My first attempt ever

Added in a new rings skill this morning. Here's my first attempt ever at the L-sit to handstand to L-sit on the rings. Felt pretty good. A little rough, and I made sure to have the rings low, just in case. But, felt pretty solid.

Wonderful Rings Practice this morning

Awesome rings practice this morning. Felt like everything from the basics, to the new stuff, to the routine, to the conditioning work kept improving. Here's the final set of the routine for the day. Not bad at all.

Having a little too much fun

I think I might be having a little too much fun during High bar and Human flag practice on Saturday!!

Missy getting it done

Awesome Saturday High Bar and Human Flag Practice!

Here are some awesome pics of Missy getting it done with her human flags:

Straddle Planche just keep on feeling stronger

Love the fact that the Straddle Planche just keeps on getting stronger and better :)

Kicking booty with the parallet combo

Amazing morning of Parallet Practice today. Everything just keeps on improving, which is awesome! Here's the final set of my favorite Parallet Combo (V-sit to Handstand to Bent-arm Lever back to V-sit). Felt Wonderful :)

200 pound upright rows

Awesome night of training last night. Nailed a bunch of sets of upright rows, rear delt raises, lateral raises, shoulder death sets, abdominal death sets, Saxon side bends and sprint conditioning. Great stuff. Here's the final set of the upright rows nailing a nice 6 reps with 200 pounds. Felt awesome.

Adding fun new tumbles

Working on a new tumbling pattern this morning. Going from a Back Extension to a 1/2 turn Handstand into a Forward Roll. Overall went pretty well, but I really realized how hard turning becomes when you sway your back and don't keep your legs tight. Lol.

Alwasy working on solidifying the Basics

Always work on your foundation and the more advanced stuff comes much better. Working on my basic Butterfly kicks.

Nailiing 216 for 1 arm Bent Rows

Awesome night of training last night filled with wonderful things like Archer Pull ups, Front Lever Pulls, 1-arm Bent Rows, Isometric Shrugs, Abdominal Death Sets, Saxon Side Bends and Rope Skipping Conditioning. Here's the final (and not necessarily prettiest set, lol) of 1-am Bent Rows usig 216 pounds per side (two 88 pound K-bells, a with a 35 pound K-bell and a 5 pound weigh plate tied to one of the 88's).

Parallet Stalder Press

Had a wonderful Parallet and High Bar practice this morning. Everything is improving so well, I love it. Thought I'd hit some Stalder Presses on the Parallets as one of my new movements. Aside from the Straddle L-sit at the beginning needing work, I have to say all 3 sets went really well. Here's the final set.

Owning 435 pound on Barbell Hack Squats

Had a terrific night of training last night. Setting personal records on each exercise. Here's the final set of Barbell Hack Squats. Felt like I completely owned the 435 for each rep of each set. Awesome improvements.

What happens when you're not pleased with a performace?

Even though I had done 3 sets of rings Bent-arm Levers to L-sits earlier, they felt like a huge weak point during the multiple sets of the rings routine. Well, what do you do when you're not pleased with the performance? You jump back up and hit a number of extra sets! Here's the final set of these from this morning. And yes, I'm in a compression shirt because, even though it's still August, it was only around 55 degrees outside. Lol!

Upping the ante on the rings routine

During this morning's practice the first two sets of the rings routine felt too easy. So, I upped the difficulty level. Changed the straddle front lever to a full front lever, and changed the figure-4 back lever to a straddle back lever. Felt challenging, yet wonderful. Not a bad final couple of sets. Here's the last one from this morning.

Fun with Flags Returns

And now it's time for a special   episode of Missy's Fun With Flags:

My gorgeous bride making huge jumps in her progress toward the human flag! Awesome work angel!!

Awesome morning of practice

Awesome Morning of High Bar and Human Flag work. Nailed 3 sets of High Bar Direction Changes Got in 3 sets of High Bar Kip to Top Supports Nailed 3 sets of High Bar Muscle Ups Got in 3 sets of High Bar Muscle Ups to Forward Rolls Crushed 3 sets of High Bar Dips  And got in a nice 3 sets per side of Human Flags. Awesome Morning. Here's a quick Human Flag Video. As well as some pics of my gorgeous Bride/ Training Partner Getting it Done!!

A great Dip/ Planche variaton from last night's training

Wonderful Friday Night Training Session! Started off with 4 strong sets of 6 for Parallel Bar Dips to Tuck Planche. Then moved onto 3 strong sets of 10 reps for Eagle Flexes. Hit 3 powerful sets on each side for Chest Isometrics, getting some strong contractions at the top, mid and bottom positions. Then hit a good Push Up Death Set with bodyweight plus 120 pounds. Without resting nailed 15 Feet-elevated Push ups, 10 Classic Push ups and 5 Body elevated Push ups. Felt good. Cranked out 3 sets of 10 for Barbell Concentration Curls with 225 pounds. Then crushed 3 sets of 21 for Barbell Curl "21's" with 90 pounds. Got in a strong 3 sets of 7 on each side for Hammer Curls with 70 pounds per side. Nailed a strong 3 sets of 10 seconds for Straddle L-sit Holds. Finished off with 10 rounds of a mixture of Medicine Ball Slam Sprints and Rope Skipping Sprints. Great training!!

Hell Yeah!!

Parallet Tuck Planche to Straddle Planche was on fire today. Which was good since it was a very hit or miss Parallet and martial arts practice, lol. Here's the final set.

A great abdominal series

Great training last night.  Started off with 4 strong sets of 6 for upright rows with 185 pounds. Then moved onto 3 sets of 6 per side for Rear Delt Raises with 123 pounds per side. Nailed 3 sets of 6 per side for Lateral Delt Raises with  88 pounds per side. Hit a strong Shoulder Death set of 4 movements with no rest in between, getting 15 reps per movement with a pair of 25's.  Moved onto 3 rounds of an Abdominal Death set, nailing 20, 10 and 10 reps in each movement for each set. Hit 3 strong sets of Isometrics for the Obliques. Finished off with 10 rounds of sprint work. Great stuff. Here's the final round of the Abdominal Death Sets.

Possibly the best......

Amazing morning of practice on the rings today. One of those days where everything just went right. Here's the final set of the rings routine. Possibly the best 4 run throughs I've ever had  of it, so far. Yay Improvements!

Channeling my inner Van Damme

Channeling my inner Jean Claude Van Damme as I started working on his famous "Helicopter Split Kick" at the end of this morning's practice.

Hitting the floor routine while looking more and more like Riddick

I have to say, not only is the floor routine continuing to improve, I think I'm starting to look more and more like Riddick in these outfits.

Strong night of training....

A Strong night of training last night. Started off with 4 sets of 6 for rings Archer pull-ups. Felt strong and awesome. Then hit 3 sets of 4 for rings Front Lever Pulls.  Moved onto 3 sets of 5 per side for 1-arm bent rows with 216 pounds.  Nailed 3 strong sets of Isometric Shrugs. Got in 3 solid rounds of an Abdominal Death Set (Hitting 20 parallel bar leg lifts, 10 v-ups and 10 coffin sit-ups with no rest in between movements on each round). Nailed 3 sets of 25 per side for Side Raises. And finished off with 10 rounds of 1-arm Kettlebell Snatch Sprints. Great stuff. Here's the final set of Archer Pull-ups

A Muscle Up Challenge

So I finished up my Parallet and High Bar practice this morning and then I remembered some words from one of my mentors. He said that if you're truly in shape, you should be able to be strong at anytime. So, I challenged my self to hit 4 extra sets of High Bar Muscle Ups. After the 70 minutes of practice before hand, they were tough, but I still made it through them all. Here's the final set.

The Parallet Handstand to Straddle Planche

This morning's high bar and parallet training went awesome. Here's the final set of the parallet handstand to straddle planche. It's so close!!

After bombing out on Hack Squats last week.....

So, last week I completely bombed out on my Hack Squats. More than made up for it this week. Nailed a strong 4 sets of 5 reps with 435 pounds (a new PR). Felt awesome! Then moved onto weighted Sissy Squats, Leg Extension Isometrics, Hip Thrust/ Leg Curls, Romanian Deadlifts, Leg Curl Isometrics and Parallel Bar V-sit Holds. Awesome Training Last night. Here's the video of the final set of Barbell Hack Squats.

You have to love

So, Melissa and I nailed some strong High Bar and Human Flag practice on Saturday morning. Followed by some awesome Tumbling and Hand Balancing work on Saturday night and Sunday night. And, you have to love it when your bride loves the way your triceps look when you're practicing that she starts taking pictures. Missy is Awesome!!

225 pound Barbell Concentration Curls

Hitting a hard session on Friday night. After nailing my Parallel Bar Dips to Tuck Planche, Eagle Flexes, Chest Isometrics, and Weighted Push up Death Sets, it was time for the Barbell Concentration Curl. Nailed 3 sets of 7 with 225 pounds. Felt awesome, and the biceps felt like they were going to explode. Finished up with 21's, Hammer Curls, Straddle V-sits and 10 rounds of Sprint work with the medicine ball and the Jump rope. Awesome Night. Here's the final set of the Concentration Curls.

Why Planche Trainnig?

Why Planche Training?

Because It's Fun To Defy Gravity For A Little While!!!!

Awesome upright rows

Awesome training last night. Felt wonderful to hit 4 sets of 6 reps with 185 pounds in the upright row, while weighing 185 pounds.

A ludicrous thought!!

 It's been around 33 years since I was diagnosed with a degenerative bone disease in my hips and told that I wouldn't be walking when I was 18. It's been about 18 years since I broke my back and tore apart all the muscle, tendons and ligaments in it and was told I'd have a life of daily pain, be completely weak on the right side of my body and that I'd only have minimal movement on my right side. Yet, at 39 years of age, not only have I proven all of that wrong; I'm currently in the best shape of my life so far. And I'm continuing to make dramatic improvements in all aspects of my health and wellness, strength and fitness, athleticism and performance and physique development. So it totally baffles me how often I hear people say that they totally believe that exercising hard, eating right and living a healthy lifestyle is a complete waste of time. I just don't get it.

Loving the new Rings Routine

First day working the new Rings routine. Absolutely loving it. Hit 4 rounds of it at the end of this morning's practice. Here's the final set. A little rough from fatigue, but not bad at all.

Floor routine continues to improve

What a gorgeous day to tumble. Great practice this morning. Started off with 5 sets of 3 for handstand holds, using a different entry on each set. Then worked on my 1-arm cartwheels, aerial cartwheels and butterfly kicks. From there, I hit a strong 3 rounds of the floor routine. Then worked on Butterfly Twists for a while. Got in 3 sets on each side for Human Flags. Then nailed a bunch of kicking drills from Sanda, Tea Kwon Do and Savate. Finished up with holding a handstand as long as possible. Great stuff.

216 pound 1-arm Bent Rows

After my sets of Archer Pull Ups, Front Lever Pulls, and Isometric Shrugs it was time for 1-arm Bent Rows. Got in a pretty strong 3 sets of 5 reps per side with 216 pounds. Here's the final set, not the prettiest, but feeling strong.

One of my favorite pull up varations

Love the Archer Pull Up. It can be done on rings or a bar. Great stuff! Here's the final set from Last night's training. Love to see my beautiful bride waiting patiently for her turn in the background.

A great but forgotten movement for srength

I love these, but I hadn't done them in about a year. A great one for the lower back, booty, hips, etc. Great for strength and control. The Against the Wall Straddle Press to Handstand. hit a nice 3 sets of these to finish out practice today. Felt great. The key is to have no hop from the ground, just use the muscles.

Outdoor parallet handstand push ups

At the end of this morning's practice, decided to throw in 3 sets of 5 for Handstand Push ups on the parallets. Not bad at all. Here's the final set.

An awesome drill for agility

Put these into the middle of this morning's Parallet and High Bar practice. Love them. A great one for agility and coordination and getting used to High Bar work. Really Fun too. Here's the final set of High Bar Direction Changes.

Having some fun with the Romanian Deadlifts

Overall a great training session last night. Bombed out on my Hack Squats. But, came back strong on the stretch-pause Sissy Squats, the Isometric Leg Extensions, the Leg Curl/Hip Thrusts, the Romanian Deadlifts, the Isometric Leg Curls and the V-sit holds. Strong and productive night. Here's the final set of 10 reps for Romanian Deadlifts with 315 pounds.

Kip to Top Support, Progression 1 on the rings

Thought I'd start working on as many different ways as I can to get to a top support on the rings. Here's my first ever attempt at the kip to top support. Kept the rings low so the feet could hit the ground, giving me something to aim at. Felt good, and the rest of the sets just got better.

Fun New Rings Skills

For the first day in the new cycle of training and practice I thought I'd throw in some new rings skills during the middle of practice. Here's my first ever attempt at a forward roll on the rings. Not bad at all. Had to get over a little fear. The next four sets improved greatly.