I rested a lot last night and so ending up having about nine hours sleep. As a result my body was feeling strong and healthy. I got down to LA Fitness at 9am and took my minibeam and floor bar along with me as well. I started stretching and my back felt good. Very good. I started doing my first slinky and thought maybe I could do 8. At least six. I started and back I went and again and again and again……eventually nine or an Ninoslinky. First time I have even gone for nine slinkies in a row as my first technique of the morning. I can clearly see that I will be doing Decaslinkies soon as my starting technique.
I then moved on to my new technique which I am calling my Rockerbridge where I do a back bend in to bridge and then rock back and forth between kickover position and standup position. It is amazing feeling the bodyweight shift while in the bridge. The importance of this is getting the body used to weight shifts while at full extension. This is going to assist greatly with the ability of the body to brace itself in doing back tumbling on the beam. My hands are also getting closer and closer to my feet. I think within a year I should be able to reach back and touch my own feet. This will be an awesome accomplishment. I am not there yet but it feels if this Rockerbridge is going to assist with opening up flexibility even more.
After that I did left slinkies which were great. I was able to do another triple slinky and will not before long before I am doing Quadslinkies using my off leg. It is a never ending source of amazement to me just how the breakthroughs keep growing and expanding and truly reflecting the statement to me ‘Once Impossible, Now Easy’. Six weeks ago that was the case with these Off Slinkies and now doing them and getting stronger.
I then went onto what was one of my previously hardest accomplishments which was Beam Slinkies. I then got to a point where I do Beam Slinky followed by Back Walkover. Recently I have been doing 5/5 in perfect form so today I added a Beam Slinky-Beack Walkover-Front Limber Standup. I was able to 4/5 in great form and getting stronger. It is amazing the pressure the back is under doing this technique.
Next I went onto BackBends onto the beam. The purpose of this technique is to condition my arms to grab that beam and provide a solid foundation for the tumbling that is to follow. This makes a massive difference because I am confident in the hand position then there are only two other keys. 1) Having the baack open enough to be able to go over 2) the strength to be able to kick over while the body is under immense pressure. On the floor I am at the point where I go over about 90% of the time. Not as clean as I like but I am getting there.
At the moment I lean back from the steps (which raise me to floor level) and see the beam and place my hands in beam position. I then push hard against the shoulders in preparation to condition them to go over in the next couple of weeks. It is incredible feeling the body under so much pressure however it is critical to do it so I can get those back walkovers going forward. I can see lots more breakthroughs in this area going forward.
Lastly I did some handstands and did 4/10 which was one less than by best counting up to 3z. I then did 30 beam handstands and making great progress. Still in the very early stages but it is very important stages that I am going through to get used to do handstands on the bars. This a critical part of the Level 7 Bar Routine.
Overall progress in almost every area. They are all just improvements towards getting the results I am really after but I love these days when I keep moving foward. Go Heroes!!!