One leg FL evaluation

Dear All,

after having mastered the tuck front lever and having moved to the advanced FL, yesterday I attempted a one leg FL for the first time. Here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNQgOpRdfU

Could you please give me some feedback? Is it normal that extending my right leg feels more comfortable than my left? If so, should I add some extra work focusing on the left side only?

Thanks a lot for your valuable advices, I am training alone in calisthenics and I highly appreciate any input.

The form looks excellent, you just need to extend it slightly further for better form. As for your left and right problem, you just need to balance it out yeah. Work some more on left. Good job man!

Thanks a lot for your reply! Yes, I should extend it further and for this purpose I am working hard on hamstrings flexibility, which has been a limiting factor so far. I started calisthenics ~3 months ago, and apart for 5 years of powerlifting my background mostly covers aerobic sports such as road cycling. Hence, I am a true beginner. I'd like to see whether by proceeding slowly and cautiously I can manage to first get the straddle FL and then the full FL. To this purpose, I'm currently working on increasing the time on the one leg FL and adv. tuck FL and I'm trying to find my way through the adv. tuck FL pull ups with full ROM.

On the other hand, I did not do any work so far for the back lever. Do you think it is required/worth at this point? People generally refer to the BL as simpler than the FL, but to me it looks rather the opposite, perhaps because of my limited shoulder mobility.

Any other suggestion is surely welcome,

Thanks!

federicoC said:

Thanks a lot for your reply! Yes, I should extend it further and for this purpose I am working hard on hamstrings flexibility, which has been a limiting factor so far. I started calisthenics ~3 months ago, and apart for 5 years of powerlifting my background mostly covers aerobic sports such as road cycling. Hence, I am a true beginner. I'd like to see whether by proceeding slowly and cautiously I can manage to first get the straddle FL and then the full FL. To this purpose, I'm currently working on increasing the time on the one leg FL and adv. tuck FL and I'm trying to find my way through the adv. tuck FL pull ups with full ROM.

 

On the other hand, I did not do any work so far for the back lever. Do you think it is required/worth at this point? People generally refer to the BL as simpler than the FL, but to me it looks rather the opposite, perhaps because of my limited shoulder mobility.

 

Any other suggestion is surely welcome,

Thanks!

PL training helps you get your BL, so if you're training PL, you don't have to train BL.

No, I am not training PL anymore. I stopped in 2011, when I moved back to cycling again. However, as a consequence of a recent health problem regarding soft tissues in the seat region, I have been discouraged in continuing with cycling and hence I started working in the gym bodyweight only. I complement this work with 2 sessions/week of swimming. I've not been exposed to it previously, so I am currently learning and practicing. So far I found it very helpful in working on my general mobility and in general very beneficial as complementary work. 

Is there a recommended progression for the BL? I can envisage something similar to the progression for the FL, am I wrong?

unless for PL you mean planche, and not powerlifting 

In case, yes I am training to get the planche, at the moment I am working on the progression for the tuck planche at parallel bars.

Thanks a lot!

federicoC said:

No, I am not training PL anymore. I stopped in 2011, when I moved back to cycling again. However, as a consequence of a recent health problem regarding soft tissues in the seat region, I have been discouraged in continuing with cycling and hence I started working in the gym bodyweight only. I complement this work with 2 sessions/week of swimming. I've not been exposed to it previously, so I am currently learning and practicing. So far I found it very helpful in working on my general mobility and in general very beneficial as complementary work. 

 

Is there a recommended progression for the BL? I can envisage something similar to the progression for the FL, am I wrong?

German Hang

Tuck Back Lever

Adv Tuck Back Lever

Straddle Back Lever

Full Back Lever

Back lever is hard on the elbows at first (using correct form), so don't try to progress too fast. However, it is definitely much easier than a front lever.

You guys are so helpful! Thanks a lot!

Don't rush through German hang either; it's underrated IMO.

Yes, by looking at some example on YT I got the feeling that for my current shoulder mobility, I could hurt myself with the skin the cat. Not sure I can perform the full ROM right now. I'm perfoming rotations (not sure this is the correct English word for it) with a broomstick every WO before my stretching routine. Suggestions welcome.

federicoC said:

Yes, by looking at some example on YT I got the feeling that for my current shoulder mobility, I could hurt myself with the skin the cat. Not sure I can perform the full ROM right now. I'm perfoming rotations (not sure this is the correct English word for it) with a broomstick every WO before my stretching routine. Suggestions welcome.

Generally we call them dislocates, but technically they are inlocates and exlocates  depending on the rotation direction

They are an excellent movement, suggest you weight them somewhat. Full details and comprehensive variations are in the Handstand One course, and we've torn the movement to shreds in the H1 private forum

Right, translating from Italian would suggest dislocates, which luckily is not what happens

Thanks for your input. I still have to figure out the organization of the forum, I'd like to ask more especially on getting started (construct the basics) with ring training.

federicoC said:

unless for PL you mean planche, and not powerlifting 

 

In case, yes I am training to get the planche, at the moment I am working on the progression for the tuck planche at parallel bars.

Thanks a lot!

I meant planche yeah. I got my BL through my PL. Many other people get the same thing, so good luck.

OK, thanks. Then I just have to find my way through the planche. At the moment, I am performing dynamic tuck planche at parallel bars. However, I really have troubles even in keeping the top position for more than a second.