Topic: Conditioning

[brady]

I don't know if this is the right place to post this; I'm new.  This is the program I think I want to do for parkour conditioning; I pretty much just copied this off of a website.  Please give me feedback.  Someone on another forum said I used to much variation and that it could result in muscular imbalance, or something like that.  What is you take on that?  Also, do you think I have to many push exercises and should do more pulling ones.

Edit: I changed it a bit.  Umm, after some reading, I know I need to add resistance to build strength.

Keep in mind that these are just the basic exercises I will be doing.  The way I do the exercises will vary depending on what I am doing that week (Strength or Endurance.) 




Workout A Chest/legs
Push ups
Push ups wide grip
Wide grip Pull ups
Squats
Wall Sits
Calf Raises
Mountain Climbers

Workout B Arms/Core
Push ups reverse palm
Push up triangle
Chin ups
Dips
Leg Raises
Knee Raises
Sit ups
Planks

[Ryan Anthony Vetter]

If you plan on stringing together obstacles I'd incorporate some cardio, also don't forget to practice muscle contortions, via muscle memory, meaning use every muscle everyday, including your sphincters. Also, you should seriously think about practicing reflexes to increase your reaction time. The one you should most concern yourself with more so than strength is flexibility, lest you be unable to bend to the appropriate angle as needed.

[brady]

I've always jogged on and off, so cardio is already taken care of.

[Joe Brock]

Post this in the General Fitness boards if you're looking for a critique of this proposed routine.

...be ye warned, though, it's not a very good program for strength training.  It's going to be necessary for you to give your age/height/weight and goals.  Assuming that this is your attempt at gaining strength for parkour, you might want to simply read the stickies first before posting it.  You'll learn a great deal about why I disapprove.

Not trying to be mean, just trying to give you quality information.

[Stevie Leifheit]

Moved for better replies...

[brady]

Post this in the General Fitness boards if you're looking for a critique of this proposed routine.

...be ye warned, though, it's not a very good program for strength training.  It's going to be necessary for you to give your age/height/weight and goals.  Assuming that this is your attempt at gaining strength for parkour, you might want to simply read the stickies first before posting it.  You'll learn a great deal about why I disapprove.

Not trying to be mean, just trying to give you quality information.

 

I tried reading the stickies, but it confused the hell outta me.

Anyway, I am 5"8', 15 years old, and around 160 lbs.  I have lifted weights and done body weight exercises for awhile prior to starting parkour.  So, I have decent upper body strength.  I just want a program more oriented towards practical strenqth and parkour and less towards just looking good...

[nuclearapplepie]

Do you have a specific goal you are working toward?

You can try specific conditioning exercises that fit with specific techniques. Like doing rail squats to get stronger legs while getting good balance, doing a complete muscle up on wall to get stronger for wall up, light-poles climbing to build grip strength while getting used to the climbing movement, stair QMs for a better kong vault, L-sit and cat push up on rails for better vaults, tree pull ups to get CRAZY callouses, wall shimmy to get a stronger finger strength

Just get creative with your environment and body, you will have tons of fun conditioning

[Steven Low]

Goals?

[brady]

Do you have a specific goal you are working toward?

You can try specific conditioning exercises that fit with specific techniques. Like doing rail squats to get stronger legs while getting good balance, doing a complete muscle up on wall to get stronger for wall up, light-poles climbing to build grip strength while getting used to the climbing movement, stair QMs for a better kong vault, L-sit and cat push up on rails for better vaults, tree pull ups to get CRAZY callouses, wall shimmy to get a stronger finger strength

Just get creative with your environment and body, you will have tons of fun conditioning

I just want overall decent strength. Lower body, upper body, and core. 

@StevenLow Specific Goals, I want to be stronger and have better endurance.  I just want to be good at parkour, conditioning is a main part of that. 

[Nick Fernandez]

That's where the sticky becomes important:
YOU MUST HAVE SPECIFIC GOALS!! Without them you won't know what you want to accomplish and whether you're happy with what you have or if you need to work harder or not as often. The General Fitness sticky has a link to the specific goals and why you need them. Plus, if you have achievable and timed goals you'll have a path to follow and you know what your routine will be like. I'm just pulling this all out of what I've seen on other threads, and here's an example of a specific goal, particularly mine:
1. By the end of 2011, I'm going to be able to do a minimum of 10 pull-ups. If I can achieve that early on, I'll move it up to 15.

The opposite of this is: I want to be able to do pull-ups.
Why? Because it doesn't create a mindset of working towards that goal every day, week, month, or even a year. You have to know you want to do it and how many so you can document your progress and be able to manipulate it.

That's all I have to say, that's the only thing I know about fitness

[brady]

Okay, I read through the stickies...

Could someone post some of there routines as examples, so I have a bit better of an understanding.

[Steven Low]

I would suggest reading the bodyweight strength training sticky link. It gives examples.

[nuclearapplepie]

Deadhang pull ups(start with 10, then sets of 4 until reaching 100+, 30-45 second rest for the first 50, 45 secs- one minute for the last 50 ),
Hanging leg raises(sets of 10 till 120, 30-45 second rest for the first 60, a minute-1 min 15 sec for the last 60).
Front dips(start with 10, then sets of 7 until reaching 100+, 30 second rest for the first 50, 45 second rest for the last 50).
Clapping push ups(total 70, first 2 sets max out to 10, 20 seconds rest, the rest 5 reps, 45 second rests),
Backward stair QMs(4 sets, rest time doesn't matter)


That's my weekend conditioning. Sometimes I put in weird stuffs like shimmy if I'm in the mood. On the weekdays I'm just focusing on the pull ups and dips part and parkour techniques, because:

1) I want 20 pull ups by december
2) I want a complete muscle up by december

Having goals REALLY help you to stay focus.

[TheBigLOL]

If you want to get stronger you have to either add weight or decrease leverage.

Legs:
For legs, I highly recommend good ol' barbell squats.  You can gradually add weight and get stronger and stronger.  Squats don't work only you legs though, they also work a little bit of your entire body.  If you have to do body weight only exercises, I think that pistols would be a decent option, but I highly recommend the squat.

Upper Body:
For upper body you can try decreased leverage exercises or weighted ones.  If you want to go with the weighted approach, you would do the bench press,weighted dips, and the press.  You also will have to do some weighted pull ups or barbell rows to even out the muscles and work the back.  For the decreased leverage approach you should start out on planche progressions.  I would also recommend doing the front, back, and side lever.  The levers will also work your core a lot.  If you are doing the body weight approach hand stand push ups should also be part of your routine.  Muscle ups and climb ups should be practices for upper body no matter what approach you are taking, since these skills relate directly to parkour.

Core:
Hanging leg raises and wipers are good for core.  The levers as mentioned above are also very good for core.  You should also do some sort of back extension.  One last thing to mention is the deadlift, the deadlift works almost all of your body including your core, but the deadlift does tire you out for a while.

This is a bit to take in, but the main point to remember is that to gain strength you have to either add weight or decrease leverage.  You can't gain strength by doing 5,000 pushups.

[brady]

Edited the exercise plan at top, please re-read.

[Joe Brock]

How many of your current exercises are you capable of?  Depending on the answer, there may need to be some serious editing to how you increase the difficulty.  The issue with the "shotgun" approach is that there are exercises that I can't tell why you'd do.  What goal are you attempting with the wall sit?

I know that body-weight work is difficult to perform when it comes to lower body, but it can be done.  The thing is, you need more specific targets than "get stronger and have more endurance."

Those goals cannot be measured, so they need refinement.  Indicators of progress are what we use to determine if something is working or if it doesn't serve a purpose.

[Alex Patterson]

Your goals need numbers. Numbers are attainable.

I had such a hard time figuring out my goals till it hit me that the goal to "get stronger" has no structure, so its basically unattainable.

[brady]

How many of your current exercises are you capable of?  Depending on the answer, there may need to be some serious editing to how you increase the difficulty.  The issue with the "shotgun" approach is that there are exercises that I can't tell why you'd do.  What goal are you attempting with the wall sit?

I know that body-weight work is difficult to perform when it comes to lower body, but it can be done.  The thing is, you need more specific targets than "get stronger and have more endurance."

Those goals cannot be measured, so they need refinement.  Indicators of progress are what we use to determine if something is working or if it doesn't serve a purpose.

I am capable of all the exercises...

Goal, okay so you guys want a specific goal with a number.

I will do some for each category.

As you can see I want to work at endurance as well as strength.

I was thinking of switching off each week,  endurance one week and strength/explosive another.

Upperbody
Strength: Pull ups with 50 pounds of extra weight.
Endurance: 20 Pull ups. 60 Push ups.

Core
Strength: Undefined, IDEAS?
Endurance: 4:00 minute plank.


Lowerbody
Strength: Farther Precisions.  (No actual number, but I know how far I can precision.)
Endurance: Wall sit for 10:00 minutes.

[Steven Low]

Sigh... this is not working so well.

[KodiakClaw]

Okay, I read through the stickies...

Could someone post some of there routines as examples, so I have a bit better of an understanding.

My workout for today: 4 sets of 15 pushups, 1 set of pushups to failure, 1 1 minute plank, 1 plank to failure.  Move on to the punching bag for an hour for cardio/practice.  Assisted pullups (I put one foot on the back of a chair) in 4 10 rep sets and failure on the fifth set.

Next Monday will be similar, except I'll make the jump to decline pushups, need to do a test to decide how many to start with (75% of however many I max out on), and I'll add more each session (based on adding to the max set) till I break 25 on the failure set, at which point I need to give in and do bench presses, or find a weight vest or something.

This is how a routine needs to be, not just a list of exercises, but knowing how many of them, what weights (if appropriate) and how to judge how much to add to your workout each week.