Flaggin’ Around is a training vlog/blog series that tracks my quest to holding a better human flag. My ultimate goal is to hold a flag for 30 seconds (by the end of 2016.)
Some posts are very specific to human flagging, while others are more about training in general. Train along with me!
If you're just joining, be sure to go back and begin from my first post: "Intro".
Thank you for following along.
-Drew
human flag calesthenics flaggin around gymnastics training bodyweight training
Yesterday I did a flag test, two days early of my deadline to hold a 10 second human flag. Watch the video below to see how it went....
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Today I did some overhead carries and holds with the yoke. Also did a little handstand work. I think I'll start throwing some of this stuff into my workouts throughout the week. These types of exercises will be great for overhead shoulder strength and stability, which will have good carry over to the bottom arm in a human flag.
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Today's video shows some footage from Friday's flag training. The clips are in sequential order from the workout....
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The video below shows some of my working sets from yesterday's workout. Nothing too specific to human flagging here. Just some power clean + push presses and DB rowing....
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Last week I set a short term goal to extend my flag holding time to 10 seconds by the end of August. Yesterday was 10 days out. As you can see from the short video, the completion of this goal doesn't look promising....unless I get more generous by starting the clock even earlier....
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To continue to make progress in the gym, you need to spend time mastering the push up. Just because you can "do" a bunch of push ups from the ground doesn't mean for a second that you have mastered them. I will even go as far to say that the majority of people I see performing "push ups" are not doing them well enough.
It's not just about lowering to the ground and pushing yourself back up. It is about being able to lower to the ground and push yourself back up for years to come. If you perform push ups with poor form, you will eventually bang your shoulders up bad enough to not be able to do push ups at all.
Referring to the diagram above, notice where the subject on the right has placed their hands. Placing the hands near shoulder level is a common push up error. This encourages the elbows to track too high, which puts the humerus (upper arm) at an internally rotated position. This is unstable, especially when loaded with bodyweight (push ups) or with a barbell/dumbbells (bench pressing). The high elbow position also leaves less space for tissues that connect your arms to your torso to function correctly.
The subject on the left is demonstrating proper push up alignments. Their hands are around chest level. This puts the humerus at an angle from the torso. Once the arm is positioned here, a slight effort to tuck the elbows closer to the body will externally rotate the humerus. This stabilizes the shoulder joint and encourages proper function of the scapulae (shoulder blades).
Keep in mind that experienced trainees have the ability to create sufficient stability with improper elbow tracking (elbows tracking high, like the subject on the right). Having said that, if you have always done push ups (or find it more comfortable) with your elbows tracking high, you do not understand how to create this stability. Go back and make your push ups resemble the figure on the left.
There is more to go over in regards to push ups, but I will save this for later posts.
The training video below shows several push up variations, focusing on finishing in extreme external rotation. As I said, being able to externally rotate the humerus stabilizes the shoulder joint. Being able to do this will be essential in improving the human flag.
(The beginning 4 minutes shows me jumping rope to warm up. If you want to get right to the push ups, skip ahead to the 4 minute mark.)
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I feel like I'm not making enough progress. It is time to take my own advice, and trust the process of getting stronger. My short-term goal is to hold a 10 second flag by the end of August. Here are some misc. clips from todays workout...
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Yesterday I held a flag to see how the training is coming along. Congratulations Drew, you've added zero seconds to your flag. Time to get to work...
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This is the workout routine I have been using for the last several weeks. I plan to continue this training plan until my progress starts to slow. Notice again, this is not extremely specific to human flagging. I said in the “intro” that my goal of increasing total body strength still takes priority to my goal of holding a longer flag.
In many ways, this is just a general strength training program with some focus toward flagging. I am testing my theory of…getting stronger overall will also lead to a stronger flag, but only getting strong at flagging will not necessarily lead to more total body strength.
Take a look at my training split. Let me know what you think of it. Take some things from it to add to your own training!
Warm up with jumping rope, muscle ups, and rollouts.
A1. Front Squat (3 reps x 5 sets)
A2. BB Bench (5 x 5. Every 3 weeks, work up to 3 singles after 5 x 5)
B1. Power Clean (3 x 3)
B2. High DB Incline (6-10 x 3)
C1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets. I do these every day to end the workout. The reps undulate on a three day cycle: Day 1= 30 reps, Day 2=20, reps Day 3=10 reps)
Warm up with glute ham raises and muscle ups.
A1. Deadlift (5 x 5)
A2. BB Curl (10-15 x 5)
B1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets)
Warm up with jumping rope, muscle ups, and rollouts.
A1. Power Clean to Push Press (5 x 5)
A2. DB Row (5-15 x 5)
B1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets)
Warm up with glute ham raises and muscle ups.
A1. Front Squat (5 x 1, 3 x 2, 1 x 2)
A2. Miscellaneous Iron Cross Work (x 5 sets)
B1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets)
B2. Miscellaneous Iron Cross Work (x 2 sets)
Warm up with jumping rope, muscle ups, and rollouts.
A1. The rest of the day is specific human flag work, along with any other choice exercises.
B1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets)
Warm up with jumping rope, muscle ups, and rollouts.
A1. Deadlift. Work up to 3 singles.
B1. The rest of the day is miscellaneous human flag accessory work.
C1. DB Side Bend (x 2 sets)
Off day, or some light bodyweight work if I am feeling good.
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I use the words “chin up” and “pull up” fully interchangeably. As far as I am concerned, a pull up and a chin up is the same exercise. To me, it is not the grip you are using that determines whether you are doing a chin up or a pull up. It is instead whether or not your chin actually clears the height of the bar (with a neutral neck!). This is my primary concern when pulling up. Yes, different grip orientations will be more difficult than others, and even stimulate the working muscles differently. But if you cannot even pull yourself to full range of motion with your strongest grip, you have no business differentiating between a “chin up” and a “pull up”.
Just grab the bar (with whatever grip feels strongest to you) and get pulling. I always encourage my trainees to use whatever grip necessary to hit the prescribed amount of reps I assign. Once you develop sufficient pull up/chin up strength, you can then consider adding variety to your gripping arrangements. And when you do get to switching your grip around, I would rather hear the exercises called something like an “underhand grip” chin up or pull up, or an “overhand grip” chin up or pull up. Because once more, it is much more about getting your CHIN above the bar, than which grip you use to do so.
My favorite way to achieve a proper pull up is to signal your elbows to “drive” toward the ground. I like this cue for two primary reasons…
I have also found that this cue somewhat negates the tendency to “reach” up with the chin (I will go over this later in the post, and at the end of the video). Driving the elbows down simply makes the task of pulling up stronger. If you get in the habit of doing this, you won’t feel the need to reach up with your chin to clear the bar. You will have the strength to get high enough using the scapular, back, and arm muscles (the muscles used in a pull up).
On to a video….
When human flagging, your top arm will experience a tremendous amount of pulling effort. Your bottom arm is pressing. This is what holds you to whatever you're holding onto. Once you have created a strong anchor, you will need to keep your spine locked in anti-lateral flexion (see yesterday’s post).
There is even more to account for to complete a flag. Your hips and legs will need to lock to your spine. This is beyond the scope of today’s post, and I will cover that later.
If you don’t have a strong pull with the top arm, you won’t be able to generate enough tension to flag. This is why having a strong chin up/pull up base is essential.
I have been spending more time using a wide grip. I hypothesize it will have greater carry over to a human flag than a narrower grip will. The image below shows the angle that my top arm comes out from my body. This gives me reason to build strength with an ultra wide grip when pulling up.
The resemblance in grip width for a human flag and a wide grip chin up.
To finish up today, I want to further explain the errors that are demonstrated at the end of the video. Keep in mind that I am being picky with this breakdown. If you find yourself making any of these errors as you are developing the strength to do your first chin up, or if you only do them every so often (when you are stepping over plateaus), I am okay with it.
There is still some benefit to doing "non-strict" chin ups. Having said that, there is ABSOLUTELY no excuse to not take the time to develop strength and body control required to do a strict chin up!
Don’t make sloppy reps a habit. Once you can do one “non-strict” chin up, work toward doing several non-strict chin ups. Soon after that, work toward doing your first strict chin up. From there, leave questionable looking chin ups in the past. I argue that the benefits of doing one to several strict chin ups far outweigh the rewards of doing a ton of less strict chin ups.....
(GOOD REPS)
Strict.
Elbows are driven down.
Body is straight. This indicates that the glutes, hamstrings, calves, and abdominals are active, and therefore a circuit of muscular tension is created through the entire body. More tension=more strength and better positions.
Neck is neutral.
(REACHING NECK)
Not completing the range of motion with the shoulders and arms, but rather with the neck.
Straining of the neck.
(NOT ENOUGH RANGE)
If you don’t practice full range of motion, you will not build as much strength.
If you don’t practice full range of motion, you will not develop as much stability.
If you don’t practice full range of motion, you will not experience as much flexibility.
If you don’t practice full range of motion, you will not experience as many training benefits!
(LIFTING KNEES)
Cheating into too much of a mechanical advantage.
Lesser training effect.
Actively lifting the knees decreases the total weight being lifted. The hip flexors are lifting the legs to a higher position so the upper body doesn’t have to do that work.
Allowing your body to move forward indicates a lack of tension being generated and held throughout the body. Refer back to keeping the body straight with the “good reps”
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Today’s focus was on “anti lateral flexion" accessory exercises. Anti lateral flexion is a fancy way of describing the maintenance of a completely straight spine (not allowing it to bend to the side). Looking at the below diagram of a human flag, you notice that you will need to be very strong at anti lateral flexion if you plan to perform the feat with success.
Regardless if you are flag training or not, anti lateral flexion is a productive movement to train…
To train anti lateral flexion, you will need to have only one side of your body loaded. This is what challenges your system to remain absolutely neutral: do not let the weight pull you toward the loaded side, and don't over compensate by leaning toward the un-loaded side. An indication that you are bracing against lateral flexion correctly, is that your shoulders appear to be level with the horizon. The below video contains exercises that fall into the category of anti lateral flexion. Give these a try and tell me what you think!
I presume that anyone who understands this type of loading, also understands that you must “even out” on the other side of the body. For example, If you do 10 reps with the right side loaded, make sure to do 10 reps with the left loaded up.
:10 mark…suitcase deadlift
:29 mark…suitcase reverse lunge
:35 mark…”bindle” reverse lunge (with more of the bar to the front) doing this created extra anti flexion (in the saggital plane).
:46 mark…”bindle” reverse lunge (with more of the bar to the back)
:51 mark…single arm overhead press
1:01 mark…single arm push press (maybe this is more of a push jerk)
1:20 mark…single arm DB hold (looks easy, but try holding a heavy dumbbell for a minute on each side…if it still seems easy, you aren't using enough weight!)
I still need help with names. Do these names accurately depict the exercises shown in the video?
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Day 1 was August 12, 2016. Check out the video at the bottom for some snippets. These are just a few of many exercises I will utilize to flag stronger.
At the 30 second mark, you can watch my best flag of the day. By December 31st, I will be locked into this position for 30 seconds. Maybe I’ll even be able to hold it with a casual facial expression!
I don't know if the rest of the variations you see have names or not so I’ll call them what I want….
:12 mark…vertical flag
:38 mark…band assisted flag
:44 mark…band assisted flag pulses
:53 mark on…band assisted flag raises
What do you think? Comment to give me name suggestions!
Thanks for reading today!
I want to hear what you think of my posts, so please comment below.
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More importantly, set your own goal and start your own vlog/blog!
Welcome to flaggin’ around, a training vlog/blog series that tracks my progress of holding a better human flag. My goal is to hold a solid 30 second flag by the end of 2016. As you will soon see, I can currently hold one for approximately 5 seconds. That means I have 25 seconds of work to do!
Before we get to the training, I want to lay out a few things to keep in mind…
1. My goal of a 30 second flag is only a specific goal. Once I start outlining my training regimen, you will see that I am not human flag training exclusively. I am still primarily interested in increasing my absolute strength, and to keep improving at other lifts and skills that I enjoy doing.
2. Because of this, I encourage you to follow along whether or not you want to learn how to, or get better at flaggin’. You will see that specific human flag training only comprises a small amount of my current training routine. There will be take aways from my posts, regardless of your fitness level and fitness interests.
3. I am by no means an expert in human flagging. There are many people in the world that can out-flag me. I’m not going to be a know-it-all. I don’t even know if this stuff will work. This is an experiment. I’m just flaggin’ around…..
Thanks for reading today!
I want to hear what you think of my posts, so please comment below.
Please share this post with a friend!
More importantly, set your own goal and start your own vlog/blog!
