Single leg bridge curls - massive cramps

Has anyone else here had a really difficult time with single leg bridge curls? I got through SLS F1 no problem, thanks to good ol' wushu, and two legged bridge curls were no issue. But, holy smokes do I get some huge cramps in my hamstrings and especially my triceps.

I can do the static SLS just fine. I'm currently week 3 but I can only do single reps of the bridge curls. So 12 seconds of static SLS followed by one curl on each leg. I'm not sure what the best way to progress is here since I keep moving up a week without getting the 5 reps under my belt.

Does anyone have some ideas on how to actually get to the 5 rep standard per set? Surely I'm not the only one here! This is a huge jump from the last mobility element.

Also, what is the best way to deal with a triceps cramp? Stretch it? Ice it? I Dunno! Rolling around on the floor crying has proven ineffective...

The first couple of times I tried them, I had cramps as well. And a general inability to do them.

For the first week I just used a support for my free foot, actually some bands, but I suppose a bench would work.

It didn't take long for the cramps to stop, and for the movement to make some sort of sense to me, I'm sure you will find the same.

I too had major problems with this IM. Just like you, the previous elements didn't feel too challenging and then came F2 and SE2... I started out with negatives for low reps but switched over to partials followed by a negative, basically starting at the top, literally inching out and back with the negative ending the rep. That being too strenous I did a weeks only partitials, which helped with learning the correct movement and the benefit of higher volume. I still wasn't pleased with the move, because full ROM is still better than partials, like Nick Branson said somewhere.

After reading an article by Ben Bruno on hamstring trainingI tried his version of the single leg bridge curl, where he tucks the free leg, decreasing the leverage. I was thrilled. It was one of the most intense contrations in I've felt in the hamstrings, but it was doable. My plan is to increase the IM reps from 2 to 5 in a progressive manner and then take on the real deal.

When I started with this I experienced bad cramps too, and I also got cramps in my quads doing the SLS statics.  It wasn't fun trying to stretch out my quads with my hamstrings begging to cramp up again. 

My plan has been to start each set with the single leg version for the first couple of reps.  Then I try to complete the remaining reps with my non-working leg tucked up to reduce the load (as mentioned in the post above).

If I don't get to 5 reps then I simply complete the remaining reps with the 2 leg version.

After a couple of weeks I've seen some steady improvement this way.  It might not be ideal but it's working for me at the moment, and most importantly no more cramping!

CraigR, thanks for the good ideas. I'll as of Thursday finish the incomplete tuck single leg curl sets with two legs. Why didn't I think of that? Once I can do proper leg extended single leg curls, even one, I'll employ the leverage principle for more volume. Good stuff. There ain't no strings like hamstrings!

You can also use your two feet for curling and then extending out with just one leg, that helps me a lot

Hey all,

I experimented around with a few of your suggestions and I'm glad to report back that the hamstring cramps are gone when I work two or less reps. I'm using Niklas' method of decreasing my leverage. I'm sure with a month or two more I'll be up at 5 in no time and from there I can work on extending my leg! Still got some pretty gnarly triceps cramps but hey, I'm only HBP pe2, so I might just be a real weakling

Thanks everyone, until next time.
 

Niklas03 said:

After reading an article by Ben Bruno on hamstring trainingI tried his version of the single leg bridge curl, where he tucks the free leg, decreasing the leverage. I was thrilled. It was one of the most intense contrations in I've felt in the hamstrings, but it was doable. My plan is to increase the IM reps from 2 to 5 in a progressive manner and then take on the real deal.

Is this the article: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/hamstring_hell_sliding_leg_curls

I find some of the advice here to be awesome. Thanks.

My big problem is keeping my hips up, especially on my right side. Because I struggled with an inactive glute muscle this should not be surprising. From the article:

"People tend to screw up sliding leg curls by flexing at the hips (i.e., letting the butt sag), which takes the glutes out of it and greatly diminishes the usefulness of the exercise. However, when they're forced to squeeze something, they do a better job of keeping the hips up and the glutes engaged. So besides working the adductors, it's also become a good teaching tool."

wait til you feel the next iM 

IcedDante said:

Is this the article: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/hamstring_hell_sliding_leg_curls

 

I find some of the advice here to be awesome. Thanks.

 

My big problem is keeping my hips up, especially on my right side. Because I struggled with an inactive glute muscle this should not be surprising. From the article:

 

"People tend to screw up sliding leg curls by flexing at the hips (i.e., letting the butt sag), which takes the glutes out of it and greatly diminishes the usefulness of the exercise. However, when they're forced to squeeze something, they do a better job of keeping the hips up and the glutes engaged. So besides working the adductors, it's also become a good teaching tool."

Yes, I think that's the article I got the idea from. As a side note, yesterday I completed fully extended mastery reps for the first time for this iM, so I've been at this for a good 5 months. Progress! Next PE and iM are around the corner.

Wow- 5 months. Nice job of sticking to it. So was the modification you made simply retracting the extended leg by pulling it up towards the hips instead of pointing it forward, or where there other modifications you made to build up to it? I have a training session today and I am going to experiment with trying curling in with both legs, and then extending out with just one (training the negative), and also trying the leg curled modification.

Oh man, I thought my training log will come in handy for your question, but alas, my SLS notes are pathetic. It had almost all the hold times and reps for the iM, but modification notes very severely lacking. 

15 min later...

If I have understood my notes correctly, on the 10.9.2013 I started with the Ben Bruno version (my earlier post above confirms that). From there I slowly (my left knee needed some time to adapt) increased the reps over a span of 2 months. Started with 2 reps and filled the gap with the previous iM, then 3+2, 4+1. Then it seems that for a few weeks I did 5 reps with the other leg tucked but rested as needed during the iM. The goal here was to get some volume.

I guess I got tired of the modification, so I just went for the real deal on week 3 (the week before the deload) - gymnasticbodies date 19.11.2013. I did 2 cluster reps, meaning a small rest between reps. On the next workout that week I did 2 reps straight. Deload week with 1 rep. The following week 3x3 reps. I might have been too much, because the following weeks I only did one rep between PE's.

On 1.1.2014. As the year switched to 2014 I started a new mesocycle for SLS with weeks 9 and really pushed the iM reps. The results were L5/R5, 5/4, 5/3, 2/2. A pleasant surprise to say the least. After that I pushed the reps for three weeks. I did as many as I could with good form. On deload I did 5x3 reps. Continued with 4 reps/set for two weeks and then we arrive to this week, this weeks 5x5.

TL;DR I did try other variations before the tucked version (earlier post), but I felt they didn't help the concentric part. The tucked version was a perfect intermediate step for me between the  2 legged version and the 1 legged version.

PS. I think I started from the top (eccentric+concentric) with the tucks and now I'm not sure if I ever did them starting from the floor.