Tag: Handstand Shift

Balance with Hand Swaps

Can’t wait to see a result of this damn election so it can stop affecting my sleep. Workout at 4pm today.

Handstands

  • Wrists
  • 1:00 Handstand 45° Hollow Hold
  • 3×20 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (balance)

Strength

Bench Press

  • 10×45
  • 5×95
  • 5×135
  • 5×165
  • 5×185
  • 5×205
  • 5×225

Conditioning

5 Rounds (each) – I Go You Go

  • 12/8 cal SkiErg
  • 10 Ring Dips
  • 5 C&J (135#)

I went 2×5 every round of ring dips. Cycling the barbell didn’t feel the greatest and I was cautious with the way my back has been feeling this week. Did them all unbroken though. I went first and Brandi finished at 15:45.

Midline

3 Rounds

  • 30s Superman Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 30s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 30s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 30s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (35#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 30s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (35#)
  • 10s Rest

For the single leg balances, we kept swapping the kettlebell between hands during the hold. Definitely more difficult.

Hold for a Gold Star

My back is a little tight and my shoulders and elbows still feel pretty beat each morning. Didn’t get out of bed until 8, which is extremely rare these days. Workout at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,925m)
  • 20 PVC Passes
  • Wrist Warm-up

Handstands

4 Rounds (NFT)

  • 10/10 Bottoms Up KB Press (15#)
  • 20s Handstand 90° Hover
  • 16 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shift

Really nasty combo after yesterday.

Conditioning

To warm up my bench I did 10×45, 10×95, and 5×135.

20:00 EMOM (alt)

  • 10 Bench Press (155#)
  • 12/8 cal SkiErg
  • 15/10 cal BikeErg
  • 12 Broad Jumps

After two tough days I wanted something that wouldn’t be crushing. I picked up the pace on the machines each round, which got me a good sweat. Bench was easy to start but I think I would have been failing at the end if I’d done 10 more pounds.

Midline

4 Rounds

  • 20s Hollow Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Superman Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Star Plank Hold
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest
  • 20s Single Leg KB Balance Hold (70#)
  • 10s Rest

Back in January I could not hold a star plank and I was able to every singe one today without falling. I really like the glue activation in those.

Dialing in Kick-ups

My inner thighs are still a bit sore and my shoulders need some rest. In the garage at 4pm.

Warm-up

  • 10:00 BikeErg (4,845m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walks
  • 80′ Monster Walks

Handstands

  • Wrist Warm-up
  • 2×10 Kip Swings
  • 3×20 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts
  • 2x45s Handstand Shape 45° Hollow
  • 3×5 Kick-ups (finding balance)

I still find it amazing how much the sponge shifts improved since the first time. Today I was even keeping my feet together instead of a big spread to help with a stable base up at the top. I’m starting to really dial in my kick-ups and think it’s time to just do them in the open floor from now on so I don’t kick the wall when I overshoot and can play around with saving some of those more.

Strength

  • 8 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (45#)
  • 8 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 45#)
  • 4 Sets
    • 12 alt Back Rack Reverse Lunges (135#)
    • 12 Pendlay Rows (supinated, 95#)

Straight up cardio-ish!

Conditioning

10:00 AMRAP

  • 20 Russian KBS (53/35#)
  • 10/10 Lunge Pulses
  • 10 Weighted V-ups (15# DB)

No place to rest here. Got faster as we went. Finished 7+40.

Accessory

3 Sets

  • 30 Band Pull Aparts (blue)
  • 20 Band Tricep Pulldowns (red)
  • 8/8 Parallette Supported Renegade Rows (50#)

This was a rough combination and didn’t really rest between sets.

All 30

My hands were aching again this morning and my legs are feeling that Friday workout a little. Out in the garage at 10am.

Warm-up

  • 5:00 BikeErg (2,511m)
  • 80′ Lateral Monster Walk
  • 80′ Monster Walk
  • 3:00 Wrist Warm-up
  • 2 Sets
    • 10 Kip Swings
    • 10 Air Squats

Conditioning

“Jackie”

  • 1,000m Row
  • 50 Thrusters (45#)
  • 30 Pull-ups

Still hard to believe the first time I ever did this benchmark workout was on April 13, with a time of 7:45. I pulled a 1:50/500m pace on the rower and was extremely cautious doing thrusters since it was my first time touching a barbell in months after a back tweak and physical therapy. I struggled though 7-5 and then 2s and 3s on the pull-ups.

Today I was having a hard time slowing down at the beginning of the row because it felt so good. Ended up a little over a 1:48/500m pace when I hopped off. I knew I wasn’t going to make up significant time on the row and didn’t want it to leave me too gassed for the thrusters and pull-ups. I did very controlled thrusters and focused on breathing. My shoulders were on fire for the last 15. Finished them at 6:11 and I was hoping to be able to do 3×10 pull-ups. The first ten felt great so I decided to keep going for 15-20. Then I got to 20 and knew I could go unbroken. Finished at 6:58 for a big PR! That felt really good and there is still a lot of room for improvement with the thrusters.

Handstand Balance Breakthrough

  • 50 Wall-facing Handstand Sponge Shifts (3×10, 20)
  • 1:00 Handstand 45° Hollow Hold

Even after the thrusters and pull-ups, this was a huge improvement since trying the sponge shifts 15 days ago. Look at these videos…

More Conditioning

With Partner

  • 100 Burpee Box Get Overs (48/38″)

Went back and forth with Brandi, doing 10 each and then I’d pull off the 12″ block and she’d add the 2″. Then vice versa after her set. We finished in 10:46, so would have been around 10 minutes if we had 2 stacks.

Midline

4 Rounds (20s work / 15s rest)

  • Landmine Twists (45+25#, club grip)
  • Bicycles (5# ankle weights)
  • Leg Lefts (5# ankle weights)
  • Hollow Hold (5# ankle weights)

Was Killin’ It

Had been planning to go class yesterday, but was a bit tired during the day so made the call early to make it a rest day. Went to 10am today.

Warm-up

  • 3×15 RH (140#)
  • 2 Sets
    • 5 Inch Worms
    • High kNees
    • 10 Air Squats
    • 10 HR Push-ups

Strength – 4 Sets

  • 10/10 single arm single leg RDL (62#)
  • 5/5 OH walking lunges (62#)

Did my own version since it was programmed to de RDLs and lunges.

Conditioning

“Wall Ball Kalsu”

  • EMOM Buy-in: 5 Burpees
  • Accumulate 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

I made the call today that we were starting with burpees like it should be. I got 24-20-19 and then on the 15th rep of the 4th set I felt something and on #16 I got a minor back tweak. Clock was at 3:49 through 79 reps when I finished. I was killing it! Would have gotten a few more reps there and then could have finished in the next minute. I’ve done 4:50 in the version that doesn’t do the 5 burpees during that initial minute, so this would have been a nice improvement.

So I skipped out on the medicine ball sit-ups they did and figured I might as well get in my Push Only work for the weekend.

Bench Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×95
  • 6×135
  • 3×165
  • 3×195
  • 3×215
  • 4x3x230

Felt easy!!

Seated Shoulder Press

  • 10×45#
  • 10×75
  • 6×95
  • 3×115
  • 3×125
  • 3×135
  • 2x3x145

Subbed these instead of push press due to my back. Different.

Accessory

bench-on-boxes

  • 3×24 Seated alt DB Shoulder Press (40#)
  • 3×15/15 Pallof Press (red band)
  • 3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
  • 3×12 DB Front Raises (15#)
  • 3 Sets
    • 20 Shoulder Ts (prone on elevated bench hanging over the edge, 5#)
    • 3x30s Overhead Opener

I’m so used to having the combination of side raises and then bent-over side raises I didn’t realize there were front raises. There were supposed to be first, but I was already 2 sets through the side raises when I realized the program difference. I decided to superset in the overhead openers from the Performance Plus program.

Performance Plus

  • Handstand Shifts (video)
    • 2×2
    • 3×8 Scaled with feet on plate stack
  • 3 Sets
    • 1:00 HS Hold (facing)
    • 1:00 Rest

😂 I tried doing the sponge shifts up on the wall but wow! I was using the eraser from the whiteboard. After 2 attempts I went for scaled, which was no walk in the park either. Instead of doing 3 max sets of handstand hold I did the intervals since I’d already worked my shoulders so much. Barely made it through the last 2 sets.