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Bodyweight Programme for progressing OAPU and Pistols

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Gaz

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Due to aggravating a neck injury I am forced to suspend my S&S training at the moment, so I intend working on OAPU and Pistols. The problem is I can’t do either at the moment. Could you please give me some advice on progressions to build them up?
 
Have you read the naked warrior? Reducing the leaverage and ROM worked well for me. Just be conservative with how fast you advance in progressions.
Also make sure OAPU aren't going to be aggravating your neck further.
Good luck
 
Hello,

@Gaz
I think there is nothing else to add regarding the excellent links and options provided above. From my experience, I used NW approach with incredible results. However, regarding the push up, be careful with your neck. Neutral position is crucial here. Otherwise, it can damage your neck even more.

Do you know exactly what your neck issue is about ? Maybe it can be a good opportunity to do something else, just to "wait". For instance, some rucking (with a good back pack to be sure the weight is not - only - on shoulders, but mostly on hips) ?

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
From my experience, high tension techniques (how you achieve the OAPU and Pistol) involve the neck, especially before you learn the skill of keeping tension out of the face and neck. It sometimes makes my neck and upper/mid back tight, and I don't have any prior issues..

I don't mean to tell you to stop training, but perhaps it would be ideal to let your neck rest and recover from whatever it is going through before starting a new training program, especially one as involved as the Naked Warrior practice.

chances are whatever is rearing it's head during S and S will make an appearance during NW practice, especially if you are not on top of mobility and stretching

I'd +1 what @pet' just said, perhaps some easy rucking and mobility work (body weight pushups, squats, pullups/rows) to maintain those grooves and strength.

Some people take months out of the year to focus on their mobility and flexibility at the cost of their strength..and then they return to the weights and do even better than before... don't be afraid to let some go in the meantime

If I were you I'd look into trigger point therapy and give yourself a neck and back massage with a jacknobber (or similar tool) almost daily. This works to seriously relieve tightness (pain) on your own accord . A lot of pain could be coming from a tight back that is referring pain to your neck,


https://www.amazon.com/Jacknobber-P...8&qid=1511098848&sr=8-1&keywords=jacknobber+2

good luck and don't let me stop you from doing the naked warrior, just please be careful as it is a program that inevitably includes the neck under high tension circumstances
 
Thanks to everyone who has kindly responded to this, their is some excellent advice here. Particular thanks to Pet and Jak Nieuwenhuis, after trying some inclined OAPU today I’ve realised that there is in fact a great deal of tension going through the neck. I think some rucking and joint mobility are a good idea with some conventional calisthenics thrown in with moderation.

The neck issue is uncertain, there is nothing visible on X-ray and my physio therapist thinks it is more likely some kind of strain of the traps or sternocleidomastoid. Strangely she said that swings and TGU would probably be better than calisthenics, think she might have been wrong there!

Once again, thanks for all your advice.
 
Craig or anybody else: has anyone else done this? Sounds like a big comitment, but I wonder what the results are.

For those who didn't read the article: it's basically 30 min in the squat position for 30 days.

There was also a link in the article to 7min dead hangs (spread out throughout the day) for 30 days.

I would also be curious about anybody's results from anything similar to this.

I heard Kelly Starett recommending 10 min a day in the squat, sounds more reasonable to me.
 
I have completed both challenges just recently; they work and feel great, I will certainly include them into my practice for the rest of my life.

Currently I still squat for 15 minutes everyday.
It feels like a natural resting position after a few weeks and it feels great for my posterior chain. I've noticed a lot more stability in the Get-Up during the reverse lunge, my ankles feel much stronger when Rucking and my toes are awake, I can really grip the ground much better now.

I do not hang currently, the daily callus build up does not work well with S&S, I had to remove callus' almost daily. I did complete the challenge though and what I got from hanging was of cause grip endurance, I went from hanging for 1 minute to a comfortable 3 minute hang. I also tested my grip strength, I went from a bottoms up clean with a 16kg to a 24kg. What was surprising though was my speed, my ability to whip and snap punches and elbows has become much better after hanging, most likely due to just opening up the shoulder. My hands and forearms are a little larger and the tendons in my wrist seem thicker, I am guessing from time under tension.

A few tips;
A grease the groove approach is best.
If the ankles hurt when squatting try turning the feet out a little but let the knees follow/track the toes, remember the relax in the squat and feel free to do Ido's Squat routine 2.0 once a day too.
As for hanging, take things really slowly, stick with passive and active hangs/pulls for the first month but feel free to switch up the grip and do not hang to failure, easy sets throughout the day.
 
I have completed both challenges just recently; they work and feel great, I will certainly include them into my practice for the rest of my life.

Currently I still squat for 15 minutes everyday.
It feels like a natural resting position after a few weeks and it feels great for my posterior chain. I've noticed a lot more stability in the Get-Up during the reverse lunge, my ankles feel much stronger when Rucking and my toes are awake, I can really grip the ground much better now.

I do not hang currently, the daily callus build up does not work well with S&S, I had to remove callus' almost daily. I did complete the challenge though and what I got from hanging was of cause grip endurance, I went from hanging for 1 minute to a comfortable 3 minute hang. I also tested my grip strength, I went from a bottoms up clean with a 16kg to a 24kg. What was surprising though was my speed, my ability to whip and snap punches and elbows has become much better after hanging, most likely due to just opening up the shoulder. My hands and forearms are a little larger and the tendons in my wrist seem thicker, I am guessing from time under tension.

A few tips;
A grease the groove approach is best.
If the ankles hurt when squatting try turning the feet out a little but let the knees follow/track the toes, remember the relax in the squat and feel free to do Ido's Squat routine 2.0 once a day too.
As for hanging, take things really slowly, stick with passive and active hangs/pulls for the first month but feel free to switch up the grip and do not hang to failure, easy sets throughout the day.

Thank you for your answer, I may give the hanging challenge a try.
 
@CraigAlexanderWigham that's great. So for the squat challenge, did you do some kind of progression? For instance, including some goblet squats, or something below your heels? At least at the beginning.

Today I can squat fairly confortably, but not comfortably enough to spend 30 min a day
 
@Oscar I started S&S in January so I had been doing goblet squats 5 days a week for 9 months before the squat challenge, I think that gave me a pretty solid squat to work with. You can put something under your heel if you need to and that would still count towards the challenge, though reducing the time to less than 30 minutes will not be the challenge but it may be a smarter move to spend a few weeks preparing for the challenge. I did 10x3min week1, 6x5min week2, 5x6min week3 and 3x10min week4. The Ido Squat routine 2.0 does help and makes it a little more fun, I added that once a day on week 2, it only takes 5mins. You may need to just regularly change your feet position, it's very hard on the ankle if they face forward, feel free to move around a little and explore the position, it's not a static hold, the idea is to make it a relaxing/resting position. I think a great way to do your squatting is when eating, on the phone, watching tv or on the internet etc...
 
Craig or anybody else: has anyone else done this? Sounds like a big comitment, but I wonder what the results are.

For those who didn't read the article: it's basically 30 min in the squat position for 30 days.
I actually attempted this some time ago. I'm glad Craig's experience was better than mine. Unfortunately, after about 4 days of it, I started developing some pretty bad hip flexor pain. I stopped before it got worse. It's probably a personal issue as squatting has always developed hip pain for me (except for Pistols which I can do pretty heavy without any issues) but maybe not.

Maybe I don't know as much as Ido but there's nothing magical to these 30 min daily squats or 7 min deadhangs. The numbers seem somewhat arbitrary to me. Hence, if I was to do it again, I probably would choose time limits based on how I personally was doing and just autoregulate from them. I find it hard to believe 7 min of deadhang is exactly what everyone needs. So if it feels taxing, do it for less. And if it feels good and it's opening your shoulders, I'd do it for more.

Just some personal experience.
 
I actually attempted this some time ago. I'm glad Craig's experience was better than mine. Unfortunately, after about 4 days of it, I started developing some pretty bad hip flexor pain. I stopped before it got worse. It's probably a personal issue as squatting has always developed hip pain for me (except for Pistols which I can do pretty heavy without any issues) but maybe not.

Maybe I don't know as much as Ido but there's nothing magical to these 30 min daily squats or 7 min deadhangs. The numbers seem somewhat arbitrary to me. Hence, if I was to do it again, I probably would choose time limits based on how I personally was doing and just autoregulate from them. I find it hard to believe 7 min of deadhang is exactly what everyone needs. So if it feels taxing, do it for less. And if it feels good and it's opening your shoulders, I'd do it for more.

Just some personal experience.

I squatted yesterday for 30 min and it felt great. My feet, calves and hips felt awesome and very loose. I was even able to sit crossing my legs like women do afterwards (crossing the femurs I mean). This is not common for me. The position was not that uncomfortable at the end.

I do understand what you mean though, it was very taxing to my hip flexors. So part of the time I did goblet squats, or with my butt gently touching the edge of a step, to relief the hip flexors.

The number might be arbitrary, like all other numbers are: 42 km, 100 swings, etc. I think the idea is to find a regression confortable enough to reach those 30 min without tension, or minimal tension. And then progress from there.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll do the challenge now. What I do know is that I will start getting down to this position every day, more often.
 
@Oscar The benafits I noticed were mobility in the ankle and hip, minor flexibility in the hamstring, stability in the knee and glute activation.
I can certainly feel an improvement in my swings and getups.
I believe it improved muscle endurance too, I recover from swings much better now, although I was still doing S&S during the squat challenge so that of cause was bound to improve.

@305pelusa I actually gained hip flexor flexibility/mobility, I now walk like a russian (hips first) as Pavel would say. Maybe the pain was a stretch? do you get the same pain in a hip flexor stretch? Try some FMS tall kneeling to open them up, that's my favourite.
I think the rather large numbers/times are just to make it challenging, it probably also helps to get it out to the masses too, the fitness industry love little 30 day challenges.
It may also be for time under tension, so the joints, tendons, nerves and ligaments etc have time to adapt and not just the muscles, just a thought.
I do agree with you though, it would be much smarter to gradually work up to it. There's a book called "Shoulder Pain? The Solution and Prevention" by a 30 year Orthepedic Surgeon, he believed that hanging or progressions of hanging could fix 99% of all shoulder problems, I'm sure his patients did not start with 7mins of hanging.
 
@305pelusa I actually gained hip flexor flexibility/mobility, I now walk like a russian (hips first) as Pavel would say.
Oh that's awesome. It did the opposite for me. It would tighten the hip flexors a lot. Which makes sense to me because a squat shortens the HFs. When I would stand up, I felt the crazy need to just thrust forward and actually stretch the HFs. It did a decent job of stretching the posterior chain for me though.

Different results for different folks I suppose.

Maybe the pain was a stretch? do you get the same pain in a hip flexor stretch?

I'm fairly certain it wasn't a stretch pain. Again, the HF isn't even getting stretched. The pain occurs from the thigh bone getting smashed onto the hip cavity and pinching muscle. It's basically what shoulder impingement is.

A similar issue occurs to those who train side splits and don't anteriorly pelvic tilt correctly to prevent the thigh bone from smashing into the joint. It's hard to explain but anybody who has worked on the straddle split is probably nodding their heads right now. It's a very specific pain and certainly not one you want to keep working through.

A HF stretch is totally different because the bone is getting pulled away from the joint. Those feel great! Squats for very long periods of time on the other hand, shorten my HFs drastically the way sitting does.

I'm not saying "don't do it", just giving some experience and interested to hear if others found the same. I'm glad they didn't though :)
 
@305pelusa I understand exactly what you mean now, I am working on the straddle split myself.

The only idea that comes to mind is size, I am 6ft4 with long legs even for my size, maybe this is why we had such different results.
Another thought is that during say a standard back squat or pistol the hip flexor is as your say shortened, in this relax squat the goal is to sink as deep as possible and find space and comfort in the position, this creates a slightly greater distance from the knee to hip and opens up to the hip like a goblet squat. I do/did in 2016 get tight hip flexors from pistols though.
It may also just be that the swing's and multiple daily power walks prevented tight hip flexors for me.

I intend to stick with the squat sit and hang for the entire year of 2018, I will have much more experience with both of them then.
 
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