Check Your False Grip
If you’re working towards your first strict muscle-up, looking to increase your unbroken muscle-up reps, or searching for more advanced gymnastics rings training, this blog is for you.
In this blog, I'm gonna share some ideas around false grip training for gymnastics rings muscle-ups and more.
I also cover these checks in this YouTube video:
How to start training Pancake Flexibility
Are you a gymnastics skill seeker who wants to accomplish a chest-to-floor pancake?
When you sit on the floor to perform your pancake stretches, do you maintain a flat back, or do you round your back?
Do you need to maintain a flat back when training the pancake?
It's a fair assumption. We're often told to "maintain a flat back" in other hip-hinging movements such as deadlifts and good mornings.
"If you round you're back, you'll get injured".
Is that so?
I believe the fitness industry has taken the whole neutral spine idea too far.
Let's face it, real life and sport are not ridged and straight. We don't move through life with a neutral spine.
It's not very "functional" to only train with a neutral spine.
How to increase flexibility as an adult.
I never thought I'd be able to do a chest-to-floor pancake or hold a gymnastics bridge.
I've spent most of my adult life training for strength and fitness.
I never dedicated much time to stretching. I always made the excuse that I wasn't a flexible persona, and as long as I was doing full range of motion in my strength training, I had all the flexibility I needed to be "functional". Right?
What changed?
Stretch NOV 22 Training VLOG: Pike Flexibility, Press Handstand & Handstand Push-ups
It's the start of November 2022, and I'm just about to start a new Gymnastics Strength (GST) phase in my training. At the same time, I'm also starting a new mobility phase.
I plan to mix things up in my training and aim for three long sessions combining flexibility and GST and one shorter session focused on flexibility.
Building Straight-Arm Scapular Strength Part 2: The Foundations
Scapular push-ups, scapular rows, handstand shrugs, dip shrugs, RTO ring support holds, and passive and active hangs are all excellent tools for building scapular strength, but they can get a little boring once you’ve master them.
I still do them, but a good place for them is in the warm-up as activation drills.
If you're new to SASS and you're still getting ready to train front levers, planche and handstands, what can you do to build SASS?
Building Straight-Arm Scapular Strength Part 1: Awareness
I thought I was strong when I first started Gymnastics Strength Training (GST). I'd been lifting weights in the gym for years and increasing my squat, deadlift, chin-up, overhead press and bench numbers.
But it didn't prepare me for GST, especially Straight-Arm Scapular Strength (SASS) movements.
I couldn't hold a Tuck Planche.
I couldn't Skin The Cat or hold a Back or Front Lever.
I couldn't hold a Handstand.
I was strong. But what was I missing?
Protect The Asset E17 - Carlos Fernandez: From a place of passion.
My guest today is Carlos Fernandez.
Now I came across Carlos's Instagram account as we have very similar interest in training.
I checked out his profile. I visited his website, and I signed up to his newsletter just out of interest.
That's when I realized that Carlos has only been in the online personal training space for less than a year, and yet he's got a very professional and mature attitude to business, and he's a long way ahead of most personal trainers who are trying to build an online business.
I was curious to connect with Carlos and hear more about his story.
The Best Skin The Cat Online Programme is about to be released!
When I (Helena) started practicing the skin the cat (STC) years ago, at the beginning of my journey building bodyweight strength, I didn't know what I was going to get out of it.
All I knew was that it looked quite cool and was deceivingly hard to obtain.
It was in fact one of the very first movements I learnt on the rings.
At the time I didn't have a coach nor a training programme, which meant it took me way longer to learn the skill than it would have with guidance.
But, luckily I found a lot og Gymnastic Skill Seekers online who seemed to be going through the same struggles I was.
Why Gymnastics Skill Seekers should Skin The Cat.
As a gymnastics skill seeker, one of my goals was to master the back lever. In Gymnastics Strength Training (GST), the back lever is one of the first static straight arm strength-based movements to learn.
Working towards a full back lever prepares the body for many more advanced gymnastics movements. So, I set to work training back levers.
The back lever isn't a movement to launch into without preparation. Many gymnastics skill seekers experience elbow and shoulder pain or even injury when they fail to build the foundations of strength and flexibility required for back lever training.
One of the best exercises for hip mobility and strength.
A lot of gymnastics skill seekers want to have strong and flexible hips. We want to perform a chest-to-floor pancake, chest-to-thigh pike, L-Sits, V-Sits, strict toes to bar, gymnastic bridge, and all the sick gymnastics skills.
Gymnastics Strength Training (GST) is full of movements that require strong and flexible hips.
So, where do you start?
There are literally thousands of strength and flexibility drills you can choose from.
What's the best bang for your buck?
If you've been doing a lot of Yoga, you might already have flexible hips but not very strong hips.
If you've been doing a lot of weight lifting, you might have strong hips but not very flexible hips.