YORDAN STANCHEV | Planche, Recovery & Injuries | Interview | The Athlete Insider Podcast #48
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You're capable of more things than you can ever imagine when i started i was really limited in my heart i was underestimating myself a lot it was one of the biggest reason to don't really respect faster in this sport in the beginning yoga rules welcome to the athlete insider podcast by GORNATION my name is phil and today's guest is an impressive statics athlete an impressive planche one of the most one of the strongest planches in the world i'm happy to welcome you to the show you're done sanchez from bulgaria thanks for that deal welcome and hi everyone we had some some tries in the beginning to um yeah do the introduction right um i'm happy that we're finally uh we're finally gone with the interview and so we can kick off with the question how do you present yourself at least we made it in the end to introduce myself okay um my name is jordan sanchez um a calisthenics athlete obviously and um yeah i'm trying to train people online whenever i have the opportunity uh sometimes i attend some competitions to judge yeah so everything has started long ago 10 years of experience right now yeah a lot of time and i hope this thing will continue many more years because that's a big part of my lifestyle and it's a bit more part of my life so that's for me well that's already a cool introduction something that i directly want to ask you said you attend competitions as a judge right now you don't compete anymore or maybe in the future again no i would like to compete again but only static competitions because i had to rethink again for what type of competitions i should attend because some people know but i have a herniated disc as diagnostic so when i make something which is really dynamic in in the same mean of the world some kind of root move to the body and myospine is feeling everything so the statics is a little bit more comfortable to play with and my strength is there okay and there there aren't so many competitions that only do statics right there is burning gate which is one statics competition yeah one of them but still hadn't any chance to go there because in 2018 they invited me but in the same time there was a world cup in moscow so everything was already done so i couldn't attend there okay okay yeah then uh the hard facts people always ask this how old are you i am 22 years old 22 how heavy uh like how tall first how do uh meter and 83 for okay and how heavy right now right now i think 72 72 kg okay cool so quite quite tall for for a calisthenics athlete like for statics athlete um definitely um which makes it even more impressive but we will come to this later again concerning the height tell us the story how did you get in touch with the sport how was your first touch point with it what were your goals in the beginning my first touch with the sport was in 2011 like i said 10 years ago there were some bulgarian guys back then the name of their team was explosive force crew so they made the first competition in bulgaria a video a one big video of competition in sofia but i'm not living in sofia so i just saw it 3d network then i realized before even to start with street workout i was training uh science science really young age because i had my first computer really uh later uh no internet nothing and if i was bored i was doing just push-ups in my room and that was something i used to love to do i had two of them both i was making a bite subscribers also but just this uh basic just this basics and uh that was um during the years and when i was 11 years old just before to uh make 12 years old i saw these guys and i was okay probably that is the thing i'm supposed to do because before to start with street workout i try to attend to the fitness but i'm living in a really small city and my mom found that and she said to me you're too young to go to the fitness and science i know you you put really heavy weights to start with i won't be i won't become um knowing you're attending there because you may affect your health so uh driving something else okay then i found uh there is something like parkour she wasn't happy again i was climbing the height buildings in my city again so we're thinking though and i was like okay see this and i'm showing uh a videos of muscle ups back then because that was the main level uh muscle ups front lever uh back lever there was no plunge back then um i mean that's a massive sport that's a massive move and she said okay it seems it seems legit okay and uh years later she is regretting that i guess because of the injuries or why yeah bailey okay wow so um yeah interesting so the pakur if if your mother would have been like more tolerant let's call it or like uh less less careful you you would have ended maybe as a professional uh i don't know lifter or even parkour guy i guess so but she's a caring mother so i can't blame her that's cool um yeah what was your goal in the beginning did you like you already said uh that there was no planche really back in the days um back uh the level like was much much lower but what was your goal was it the muscle up that you wanted to learn was it to get a physique or what was it um i was just working for the skills notice my physical i mean yeah i was uh aiming a bit for my physic but uh it was more for the skill i was trying uh both in the same time but moreover for excuse um in the beginning i was i mean for the muscle ups before to start with any front lever i went through all the kind of muscle ups i mean except for the one arm muscle up i went from this grip the x-grip this grip this white uh whatever it's in your mind i have done it already uh and then first i tried with front lever i understood it's harder than the back lever so i went back into the back lever but indeed i uh i've got front lever faster than the back lever which was something strange i don't know how probably more attempts because i was training more on the on this logic more attempts and back then less basics for the element itself so yeah the element for which you're putting more efforts it will go in front of the other skills so in the beginning i was aiming only for the front lever when i saw the planche i was like [ __ ] no way no way to do that and yeah i started to try it many times many many months um but if i if i have to start again from nothing i will do it in in weeks not not in months the the planche yeah the plunge once you understand it it's easy okay so maybe you can share one or two secrets today uh we'll see but uh yeah wow that's that's uh that's impressive um when you say like when you understand the planche is it the the physics behind it or like the training method that you need what do you mean with when you understand the planche uh it's really complex you think um a lot of things are gathering uh during your journey to achieve the planche uh it's a lot of motivation yeah in the beginning is the motivation when you go close to the planche in your opinion only there comes the despair a bit then you try to think more what you have missed what you have to do next and just by eliminating your mistakes and finding your opportunities everything comes to its place so mainly mentality with a lot of thinking about the movement okay hard work also yeah yeah i can imagine um so how long did it take from the first workout ever let's like a street workout since you get to know the sport to the first planche hold 2011 to 2014. i guess three years from the first muscle up to the plunge yeah okay so um yeah let's jump into maybe some advice that you can give generally uh i know that you like that you also create like personalized plans for for athletes uh which is something that maybe one or like some of the listeners are interested in but uh general advice because we received a lot of questions yeah ask him what's the what's the good way to learn the plan uh planche secrets you know like but some some general advice some general information input that you can give the listeners and me of course about the plans well everyone is a different approach is suitable for different people many people should know that also for some guys it's better to understand the planche move by a tech plunge progression personally i haven't learned the planche by this way but i learned it throughout leans on a plunge lens because for example if i put my legs on some place like my shoulders hate on the same place my like my shoulders hate um i'm feeling uh i'm feeling the hate on for which my hates for which my legs should stay and uh then my muscle memory activates so uh my body is remembering the exactly position for which i'm trying to simulate the planche and then i'm trying to activate muscle by muscle and to think is this uh is this joining in the planche i mean um do you feel this muscle directly when you do a planche attempt and i'm trying to make the same thing but with plunge links because it's way more faster and it's easier to understand where to apply muscle pressure in your body i mean that was my way uh some other guys may may be easier for them if they use rubber bands as i said many guys dot it with only uh the planche progression but that was my way for everyone is different wow and along the way did you ever feel that your height was a disadvantage i had this movement um actually when i started i was around 15 centimeters smaller but i was training mainly outside in the beginning so i was doing calling muscle ups and with all this hanging on the bar probably it affected my body to grow a little bit so yeah sometimes it's i feel it because it's like to uh tie a stick with the weights on your on your legs and to say uh let's go to do the plunge because uh your uh the lever of your body will go a lot uh backwards and you uh you need to lean more which will require an extra strength yeah makes sense and did you ever lose motivation like uh that you said uh uh i'm doing parkour i'm too tall for for uh aesthetics uh for that no for that no in the very beginning i mean in the first four years i haven't lost any kind of motivation i was hyped as hell in every workout in every workout no exception but later when i was aiming to do this with a professional purpose one day um and when injury started to appear and like for the last year when i had to stop six times in one year just you train two months and then you stop month and stop month and stop oh there's no way to don't lose motivation but i'm trying to take myself there do you know like in in retrospective nowadays do you know what what was the mistake why did you have all these injuries was it like genetics or was it a bad training approach or something else many things so i was training um first of all alone with no other guys alone in the city i mean that's not an excuse to don't research internet internet it's a it's a big space for any kind of information you can find everything but um there comes another factor uh you're too um how to say um you're confident in yourself and you want to um reach all the knowledge by your own and i'm still like that in some perspective which is a bad habit uh i truly trust in some kind of information and i want to find it by myself that's why if somebody wants to know something from me it's uh really hard to give something for free anymore because it costs me really a lot for my health and yeah many people should know that uh when someone is reaching a high level in something there is something behind it yeah that's definitely something that's uh like i i feel like it's evolving in in street workouts so like um people are more and more appreciating or seeing that uh like they can't get every question answered for free because uh the the athletes that are at the high level they also have to make space behind beside their real work or uh coaching is their work and so they they also have to pay their lifestyle with it since when are you offering the the plans and the coaching sites one i think it was in 2019 if i'm not mistaken and your goal was to um because like i i can imagine you get a lot of questions when i see the questions that people asked from to to ask you about the planche about uh the injuries and nutrition and everything i can imagine that you get a lot of questions like was it the step um that you said yeah um i want to make this my profession or is it uh the goal that you what is your goal with with the coaching and with the with your lifestyle with the coaching my goal is one day to have my own gym and to um to accept many people which have uh i really desire to learn something because um i've been trying everything almost everything i mean there is uh no way some guy to try everything but almost everything from dynamics to statics and i was deeply analyzing everything so i really can't help or if i can't there is uh something better even than the experience the the way to know how to observate how to look at the people movement and to tell their mistakes because you're already into this part from long ago and you would know what are the most common mistakes in every exercise also not only this but um yeah i want to continue but uh with a bigger auditory also i want to back in some workshops not awesome i i want to visit and really make different countries i mean i don't want i don't really want to stop with this that's what they want to do oh that's cool if you would be like um if you could talk to your uh 2011 um self like what would you say what would you tell him to do differently one of the things will be obviously please warm up definitely because many years i really skipped this and i don't know to make experiments with my health anymore so warm up was definitely one reason why you you're you suffered under under the the hardest reasons yes okay something else something else you're capable of more things than you can ever imagine another thing because when i started i was really limited in my heart i was seeing many people doing some things i wasn't able to do and if they trained from long ago uh in my head was i'm supposed to train uh even longer than them to achieve that yeah i was underestimating myself a lot yes it was um one of my uh one of the biggest reason to uh don't really respect faster in the sport in the beginning did you like more over train or did you would you now tell yourself train more train train harder about that so in the beginning i was over training a lot really a lot um in the first two years two years not months it was years it was like i'm finishing with school i'm going to the bars i'm there until the night back home oh with with friends in the beginning yes there was um it was interesting for them to see some new things uh something they can try but later they can see it took many efforts to achieve something um so one by one there you go because they didn't have the the high ambitions and the high goals and also the motivation that you had yes yes they're not ready to give the same the same amount of efforts i i have given because they see my determination and they're not ready for that and that's um that's really impressive because um i think it also needs a lot of the dedication to continue the the sport if like your friends uh say it's too much for me or something um it takes dedication to stay with it and uh yeah but it's something that's like i see a lot of times that um in the beginning when the motivation is high like you really tend to over train like a lot of beginners and their joints aren't ready their tendons aren't ready um so they go go in too too much yeah indeed my preparation exercises are required in the beginning before any element you're aiming for so in the in the first year if somebody's really starting from from let's say nothing like a normal uh fitness level uh of a young young guy how of how often does it make sense to train per week until his body is adapting to the pressure and but the lifestyle of the calisthenics i guess two or three times per week yeah and and not the six or seven times per week that a lot of people are doing it sure like me in the beginning yeah i think like like i don't know like and this is where tendonitis comes from like uh shoulder pain wrist pain like everything like um yeah but the stranges i didn't have any 10 units back then i have it now oh okay when i warm up and uh i'm trying to do properly everything what well yeah that's that's maybe the mystery of the body is that something like this comes ten years after or when the body is saying no i don't want anymore um because also like chicken wing muscle ups like i see people doing the the chicken wing muscle ups and they say yeah it doesn't hurt but i think like yeah but in three five four years something it will hurt if you have like the disbalance in your shoulders so like the body is telling you uh you have tortured me enough stop yeah yeah it's a warning signal true um yeah let's talk about injuries um you already talked about the herniated discs what what injuries did you have along the way and what what did you learn from them okay the first injury was in 2013 in the end of 2013. it wasn't from any static move but i was trying some kind of dynamics you know when you are spinning around the bar just with some kind of wristbands around your wrist and the bar the giant right uh but i wasn't with the most suitable bands for this purpose it was elastic and at one rate uh it just stuck while i was spinning around and yeah my finger just remaining i mean it uh it didn't cut from my arm but there was a big hole right there well that's insane and in uh in a matter of seconds i saw how the car is changing okay that was the first thing um and no dynamics anymore that's it no and i continued after that with the lyrics but after that i said okay i won't use bar for for a certain time and i will um concentrate on planche for now so they removed the blaster from my arm but the finger was still not in condition to train and i mean especially for planche on the ground because back then i still uh didn't have any powerlets in my home so i was supposed to train on the ground but for plunge many pressure was there exactly in this point where i broke my finger so i started directly with motifs without to be able to do a straddle planche and here i'm answering to the next of the question yes you can do multis without to do a full planche because the things are not so strictly related and you are working more on different muscles which are um more for uh your weight uh for the width of the planche so i was starting directly for maltese and back then uh with the time i was training both launching motifs in the same time when my finger recovered i didn't want to waste any time because i was already aiming for the competitions and yeah no time as i said in my opinion okay the next um injury was because of a pure stupidity how to say it imagine a distance uh six meters um like um hygiene from a place with the same hate like my desk there was a ground from below and i was supposed to grab a bar from this distance okay i grabbed the bar but i couldn't remain dropped for the bar so i fell on the ground and um okay my leg was still bent and i directly fell on my leg and it just cracked i mean if you imagine you're like uh in this position like like it's normal uh it was like for the gymnastics move in this position yeah and i my weight just fell on it uh at least it was only a lack so i continued with statics at the same time okay recovered that was the second injury the next injury was i think from from backflip yeah again the same leg but on a higher place so i was supposed to do nothing for one month because um i had only to lay because i broke this tight bone the most hard bone to break in the wall body i broke it and if they had to make me a surgery they had to uh break my spine i mean there just to make the surgery so i was so i was supposed to only to lay in my bed and to go to the toilet luckily uh i just had the exams for to finish the school so i was focusing only on the string yeah and that's i think that i think are the main injuries wow so you don't really like your legs um as it as it sounds like it sounds like that yes yeah but uh like i i respect that you can laugh about that um and uh like it really sounds like like bad things but um yeah it seems that you're like you're not mad at yourself or something you can learn something from the bad situations more than from the good ones true yeah that's true that's a good attitude um yeah training schedule people asked what does your training look like today how does your schedule look like it really depends because that's it i'm trying to um switch between between uh light and uh height intensive workout uh and heavy workouts i mean kite intensified heavy in one and i'm remaining one day in the week for basics also for uh the wall body uh legs pull ups dips everything um if i um do only a light workout uh i'm trying to do a preparation of exercises for the for the next heavy workout sometimes it's right in the next day sometimes i'm it over i i may overdid it so i'm doing one day of pulse and then is the heavy workout usually i train approximately four or five times per week right now and yeah that's it okay what do you think of complete d-load weeks um that was also a question of tweaks depending from the athlete i i have never done that back up to girls so like you are not doing completely load weeks what you're doing like light workouts right exactly and the the reason of the light workouts is active recovery or like what's what's the main purpose of a light workout it's mainly to um it's mainly to stretch my tendons and muscles before before the main load in the next workouts okay okay um yeah diet what does your diet look like do you eat a healthy um yeah um about eating quilty most of the time yes because i'm living in a small city as i said and here we have an opportunity to produce a natural food by our own so yeah our food in my family which we're eating every day it's most of all natural so i don't need any kind of diets because of that also genetics it's really hard for me to gain any kind of weight even with the protein i'm using it no effects i'm trying it with different methods still nothing or if i see something there is there is a case when i have to travel and so again something about myself i have a really nervous damage and when i travel it uh refuse to take any kind of food so yeah the topic with the eating for me it's really difficult okay i always admire like um the the people who eat like the the self-grown food or like uh food like vegetables etc from from really from the landscape because like uh we're in a city here and you always only get uh the tomatoes which uh taste like water and like everything and like when i when when you go like to a landscape and you eat like fresh vegetables from real ground i would say uh they they taste like something and do you think at least yeah do you think this makes a big uh big difference in in minerals and like in nutrition values because they grow in uh natural conditions while uh you don't know how it's produced the other thing yeah when you say like you live in a small city what does small mean how many inhabitants does it have around six thousand people in the city so six stars and how far are you away from from sofia 260 kilometers okay bulgaria is a lot because our roads are are not in the great condition so okay so you're not like uh are you regularly visiting the the guys in the in the gym like they're like the the people from sofia uh i thought i'm going uh more often sofia because uh i visited my girlfriend and we're seeing each other really rare and that's the main reason why i'm going to sofia okay cool yeah um and you have your dogs like uh i always see them in in your stories they are they are really young right uh puppies well that's cool that's uh something that's really cool also if you live like uh in a small city where you have some space for them that's uh that's really cool they're afraid the garden is devastated yeah um coming back to nutrition you said that you take a protein like in general your your opinion about about supplements about supplements in my case they're mainly helping because because of my fast metabolism i can't rely a lot of a lot to the food because i have fun extremely fast metabolism no matter how much i eat there is no matter and no matter is it a junk food or uh just uh just sweets no it's nothing okay so like um if i can can sum that up already in your interview it's really planche advice um recovery advice like uh injuries etc like everything how you say it depends on the person so yeah like really somebody who is looking individually at every um athlete that you have in coaching or like as a friend and you have to to um yeah see what fits for everybody so is it true that your general advice for somebody wanting to improve as a human being in calisthenics etc really to test a lot of things to find his the the right method for himself let it be nutritious yes uh for the nutritionist currently no i'm making only this um the routines only just with exercises in them but um yeah before to make anything uh i'm asking the uh people to send me a video with the element which they want to improve or they want to learn and based on that i am i'm starting to think what it's mostly more suitable for them in what proportions like sets and traps because there is not any universal program for any people you cannot give the same thing to everyone that's that's not a lot my personal opinion yeah totally understandable um when you see when you look into the future where do you see the the future of our sport where do you see the the future of calisthenics and street workout i think there is a big future in calisthenics actually because it's a really free sport with many different alternatives a lot of knowledge is already the internet you can do everything by your own you can learn everything by your own or there are already a lot of experienced athletes um in different uh ends of the world if we can say it like that um and uh straight workout can be connected with many different sports because for example i was trying to combine kick kickboxing with street workout also and because the coach there is my uncle in the city and seeing seeing some different exercises how he's structuring the exercise one after another i mean one want to be extremely quick just to keep your breath and to keep the endurance and the another part in the cemex are guys just to uh just to keep this your strain to increase by its own naturally i was thinking about that and trying to implement the same thing about my programs and to try like to make super sets like not superstars like combos with basics but combining straight and interesting one yeah that's true like um that's what i like about calisthenics and street robot as well it's a really functional sport it will help you um in combat sports uh as you said uh when you need like explosive strength or like the the straight arm strength is also uh helpful in a lot of sports so um yeah definitely um what are your goals uh this year what can we expect from you this year stay healthy and no injuries that's the main goal um like for achievements with uh on your skills um i'm doing in process okay cool yeah we're coming to an end of the interview we still have some quick questions quick answers at the end what do you prefer pizza or burger pizza maybe a bad question but are you a dog or a cat person dark um do you have a favorite location for holidays or somewhere that you definitely want to go malty in maltese i mean um something uh personally for me i hit the c if someone is saying holy um they say let's go to the scene no i get it two or three that is okay but wow okay uh yeah what are some athletes that inspire you in your workouts and your motivation i mean one by one through the timeline or just one no if you have a few a timeline is good okay someone noga is from bulgaria who currently they're not training one bake off is one of them then um zev zakarelli when i saw him his videos can go for king also next um it was nikita nissimov and vladimir saptov from russia the end myself cool cool um do you have a favorite book that you want to recommend third book no i think um you can take information from many different sources so um from any source you can find something just one from any other source you can find something more useful but more of more of the things i'm finding it's a lot of just information just to be there okay um do you have a favorite movie favorite movie will be easier if i say an anime but okay um favorite movies uh never back down for example went and disputed okay never back down and undisputed okay um yeah last question uh for the favorite thing uh favorite song right now do you have one favorite song favorite song there's so many [ __ ] let's say the unguided um legendary for example okay um the best calisthenics event you've ever visited in 2010 won the competition in bulgaria but which it wasn't like international but for us it was something really great because uh if we do a lot of statics if you're one of the um you're if you're one from the one of the countries with the best athletics in the world yeah in your country would be that event okay that's something that i also wrote down why does bulgaria have so many strong athletes well what do you think is it like is it the culture is it the genetics is it uh the the mindset the hard working mentality what is it i think uh my sense the mindset moreover then everything goes um i remember when i started um so um at the first competition when i went i was seventh from 38 participants but i wanted to do it better so in the next competition i was uh second with uh chances for the first place but yeah that's another topic um we have a really strong sense for uh to be competitive there okay cool and the last question for this interview what's your message to the calisthenics community what do you want to tell the listeners what are the listeners okay um i would like to say um everyone is different and uh don't try to be a copy of someone else try to find your own style and to develop it even if you don't know your strong sides there are such a sides so just trying to find them and try to try to work only uh not only on them but and to your weaknesses as well because if you want to compete for example on a statics competition uh there is something like completeness for which judges are judges are looking for another thing um from don't be a copy it's um courage the other guys were trying to make something which for them it's something big i mean don't try to discourage them because i'm seeing a lot of comments in the instagram network and when someone is trying to reach something and he's trying to make the better of himself and they're like no that's not think uh here this this this but that it's not a um constructive way to say to the people how to fix uh their way of training how to fix uh their elements uh they're just trying to to push them back and when i see some kind of comments i'm trying to to take part in the comments and to say look this is not right and you please try to avoid try to avoid this because we're trying to be a big family after all but yeah sometimes that's not happening sure sure if i can add something to that because it's also something that is really really important for me uh not only personally but like also with coronation is um that i really feel that some people also take the the perfect form thing too serious and like that they hate too much on on the form of somebody and like um people are not allowed to post something with training form or something from from their workouts something spontaneous anymore because everybody is feared that he will now be hated because of the form it also goes a little bit into this direction of what you just said but i think this is something that can really slow down the the growth of our sport if the family is not holding together but there is the they they tear apart by the forum by the hate by making fun of beginners because everybody started it somehow i think like um your muscle ups in the beginning also didn't uh always look that clean mine neither so like it's really important that you respect that and that's you said that perfectly do this perfectly from the very from the very beginning but um that's only you said the form yeah that's one really interesting because some guys are trying to put some standard for the form at all but there is not something like a standard i mean this uh freestyle this free sport um you shouldn't put the standard or something like that okay protraction okay protraction is useful okay i i cannot disagree uh you have better control uh easier presses and it's easier for a longer combo okay but uh you cannot say your planche it's not clean for example because i might not like the hollow body for example i made like another form but that doesn't mean i can do it i just don't like it everyone has his own preferences that's it i think you summed it up perfectly fine um that's something that um i'm really happy that you talked about it because as i said it's something that's really important if we want to grow the sport if we want to make it uh even bigger and like um allow more people to to live from it to um be able to work on it full-time etc etc and this is something that just slows it down and um yeah as you said like um the sport is quite young still and there are people like putting standards um for the planche form and set etc and yeah i mean you said it so um yeah you're on um how can people get in touch with you how can they where can they find you we will put all the links in the description but um you can find me in my uh instagram profile your last dungeon and um via my email which it's uh right on in my um instagram profile also and with facebook cool that's perfect we will put all the links in the description below also if somebody is interested in getting his individual plan from you to um be able to progress faster and to have somebody who is like um looking from the outside and to make sure that somebody's not over training that somebody is progressing right um you also do a video analysis right um yeah if some if somebody it's um not able to understand everything by its own by um everything i wrote in the rotin yeah we're making a video goes cool sounds really nice thanks a lot for your time i really appreciated it and uh thanks a lot for all the insights that you that you gave for the injuries for the planche for your planche um yeah progressions that were for you that's also something that i um never thought about which definitely makes sense um so overall really insightful interview thanks a lot and yeah before you can end the episode you're done i want to say thank you to everyone listening to this till the end it's been an interview again around an hour and i'm always super happy if somebody is listening to this till the end so big big thank you to you listening to this and if you want to support the series we are super happy if you give it a thumbs up and yeah apart from that stay healthy and you're done you can have the last words uh first of all thanks for the opportunity to invite me to talk to a few really appreciate that thanks like you said to everyone who is for watching this video and yeah i'm glad i was there to talk with you.