HS/PE1>iM form check

hey guys! 

just doing a quick follow up to my previous HS/PE1>iM Mystery pain in my Delt. 

currently the position I was in during the video didn't produce any pain whatsoever. I am however wondering how I can better the form. any tips are appreciated and will be reciprocated! 

That looks too wide for you K, like you could easily get a dislocate with it. How far is that from your working limit?

Charm said:

That looks too wide for you K, like you could easily get a dislocate with it. How far is that from your working limit?

define working limit? I can hold it at shoulder width, but not at that level of flexion.

I just meant limit for your current working sets.

Looks okay to me; I mean your back arches a little at times but you correct it immediately. If anything I'd be a little cautious about going too far the other way and rounding your back too much.

That width though, looks easy for you.

here you go, I tried it at various grip lengths, to show you what I mean. 

I have it taped at even intervals in 3 locations and depending on how the session is going, I'll either move in at finger width's or tape widths which is precisely measured at my hands width. 

what do you think about this test? 

edit: btw, that is a 10lb weight hanging from that bamboo stick.

Hmm, I see, it gets a little out of control there with the narrower grip; your back arches and ribs move. Do you think it might be a little heavy for your current active flexibility? You might be able to go quite a bit narrower with a 3kg instead of a 4kg, say.

Of course that's not to discourage you working on the 10 but while you make the one grip look easy, it's not quite so good on the 2nd vid. Keep at it either way, it'll only accelerate as it comes together.

Bridging work would be a good way to build up passive and active flexibility to complement this work too, if you don't already you might consider it.

so what would be a proper course of action? stay at the first grip? work at a lighter weight? go narrow and make it look like the first form check?

Seems like that's up to you. H1 recommends working the grip narrower with a lighter weight, then going back with a heavier one. If it's progressing though, then continue what you're doing. It'll come.

well seeing as how fast my shoulders opened up, I'll stick at a narrower grip and when do I progress? when it's at shoulder width + 1 hands width and I can flex it like the athlete in the video, it's progression time to HS/PE2?

KeilaniG said:

well seeing as how fast my shoulders opened up, I'll stick at a narrower grip and when do I progress? when it's at shoulder width + 1 hands width and I can flex it like the athlete in the video, it's progression time to HS/PE2?

That's what I've been doing. I have only dabbled in it recently, but it's easy now at less than shoulder width, since the dislocate elements keep building on it.

The prone ones helped me nail the trap involvement much more than the standing or seated flexion/dislocate exercises, but obviously keep your focus on whats in front of you. It might not hurt to examine them a little though.

Charm said:

That's what I've been doing. I have only dabbled in it recently, but it's easy now at less than shoulder width, since the dislocate elements keep building on it.

The prone ones helped me nail the trap involvement much more than the standing or seated flexion/dislocate exercises, but obviously keep your focus on whats in front of you. It might not hurt to examine them a little though.

....coulda been progressing faster than i thought on this. lol filming yourself is a God-send. hahahahaha

for the first time ever performing this iM, I got a Trapezius cramp! 

what's funny is that I got it outside of a H1 session. 

I think I'm not properly engaging my trapz during my session, I still feel more stress on my Delts than I do in my upper back or lower neck. 

this is tarting to get annoying. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdsg80X4qo&feature=youtu.be

took a break to check out if i've made Mastery of HS/PE1. i'm amazed at how different it looks now compared to a month ago. absolutely stunned at the progress!

should I continue working on it? thoughts? 

KeilaniG said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXdsg80X4qo&feature=youtu.be

 

took a break to check out if i've made Mastery of HS/PE1. i'm amazed at how different it looks now compared to a month ago. absolutely stunned at the progress!

 

should I continue working on it? thoughts? 

It seems a lot better than earlier. I do not know if it is very important, however your arms are now a bit beyond 'in line' with the body, whereas the athlete in the video pulls his arms almost straight upwards. And I could be mistaken here, but I think you're tilting your upper body a little when pointing your arms up.

Geoff said:

It seems a lot better than earlier. I do not know if it is very important, however your arms are now a bit beyond 'in line' with the body, whereas the athlete in the video pulls his arms almost straight upwards. And I could be mistaken here, but I think you're tilting your upper body a little when pointing your arms up.

perhaps im leaning too far forward? that would make the iM a little more challenging. maybe once the cycle is done(week 9 currently) I'll have it

edit: i re-checked and it looked fine. if anything, Allan's shoulders are WAY more flexible than mine and practically almost a 1/4 way through in a dislocate. 

KeilaniG said:

perhaps im leaning too far forward? that would make the iM a little more challenging. maybe once the cycle is done(week 9 currently) I'll have it

 

edit: i re-checked and it looked fine. if anything, Allan's shoulders are WAY more flexible than mine and practically almost a 1/4 way through in a dislocate. 

Your lean is indeed fine. What I meant by tilt was a slight lift in the thoracic area. When I started doing this iM I did that automatically. I still have to pay attention that I do not tilt my chest with respect to the lower part of my trunk.

Geoff said:

Your lean is indeed fine. What I meant by tilt was a slight lift in the thoracic area. When I started doing this iM I did that automatically. I still have to pay attention that I do not tilt my chest with respect to the lower part of my trunk.

oh! that's a bit of thoraxic kyphosis that's been improving with the hip flexor/quad stretching/rolling that i've been doing. I make sure to be hollow but not too rounded. I'm gonna be keeping this iM in my warm up. It's been too much of service to me these past few months  

thanks for the tip!

Geoff, NOW I noticed what you were saying with the slight lift! it was cause my hip is a little too tight after a certain point and then i start to bend forward. 

I started doing it against the wall like Richard Hamilton and it solved this gonna get mastery on this cycle B)

Congratulations for the nice progress Keilani

For me anyway this iM is still a hidden secret. I don`t know whether you remember me writing that i finally got the sensational feeling of nice trap cramps during the iM session. The thing is that i lost that feeling again I don`t know whether it`s associated with progression so i don`t feel my traps like i did before at the same width or i just do something wrong once again which doesn`t allow me to activate my traps properly. I actually suppose the second one.... i thought about beeing able to proof mastery after this cycle but guess what...   I´m sorry about adding a few details about my problems with this iM in your thread

no need to be sorry! absolutely opposite, feel free to post your findings or nagging doubts/experiences. everyone has a piece of the puzzle that they are responsible of sharing for everyone to enjoy the knowledge

i've learned to differentiate between exaggerating movements and getting them to be as natural as possible. for example, i sense more engagement when i feel the slightest fatigue from my serratus.( i have upper cross syndrome and H1 is helping me establish communication with muscles i've never used before or poorly used.

something that i do every so often is lay on my back with PPT and from their go into a row position, protract and do an arc with my scapula following the arc of my arm to engrain the feeling of going from protraction towards elevation territory and remembering to keep a strong structure in the back.

another thing i've notices is that when I get that right, i'll actually crack my middle back while doing the iM early in the morning and even in the afternoon, a symptom of never having used this portion of my body properly. as well as tired abs from maintaining my abs working with keepin me in alignment. (my experience, doesnt mean it has to be yours)

Thank you my friend. I really appreciate your advices and posts Today i made a new experience with this mobility drill ! I hadn`t any weird sensation in my shoulders anymore and really felt the movement coming from my traps. Now i really feel the transversal part of the traps which i hadn`t felt before   I´ll post a new clip doing this iM with the mentioned sensation and i am looking forward to get some critique from you as well.

update- just gave myself a quite discomforting first softball massage on both my pecs and my thoraxic spine gave a sick cracking sound when i stretched out my arms and reached around to the rear in extension(chest open). i'd also like to add that i haven't worked out today and i reached past my working limit ROM after rolling with no prior warm up. looks like mastery is well on it's way and handstand progress will continue to sky rocket.

this foam rolling thing is really solving a lot of problems for me. I've decided to dedicate every post H1 session to be followed by rolling of all the muscle groups i've used during the week(chest, delts, upper back, middle back, lower back, glutes, quads, calves, hamstring, IT band, forearms)

there's a few protocols that have worked for me in each muscle group, so im gonna have to get creative to be able to work on forearms and delts, for example.

this is really improving my quality of movement and feels refreshing to not have my clavicle snapping when i do overhead or shrugging movements. going to have to get a trigger point book and make a routine to follow each time or places to focus on due to tightness from sitting, working out, past injuries.

cheers.

edit: just checked on pe2>iM and just gained another 2in closer on each hand and still at shoulder height. camaro.

okay, I've been hovering around the same amount of mobility on this iM for a while now. not quite sure if it's due to stalling or mastery. 

thoughts?   

iM-http://youtu.be/gVupYkMDzzU

Tripod-