Knees to Chest Difficulty

I am having trouble with the SLS/PE1. For the life of me, I am unable to roll into the squat position with my feet together unless I spread my knees significantly. If I spread my knees, I can do the movement without too much trouble, though it still needs some work. How can I determine if it is due to a lack of flexibility, abdominal and/or leg muscle getting in the way, or maybe even visceral fat? I think I have a reasonable amount of flexibility in "most" areas. My son can get his knees to his chin easily, but NOT me! Any help would be appreciated.

What is your height/weight, and what kind of shape are you in?

If you are overweight, particularly in the abdominal region, I suppose that deck squats may be difficult for you.

If none of that is an issue, you may want to practice child pose (a yoga thing) and balling up with knees to/near chest/chin while you're laying on your back.

You may also need to fling your arms forward as your feet hit the ground.

Could also be lack of psoas strength to get a good tight tuck.

I'd say just keep working on it. Form will improve as you do

I am about 5'7" or so. 182 lbs. 45 yrs old. Probably about 15% body fat. 34 inch waist, at least in pants size. Reasonably muscular. I am trying to get to a six pack, but I think I am stalled out right now! I am close but not there.

I have lots of experience doing heavy squats and dead lifts (at least heavy to me). I did them for many years only with a belt. I have since relearned how to use my core muscles and do them only without a belt now. I was wondering if it might be possible to have musculature in the area get in the way. Or, maybe I don't yet know how to use all of the relevant muscles yet. That is what I would like to determine. Also, how critical is it to have the knees together? I want to do everything correctly if physically possible. How rounded should my back be to get the knees to my chest?

I really appreciate all of the input and assistance!

If you have HUGE legs they could be problematic to some extent, but you'll need to learn how to control your body as you roll forward onto your feet.

Doing deck squats in reverse can be a very enlightening experience, because you can learn how to wrap your upper body around your legs in a much more controlled setting as you go down and roll onto your back.

Albert Dillon said:

I am about 5'7" or so. 182 lbs. 45 yrs old. Probably about 15% body fat. 34 inch waist, at least in pants size. Reasonably muscular. I am trying to get to a six pack, but I think I am stalled out right now! I am close but not there.

I have lots of experience doing heavy squats and dead lifts (at least heavy to me). I did them for many years only with a belt. I have since relearned how to use my core muscles and do them only without a belt now. I was wondering if it might be possible to have musculature in the area get in the way. Or, maybe I don't yet know how to use all of the relevant muscles yet. That is what I would like to determine. Also, how critical is it to have the knees together? I want to do everything correctly if physically possible. How rounded should my back be to get the knees to my chest?

I really appreciate all of the input and assistance!

Here is what I can tell you. I am build way differently from you (6’2â€, 165 lbs), but probably a lot stiffer in the hips and probably with less of the coordination required for this move. I can only sit down in a squat leaning back on my heels with my feet a foot apart and my knees at the side of my chest. Rolled back I can bring my knees to only half a foot from my shoulders. When I roll up, I find it difficult to stay tucked and my feet are about a foot in front of my glutes before I get up. So, getting up requires a strong forward momentum initiated by my arms and smoothed out by a rounded back. Especially the rounded back is not always there, resulting in a distinct bang on the floor that can be heard two floors down (I exercise in the attic). The upside for me is that I can do the movement endlessly, so getting to the required 5x15 reps won’t be hard once I can execute the move with the required finesse. My suggestion is to video yourself and find your sticking points  (by comparing it with the demo video) and focusing on one at a time. In your case, I would not worry too much about your knees being wide or your feet not being together right now. I will leave it to someone else to tell how important that is, because I don't know.  But if so, then it  will come with focused practice and using the feedback from your videos. Good luck and don't forget to enjoy yourself.

FritsMB said:

(...) don't forget to enjoy yourself.

QFT

I am enjoying myself, TREMENDOUSLY!

Again, I very much appreciate ALL of the input.

My legs are pretty muscular for my body, not really HUGE though.

Would staying in the bottom of a squat and attempting to pull my Knesset to my chest be helpful at all in determining where the problem was? Does the gut need to be sucked in as much as possible in the bottom position? How about breath? Maybe exhaling into the squat position? I am used to big breaths and the stabilizing!

Would any pictures or videos be helpful for this thread? I'll take some for myself as suggested too. I have already been thing through this problem for a week. Also, just to be clear, I am doing the exercise and will continue. Just trying to figure out where to focus my efforts.

Thanks again.

The valsalva stabilization techniques you are familiar with for squatting will get in the way with deck squats.

Doing the bottom of squat holds is a good idea, it should help you see what's going on. I don't have a huge amount of air when I do these, personally. I find fully inflated lungs get in the way. I breathe in on my way up and down, but I breathe out quite a lot of air when I am rolling onto my feet.

I had the same problem as you.  I found that for me it was poor flexibility/mobility in my hip.  I noticed it got better every week and I can now do them with my feet together and only about an inch between my knees.  The sPL/iM1 and the SLS/iM1 helped a ton.  Also I stretch stretch in this manner pretty often:  I lay down on the floor, bend my knees, and let my knees fall to one side while trying to keep my hips on the ground.  It's pretty similar to this and sometimes I would do this instead.  http://www.pbfingers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/crossover-stretch.jpg

Wait, these are supposed to be with feet and knees together?

I noticed if I concentrate on trying to round my lower back on both the backward and forward roll using manna / front lever type of strength to round my lower back then it makes it easier to get  back up on my feet.