I work full time, and I'm in school full time too, though it's summer break right now. Time is limited and of the essence. Training is my favorite thing, but I have to back burner it sometimes. After an experiment away from the weight room, testing the PK Gens' suggestions/theories, I've decided I need to be lifting regularly again to get the results I want from parkour. (As well as the feeling of being strong.)
I am glad that more people are catching on that PK Gens' workouts are kind of...bullshit.
Also, my job is stressful and sometimes incredibly physical, in short bursts. I work with emotionally disturbed and special needs kids, sometimes we have to respond to violence.
If you are going to go heavy on lifting (as I will recommend below) then you will need to keep chronic stress levels in mind as this will hurt performance some days. It is something to keep in mind because you don't want to get discouraged by bad performance especially if it was caused by a bout of high stress a day or two prior.
Anyway, here's my routine, then the questions.
Knowing your existing routne is useful in that I now know when you have classes/obligations. What you were doing previously is not useful for now, but thanks for posting it. It at least helps me to identify some misconceptions you have that can be fixed now.
1) I'd like to get a belt & chain for weighted pull-ups, until then what are two good pull exercises? Lat pulls? Seated row? Pull-ups? Help!
There are many ways to scale up pullups without weight. Lat pulldowns and seated row are not exercises I would prescribe to...well, anyone who isn't injured or EXTREMELY weak.
My site has an
article on this that goes over alternative pullups as well as other pulling goals.
You may want to consider front lever progressoin pullups, L pull-ups, OAC variations, ice cream makers, front lever pulls, yewkis or Inverted Hang to Hang as slow and controlled as possible while maintaining straight body.
2) When should I add static hold exercises like planche progression and front & back lever? Should I do these everyday here and there, whenever I can, like I do with handstands, or target them to land on specific days (i.e. push, pull, leg)?
Static holds are very intense techniques. Despite some other advice here, they should only be done as part of high intensity strength work -- preferably before any dynamic work while the muscles are still fresh and able to learn proper synchronization/activation to maintain the hold.
Doing the holds more frequently is going to be better but when you incorporate weight lifting and other gymnastics movements into the mix you need to be careful with recovery - especially at age 29 (compared to, lets say, a 6 year old or 16 year old). Listening to your body is going to be crucial and doing too little will be more beneficial than doing too much, hands down.
As I'm a bit older, I'm committed to only working each "muscle group" once a week with weights.
Entirely unnecessary no matter what your age.
Oh yeah, running. Sometimes I run. I've run a mile in less than 6 minutes in the last year. I've run as much as 15 miles. I love interval training. I'm not undisciplined with running, I just don't have time for everything I'd like to train and a social life, and writing papers, etc, etc. I really love running, sometimes I run 3+ miles during parkour training, but right now, I'm not really tracking it, or going out just to run.
That's fine, it can still fit into your lifestyle.....now on to your goals which were included in a different post...let's identify what aspect of your fitness needs to be developed to achieve each of these goals:
1) Land 3 back-tucks in a row on flat ground by the end of the year
Power - powerful hip extension (i.e. improve jumping capability) to ensure the ability to jump high and land in full extension for an easy set into the next back tuck.
Technique - this requires a lot of skill work...drilling back tucks over and over to get the proper technique.
In short, you will need to focus on more "lower intensity" backflip work to nail this goal in addition to the "higher intensity" power development (which entails things like cleans, snatches, maximal jump training, plyos, etc.)
2) Get that big (12-13'?) wall at UC Berkeley 3 times consecutively by the end of the year (Done it twice in a day before, but 3 times in a row, with little rest would be a good challenge)
Power - powerful hip extension (i.e. improve jumping capability) to ensure the ability to jump high and rebound off of the wall in your wall run.
Reactability - You need to train your muscles to react to the force of the foot-plant on the wall optimally for increased power off of the wall.
Technique - this would come a bit faster with a lot of skill work...drilling the run regularly to measure progress and practice specifically for what you are training.
In short, you will need to focus on more "lower intensity" wallrun work to nail this goal in addition to the "higher intensity" power development (which entails things like cleans, snatches, maximal jump training, plyos, etc.) as well as Plyometrics to train the muscle reaction you are looking for in wall runs.
3) Work on longer parkour runs through the woods without stopping. Get to 10 minutes(?) continuos running parkour through challenging terrain, with obstacles.
Metabolic Conditioning.
Short duration (10-20 minute) bouts of exercise with minimal rest similar to a CrossFit workout will help you achieve this level of metabolic conditioning easily.
4) Get 6 consecutive kipping muscle ups on bar by the end of summer (9/1). Currently at 4. I got dead hangs before kipping m/u's because I kip poorly. (Power cleans were recommended to me to improve kipping.) (Long term goal is to get 10)
Cleans won't really help your kipping too much. They will help the amount of POWER you can generate with your kip but you really should learn better kipping technique. Even those who are horribly untrained can learn kipping pullups well enough to get at least a hop off the bar (I can kip up high enough to clearly clap in front of my chest and, oftentimes, high enough to clap behind my back....Steve can pull that high and clap on his thighs in L position without even kipping O.o)
Back to the point at hand:
Technique - Need to practice your kipping from the ground up.
Power - Explosive pulling work is necessary here to supplement the kip.
In short, you need to practice kipping pullups and train weighted and/or unweighted pullups explosively...sternum or abs to bar instead of chin to bar.
5) Improve broad jump from 8'1" to 8'6". I don't know what a good time frame for this goal would be.
Power - Explosive hip extension ... again.
Technique - Must practice proper jumping technique to hit this goal.
1) Bench: 200 lbs 5 X 5 by the end of the year (185 currently)
Bench - linear progression.
2) Deadlift: 300 lbs 1 RM. I don't know when I should reasonably try to make this by.
Deadlift - linear progression. (This skill will help your hip extension for those skills listed above.)
3) Squat: 300 lbs 1 RM. Same as above for timeline.
Squat - linear progression. (This still will help your hip extension for those skills listed above).
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Holy balls this is long...
I would suggest, based on your schedule and lifestyle, that you have MWF as strength days and TRSu as "active rest" or "technique days". Saturday can be full-on rest...drink a beer or two and read a book or something. PK would be fine but remember to keep it light at least two or three days a week, depending on how you feel.
Ok...back to the task at hand. Let us go back and look at the list we compiled.
Techniques - Lower Intensity
Backtuck Technique - Done at open gym or on parkour days. (TRSu)
Wall Run Technique - Done on Parkour Days (TRSu)
Kipping Technique - Done on any day that it fits in best for you...probably best as a warmup before pullups work on str. days
Jumping Technique - Done on any day that it fits best for you...probably best as part of PK training.
Strength and ConditioningMetabolic Conditioning - Done on Strength Days (MWF). Done after strength work limited to 5-20 minute bouts.
Plyometrics - Done on Strength Days (MWF)
Explosive pulling work - Done on strength days (MWF)
Explosive hip extension - Done on strength days (DL, Squat, Plyos, Cleans, Snatches, etc.) (MWF)
Bench - Clearly done on strength days (MWF)
Squat - Clearly done on strength days (MWF)
Deadlift - Clearly done on strength days (MWF)
If it were ME, I would organize the routine like this:
Workout ASquats
Deadlift
Weighted/Explosive Pullups
Workout BSquats
Bench
Power Cleans
Weighted/Explosive Dips (will help with the MU goal substantially)
Plyometrics and Metabolic Conditioning can be added in on EITHER day depending on your recovery and what you did that day. For example, if dance class was really easy and you feel like a champion one Monday, you may want to do a MetCon after your strength work....or Plyos before your strength work. If dance class was brutal and you just feel like crap then you may want to stick to the just the strength skills that day and not push it too hard.
Every day just alternate the workout. So Monday would be Workout A, Wed would be B, Fri would be A, the following Monday would be B and so on. This keeps it somewhat varied but you will have a high frequency on the work you are doing to reinforce maximal strength gains.
I suggest picking either 5x5 or 3x5 (Sets x Reps) and sticking with it on MOST exercises. I prefer 3x5 because it allows you to load more weight on each work day. The exception to this is that you shouldn't DL more than 1x5 (3x5 or 5x5 is very stressful and will hinder recovery). Another exception is that cleans (and all maximal intensity explosive movements) should be done in sets no higher than 3. If your clean form needs a lot of work you can just replace cleans with plyos...just remember to do plyos first before anything else (and after a warmup, of course).
Every time you go into the gym add weight each time. For example, maybe the first day you start squats with 100#. The next time you squat add 10# so that you do 110#. Keep doing this until 10# jumps are too much -- then drop it to 5# jumps, then 2.5# jumps, then 1# jumps, etc etc. You can make a lot of progress in this way. I got up to 295x3x5 within 4 months like this from a sub 150 squat.
All of your technique stuff, including kipping and muscle up stuff can be done on technique days. Your technique days will likely become less appealing as you get stronger because the strength work will be considerably more taxing....either that or the strength work will take a back seat. In short, you will have to tone down the amount you are doing sometime in the future...but this routine or similar should work fine for 6-8 weeks. Remember, every 4-8 weeks you want to take a week off to fully recover...and that is a good opportunity to reevaluate your workout routine and goals.
