300 - Day 26 - Hello, Froggy.

Today was certainly not a traditional workout routine. I spent most of my time developing the frog stance. I started this out earlier in the day after cleaning the shed, outside on the lawn. I didn't do my usual warm-up routine before this, as I was already sweating rather profusely (it was a big mess and I built a new bench/shelf to help straighten it out.)

So I got right into it. Actually, I started out with some 1 legged pistol squats - first 3 on each leg with body weight and then with my 30# kettlebell. I realized I have to develop my balance a little bit doing these.

I then went into the frog stance. I managed to do a total of 60 seconds worth of frog stance after only 14 repetitions. My longest stance was 8 seconds - which means the other 13 averaged 4 seconds a piece. I clearly had to work on it. However, I had been reading a bit out of Pavel's "The Naked Warrior" to expand my understanding of the types of exercises I would be doing - and his philosophy is based on doing a low amount of reps, doing it right, but also doing it while fresh. I had also read somewhere about working on this particular exercise for a total of 60 seconds (until you get to the point where you can hold it for 60 seconds).

So, after several hours of rest (and dinner) I worked on this yet again. This time I decided to give myself a bit of an advantage and use my 20# dumbbells as grips, instead of placing my hands on the ground. This did make it easier - I did attain a 17 second stance and finished my 60 seconds in only 9 repetitions - and actually reached 65 seconds - 3 different repetitions of 10 seconds or more. I think I will work up to my 60 seconds using the weights and then progress to hands on the ground.

Also during my day routine, I did some push-up variations that are more aimed toward development of muscles involved in the planche - with my hand much closer to my hips, as opposed to out to the side as I usually do. This was a lot of extra work for me - I could feel it in my shoulders. I also did sat in the planche position with my feet braced against a wall and did a few wall planche push-ups - also very tough.

I may start incorporating 15-30 seconds of frog stance into my warm-up - and probably 60 seconds into my home workouts.