Functional Strength Routine #2

 So assuming you've read

, and maybe even gone as far as to do the routine. You've been doing it for a while now, the gains are okay, but you just feel you could handle a little more work. So what do we throw in next?

Static Strength Gymnastics Holds

3 of these. Front Lever, Planche, and Manna.

Front Lever;

Planche

Manna

Impressive no? Gymnastics static holds are unbelievable at a high level. The core strength, stability, tension and just sheer skill and determination needed to master these holds is unfathomable.

Most people even if they start training for them will never reach these. It just takes a long time and a lot of determination, it takes putting practice and effort into learning the skill to be prioritised over your quest for aesthetics. This isn't to say they won't improve your physique - You just need to put that goal on the back seat while these step in. They will carry over to all your lifts and increase them and they will improve your physique over time, they'll also give you some cool moves to show off once in a while.

How do I even begin training for these moves?

I'll explain a brief outline, but for the full information visit the DragonDoor Article from Coach Sommer as he explains it in depth. If you're really serious or are interested in changing your conditioning then buy his book and visit his website here. Coach Sommer is the leading coach in making strong-as-hell gymnasts, his book is worth it's weight in gold.

Skill time period;

The planche is the most difficult of these three skills to learn, and subsequently takes the longest. To learn a full planche will take you maybe 2 years if you're extremely extremely lucky, we're looking more like 3-5 though. We're actually looking at 2-3 years for the other two also. This is an eternity, so if you don't have the patience for it then feel free to walk away from this article at any point. Those whoever who have the dilligence and commitment to take the very-little-time out of their lives each training sessions to learn these spectacular skills, keep reading.

Learning them;

For the planche, we have to start somewhere. In Coach Sommers article on dragondoor, he states to learn the frog planche firstly. The frog planche requires no strength and is purely balance orientated, but it gets you used to being in that position which is the importance of it. Practice this regularly, whenever you feel bored and not necessarily when you're within the gym. Then you'll progress to tucked planche, advanced tucked planche, straddle and eventually full.

This sounds like a simple process right, nice easy steps. It is in reality just like that, it just takes a long time. The levers start tucked, advanced tucked, stradles, one leg in one leg tucked, then full front lever. The other is The manna, which starts L seat, V sit, russian lever, then the manna. 

The aim is to hold whatever stage you're at for whatever totals to a minute. So lets say you can hold an L sit for 10 seconds, then you'll need 6 sets. If you can hold it for 1 minute, time to move on. This applies for all static strength movements.

I think a picture example would be nice here....;

Planche

1 - Frog Planche, the easiest thing in the world. Try and get the arms as straight as possible, rest knees on the outside of elbows. I personally skipped this one, but if you haven't yet build up the strength or have poor co-ordination then go for it. May as well practice it every day, give it little 10-15 minute intervals of your day until you can hold it for 1 minute.

2 - Tuck Planche, the easiest of the first strength varations. The aim is to have the hands relatively close to the hips, but to be honest it doesn't hugelyyyy matter at this point. The arms need to be as straight as possible, however it's normal when starting to only be able to perform this with bent arms. Just focus on straightening them out as time goes by. 

3 - Advanced Tuck Planche, the next level up from a tuck planche. Don't under-estimate it however, keeping your back nice and straight in this is a difficult one. You may feel your hips 'locking', and do expect the occasional cramping. However if you are getting it do not fear, it'll lesser over time.

4 - Straddle Planche, if you've got this far you don't really need tips. Just remember to keep the arms locked out, the only real tip here is the more you spread your legs the easier it is. It's actually quite handy since you can warm yourself up to a full planche by just bringing your legs closer together over time. At this point, holding such a movement for a minute could be one of the most insanely difficult things you ever do. You can keep building up to that if you wish, however I believe 20-30 seconds will prove more mentally achieveable. Going for a minute, certainly for me looks like something I will never achieve (ofcourse, one day).

5 - Full Planche. The holy grail, it's what you've been training for. Tensing absolutely everything is essential in this movement, point your toes, squeeze your hamstring and glutes, lock out your lower back, tense your stomach and pray for the best. Be worth putting a pillow underneath your face on this one, expect to fall over forwards a lot learning it.

In fact that's something worth noting for all planche variations. If you're practicing this on hard floor for your own safety just put a pillow or something soft underneath you, because trust me at some point you're falling forward and you'll thank me for that one. Having a set of paralletes (push up bars suffice) will save your wrists learning this but are far from essential.

Manna

This is for me personally the hardest one to progress with. I mean they allllll take a long time, but this one just takes the mick. Entirely on core strength, the shoulders and triceps will obviously help push you out but at the end of the day this is all in your hips and stomach. Good luck.

1 - L Seat, Get this one right. Don't be a half ass, get your back straight and your legs locked out, arms pointing straight down. It'll be normal to be hunched up when you first this, hell you may not even be able to straighten your legs (in which case, keep them bent until otherwise). The good thing about it is building time on it is easy, the bad thing is cramp. I find while training legs with this that cramp just becomes inevitible, in the quadriceps and hips. This will be solved later on when I explain the places of these statics holds in the routine, I'm just throwing out a word of warning. Don't let it put you off, just do what you can and move on.

2 - V-Sit, very difficult, the progression from L-seat to V-sit is a long one. Having a straight back with these straight off is going to kill you, don't be surprised if you're rounded but as always just stay persistant and work on it. Lift your hips up by pushing your arms into the floor and sort of pulling them down (like a lat pulldown motion) and pushing your hips forward and up.

3 - Russian Lever, now I can't do this one (at the time of writing) but I've been told by many that the progression from V-Sit to Russian Lever is relatively short and is more of a flexibility issue than core strength. I'm sure you can gather holding your feet by your head requires you to be able to stretch that far in the first place.

4 - The Manna, one of the most visually impressive static holds there is. Again shoulder flexibility is a big big problem with this one for most. The strength once up and around isn't as highly demanding as others, less stress is taken off the core and more onto the stabilisation strength and flexibility of the deltoids and lower back. 

Front Lever

 1 - Tuck Front Lever, essential just requires you to be able to hang off a chin up bar with your knees tucked in. Not quite that simple though, you need to pull your arms down straight as if you're doing a lat pulldown. Straight arms, pulling down, engage the lats and squeeze the pecs together to give you the most out of this both pulling and pushing style motion. Keep the core tense, building up to a minute should be no problem for you.

2 - Advanced Tuck Lever, this is where more core activation really comes into it. Extend your legs to where your knees become parallel to the hips. You should feel your abs flexing like crazy as if they're trying to burst out your skin, this is a good thing. This part is where front lever training really starts carrying over to planche work. I found having advanced tuck levers is what I needed to get advanced tuck planches in the first place. I also found once I could perform both of these proficiently that I could then do Flag Holds for a decent length of time.

3 - Half Full Lever, true halfway point. Knees parallel to hips, feet facing down, a little more of a balance shift in order to place more stress upon the core. By this point the stress can become so tough that you really feel your lats giving it everything to keep you locked in place. Remember to keep those arms locked out.

4 - Straddle Front Lever, true strength. One step before the big guy. At the time of writing I'm not quite here yet, but after talk with some gymnasts they've said this is where cramps are most likely to occur in front lever progression at the front of the hips. I hope you get through this pain free, like with other holds I believe  60 seconds is just too long for this one. I would personally start advancing onto full levers after 20-30 seconds. I'm just impatient though.

5 - Front Levers, the ultimate. This exercise is legendary, incredible stress on the entirety of the core, back and arms. Most people will never reach this stage but those who do will reap the incredible benefits that the front lever can have on the rest of their training. Remembering that front levers carry over directly to planches, it makes sense for this one to be learned before the full planche. If you can do this and haven't tried flags yet, I think it's about time you go out and try one, give yourself a pleasant surprise.

FAQ

How long should I rest?

Rest the time you feel you need between sets but in general I'd try and keep it to about 30 seconds to just get it over and done with. 5 minutes on each exercise should add 15 total minutes to the start of your new routine.  If you want to rest more go ahead, up to 3 minutes if you like. I just don't think it's necessary, especially considering that this is an endurance based strength exercise so I feel you'll get more productive results by performing with just-enough-rest.

Remind me again, how many sets and reps?

Gaddamn it, just do the exercise. Pick the hold you're up to, hold it as long as you can. Perform as many sets as you need in order to total 1 minute. Except for the harder areas, from stage 3 of each exercise onward I personally believe 30 seconds is enough.

I really don't think there could be any other questions. Just do the exercises how they look, and don't settle for any less than perfect. All the photos I uploaded are pretty pristine form, just try and get them as much like those as possible.

Now, the routine