Getting Better at Toes To Bar
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][text_output]Hey everyone!
Here is some content for you to work on for getting some simple Toe to Bar Practice, by order of what I believe to be most important. Plenty of links and information, just start with one thing until you wrap your head around it, then move to the next. Once you feel you have one area of this tacked down, move down to the next. Start with Mobility, Developing Strict TTB, Kipping Technique, Adding Volume for Workouts.[/text_output][accordion][accordion_item title=”Mobility for Toes to Bar”]1. Warm up properly with this Gymnastics Wod Video prior to doing your mobility
2. Get some mobility on with this video by Kstar make sure your Shoulders aren’t clonky, and your hips can fold with no issues. Once you have the prerequisite range of motion in your shoulders and hips for Toes to Bar, you have the green light to get into some Strict work!
[/accordion_item][accordion_item title=”Developing Strict Toes to Bar”]1. Check this video out from the guys at the movement fix here, this is a little bit of mobility and strength work by greasing the groove and getting some of the movement in.
2. If you find that too easy, begin to work on:
3. After you can comfortably perform plenty of L-sit Progressions through the third progression. Begin to Work through some Toes to Bar Negatives pulling your legs up as high as you are able, then controlling down like this
After you can comfortably perform strict toes to bar, lets move to the kip![/accordion_item][accordion_item title=”Kipping Toe To Bar Technique”]I completely understand you can get to performing Toes to Bar faster if you kip. But thats not the point, if you want quality, injury free toes to bar, and you want to be able to get some volume of Toes to Bar with less issues, developing strict is the way to go first. You can practice kipping Toes to Bar in conjunction with developing the strict work, a good rule of thumb is, perform the strict work not for time, and when you feel like you can keep the quality up. Put the kipping work in the wods.
1. Gymnastics Wod
Kipping toes to bar Progression 1
Kipping toes to bar Progression 2
[/accordion_item][accordion_item title=”Ladder Volume Work on Toes to Bar”]Ladder Method
Frequency Method for Toes to Bar Alternative: The Ladder Method
The Ladder Method is our weapon of choice when the trainee cannot use the Frequency Method to its full potential due to scheduling reasons such as being stuck in an office with no access to a pull up bar all day.
A common mistake is to confuse the Ladder Method with the more conventional idea of doing a ‘pyramid’. Let’s look at the difference:
Two Ladders of three reps will look like this:
One set of one rep
One set of two reps
One set of three reps
Then repeat the same process beginning at one set of one.
One set of one rep
One set of two reps
One set of three reps
A Pyramid to three reps will look like this:
One set of one rep
One set of two reps
One set of three reps
One set of two reps
One set of one rep
The Ladder Method is greatly preferred over the Pyramid idea since it allows for better recovery during performance. The most difficult sets of the pyramid are clustered together at the apex of the pyramid, whereas with the Ladder, the hardest sets are followed immediately by the easiest sets. This allows for much more quality work to be completed in each session.
The number of ladders and the number of ‘rungs’ on the ladder will depend entirely on the individual and their ability to perform toes to bar. The important thing here is that, like the Frequency Method, the top set of the ladder is not yet at the point where the last rep is extremely difficult. The idea here is accumulating a day’s worth of volume in a short period of time; therefore the sets need to be relatively easy in order to make it through the ladder.
One can do ladders five to six times per week. The work is more concentrated than the work performed in Frequency Method sets since it is performed in one block of time instead of spread out throughout the day. This makes soreness and things like tendonitis (if they try to do too much too soon) an issue, especially for those just starting in this method.. It is important to gradually increase the work on these, and not make huge jumps in the amount of work being done per day/week. Start easy and add the days, reps and sets gradually.
A solid goal to strive for with Toe to Bar ladders is five ladders of five reps. That’s 75 reps in a very short amount of time.
“How long do I rest in between reps and ladders?”
The answer to this common question is the amount of time it would take a partner to complete the set that you just completed. Think of it like this, if you and I are doing a ladder tag-team partner style, you would knock out a rep and then I would follow suit. Your rest period would be while I was doing my work and vice versa. Maintain this pace throughout all of the ladders.If you can’t keep up then you are doing much work for that day anyway, so reduce the number of reps per ladder, or drop a ladder, in order to make it more manageable.
So if you’re doing this one by yourself you need to bring your imaginary friend along to help you pace yourself. Just make sure if you are doing this in a commercial gym or any other setting where you are not alone that you do not converse with your imaginary friend too loudly or people will think you’re weird.
“But what if I can’t do a toe to bar yet?
If the trainee can’t do a toe to bar, then the first order of business is getting them the ability to do a toe to bar. Go back to the strength work and kipping technique until you can get a few.
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2015 04 28