So here’s another fundamental exercise you should be practicing on a regular basis to build core stability for handstands and other balances and holds – the hollow body plank hold.

Key points to remember:

1. Tuck your head slightly
2. Round your back
3. Squeeze your legs and butt, and keep your heels together

OK, so maybe it’s not that poetic after all, but it is a great exercise for developing strength-endurance and stability in the core. This isn’t just an “ab exercise” – it works the back, the glutes, the quads, and shoulders if done properly according to the instructions above.

Plus this into your routine regularly and you’ll definitely notice a difference.

Core Stability

You may be wondering why we put so much emphasis on these holds when there are so many others who advocate a variety of complicated-looking ab exercises. Simply put: where the core is concerned, stability is fundamental.

Learning to engage the core in a variety of positions is important if we want to be able to move freely and with control, but that facility rests on the foundation we build with static holds. and if you’re wanting to learn how to perform tricks like handstands, front and back levers, or the planche (which all feature a fully locked core), you’re going to need to develop exceptional stability in these holds.

As in everything we practice, there’s a continuum at play here, but we highly recommend focusing your initial efforts on the basics like hollow body plank.

It’s completely natural that you’d have some discomfort in the beginning. After all, you’re probably not used to supporting your weight on your hands. You’ll need to spend some time strengthening the joints. The following video shows the basic warmups we like to do ourselves before training, and that we want our clients and seminar attendees to do as well.

Strain on the wrists and hands with weight-bearing work on the ground and on the parallettes can be pretty common.  But it doesn’t mean you just have to grit your teeth and bear it!  With proper warm up work and form, you can adequately prepare your upper extremities for your training, and not have to suffer any joint aches and pains.

The exact repetition count isn’t very important, it’s more about how you feel when you do the movements.  You’ll know when its enough, and if you need to put more weight through your hands or less. As always, if you have persistent pain, get it checked out by a medical professional.

Give these movements a try before your workouts, your wrists, elbows, and shoulders will thank you for it!

But then reality sets in.

We get a lot of questions at GMB from people who want to learn various skills – the handstand, the planche, the iron cross, etc. – asking us how long it will take to nail the move. And more often than not, we can’t give them an easy answer. That’s because we’re all on our own unique journeys, and we come into training with different backgrounds and skill/strength levels.

Taking a quick snapshot of you holding a cool trick for one second is one thing – being able to perform that trick beautifully and have full mastery of that movement is another.

Difficult maneuvers don’t appear in your skill repertoire overnight – they take time to develop, and we all have to start somewhere. However, the process to nailing a tricky movement doesn’t have to be a painful one. There are three key elements that can speed up the process.

The 3 Key Elements to Nailing A Tricky Move

1. Motivation – You simply have to want it bad enough to keep working at it.
2. Coaching – Unless you’re some kind of genius, you’ll learn faster with skilled coaching.
3. Practice – The un-sexy and difficult process of just doing the work.

For the fastest progress, you’ll need all three working together. And if you’ve got the motivation, our GMB programs will provide the coaching and practice you need to build extremely solid basics – it simply comes down to your willingness to do the hard work, even after the “new” wears off.

It’s all about setting a firm goal, getting solid advice, and then buckling down and making it happen.

There’s no secret formula, and there’s no magic pill you can take that will help you to get a particular trick overnight. Find the desire, find a good coach, and make sure that you take the proper amount of time to practice.

How long is it going to take? It depends. Focus on those three things, make sure you have fun with it, and you will be successful.

Got the Motivation? Willing to Practice?

If so, you’re two-thirds of the way to learning the skills you want in the shortest time possible, and when you’re ready to take it all the way, we’ll be here to provide the guidance and support you need.

Coaching alone can’t make up for a lack of motivation, and we can’t promise results if you aren’t willing to put in the effort and follow the programs. But if you can hold up your end of the bargain, GMB is here to support your progress and teach you how to build skills and learn tricks in the fastest way possible.

Do your joints sound like a bowl of your kid's favorite cereal?

Should I be concerned about the popping sound / clicking / noise from my joints? What’s happening there?

There are many types of sounds elicited during the many motions we engage our bodies in, whether in specific exercise, or simply getting up in the morning.

Depending on who you ask, these joint noises should either be avoided like the plague, glossed over, or sought after like the Holy Grail. So, which is it?

Truthfully, it’s very difficult to say with great accuracy what’s happening, though experienced fitness and health professionals can make quality inferences. (Needless to say, the accuracy significantly diminishes if we’re not present to both hear and feel the sounds as they are happening). That’s why it’s important for you to have an understanding of these noises, so you can determine whether it warrants a visit to your doctor or physical therapist.

Hey now, what’s that sound?

Perhaps the most common sound that people think of when they talk about how their body “pops,” is cavitation. The traditional explanation for the sound of “knuckles cracking” is the change in pressure of the synovial fluid in a joint.

A joint capsule surrounds all synovial joints and is a “closed” system filled with fluid, so any deformation would cause a change in pressure. Natural pockets of gas within the joint form a bubble and quickly collapses causing the sound. This is why you can’t crack your knuckles again immediately after you have done it once. It takes approximately 20 minutes for the gas to reabsorb. Any synovial joint from your knuckles, elbows, spinal joints, and down to your ankles, can be “popped.”

As for the other sounds, repetitive “clicks” could be connective tissue out of its proper alignment or cartilaginous tissue damage such as torn meniscal flaps or other chondral tissue damage. It could also be a large nerve out of alignment as well, a common one is the ulnar nerve (inside of the elbow) which slips in/out the groove when you bend and straighten the elbow.

This is pretty common in people and isn’t too much of a concern, especially if there is no pain.

I’ve had patients tell me of other kinds of popping and “ripping” that occurs suddenly, with pain and subsequent swelling and bruising. This is probably scar tissue tearing, and depending on the situation it can be beneficial or problematic.

The “clunk” sound is an interesting phenomenon. Often felt as a shift, and which may or may not accompany the louder pop. It’s often described as distinct from the “regular pop” that people describe, but it actually may be the same phenomenon, just louder and more noticeable. It might be a true subluxation, in which the joint is off axis, and a particular movement shifts it back on axis. If this is true, than these sounds occur in what I would classify as unstable joints and the ones most in need of exercise training to strengthen and improve motor control. This happens often in people that have repeated injuries in one area, or long term chronic issues.

Why does it feel good when a joint pops?

(Beware, lots of big words ahead).

Like we mentioned above when one of your joints is stretched beyond a certain point, the joint capsule is distended and you can hear a pop or clunk. This stretch on the capsule stimulates Type III joint mechanoreceptors which cause a relaxation of surrounding muscles around the joint. So, if you had sensations of feeling stiff and tight, the ease and looseness you feel after the pop is probably because of this phenomenon. Another theory is that natural painkillers (endogenous opiates) are released, thus the good feeling after someone cracks your back. These can be quite addictive and this is why many people keep cracking their back or keep going to see someone that will do it for them.

Whoa. That was a lot of technical jargon – it’s okay though, we’re done with that and you handled it like a champ. 

Are you guilty of obsessive knuckle cracking?

Good, bad, ugly?

A very relevant question is whether this should be repeated, or even performed at all.

The usual warnings condemn your joints to arthritis, instability, or other such damage. Well, if  it happens with regular movement and not forced, it’s a moot point. It’s not controllable, and most likely you aren’t doing yourself any damage. However, repeated high force motions may not be the best thing to do to yourself.

So don’t do that.

It is a very big debate whether repetitive cracking of normal joints leads to damage and dysfunction, and the scientific research isn’t conclusive at all. But it is plausible to think that continual overstretching at the joint can impair motor control, and it is well known that repetitive abnormal stretching can lead to increased inflammation.

Another common phenomenon is for these noises to change over a period of time. They can become louder, more frequent, less frequent, be accompanied by pain, or suddenly become pain free. This is probably because angles of pull and axes of motion can change with increased/decreased muscle strength and flexibility, and with other physical body tissue changes.

It’s very common for noises to appear and disappear during the course of an exercise program as your body changes and adapts to the activities.

Take Home Points

So, here’s what you should remember:

• If the noise isn’t accompanied by pain, don’t worry too much. If there is consistent pain though, go get it checked out!
• If it happens from normal movement, it’s probably not a bad thing.
• However, it’s probably not a good idea to continually force that sound (i.e. repetitive cracking of knuckles), even if it produces a “good sensation.”
• Keep track of how your body feels (and sounds!) as you progress in your exercise regimen.
• There’s nothing wrong with moving and stretching out, just don’t be forceful or overdo it, especially if you aren’t warmed up.

Want More In-Depth Articles?

Know anybody whose joints make noises best reserved for breakfast cereal? Be sure to use the Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ buttons below to forward this article and share it with anyone who can use it.

Image via Amy Loves Yah and davco9200

A Fresh, New Challenge, Every Month

We’ve been talking a lot lately about challenges and goals, and how big life changes are easier to implement when you have a support network to encourage you and hold you accountable.

Today, we’d like to feature our Alpha Posse (GMB’s version of the A-Team) – an example of a great support network to help you implement the big changes in your life and drop your old detrimental habits.

The Alpha Posse Monthly Challenge

One of the Seven+1 Awesome Privileges of Alpha Posse membership is the opportunity to participate in GMB’s Monthly Challenges.

Each month, Ryan, Jarlo, and Andy get together and create a complete mini training routine to get our members closer to mastery of a particular movement. Then they throw down the gauntlet.

Members submit videos to show their progress and get feedback from the coaches. There’s a bit of friendly competition between our Alpha Posse members, but mostly everyone just cheers each other on and keeps each other moving forward.

Challenge Winners (aka our heroes)

So far, we’ve had eight Monthly Challenges, and each month, we choose a winner who demonstrates the most improvement. Here are the winners so far:

Challenge 1: Pull-Ups – Lodroe Tsering

Just a typical day for Lo'. Impressed? Yeah, we are too!

Here’s what Lodroe had to say:

Pull-ups have never really been part of my regular training, I just added them in whenever I felt like it. Needless to say I didn’t get very far.
So when the GMB team came up with pull-ups as challenge of the month and provided a solid training routine (with prep, warmup, and compensation exercises!) I jumped right in and followed the program.

The extra motivation coming from the challenge helped me to stick to my pull-up training and to give it my best. So within a couple of weeks they greatly improved and I still do them regularly now. So thanks GMB – and keep the challenges coming.

Challenge 2: Arm Levers – James Mulnix

This was an awesome challenge because almost everyone was able to get the basic skill at some level. The classic double arm lever (as demonstrated by Lodroe, above) looks impressive, but it isn’t as hard as it looks.

At least, not on two hands…

James blew us away with a super-clean double-arm level and some really close attempts at the single-arm version.

Challenge 3: Muscle-Ups – Kevin Lee

Kevin nailed the muscle-ups. Clean technique, consistent power through the sticking point. Great work.

He also made some incredible progress through our Floor One program, and this video montage impresses us every time.

Challenge 4: L-Sits – Amy Wolff

Amy rocks our latest shirt design - The official GMB Alpha Posse shirt!

Here’s Amy’s feedback on the challenge:

I won the L-sit challenge. I started the challenge at ground zero, first of all not knowing what an L-sit was and further more not being able to lift my bottom off the floor.

Throughout the month I practiced using the prescribed coaching tips which really broke down the components so as to incrementally progress into the movement. I was never really able to hold the L-sit but I did achieve lift off with my hands in a fist position, a tuck, and shoot my legs into the L position. And all this just within a single month!

Today, a few months later I am able to do this with my hands flat and I know that with time, and dedication to practice (and patience), I’ll be able to progress further.

Amy’s persistence and hard work enabled her to make extreme progress from zero experience to achieving the right form and building up to this difficult movement. That’s not the only accomplishment Amy achieved – have you read about the time she conquered her paleo diet challenge during the holidays while fighting world hunger?! Incredible.

Challenge 5: Daily Battery

The GMB Daily Battery is a super-secret routine we unleashed on Alpha Posse for a month of testing, and they loved it. In short, the Battery is a short, simple routine done daily to get the day started right, without too much intensity, without boredom, and in about the same amount of time it takes to brew a pot of coffee.

This wasn’t a “normal” Monthly Challenge in that there wasn’t a winner, but we like to keep things interesting. We’ll likely be telling you more about the Daily Battery in the semi-near future, but most of our Alpha members are using it every morning.

Challenge 6: Handstands – Gina Wang

Gina is awesome, and if you have a chance go say hello to her in the forums or on our Facebook page. You’ll find her doing all sorts of inspiring things like enrolling in to circus school (yes, CIRCUS SCHOOL), or maintaining a daily gratitude blog (and reminding us all that we have plenty to be thankful for).

Right now, she’s following Amy’s lead and taking on a month-long paleo diet challenge, and oh yeah, she’s training for the Spartan Race in March in Vancouver (it sounds intense).

Challenge 7: Bent Arm Stands – Mikey Killingback

This is Mikey's "approachable and un-intimidating" face.

Mikey shares his experience:

This was the first time I had properly thrown myself at the monthly challenge – I was working through Parallettes One anyway, so it fitted in nicely for me. The video tutorial was very helpful, and the ongoing support and feedback on the forum was great too.

It was great to see how everyone progressed during the month, and it felt nice to know that we were all working towards the same goal. It’s just one of the many reasons that being in Alpha Posse kicks so much ass!

Challenge 8: Bridge – Nancy Murphy

Nancy kicked ass with this challenge. But that’s pretty normal for Nancy, because she’s an amazing woman with a killer sense of humor and wit.

She keeps everyone on their toes and motivates us all to keep working harder. Naturally, the Alpha Posse wouldn’t be the same without her, and Andy’s self-esteem would probably extend to dangerously high levels if she weren’t around to constantly make fun of his (numerous and egregious) typos.

Challenge 9: Jumping – ???

We can’t tell you who’s going to win this challenge yet, because it’s still going on. In January, Alpha is working on not only jumping higher and further, but with more control. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone reaching new heights with this one (ha… ha… terrible pun, sorry).

So who’s going to soar head and shoulders above the others? Will it be you? Why not? Get started today and let’s have some fun.

What Does Winning Get You?

Well, besides the respect and awe of the community, Alpha Challenge winners so far have all received a free GMB T-shirt to signify bragging rights.

But we’re upping the ante for 2012.

This year, in addition to a sweet GMB shirt, the winner of each month’s challenge gets to choose a charity they want to support, and we’ll make a donation in their name.

You know the GMB Team is into helping those in need, so this is just one more way to bring that core value back to community and remind ourselves that we all win when we use our strength in service of others.

Take The Alpha Challenge (and be part of the coolest team anywhere)

Does this sound like the team for you? We’re always welcoming new members. *Become a part of the Alpha Posse and find your place within our community of amazing, motivated, and supportive people (like Mikey, Amy, Nancy, Gina, James, Lodroe, Kevin, and a few dozen others). Alpha is not only our community of our closest clients, it’s a testing ground and idea factory for future GMB projects.

It’s also beginning to feel a lot like family.