SL/PE1 Arch Body Hold (ABH)

chobbs said:

Yeah. My point was, if you are tight in the hip flexor area, then it is a beneficial movement, but it comes well after you need it for building the ROM for SL/PE1. It is a vicious circle that you need the later mobility elements to address the ROM issues in the earlier PE movements.  Well, maybe not "need", but some sure seem like they would help.

 

This evening I experimented more with the isolated lifts - leaving my trunk on the floor this time and lifting solely with my legs. That was the most limited ROM movement I have done in a long time - my thighs barely clear the floor. I have a long, long road ahead of my for this one it seems.

 

- Chris

this actually worried me too, but seeing as how FL/PE5 is the equivalent of SL/PE1, we have 6 PE's and iM's to help compliment the reasonable development of ABH mobility aside from doing ABH itself, so it'll be fine. actually, since my workout on tuesday, when I bumped ABH down to week 1 and used maximum effort throughout the entire 12sec, i'm getting a distinct discomfort in my lower back while im out and about and i think it's from working the lower back in ABH. which i remember Fred talking about a while ago. 

Nick_EOD said:

... Coach, we are no longer friends because of this ...

I get that alot.  Allan and the guys were telling me something very similar at practice just this evening.  

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

I get that alot.  Allan and the guys were telling me something very similar at practice just this evening.  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

It's lonely at the top!

You guys are awesome ! 

chobbs said:

This evening I experimented more with the isolated lifts - leaving my trunk on the floor this time and lifting solely with my legs. That was the most limited ROM movement I have done in a long time - my thighs barely clear the floor. I have a long, long road ahead of my for this one it seems.

Turns out this movement I described is simply much harder than the actual ABH. I was trying to get an idea of how much of an issue my tight hip flexors actually were, but by isolating the movement I made the movement a bit too difficult leverage wise to complete reasonably. 

Since my video camera is being problematic at the moment, I had my wife observe my form on this one as a check-up tonight after doing some mobility work. Turns out I am much closer than I thought I was. My legs actually make it up to her knees (very precise measurement I know), and my shoulders are probably 3 inches lower. I was very surprised that my upper portion was the section lagging now. Hold times are down pretty low again (maybe 20-30s sets would be reasonable), but at least I feel like my form is getting there with all this extra attention I have been paying to my hip flexors.

Anybody who is questioning where they are at ... get somebody to watch you if you can't easily get yourself filmed.

- Chris

chobbs said:

(...) My legs actually make it up to her knees (very precise measurement I know), and my shoulders are probably 3 inches lower. (...)

HAHA, thanks for that Chobbs, I know what my problem is now ............ I need a shorter wife!   

C'mon guuuuuys, we've to conquer this PE whatever it takes!

Step by step!

3x24 to me. And back again week 1. 

hehehe, nice haircut Adriano Flo

Coach Sommer said:

Actually for those of you with zombie-like mobility (I honestly do not know how some of you manage to tie your shoes in the mornings!), there was an interesting list of 6-7 pre-preparatory elements mentioned not too long ago.  With a few adjustments I thought that the idea was intriguing enough to consider filming them for you guys and labeling the course "The Zombie Back Attack".  

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Can you please do this for us zombies?

I'm assuming this is the list you are referring to, originally posted by -MR in this thread:

SL/PE0.1: Arms: stretched back, pointing toward my feet. Legs: Straddled and flexed at the knees

SL/PE0.2: Same as above but with a rocking motion

SL/PE0.3: Arms: Stretched out to the sides (crucifix position). Legs: Together and flexed at the knees

SL/PE0.4: Same as SL/PE0.3 but with a rocking motion

SL/PE0.5: Arms: Stretched out diagonally forward (between crucifix and SL/PE1). Legs: Straddled and straight

SL/PE0.6: Same as SL/PE0.5 but with a rocking motion

SL/PE0.7: Same as SL/PE0.5 but in Superman Suit. 

the PE0.8 would be the same but with the superman theme in the background  

I'm at 4x40s and moving forward with this excersise, maybe not huge difference but my ROM is better and i'm not suffering much right now

Gray said:

SL/PE0.7: Same as SL/PE0.5 but in Superman Suit. 

 

the PE0.8 would be the same but with the superman theme in the background

 

I'm at 4x40s and moving forward with this excersise, maybe not huge difference but my ROM is better and i'm not suffering much right now

I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong 

Yes ABH is very difficult, but i believe, if you make it easier for yourself you will be decreasing the benefits obtained substantially. 

Im doing my first attempt at 4x60 tomorrow and i know i will be shaking,pulling faces, fighting to stay in good form for as long as possible, especially in the last sets, with all my might. If i fail,thats ok i worked as hard as i possible could. I will do the same next workout and if i fail i will still attempt to follow the cycle template as advocated by coach, up to the final deload week. If i didnt master ABH with pretty good form throughout, I will start back at week 9.

Simple's 

I think you just gotta grin and bare it for optimum improvement

Ignoring the fact that part of my arms ended up under the tablecloth, how's my form? 

I'm supposed to be on 4x36, but my body told me hell no!  Back to week one for me 

That's pretty good prinny

(unless of course if you are hanging your fingers from that table top... )

Rileyandrew29 said:

Im doing my first attempt at 4x60 tomorrow and i know i will be shaking,pulling faces, fighting to stay in good form for as long as possible, especially in the last sets, with all my might. If i fail,thats ok i worked as hard as i possible could.

That was me, Monday evening.  And I did fail in the 4th set.  Really not looking forward to Friday's repeat performance

5x36s is proving to be my 'tipping point' for this exercise. Deload this week and then I'm going to repeat a microcycle. Same for HBH.

thecolin said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one, I was starting to feel weird! 

 

Since no answer is forthcoming, I guess I'll try have to go buy a pack of tightey whiteys and try them on a softer surface. 

How's it going?

I have this issue all the time, and can't do these quite the same way that a lot of people seem to be able to. I am careful not to rock back too far, and I have to make a bit of adjustment before beginning each set. Not the most comfortable exercise for me lol...

FredInChina said:

That's pretty good prinny

(unless of course if you are hanging your fingers from that table top... )

Thanks Fred.  I swear I'm not hanging my fingers from anything 

Instead of going to 4x36s, I'm thinking of trying 5x24s next week then deloading with 5x18s and repeating the week 5 cycle.  Hope I can make reach 36s by then 

Prinny,

Looking very good. Nice ROM. Your endurance should improve rapidly and as it does you will be set

It is a pity that you have posted a still and not video.

If it had been a video then we would have seen all the stacked glass and silverware on top of the table and how, with one deft Arch Body Rock, you yank away the cloth without disturbing any of them.....😄😄

Joshua Naterman said:

How's it going?

 

I have this issue all the time, and can't do these quite the same way that a lot of people seem to be able to. I am careful not to rock back too far, and I have to make a bit of adjustment before beginning each set. Not the most comfortable exercise for me lol...

I'm still just concentrating on the static hold, so no problems... yet. Once I master 5x60 seconds on the hold, I'll look into making that underpants purchase. 

Michael Taylor said:

Prinny,

Looking very good. Nice ROM. Your endurance should improve rapidly and as it does you will be set

It is a pity that you have posted a still and not video.

If it had been a video then we would have seen all the stacked glass and silverware on top of the table and how, with one deft Arch Body Rock, you yank away the cloth without disturbing any of them.....

Hope so.  I'm still on the arch body hold, no rocking yet. Maybe towards the end of summer I'll have the hold mastery down 

It looks considerably better than mine, Prinny.  

I tried a different version of the straddle donkey kicks that accompany one arm planks when I didn't have a bench. I found I could do them by arching my lower back and lifting my legs off the floor. It was an interesting way to work the arch body hold and add a check mechanism ie no part of my legs could touch the ground

If the arch is the slightest possible then it should be fine; however if the arch is more than .5-1" off the floor I do not recommend it.  By arching the back too far you are minimizing the effectiveness of the straddle donkey kicks.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

So, how many of you keep your knees completely together for these? I have noticed that the gap between my knees gets bigger the higher up my feet go, so I have decided to jump back a few weeks (again) in order to fix this mess. 

It feels like the more you do this exercise you find things that you can do better but it means going back in the cycles. Oh well, as long as the end result is worth it I guess it's no big deal.