HS/PE2 IM help

Hunchback of Notre-Perth here,  I'm having trouble with PE2 IM and would like some advice.  When raising the bar behind me, my flexibility is so poor that I can barely get the bar off my back!  let alone lift my arms to be parallel to the floor, so I know that I will be sitting at this level for a while.

 

Since It is such a strain to lift my arms in this plane even without a stick;  should I have the bar weighted? or use an unweighted bar until I can build some more mobility?  For reference, I am using a light metal broomstick wrapped with up to 6kg (13 lbs) of ankle weights.

To begin with 6kg is not inconsiderable weight on this, something more like 1-2 might be more reasonable until you get it all working. Adding a bit of weight is easier than a bigger ROM, and as a rule of thumb I prefer to work on the bigger piece of the puzzle first

 

When I'm sitting for any length of time I like to do this element with just my hands linked together to release all of my upper back/shoulders; this might be something you have a look at (at whatever range of motion you can do without interfering with your actual workouts of course).

This stretch may help: gear up as if you were about to do pe2/im. Then lean forward into a pike stretch, and allow the arms to extend behind the back; the weight of the bar will stretch your shoulders into extension. When done correctly, you have a body shape resembling a manna, except that you are standing on your feet.

Ravn said:

This stretch may help: gear up as if you were about to do pe2/im. Then lean forward into a pike stretch, and allow the arms to extend behind the back; the weight of the bar will stretch your shoulders into extension. When done correctly, you have a body shape resembling a manna, except that you are standing on your feet.

It would be ok to stay in the bottom of that stretch for x seconds?

That stretch has been miraculous to overcome the plateau on this iM.

Thanks!

now that we're on this subject, I notice that when I lift, my arms will want to externally rotate as they lift as if going into an automatic undergrip dislocate. 

 

is this something that will happen naturally? because i notice i get more cramps under my scap and along the middle of my back if i don't let my arms rotate and focus purely on lift, which im assuming is the mission here, but I get tighter in my chest. 

 

has anyone had this happen to them? i feel like it's more my body compensating than anything, really. 

Adriano Flo said:

It would be ok to stay in the bottom of that stretch for x seconds?

That stretch has been miraculous to overcome the plateau on this iM.

Thanks!

I like it for slow reps with a few seconds at the bottom, like shown. I am 95% sure you would be ok to hold it, but you would have to be careful as cramps could have you drop the weight on your head

Keilani-

I get this a little too. Go narrower and set the point your shoulder rotate rather than flex as your limit for the stretch of course for this one the focus is pure flexion

Thanks for the tips all, these look great.  I only barely have the hamstring and shoulder flexibility for that forward bending stretch to actually have gravity assist me pulling forward and then only on the good days, but its a great place to start.

 

Is there any benefit for this mobility to hold german hangs or skin the cat pullouts?  From what I see it should be stretching the muscles the right way, but the focus would be on the opposing muscles.

Primate said:

Thanks for the tips all, these look great. I only barely have the hamstring and shoulder flexibility for that forward bending stretch to actually have gravity assist me pulling forward and then only on the good days, but its a great place to start.

Is there any benefit for this mobility to hold german hangs or skin the cat pullouts? From what I see it should be stretching the muscles the right way, but the focus would be on the opposing muscles.

Well, its a passive stretch in that direction. So while it could help you open up that Rom if you were quite tight indeed, it won't help you much if at all with this element; if you see what i mean, because you need the active flexibility to get the stretch against the load (rather than relaxing and letting the load, ie. gravity acting on your person, stretch you).

I do german hangs to open up rom and aid with hs/pe2im, but if you're not used to them, they can be very rough on the elbows. I'd begin with the stretch above, and if that doesn't make you achieve mastery, then perhaps add german hangs over the course of months. And before even considering GH, ask someone how to do them properly, because if you do them the wrong way, the elbows may take an unnecessary beating.

As a side note, I had achieved mastery with 5 kgs (well, i think, would need an external opinion), and was aiming for 10 kgs just to make sure. So, was working at 8 kgs, but decided I couldn't be bothered with all the small plates, so just slapped 2x5 stupid kgs on the bar after a good warmup. I strained a ligament on the outside of the right elbow, which has been bothering me for the past couple of days - fortunately it is much better now, but still a stupid move. It seems everytime Coach leaves it to our own discretion to decide how much weight and when to use it, I_will_screw_myself_up.

I'd drop the weight a bit to 2 or 3kg and get a pole long enough so you can get your arms up to the right height. When I did this at the seminar my traps lit up all of a sudden. My attempts with a narrower grip seemed futile having tried this. It may be that the weight is almost touching the back of your neck but if you're consistent you'll be able to start narrowing your grip and seeing improvements

i think that the stretch proposed in the video is good as passive flexibility. by the way since Coach cannot have the control over every single student the idea of propose different way to achieve the mobility requirements is not stupid, is awesome.

I noticed that people who usually performs this type of stretch ,when they are not well prepared, can suffer from supraspinatus/biceps problems.

Move on active mobility is the best way to fill the gap between zombie and normal people. then remember that manna is active flexibility of shoulders. extreme passive elongation need  less strength, but GST is about build up strong body.

alex87 said:

I noticed that people who usually performs this type of stretch ,when they are not well prepared, can suffer from supraspinatus/biceps problems.

 

extremely glad you posted this. I get the same instable feeling I get from doing windmills, when i do these with a wide grip and i feel it more when im rotating my arm to hold the pose. 

 

any tidbits to share in relation to that?

 

I've rolled my teres major, the top and around my shoulder but i still get this uncomfortable sensation where i'll feel either a momentary, stinging, not lingering pain and it's gone as soon as i get out of the position. 

 

I've been spinning my wheels on this one since i started Windmills

I recently made a breakthrough with this im. Try performing the under grip dislocate with out any weight and after a couple of reps just stop as you get to shoulder height. Thinking of the this movement as a 1/4 dislocate really helped me,I still have a very wide grip but at least I'm at shoulder height.

KeilaniG said:

extremely glad you posted this. I get the same instable feeling I get from doing windmills, when i do these with a wide grip and i feel it more when im rotating my arm to hold the pose. 

In which direction are your arms rotating? Thumbs into the bar or thumbs away from the bar? I noticed that if I rotated my thumbs away from the bar (internal rotation I believe?) before lifting the weight I could lift the bar higher a narrower grip.

Geoff said:

In which direction are your arms rotating? Thumbs into the bar or thumbs away from the bar? I noticed that if I rotated my thumbs away from the bar (internal rotation I believe?) before lifting the weight I could lift the bar higher a narrower grip.

thumbs rotating inward.