Arch Body Hold

It's giving me a middle finger as I'm having a good progress with other elements. I just can't hold my legs straight with feet together and high as the athlete in Foundation One. They end up looking as some bent leg monstrosity. I can arch neck just fine.

I thought it would be easier as it's first progression.

There is this other thread where everybody else with a similar problem has already chimed in their rants and witch brew advice to all others...

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10481-slpe1-arch-body-hold-abh/

biggest cues are to squeeze the butt and point the legs out instead of focusing on up.  Then allow yourself to curve as a unit instead of segments in the lower spine and legs.

what do you mean exactly by pointing legs out?

To extend, I think...

I would also work on rotating your hips forward. If you watch the video, the gymnast performing the hold very subtly tilts his pelvis forward, then goes into the ABH. Tried this the other day and got the full ROM. It also makes the hold tighter with less shaking, at least for me.

my bigget issue is somthing is so tight that i am fighting to keep my legs together more than anything.  i can do the masery with feet apart but i am stuck at week 5 shaking like mad with feet together.  no idea what to stretch to fix this.

I actually found that I get better at this through the span of a single session. It starts off at a full body tremble with my brain screaming "Fire everything!" I imagine I look like I'm having a grand mal. But each set gets a bit more stable as I become more familiar with the hold and make adjustments. Then it starts over at the next session.

What really helped me is the cue that came up in another thread to try and touch the back of my head to my ass. I gritted my teeth, shed a tear, and went for it. Also really tried to extend my legs as was mentioned here already. Suddenly I felt apparently lazy parts of my posterior really tense. My legs and torso rose a bit higher and the shaking abated dramatically. It felt right. It also created even more physical and emotional trauma. I've got DOMS in the mid-back where I've never had before.

After deload I may start again at the beginning of my last micro-cycle to iron this out.

ausswe said:

my bigget issue is somthing is so tight that i am fighting to keep my legs together more than anything.  i can do the masery with feet apart but i am stuck at week 5 shaking like mad with feet together.  no idea what to stretch to fix this.

Stretch your IT band, glut med... anything that aBducts the hip.  Strengthen hip aDductors.  Work bridges, keeping your legs together (Front lever IM).  You can use a belt temporarily to hold your ankles together just to get a fell fo the correct position.  Use a foam block in between your knees and focus on squeezing it with your knees.  Just some thoughts.