Charles’ Parkour Training Blog

Sunday Workout 9/28

Todays workout was substituted with a gymnastics style routine due to my involvement with the Gymnastics Club here at RIT.

Warm up-

5 skin the cat
20 second false grip hangs
5 half bodyweight pull ups
10 Bulgarian dips

Work out -

Straddle back lever hold 10 seconds 1×5
Front support L-sit hold 30 seconds 1×3
Back hang kip to L-support hold 15 seconds 2×5

Today marks my first day devoted to a rings work out routine. The elbow is feeling great and my kips were pretty much flawless and involved no pulling at all. My support holds were still a little shaky but felt great.

I lost my back lever which I’m not thrilled about, but getting it back should be quick.

This workout, although I’m still not exactly 100% back, marks the beginning of my road to the Iron Cross.

Here I come.

Warm up -

2 minutes rowing
20 air squats
10 push ups
185# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds

Workout -

285# Squat 3×5
135# Chest Press 3×5
125# Power Clean 3×5

PT work -

120# Lat Pulldown 3×5

Ok so, back from my week long hiatus. Spent it well, although I regrettably didn’t get enough rest. My supra spinatus and left trap feels much better but is still somewhat sore. I might introduce dips again next week at a lower weight.

Squats felt good, but really slow. I actually requested a spotter on my last set because I was afraid I might not get up. Wasn’t needed, form was fine, just slow. Quite a rare occurrence, my glutes actually feel sore; a feeling I haven’t had in many many months.

I re-introduced chest presses although I dislike them in place of dips. I stayed low mainly because my trap was giving me issues still. Doesn’t make sense…I know…but I could feel strain.

Cleans have gotten alot better and I’ll start adding weight to them. My pull and transition have gotten fairly smooth and now are pretty much all one motion.

Elbow! Real excited for this. Getting so close to full recovery. I did however notice something strange. Many of the people I saw doing Lat Pulldowns were perfectly capable of dead hang pull ups, but for some reason could not pull their body weight on the pulldown machines. Is there some factor I’m missing?

Seeing as I’m actually sore today, I might go another day before hitting it again.

-Charles

Just a simple explanation as to what’s going on with the website. I’ve decided to embark on my own from now on and abandon my Blogger default layout. The re-design shouldn’t take me too much time to complete, but until that happens, the site will be rather disgusting looking and/or down.

Bear with me while I get the nuances of the new CharlesMoreland.com situated.

-Charlessongs for the deaf download mp3

Hello again all. Zac and I have been absolutely busy with school and and jobs and the up and coming Parkour classes. But finally we are ready to unveil Rochester’s newest parkour site:  Rochester Parkour

We are extremely excited about this new home for Rochester tracuers and have been putting a lot of hard work and effort into the site. Please bookmark this site or (once we get it working) subscribe to the RSS Feed to get all the updates on classes, workshops, or any new events/trips.

Cheers,

-Charles

Warmup -

2 minutes rowing
10 push ups
20 airsquats
185# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds
Burgener warmup

Workout -

275# Squats 3×5
75# Weighted Dips 3×5
125# Clean 3×5 (form work thus light weight)
225# Deadlift (Still form work)

PT -

110# Lat Pulldown

So I jumped 10#s by accident but squatted just fine.

Dips are destroying me I think. I ended up pulling a muscle in my neck (how?) and now I’m getting ridiculous pain from my supraspinatus levator scapulae area. I went to do a handstand today and the pain shot through my back and felt like a torn muscle. I may take a week off or I may just drop some weight for a week until the pain subsides.

Elbow progressing right on schedule.

Cleans are getting pretty “clean” so far. I’m staying with the low weight until I have worked out the kinks in the transition from the pull to the power jump. Just need more smoothness before I start adding weight.

I promise, video of my deadlifts soon!

-Charles

Warmup -

2 minutes rowing
20 air squats
10 push ups
185# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds
Burgener warm up

Workout -

265# Squats 3×5
70# Weighted Dips 3×5
225# Deadlift (form issue still)
Clean form work with empty bar

PT -

105# Lat Pulldown 3×5

Nothing to say about squats. Feel absolutely amazing. Dips were done slow, but I still think I’ll be able to punch out 80-90 before losing it. Deadlifting was done once again on the “0″ bar due to my inability to perform well with the regular barbell.

Steve or anyone know if my lack of proper back work could affect my ability to deadlift? The weight doesn’t seem heavy at all to my legs, but holding it with my arms and lats really gets me.

Did a lot of clean work today with an empty bar and I think I’ve nailed it. I’ll start adding weight next week to find a proper sweet spot starting point.

Elbow remains strong.

-Charles

Warmup -

2 minutes rowing
20 airsquats
10 push ups
40 second handstand hold
185# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds

Workout -

260# Squat 3×5
65# Weighted Dip 3×5
225# Deadlift (form trouble)
115# Clean (form trouble / new exercise introduction)

PT -

100# Lat Pulldown 3×5

Squats, once again, felt amazing. Dips I was straining and grunting but I think I’ll be able to push up to 80ish before losing my linear progression. Deadlift was done today on a different bar (unsure of the name – handlebars on the side). Made the lift alot easier but really made me feel like a cheater in some ways. Stubborn me would rather wait to fix the barbell form.

Cleans are a new addition I hope to keep in the mix from here on out. 115 felt pretty decent but I do think I use way too much of my arms. I’ll go back and rework form a lot next work out.

Elbow feeling very strong.

Warm up-

2 minutes rowing
20 airsquats
10 push ups
170# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds

Workout-

255# Squat 3×5
60# Weighted dips 3×5
225# Deadlift

PT -

95# Lat Pulldown 3×5

I felt like a damn champion doing 255. My 5th rep on the last set was the first instance where I actually found myself grunting while pushing. Perhaps some screaming will come out by 300.

Dips also felt great. I do need to make a note however to start bringing elastic bands to the gym because I think 60 is all the chain belt is meant to hold.

Dead lift is still slacking. Still attempting to get a video camera to get some footage for you Steve. Sorry for the wait.

On a less high note…I’ve lost two pounds. I know this comes from being a college student while also being involved in as much shit as I am involved with, but I seriously need to figure out a way to get enough calories when I’m on campus. If this means going to the store more than once every week and a half or so then so be it. I’d like to keep my linear progression going until 300.

-Charles

My recent month long break from this blog has been caused by several issues and reasons. However, this now gives me a perfect opportunity to make a point to all those out there that do happen to stumble on this and read from time to time.

My last post, about a month and a half ago, was my first entry in my log and my first ever day on the Starting Strength program. Yesterday was my 46th day.

Monday Workout 9/8

Warm up -

2 minutes rowing
20 airsquats
10 push ups
135# rock bottom iso hold 30 seconds

Work out -
250# Squat 3×5
55# Weighted Dips 3×5
225# DL 1×5 (Still waiting on form)

PT Work -

90# Lat Pulldown 3×5
150# leg abducter machine 3×10 (This was mostly just an experiment to test a different theory as to why I am unable to do straddle splits)

Stretching as always was my cooldown. Which, by the way, my front splits are now only several inches off the ground, down from what used to be 15+ inches at the beginning of this program. Although kicking utilizes a different stretch mechanism, they have felt infinitely better than before and I can now kick waist height with relative ease.

My squat felt absolutely beautiful. Can’t say much on that except that I’ll keep pushing until form gives out. I’m estimating around 275 it will give, but I won’t dawn on that too much. 300 here I come.

Dips are also getting pretty damn strong and I’ll continue increasing 5#s every workout until my triceps tell me otherwise.

I’m going to keep saying it, two weeks now after switching strategies with my elbow and I haven’t felt a lick pain. Progress will be slow but I’m sure I’ve got it this time.

As one more note, cookies are officially out of my diet as I was rushed to the emergency room after picking up and eating a cookie that was not labeled properly and contained chunks of food (walnuts) that I’m deathly allergic too. I’m slightly upset as I kept this food as my one last connection to high sugary foods. Oh well.

————————————————————————————-

46 days and I doubled my squat. I’m now approaching one of my main goals of a double bodyweight squat. The best thing for me is, I haven’t even become bulky (one of my bigger fears when I started this program). I don’t feel sluggish or tired. I may be twelve pounds heavier, but when you factor in the strength to weight ratio I now possess, there’s no change.

In other news, the progress my injured tendon has been making while on this program has been nothing short of exponential. I don’t hope so much as I plan to be 100% in roughly four more weeks of PT.

Most of my issues with moving and going back to school are almost all cleared up so hopefully this blog will get a sort of revival. I’ll be transferring my work out log into this blog at some time and post workout updates to this feed from now on.

Cheers,

-Charles