the bar (not chest to bar), and still a weak kip. Shoulder strength is coming well, but endurance (for instance, a 5 X 5 workout) at a good working weight for me is pretty difficult. Shoulder flexibility is another thing......almost non-existent. At one point during the training, my "active shoulders" went inactive and I lost my locked out arms.........glad my head didn't put a hole in the box floor when I crumpled down in a heap....:rofl:.

Lastly, thanks for the encouragement. I am so stoked about going and working on those progressions.

Take care and be safe!