Motivation: The Snowball

Motivation for a task is like a giant ball of snow. When at rest for too long it becomes very difficult to get it moving again. A lot of force is required to overcome its inertia. Once it begins rolling however, it is self perpetuating. It grows larger and larger as it picks up more size and speed and its power will charge you.

So why do we fail once we've decided to learn, do or quit something? Surely anything is possible with a giant snowballing dose of motivation? Let's look at some of the reasons why we lose motivation and at what I believe are the three most important rules in avoiding such loss.

The Keys of Motivation
1) Gradual progression
2) Perceived advancement
3) Camaraderie

The concept of progression is one of the cornerstones of strength training. It is also important that the impetus of our motivation is directed in a controlled and disciplined way or else it will burn out.

Often people apply motivation with the wrong mentality. A sudden burst of motivation, derived from the coming of a new year for example, is often consumed too quickly as the person leaps into a new training regime or discipline at full pace. We've all been guilty of it whether it's deciding that we're going to run ten miles a day, or never going to eat a particular food again. The snowball never has time to pick up enough speed to overcome the inevitable difficulties of such strict and draining regimes before they begin to take their toll.

There is no good that can come of two to three weeks of intensive training or abstinence ending in a return to the norm. The prior puts us at risk of injury, fatigue and inefficiency in other areas of our lives. The latter often leads to the all too common "reward binge".

Instead we should start slowly in our training to allow our bodies to adapt to what is often a completely new field. Gradually phasing a food out of dominence in our diet is far more likely to be successful than going cold turkey from the start. Starting a training program slowly gives our bodies time to adjust to the new training and reduces the likelihood of injury. Never approach a new task at a sprint. The more worthwhile tasks are sizeable enough that such a sprint will only induce an all to early "I quit". Instead the progressive method will allow you to adapt to new challenges as the difficulties are incrementally increased.

Which leads me onto Perceived Advancement. If there's one thing that's true about motivation, it's that it will run dry if we don't perceive ourselves to be advancing in some way. Whether it's drummed into us through our social conditioning or already present in our genetic makeup, we need to continue to recognise some form of progress in order to justify the difficulties.

But what if we no longer experience progression? What if we stagnate? The answer to this is simple; when a training programme is no longer resulting in progression, it needs to be altered. Try new methods to achieve your targets instead of sticking with methods that don't yield any results. A warning however.. Individual training sessions will often fluctuate. Sometimes you will perform worse on a given day than on an average session weeks before. This is natural. Detach your self worth and your feelings of progress and achievement from the outcomes of a particular session, even several sessions. There are many variables which influence the way our body functions at any given time and these are mostly beyond our control.

One of the best ways to bolster the feeling of advancement is to set short term goals. My opinions on the best techniques for setting goals can be found here but I will summarise my three key points below. Goals should be:

1) Easily measured
2) Focused on building weaknesses
3) Achievable in a short timescale

If you can't measure a goal then you will have a hard time accurately measuring improvement. Your weaknesses will usually be faster to improve than your strengths and will often open up new possibilities in improveing elsewhere. If a goal takes too long to achieve, it's easy to lose motivation before the target is reached. Break bigger goals down into smaller chunks that can be achieved in a shorter timescale. Following these steps, you should find yourself passing milestone after milestone, each one augmenting your motivation and pushing you onward to further growth.

Camaraderie is perhaps the easiest for most of us to relate to. We've all worked in a job we hated but found ourselves feeling positive about the day ahead due to good working relationships. Having others whose company we enjoy enduring the work with us makes it easier to bear. Training with a partner generates a mutually motivating relationship in which recipricol support and good natured competition will encourage a more powerful drive for all involved. As mentioned earlier, camaraderie is not limited to training alone but to all tasks in which a lack of motivation could cause one to lose sight of the reasons for starting.

Whether we respond to gentle encouragement or tough love; the competitive edge or the comrade in arms; two people engaged in pursueing the same task are often more successful than one.

So grab a friend, set some goals and start taking the little steps towards whatever it is that inspires you. Don't quit at the first hurdle or even at the twentieth. You knew there would be many and without them your goals would lack value. Take your time and celebrate the small achievements as much as the large. With a steady and progressive approach, anything can be achieved.

A Friendly Competition

I haven't posted for a while and am well overdue for a training status update. However, training hasn't been great since I moved to Queenstown, New Zealand and the party capital has taken it's toll on my disciplined training.

As a motivational kick, I have decided to learn a new skill now that the handstand  straddle press is basically there. The skill is The Breakdance Flare.

But in the absence of any training partners (everyone here is too drunk at 5am when I get off work and start training) my motivation for such a task could do with a boost. So I have issued a challenge to fellow handbalancer Tor-Martin from www.on-hands.com to see which of us can learn the flare first. Friendly competition is a fantastic drive for learning a new skill and I'm already looking forwards to my next session working it.

For the purpose of the competition, "Learning the Flare" will be defined as five complete rotations from the start position without touching the ground or retracting a leg.

Good luck Tor!

Training Status Update 5 - The Fruit Of Labour

 

The Handstand Push Up

It's now been ten weeks since I began training the handstand push up and progress is fairly steady. Each session lasts one hour so I allow plenty of rest (five to six minutes) between sets. I kick up into handstand where my spotter holds me in position and counts reps as I do the push ups. He checks for proper straight backed form and disregards bad reps.

I began just doing them on the floor so that the bottom of the rep is where my head touches the ground. In the last few weeks I've extended the range of motion (ROM) by raising my hands. On this basis, I measure increased ROM in the admittedly dubious unit of "Childrens Encyclopedia Britannica" whereby +2 corresponds to 2 books beneath my hands. This raising of the hands extends the range of motion by giving the head longer to travel before the ground stops it.

I now begin each session with a normal set on the ground and then proceed to do the following nine sets with increased ROM. When I am able to do ten repetitions with 2 books, I will add another 2 books and continue with the same pattern.

Thanks to this training I am now able to push up into handstand without a spot in a variety of different positions. I still can't do three consecutive reps though which is the criteria for ticking it off my list.

The Handstand Straddle Press

This one is pretty much in the bag, I will post a video shortly. I can usually do it when I'm fresh now but need to fine tune the techique.

The Iron Cross

Just practising regularly on the rings to condition the elbows. It's feeling more stable each session.This one is going to continue to take a while.  

Back-swing into Handstand

I've recently been playing around on the parallel bars on days where my elbows need a rest from the rings. I recently managed to achieve the back-swing into handstand in the gym. Yesterday, I found myself training a friend at the outdoor training area in Primrose Hill, London and thought I'd attempt it on the P-bars there.

I expected to be intimidated to go up into handstand without being completely surrounded by crash mats as I've become accustomed to... in fact it felt completely natural.

Sorry about the video quality, it was taken on a phone.

The Handstand

I've been practicing the handstand solidly for a while now and am making slow but steady progress.

The basics of the position are relatively easy to learn but it feels like one of those things that take a lifetime to master.

I found one site particularly useful in building up the basic posture and body positioning. Jim Balhurst's Beast Skills is a site jam packed full of tutorials for a variety of bodyweight feats including the One armed pull up, the front lever, the human flag, the true one handed push up and of course the handstand. All tutorials have gradual progressions to build towards your goal and are illustrated with colour photographs.

While I've been learning, I've also tried my hand at teaching a few others how to handstand. It is through this and my own practice that I've put together some fundamental points in holding a handstand. Note: Many of these are already mentioned in the sites above but as they are extremely common mistakes I feel it's worth stressing the point.

Tips to an improved handstand


1) Use a shoulder Width hand placement: One of the things I've noticed is that people -especially men with built shoulders due to the reduced flexibility- seem to like to place their hands quite wide apart from each other. Before I started practicing them regularly, this is how I was doing it too.

The first time that I placed my hands at the relatively narrow shoulder width, I was shocked at how much easier holding the handstand felt. I believe the reason for this is that your centre of gravity follows a much straighter line with the hands tucked in by the ears. Widen your hand placement too far and you'll find holding the handstand significantly harder. The problem is that a wider grip feels more natural to most people. If your shoulder flexibility is limiting you, try Shoulder dislocates which will improve your ability to hold a handstand with a shoulder width hand placement.

 
2) Good posture is paramount: There's more value in a five second handstand with good posture than a ten second handstand maintained by walking on your hands, bending elbows and piking hips. Focus always on attaining balance, not greater time spent on your hands.

• Open out your shoulders - Push the ground away from you and pull your shoulders right back behind your ears.
• Keep your elbows locked straight - You can rescue a failing handstand by bending your elbows but this can easily become a bad habit and will only impede your progress.
  
• The head must remain neutral - remain looking at hands rather than in front of you as this may cause your back to arch.
• Keep your core and lower back tensed - Some conditioning for each may be required if you're constantly bending at this point which is common.
  
• Tuck your hips - I never understood what people meant when they said this. The best way to explain it is to tense your glutes as tightly as possible. I also imagine that I'm pushing the sky away from me with my legs. This keeps your hips in line with your back.
• Legs must stay together - Accomplished hand balancers can split their legs and maintain balance but as a beginner, it will only make it harder to hold.
• Point your toes - I always forget this. I feel like it helps me maintain a straight body position when I do it though.
• Walking is cheating - If you're trying to hold a static handstand but you're walking on your hands to balance, you're failing. I trained myself out of this one by handstanding on a low wall. On a wall, the last thing your mind will let you do is walk.   

WARNING: Make sure your pirouette from handstand is good and that you're confident doing it from an elevated platform before trying the wall handstand. For gods sake, don't try to forward roll out of a handstand on a wall... I'm told it hurts.

Time spent working on good posture is an investment and will yield far greater returns.


3) Practice on different surfaces: Until just recently, I had worked exclusively on hard floors like concrete, wood and even my tiled kitchen floor. It made me feel pretty good when people commented on how good my "head" must be to handstand on hard surfaces and so I continued doing so, blissfully ignorant of my developing over-specialisation.

However; every time I ended up hand balancing in a park on some grass, my handstands failed after a fraction of the time whilst those who feared concrete would outshine me. Each time I told myself that it was just a bad session and would subconsciously avoid uneven surfaces like grass as much as possible. I've finally started practicing on grass and hills etc. and have made enormous improvements. The only way to master the handstand is to develop proficiency in a variety of situations.

Hard surfaces help with posture and quickly teach you how to pirouette, uneven surfaces give you a greater versatility of balance and a better understanding of the handstand. You may also find that harder surfaces are more responsive to adjustments made through the fingers as they don't yield like softer surfaces do.

Practice everywhere!

4) Video yourself: Record yourself balancing as often as possible. Not only will you be able to monitor your progress, you'll be able to better analyse why your handstands are failing and how best to improve them. 

In fact; if you send me a link to a video of yourself in a handstand, I'd be happy to give you my opinion.


5) Feel it: No this one isn't a space filler. The most important method of improvement for me -greater even than a video- has been a gradual improvement in my physical understanding of what makes a handstand work. Knowing why your handstand failed by actually feeling it will help you better apply the correct technique in future. Try to literally feel each part of your body while you're inverted and build up a mental map of the relative positions of each component during your successful attempts. Spend some time focused on specific body areas and actions (like pointing the toes) and remember how it felt so that you can bring it all together later.

This takes time but will eventually teach you to rescue a failing handstand by altering your body position.

Finally, never let yourself believe that your handstand is perfect, there are always ways in which you can improve it. As soon as you let yourself believe that you have mastered something, you close yourself off to further learning.

On that note, if you can offer any recommendations on how I could improve my own handstand -see video- I would gladly hear them!

Training Status Update 4 - Five Weeks In

Just over a month ago, I set myself three goals in which I want to focus. Here is my progress thus far. In the diagram below, the numbers represent repetitions per set of HeSPU and reps in which my back arched were not added to the total. Volume is the reps per session:

Full Range Handstand Push Up (HSPU)


My goal here was to go back to basics and practice the Headstand Push Up (HePU) with very strict form until I was able to complete ten reps. From there my goal would be to increase the range of motion (by raising the hands progressively on books) until I'm able to perform the HSPU.

Note: A HeSPU is a push up from handstand with the hands on the ground while the HSPU is the same thing on parallets so that you can go much deeper. The latter is many times harder.

 I have only been doing one session a week and became injured between the 7th and 18th of May but the volume increase has been high. I aim to reach ten reps in a couple of sessions.

Handstand Straddle Press

I actually managed to do this a few times over the last month but still lack consistency. I've been working on the eccentric (negative) version in order to build up control and progress is almost as steady as the handstand push up.

Iron Cross

With the two week injury of my shoulder, (falling off the parallel bars while swinging back into handstand) I've made stagnant progress in the Iron Cross. I'm feeling more motivated than ever to achieve it though and have a few new techniques to try out so watch this space.

Miscellaneous

I'm learning the back handspring and managed to get it on the sprung floor with a spotter and on the soft mats without one. Tumbling's never been my strength but now I'm spending much more time doing gymnastics and feel it's time to remedy this.

Training Status Update 3 - Three Simple Goals

So, I've been back from Borneo for one month now and have made the single biggest change to my training in seven years... I've stopped climbing.

Simply put, I've had far too many active goals for too long. By "active" I mean goals which I am currently training for. As well as the goals on my list, many climbing oriented goals began finding their way into my program e.g 1-5-9 on the campus board. Combined with a busy competition season, my irregular gymnastics training was reduced to a weekly session for which I was already fatigued.

The problem with too many active goals is that your body soon suffers from overtraining. Sessions on fatigued muscles contribute nothing to your strength training goals and result in a lower training volume and lower training effect than training on fresh muscles.

To prevent stagnation, I decided to focus on just two items from my list and one item that I believe to be a necessary stepping stone to achieve the planche. They are:

1) The Iron Cross (back to training with a vengeance)

2) The Full range Handstand Push Up

3) The Handstand Straddle Lift

The Iron Cross, I've been working for a while and will continue to do so. I aim to reach my previously highest level within one more month. 

The full range handstand push up itself is not on the list but will translate to the easier free-standing variant nicely. Finally; the handstand straddle lift has been a side goal I've been working for a while without much progress. Incidentally, after a month of focused training, I achieved it yesterday. (Sloppily).

I will continue to improve upon it and will post a video in the next few weeks. I recently managed a one minute handstand too.

Short Cuts, Quick Fixes and Natural Talent

If you've browsed the web in the last year or so -and I imagine that in reading this blog then you probably have- you'll no doubt have encountered several prevalent ads selling highly questionable panaceas to problems such as obesity and yellow teeth.

The very fact that such scam ads have successfully permeated such a great extent of the internet is shameful but it's not the subject on which I'm writing today. What I'm interested in is the source of our obsession with short cuts and cure alls when most of us know deep down that such methods will fail.

Take the web page in the screenshot to the right as an example. I've seen the ad that links to this page plastered all over the internet; in forums and in otherwise respectable blogs (often within the google adsense widget).
Now whoever is behind this "blog" claims that you will become "ripped in just 30 days" without ever going to the gym and through only taking a cheap acai berry product. This is a preposterous claim. How can anyone believe that someone can lose as much weight as is claimed on this site and pack on muscle through only eating an extract from an over hyped "super-food" berry?.. but they do.


Forget the internet, take a look at the world around you. Our entire culture has become saturated with shortcuts. Instead of eating healthily we opt for weight loss supplements or surgery, intense detox programs or fad diets. Rather than practice our skills in a new sport or pursuit, we purchase advanced equipment unsuitable for our current skill levels in an effort to boost effectiveness. You'll see people using buses to travel one or two stops and our meals have sacrificed flavour, texture and nutrition in favour of convenience.


Our tools have developed to make us increasingly passive (I just used spell check to alter a typo for which I knew the spelling), computers, machinery and modern vehicles make us intolerant of the increased time required to undertake tasks manually. Food can now be delivered straight from the supermarket and we can access all but the most elusive items online.


All of this is reflected in our expectations. We expect to see instant results and quick progress in everything we turn our hand to. I've seen many people avoid starting to learn something they find difficult, citing their "obvious lack of natural talent" as reason not to begin a difficult but fulfilling pursuit. I believe that natural talent only offers a head start or at times the differentiation between top athletes. Those of us not aiming for the Olympics can overlook the need for natural talent in favour of dedication and practice. I've seen many a gifted climber be overtaken by a more enthusiastic learner who had started at a lesser level.



Few of the quick fixes we opt for work and those that do often fail to fix the underlying problem, allowing history to repeat itself later. Someone who undergoes liposuction without altering their diet and lifestyle will find the weight pile back on.
 
Right now we live in a world where there are few shortcuts to a good, happy and healthy life. Our relationships cannot be perfected by five simple rules and we cannot master the violin, any sport or any subject with just one book. Our lives will be riddled with twice as much failure as success and we will work long and hard for the smallest of results. If we're aware of this from the beginning, our lives may not feel easy but at least we will tackle life's difficulties head on and with the appropriate attitude of responsibility and perseverance. If ever this changes and the world becomes a place in which one can take a magic pill to drop weight and bulk up -all within a month- we'll have lost one of the most important mechanisms for the development of the human race, our capacity to learn, to adapt, to develop.

Training Status Update 2 - Bouldering Competitions 2009-2010

After an unexpected win in a bouldering competition in early October 2009, I changed the focus of my training to bouldering related strength and away from the items on my list.

For those of you who don't know, bouldering is a form of rock climbing which focuses on powerful, technical moves but trades in the rope and harness for a relatively small wall and a crash mat. Most boulder "problems" as we call them, are 5 metres tall at the most.

Having dominated my training focus for nearly five months, I thought that it would be relevant to post my results in the comps in this update. The last competition ended today and this post will function as a record of the season.

Most of the competitions work in the same way. You have between 15 and 25 boulder problems to climb within the time constraints of the competition. If you climb a problem on the first attempt (on-sight) you get ten points. A second attempt gets you seven points and a third attempt gives you three or four points (depending on each comps rules). Any successful climbs after three attempts yield the competitor a single point.

If a competition has a maximum score of 200 points for example, it will have twenty boulder problems.

The four comps can be seen in the diagram above. The "King of the Mez" competition at The Castle and "The Southern Indoor Bouldering League" (which was held at six different venues) were both league type comps. King of the Mez had four rounds and The SIBL had six. The "East Versus West" competition had two rounds. Finally I entered the first round of The Works climbing walls indoor bouldering league in Sheffield.

I thoroughly enjoyed this competition season and am happy with my results. Therefore I've decided to enter the British Bouldering Championships in June.

Congratulations to Bodley Zhang who won the SIBL and Grzegorz Karolak who won The King Of the Mez. I learnt a good deal in competeing against them and the many others this year.

Training Status Update 1

OK, so I haven't posted in quite some time now. I think all but the most gifted blogger -and I don't presume to be among their ranks- comes up against the quality/frequency hurdle. On one hand, you want to post regularly, weekly, even daily if possible. On the other, you want every post to be of such remarkable quality, brimming with well ordered, structured content so as to separate it from the hordes of useless tripe and advertising multiplying on the internet daily.

That having been said, I now have more time to dedicate towards writing articles on here, having been distracted by the soon to be over climbing competition season and a new business involving teaching strength and conditioning techniques to climbers.

So I have reached a compromise. I will write a Training Status Update once a month detailing my progress with The Challenge and training in general. These will be accessible through the links on the right hand side of the page.

2009 Training Summary


I began training the Iron Cross and Front Lever at the beginning of January 2009. Using the rings training aid until July and combining it with pure rings sessions after that to prepare the elbow joints for the load (the ring training aid removes stress from the elbows thus failing to train them). I was making steady progress until winter hit, along with a busy climbing competition season and seasonal apathy.

Despite this, the two month rest appears to have improved my attempts at the cross. While I can't lift as much on the training aid, I've actually improved on the pure rings! I've put this down to the elbows having undergone conditioning and then a recovery period. Elbow pain was becoming more regular in October and stopping training was probably the best option.

The Front Lever was getting close at around the same time but I have experienced a loss of strength with it now due to the rest. I believe that the strength will return quicker than it originally took to gain.

I also achieved the Dragon Flag which I can now do pretty easily.

A good year and one that will probably begin to yield results by mid 2010 assuming continued training with that renewed new year vigour.

The Dragon Flag

I recently achieved the Dragon Flag which is item nine on my list. I've left it a couple of weeks to Iron out the glitches in technique and form before posting this video.

The Dragon Flag was first developed by Bruce Lee who performed it as part of a gruelling daily core training routine which included, allegedly, a thirty minute V-sit hold! It was later seen in Rocky 4 during the Russian training montage.


There is a lot of debate as to the "proper form" of the Dragon Flag with many believing that a curved body is cheating and others believing it to be correct form. Coach Christopher Sommer agrees with the latter; he states that dragon flags "are performed with an arch throughout the back which makes their performance significantly easier". He calls the straight form variation (above) the Body Lever.


I personally find it easier to label them all under the title "Dragon Flag" and to aspire always to progress towards the most difficult variant. From here I will begin practising the Dragon Flag off the edge of a bench so that my body can go below the horizontal and then perhaps with added weight.

Note: If your reader does not support video, you can find the video here.

The Importance of Setting Relevant Goals

                       The legendary Wolfgang Gullich on Action Directe 9a  

Setting goals is an excellent way to push ourselves beyond our current limits. Measuring progress is made significantly easier when you have an end point to measure against and it facilitates the direction of our mental energy towards achieving a single quantifiable objective.

That being said, we often use goals inefficiently; confusing them with the more romantically appealing but ultimately less practical "dream". The Oxford English dictionary defines a dream as "a cherished ambition or ideal; a fantasy". What relevance to our physical and mental expansion can a fantasy have? I would expect very little.

For example, I regularly meet young climbers who are fairly new to the sport (a year or two of experience) who when asked what their goals are will reel off a list of cutting edge classics such as Wolfgang Gullich's Action Directe (The worlds first 9a climb) and Parthian Shot E9 6c!. When asked what they are currently climbing they respond sheepishly with the beginner-intermediate grade expected from a climber of their experience. Now before anyone crucifies me for elitism or some other such offence, I'd like to make it clear that I'm no grade snob. I don't think the unlikely dream of one day climbing Action Directe shouldn't be held by an aspiring young climber -on the contrary- it just cannot be justified as a reasonable goal and therefore will often waste attention.

In directing our goals at the cutting edge, we often fail to pay the necessary attention to the relevant goals that are only just beyond our capabilities. An intermediate climber who on-sights 6c is far better off focusing their energy on on-sighting 7a than on dreaming of 9a. Just as a young Traceur who has recently learnt to Kong vault would benefit more from consolidating this relatively basic move before attempting it at height or in combination with other moves.


A goal should be:
1) easily measured
2) aimed at building on our weaknesses as well as our strengths
3) just beyond our current accepted capabilities; the next logical step

The first is obvious. We can't ever achieve a goal that we can't measure. Less evidently; people tend to lose motivation if they don't have a certain degree of perceived progress. You may be improving but it's important to find a way to measure that progress to keep up morale.

The second is very important as in whatever we do, our abilities and skills are always limited by the weakest link in the chain. A strong overhang climber who neglects slabs will be hindered by this weakness when climbing on Welsh slate. Additionally, the footwork skills learnt on slabs will directly improve the climbers overhang skills.

The third point is the main one of my argument. In my opinion, the most valuable lessons are always learned in the area just outside of our comfort zone. Stay within that zone and your development will stagnate. Push too far beyond it and you may get caught up in dreams of grandeur and lose sight of the valuable lessons close at hand. Learning advanced lessons are often dependant -completely or in part- upon the lessons learned at a lower level. Attempt to progress too quickly and you may stagnate once more. The lessons just outside our comfort zone are the ones most relevant to us, the ones most easily learned and the quickest route towards achieving those dreams.

A personal experience from the Gymnastics Rings showed me the importance of building up basic strength in the support position and with ring dips before training towards harder moves like the Muscle up and Iron Cross. After months of training these simple manoeuvres, I attempted the muscle up on the rings and was pleased to find it come quite easily. Friends of mine who attempt to skip straight to the Muscle up often lose motivation due to their slow progress in developing the strength far more easily achieved through the basics. For more information see my Muscle Up guide).

•A Traceur is someone who practises Parkour/Free-running meaning literally "tracer bullet".

• To on-sight a climb is to ascend it on the first attempt without knowing of the moves involved. 

Muscle up Training Guide

The Muscle Up, simply stated, is a combination of a pull up and a dip. It consists of three main elements; the pull up, the transition and the dip. It can be performed either on a bar or on a set of gymnastic rings. Each requires a different approach to training.

Muscle Ups on a Bar
I first learnt the muscle up on the bar and it is the medium I would most recommend if you're completely new to bodyweight training or if the rings tutorial fails to work for you. A Muscle Up on a bar is usually performed much more dynamically than a Muscle Up on a set of rings. This is due to the bar not rotating like the rings during the transition, necessitating a rapid shift of grip during the transition when performed on a bar. To train the Muscle Up on a bar you will need to:

1) Grip the bar with a false grip
2) Build up explosive power in the pull up range of motion
3) Work on building a deep dip range of motion


Muscle Ups on a set of Rings
In opposition, the Muscle Up on the rings can be done much slower as the rings naturally rotate to allow the easy transition between the pull up and the dip. This does not mean however, that the Muscle Up on rings is easier. Most people will actually find it harder due to the unstable nature of the rings. To train it you will want to focus on:

1) Gripping the bar with a false grip
2) A slow controlled pull up in which the chin raises as far above hand level as is possible.
3) General all round ring strength and stability
4) Building a very deep dip in which the hands touch the chest at the bottom.


The False Grip
One of the most common mistakes that people make when trying to do a Muscle Up is using the wrong grip. The false grip is the foundation of the Muscle up. Without it, you're likely to struggle to do one on a bar and unlikely to ever achieve it on the rings. To false grip, you simply need to hold the ring/bar in your palm as opposed to the natural method of holding it in your clenched fingers. If you're doing it correctly, your wrist will be resting against the ring/bar on the little finger side of your hand (see pictures below). It's important to ensure you maintain the false grip when you're lowering yourself back down from the Muscle Up as you'll need it in order to perform multiple repetitions later on.

Explosive Pull Up Power
To Muscle Up on a bar you'll need to have enough power in your pull up to pull the bar right down to your lower chest. Once there, the transition is simply the motion of extending your wrist and shifting your bodyweight over it. This makes the bar transition significantly less technical than the rings transition. The two exercises I would recommend for building up explosive pulling power are:

• Weighted Pull-Ups
• Increased ROM Pull Ups

Weighted Pull ups are simply normal pull ups with the addition of weight. (I hope you already figured that one out). Start with a low weight (around 5% bodyweight) and aim to keep the repetitions fast and explosive. Build up to 3-5 sets of eight reps at the current weight and then increase the weight and repeat. Gradually increase the weight over time to a maximum of 15-20% bodyweight.

Increased ROM pull Ups are something I came up with in first teaching someone how to do a Muscle up. They're basically an explosive Pull Up in which you pull the bar as low down your chest as you can. When you reach the highest point, contract your core and shoulders tightly as if to try and hold the position -which wont happen-. Aim to build up to 3-5 sets of eight reps again.

In both these cases, the power needs to come from your upper body alone. Kipping to get results now will only slow down your progress in the long run. Don't do it.

Building a Deep Dip
You're going to need to work on extending the range of motion of your dip as far as possible. To do this, practising dips on a bar or on rings is the way to go. If you're training to Muscle Up on Rings, make sure you train the dip on rings; if you're training to MU on a bar, a combination of both bar and ring dips will be beneficial. The most important thing to remember is to dip as deep as possible. I aim to brush my hands against the front of my chest during ring dips. You'll only build the range of motion that you train in so be disciplined about going all the way down and all the way back up.


The Slow, Controlled pull up
This is pretty important for a solid muscle up on the rings although you can just pull dynamically if that works for you. I'm a great believer in the value of controlled movement against resistance and so the slow Muscle Up is the greatest variant in my humble opinion (Excluding the inverted muscle up). You'll want to improve the control of the pull up and the height up to which you can comfortably pull your chin past hand level.

To build up the control of your pull up, I find pull ups with static holds to be very useful. Start in a hanging position from the rings and pull up ten degrees or so and hold it for 5-10 seconds. Pull up ten degrees further and hold again for the same amount of time. Continue to do so until you are at the top of the pull up with your palms facing in and elbows tucked into your lats. Hold this final position for 10s and reverse. If this is too difficult, try starting from the top of the pull up and working your way down. Do not neglect to hold in the top position as this is the most important part for the Muscle Up. Build up your hold time up as you become stronger.


All round ring strength
The rings are an unstable and tricky apparatus. In order to accomplish even the simplest of ring based skills, you will first need to build up a level competence in the support position. Start by dropping the height of the rings if you can so that they sit just below chest height. Grip each ring with a normal grip and jump or press yourself up so that both arms are straight and each ring is locked in close to your body at about hip height. (See diagram in my post "The Iron Cross"). Aim to turn the rings so the palms are facing forwards but holding the rings parallel will suffice to begin. Do not allow the hands to turn inwards and do not brace your arms against the straps.

Build up the amount of time that you can hold the support position for. When it becomes too easy, try doing it in an L-sit position or get a friend to give you a push so that you're swinging.

Additional Training

If you have strengthened all of the above and are still having issues with the transition, I would recommend getting a spotter to aid you through the transition. Personally, I prefer a spotter to a passive form of decreased resistance (e.g resistance bands, pulleys etc.) due to their ability to judge exactly how much aid you require. This is useful especially if you're not feeling particularly strong on a given day and require a greater aid than usual. The downside is that you can't accurately judge just how much aid you're using.
 

When your spotter aids you, pay attention to where they're giving you the most help. I recently trained with a guy who could pull his elbows back through the transition easily enough so long as you aided him in getting his chin higher during the pull-up. After a few weeks of static holds at the top of the pull up and he can now Muscle Up with ease.

If you have no-one to spot you; the transition can be worked by lowering the rings to a height at which you can just barely do the transition by standing on your toes. Practise the technique described below a few times and then begin to increase the height of the rings a little at a time. It will gradually get harder provided you never jump into it. With trial and error, you should find the point at which you can just barely complete the transition. Practise at this level until you can lengthen the rings further, always using strict form. This is the most successful method that I've used in training others to do the Muscle Up on the rings.
 

Finally, Muscle Up negatives are a very useful means of strengthening the full range of motion. Be sure to maintain strict form or else you wont see any benefits and you'll be no closer to achieving a Muscle Up.

The Technique for the Muscle Up on the Rings

1. Hold the rings with a false grip
2. Pull up slowly until your chin is as high past hand level as you can comfortably go
3. Turn the hands inward so that the palms face together and the rings are parallel
   
4. Lock the elbows in at the sides so that they are touching your lats
5. Draw the elbows backwards as if you are elbowing an opponent directly behind you. Ensure that you do not pull your elbows away from your body.*
6. Press upwards slowly through the dip motion, turning the rings outwards at the top of the movement when the arms are locked straight.
7. Reverse the movement ensuring that the false grip is maintained throughout.
8. Do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again...
   

* This is the most common mistake after failing to use the false grip. Keep your elbows locked against your body even as they move through the transition from the front to the back. if you are failing during the transition, not doing so is the most likely cause.

There are one or two little tricks you can use to first achieve the Muscle up but make sure you unlearn them before you start building the reps up. Each tip will slot into the list above.

3a. Pick up speed as you pull up to gain a little momentum to aid you in the transition
4a. Pike (bend) at the hips slightly
5a. Lean forwards as far as is needed to roll the elbows back. this also makes the push easier.

Remember to wean yourself off of these as they can become bad habits.

The list will become more and more merged together as you practice and improve, making for a smoother more aesthetically pleasing Muscle up. You'll find you'll begin to turn your hands in (3) as you pull up (2), the elbows will also draw into your sides at this time (4).

I wish everyone the best in training for the Muscle Up! If this guide has been of any use, please let me know, any comments are appreciated. Any recommendations for improving it or ideas/points of view that differ from my own would also be very welcome.

Slow Muscle Up on the Rings

 After capitulating to the demands of her majesties finest (can you believe the Police would threaten to arrest us for hanging rings from "The Queens Trees" in Hyde Park due to a law passed in the 1600's?!), my friends and I decided to set up our rings in the specially designed training area on Primrose Hill.

After the usual training session -Progressions for the Iron Cross, Front Lever, Inverted Muscle Up etc- we had a shot on a super slow muscle up. Here's mine. Please comment.

Ring Training Aids Comparison

Before I first tried to hold a simple support position on the rings last October, I didn't fully appreciate the immense level of strength that Olympic gymnasts possess through training with this relatively simple apparatus. Of all the training tools that i have used, they are the most efficient tool for strengthening athletes of all levels using only bodyweight resistance. The question is; How do the rings give such potent strength (and often muscle) gains without using greater than bodyweight resistance? The answer is quite simply leverage. Many of the positions on the rings are what we call "disadvantaged leverage" positions. In the same way that lifting a weight attached to your elbow is a lot easier than lifting the same weight attached to your wrist despite no change in mass, holding many static ring positions require an enormous degree of strength due to their tendency to place much of the mass away from the pivot. It is with this principle in mind that the following two tools were designed. They allow the force generated by bodyweight and leverage to be adjusted. This opens up the option for gradual progression of such feats as the Iron Cross by reducing the leverage variable. There are two models that I have tried over the past five months, Ring Training.coms Elite Strength Trainer and the Gymnova Educano.


The Price

Gymnova Educano $309.75 (£211.50)*
Elite Strength Trainer $110.95 (£75.75)

*Gymnova is a British company, therefore sold in sterling

There is clearly an enormous price difference between these two pieces of kit. While this is in part due to the exchange rate bumping up the price of the Educano once it's converted into dollars, it has to be said that £211.50 is a huge sum to be charging for a ring training aid.

Comfort

I would say that this could be down to just a matter of preference if it weren't for the fact that the majority of people I've tested this with hadn't voted in favor of the Educano when the question of comfort was raised. It's up to the user to decide whether this is an important point but the Elite Strength Trainer does feel somewhat harsh to use - particularly in the wrist. It is not painful however.


The Design
Educano

The Strap

The Educano fits snugly onto the arm and reaches just up to my elbow. You grip one end while the other is attached by a Velcro strap on the upper forearm. I have used the Educano slightly longer out of the two and have found that in six months of use, the strap has failed only once -the Velcro simply opened up- and it was possible that this was due to it having been poorly attached in the first place by my spotter. I have seen it undo only a handful of times with other people and only ever on people with large forearms. The reliability of the strap is due to two things. Firstly; the end attached to the Educano is stitched in, turning this potential point of failure into a point of strength. Secondly; the Velcro strip on the strap is very long, allowing for maximum surface area contact and a stronger link.

Progressions

The Educano allows for five incremental progressions. These five levels are each five centimetres apart and stop 10cm away from the hand. One thing I found was that five centimetre jumps towards the hand made for very big leaps in difficulty between levels. Especially now I've progressed to level 4, the jump from level 4 to level 5 is enormous. This is the Educanos first main weakness.

It's second soon follows. Upon reaching level 5, you realise that the jump from level 5 to the ring itself (see diagram above) is 10cm -the equivalent of two levels!-. Combine this with the fact that each level increase is greater the closer to the hand the ropes are attached, it becomes very difficult to progress to the Iron cross from level 5 using solely this device.

Flexibilty

A strength of the educano is its flexibilty of use. The above weakness in which the hardest setting only reaches the wrist is also a strength. The design allows a wide gap at wrist level (see photo at top) which allows the wrist to flex. While wrist flexion should be avoided during the Iron cross progressions, it is completely nessecary in performing Butterfly pulls (see previous post). Without this gap allowing the wrist to flex, the wrist would be forced into the metal housing making the butterfly Pull far too painful.

I have attempted to use the device to progress towards Front levers and even Planches on rings but found it to be inappropriate for these purposes.


Elite Strength Trainer

The Strap (Rant warning - Please don't judge the EST on the strap alone)

I'm going to go right ahead and say it; the strap for the Elite Strength Trainer needs further development. I believe the limitations of the strap add an unnecessary element of frustration to an otherwise great piece of kit. The problem is quite simple; while the Educano's strap is attached with velcro at only one end -allowing only one point of weakness-, the strap of the Elite Strength Trainer is held with velcro at both ends (Thus two points of weakness!!). Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. The band of velcro that secures the strap to the device (but not the one that binds your arm to the device) is only 3cm wide! This is insufficient to afford any confidence to an 80kg man working the cross, I can attest as it failed on me three times in a row on the first use. This is not the end of the world however: I borrowed a friends sewing machine and did some serious stitching along that 3cm piece of velcro, binding that side of the strap in place and thus removing the biggest problem altogether. It worked so well that I was surprised to find the EST had more strength on the other side of the strap than the Educano due to a very adhesive velcro.

Progressions

Now this is why I urged you to read on past the strap rant at the begginning. The Elite Strength Trainer has a total of eleven levels! Each level is only three centimetres apart as opposed to the Educano's five levels with a five centimetre gap between each. This makes gradual progressions much easier to handle as they are broken down into small incremental levels. Additionally; the Elite Strength Trainer lacks another of the Educano's weaknesses. The progression holes reach right up to the hand and don't just end frustratingly at the wrist. This means that you can gradually train your cross strength with the device right up until you're lifting the equivalent of full bodyweight if you like.

Flexibilty

As the Elite Strength Trainer lacks the Educano's above weakness, it also lacks its strength in the flexibility of use. Without the gap at the wrist (bearing in mind that it's the same gap that prevents progressions right up to wrist level in the Educano), training Butterflies on the EST are just far too painful. The wrist is forced against the metal housing which hurts.. a lot. I believe that having the progressions up to the hand level and being able to do butterflies comfortably are mutually exclusive and it is therefore a positive point for each device that each one takes care of one so that you can decide which it is that you require. The EST has a great little feature in that the handle can be moved between one of the positions to cater for people with different length arms. It's not a problem I've really noticed with the Educano but it's certainly a feature that makes the EST more comfortable than it would be without.

Overall

Educano

Strap: 4/5
Comfort: 5/5
Flexibility: 4/5
Progressions: 3/5
Price: 1/5

Total: 68%

If you weigh more than 95Kg or wish to train Butterfly Pulls to supplement your cross pulls then this is definately worth thinking about. The price is my biggest issue with this one as it'll have you reaching deep into your pockets - especially if you're not in the Uk.


Elite Strength Trainer

Strap: 2/5
Comfort: 4/5
Flexibility: 3/5
Progressions: 5/5
Price: 5/5

Total: 76%

If you wish to use the device right up to the cross and don't mind stitching up one side of the strap, the EST offers far more gradual progressions and a well thought out design.


Note: I have done my best to be as unbiased as possible while reviewing these two items and have relied heavily on the opinions of many others and their feedback on many points.

Iron Cross Training Session 01/07/2009

I had my best overall session last night training static holds for the Iron Cross! Here is a video of my best level 4 hold that night. Level 3 has also now become very easy and i can hold it without pulling the sex face.

From here, I aim to build up the amount of time holding level 4 so that my body is completely prepared for the inevitable strain of moving up to level 5. Thirty second holds seems like a suitable target as it would ensure that I'm completely adapted to the current load before increasing it further.

The overall session went as follows:

Level 1: 15 seconds
Level 2: 20/26 seconds
Level 3: 15 seconds
Level 4: 7/6/4 seconds

The Iron Cross

Progress report: 6 Months

I have been training for the Iron Cross for six months now once or sometimes twice a week. Despite only averaging once a week, my progress has been satisfyingly steady.

Every Wednesday (and more recently also Fridays) I head down to the East London Gymnastics centre in Beckton with a friend and we train to build the requisite strength to perform the Iron Cross on the rings unassisted.

We began using a device called the Gymnova Educano which allows the ropes (normally attached to the rings in the hands) to be attached further up the forearm. In being closer to the shoulder, the leverage of any downward force exerted by the gymnast is increased making the Cross much easier. There are five levels on the Educano which can get you close -but not close enough- to performing the cross. Realising that the jump between hardest level on the Educano and the unassisted cross was too high, I invested in another similar tool; the Elite Strength Trainer from ringtraining.com. I will be reviewing both these devices soon as I believe that each has its individual merits and weaknesses.

All that needs to be understood to read my training progress is that the Educano's five levels will be referred to as level 1 (the easiest and closest point to the elbow) through to level 5 (the hardest and closest point to the hand).

I began on level 1 in January and have made steady progress through to level 4. Here is an overview of my progress:

January 2009
I began by training Cross pulls on the 20th of January. This is where you begin holding the Educano by your hips with arms locked straight (the support position) and you gradually lower yourself -keeping arms locked straight at all times- into the cross position (Position A in the diagram). From here, you simply reverse the motion by pushing downwards with your arms until you're back in the support position. This is one repetition.

By the end of January, I could do five sets of three reps on level 1.

27/01/2009
Cross pulls
Level 1: 3/3/3/3/3 reps


February 2009
I continued training the cross pulls throughout February and by the 19th (one month into training), I could pull out a few on level two. Here's my training record for that day:

19/02/2009
Cross pulls
Level 1: 7 reps
Level 2: 2/2/2/2 reps


March 2009
I transitioned from cross pulls to butterflies during March. The difference is that you lower down past the cross position into a straight armed hang (Position B in the diagram). From here you reverse the motion, ensuring the arms are kept straight at all times and finishing where you began in the support position. Below is one of my training sessions from mid March:

18/03/2009
Butterflies
Level 1 - 5 reps
Level 2 - 3/3/3/3 reps

April 2009
Continued training Butterflies until the end of April by which point my best session was:

29/04/2009
Butterflies
Level 1 - 8 reps
Level 2 - 4/4/4/4 reps

We also introduced maltese pulls to the session which is a cross pull with your legs raised on a table so that they're level with the rings. I have not detailed this to avoid cluttering the post.

May 2009
We transitioned from dynamic training to a cycle of specifically static training with the intention of focusing on this for eight weeks. My second session was as follows:

15/05/2009
Level 1 - 10sec warm up hold in Iron Cross
Level 2 - 10sec warm up hold in Iron Cross
Level 3 - 13sec hold in Iron Cross
Level 4 - 2/3/3 sec hold in Iron Cross (First time at level 4!!)

June 2009
This week (the last week of June) saw my best session yet! As you can see, there has been a huge increase in strength and endurance since mid May:

Level 1: 15 seconds
Level 3: 15 seconds
Level 4: 6/5/9 seconds

It's also worth noting that my longest holds on each level so far are as follows:

Level 1: 25 seconds
Level 2: 20 seconds
Level 3: 17 seconds
Level 4: 9 seconds

Throughout the last six months I have also been spending one night per week where possible, practising the basic support position while I practise my handstands and handstand push ups. I believe this to be very important as most people appear to bend their arms as they tire and training the support will help prevent this.

Upon reaching level 5 I intend to start practising unaided cross negatives on the rings. I believe this will be essential for strengthening the elbows for the cross as they are somewhat supported by the Enduro.