Training edition

Here's this week's round up of your questions! If you want to submit your question, you can do so here:

What’s a good balance of strength vs flexibility training during the week?

Short answer: one that feels good for your body.

Long answer: this varies from person to person as natural tendencies vary from person to person - think stiff old dude stereotype vs. someone with a hypermobility disorder. Someone with a hypermobility disorder will have to bias strength more than the average person and someone who is tighter/stiffer than average may have to bias more mobility training throughout the week.

You also have to consider overall training volume/goals/how much time someone has. You likely will not need to do 50/50 strength vs. mobility training unless you have a particular mobility goal, *but* if you are training mobility that much, most likely there will be specific strength work throughout the full range of motion to assist with your mobility (like what's included in my front + middle splits program in the app).

80-85% of training time for mobility training seems like about a good place to start and then adjust from there based on individual preferences - that's probably about what I include in most strength programs including the warm up and cool down when looking at a 60-90 min session.

Handstand tips, drills to get freestanding (months on the wall and I still can’t hold free standing)

My handstand programs! More specifically my handstand series (prep, strength, balance). What I've found really helpful for those who have been stuck is getting feedback on form as sometimes feeling where you are is difficult - this is why you can post form videos in the Paradigm of Perfection + Train Facebook community (which is open to all app members)!

If you want some free resources, you can also find some general tips on an old blog post that are still relevant today!

Is practicing calisthenics once a week enough? + 1 weights day and 1 yoga/Pilates day (3 training days total)

Honestly, it really depends on your goals - for some it may be enough, for others it may not be.

So if you're truly trying to make progress with specific calisthenics skills (ex. handstand, lever, muscle ups), likely not.

But on the other hand, if you're just looking for a different stimulus in your training to add a bit of variety, then yes it can be enough!

Straddle press to handstand training tips. I’m almost there, but lack the strength at the bottom part.

So first, I'd take a look at your straddle - how deep can you get into this position? The hardest part about the press handstand is shifting the weight off of the feet and getting your center of mass over your hands. Once you get your hips over your hands, all it is is a little planche of the shoulder and a press from there.

So if you don't have good straddle flexibility, work on that. At the same time, work the planche/shoulder strength for the lean forward. Plus, don't forget that compression strength can also be important in keeping the legs close to your center of mass to get the hips over the hands earlier/longer, so that will make everything easier.

You can find this to help all of this in my app (there's a specific Press Handstand Series of 3 programs to work though)!

I can get my legs slightly above parallel in leg raises. What can I do to reach the bar?

Well...I have been listening and in December was able to add a Hanging Leg Lift Program (aka toes to bar) to the Paradigm of Perfection + Train app!

The program works on all aspects of what's needed to get your toes to the bar:

• Hamstring flexibility and lumbar spine flexion
• End range hip flexor/quad strength
• Core strength

How do you continue to train if injured?

First, you can find 5 good overview tips in this old blog post (or if you prefer video format, you can find that over on YouTube here)!

For working out other areas that are injured, consider what area is impacted by the injury and the set up/risk of any exercise your doing.

So for example, doing hip thrusts while you have a shoulder injury sounds great, but how easy is that set up if you're in a sling? An exercise like a SL RDL sounds good with a shoulder injury again, but if you're a week post op of a RTC repair, is it worth the risk of a fall or a quick movement to regain balance? No - the answer is no. (yes, I'm speaking from personal and professional experience)

With any injury, it's important to stay moving as much as possible and also keep the area as strong as you can and the areas above and below the injured area moving well. Your physical therapist can guide you through this, or if you're cleared to workout or you want guidance on training other areas, this is where the individualized programs can be helpful - we can tailor things to your current restrictions and slowly load the areas as you're able to or keep the other areas as strong as we can while protecting the area that's injured.

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That's it for this week! If you have any questions to clarify my answers or found it super helpful, go ahead and hit that reply button!

Don't forget you can ask your questions below to be featured in an upcoming email!

Best, Laura Kummerle No one is perfect, and that in itself, is perfect!

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