My very first form check!

I've been putzing around with the pvc pipe for the last week or so and tomorrow is the first official day of PE2.     I want to make sure my form is ok before I strap on a weight.  I think I'll start with a 2lb weight at first if ya'll think my form is ok. 

 

 

Looks fine to me.  And now to perform a magic trick, and make that ROM disappear.....

My neck position is ok?  I couldn't really tell on the course vid.  I think I may be too far forward on the neck.

I think you are ok there, but i would have to rethink that if it went much further forward. If you can maintain that as you add weight you'll move quite quickly through the extension drills

Jennifer said:

My neck position is ok?  I couldn't really tell on the course vid.  I think I may be too far forward on the neck.

 

What you're feeling in your neck could be from your upper body and shoulders trying to roll forward as you lift your arms. Optimally you want to bring your arms up to parallel but keep your chest up without rolling forward.

 

Your body position looks pretty good, but I see a very slight lean forward. The next time try focusing on staying as upright as possible with your chest out and your shoulders pulled back and down while you bring your arms up and see how that feels on your neck.

thecolin said:

....your shoulders pulled back and down.....

Oh are we supposed to depress the scapula as well as retract?  I've had so much going on trying to get the feel of this move I hadn't noticed.

Bipocni said:

Oh are we supposed to depress the scapula as well as retract?  I've had so much going on trying to get the feel of this move I hadn't noticed.

That's the cue I go for more or less. I think it's pretty essential to roll the shoulders back to get the full effect. I'm not sure about specific scapula position though.

 

I think the same notes about keeping the chest up from FL PE/iM 3/4/5 apply to this, and that's the same position I try and get into with this exercise.

Okie Dokie. I'm going to try it.    I woke up this morning sore in the shoulders/arms from either HBP or RC so I'm just sticking with the pvc without weight for this week.   It's rough coming back after deload. 

 

thecolin said:

What you're feeling in your neck could be from your upper body and shoulders trying to roll forward as you lift your arms. Optimally you want to bring your arms up to parallel but keep your chest up without rolling forward.

 

Your body position looks pretty good, but I see a very slight lean forward. The next time try focusing on staying as upright as possible with your chest out and your shoulders pulled back and down while you bring your arms up and see how that feels on your neck.

Just FYI, Coach has stated elsewhere that you should use a weight even to start out, no matter how light(.5, .25, etc.). I believe the reasoning was an unweighted bar does not recruit the correct muscles, whereas the tinest bit will.

Ok,  Weds I will add a one pounder.      

 

I'm up to 10 pounds with PE1>im and I think I will try 12 on Weds as a warmup.     We should do that right?   Include older IMs as warmups and slowly increasing weight?

 

Edited to say:   Not Weds.  but Thursday.  

Jennifer said:

Ok,  Weds I will add a one pounder.      

 

I'm up to 10 pounds with PE1>im and I think I will try 12 on Weds as a warmup.     We should do that right?   Include older IMs as warmups and slowly increasing weight?

 

Edited to say:   Not Weds.  but Thursday.  

You got it. Slowly is the key word there. Here's a post about increasing weight in the im's. Some have found it efficient and productive to add WU iM sets in between the giant sets of the Wrist routine.

 

Also this was Coach's exact wording re the weighted bar: "Do not use only a dowel.  The difference between using a weighted bar, even one of a couple of lbs., and a light dowel is far larger than you can imagine."

TANSTAAFL said:

You got it. Slowly is the key word there. Here's a post about increasing weight in the im's. Some have found it efficient and productive to add WU iM sets in between the giant sets of the Wrist routine.

 

Also this was Coach's exact wording re the weighted bar: "Do not use only a dowel.  The difference between using a weighted bar, even one of a couple of lbs., and a light dowel is far larger than you can imagine."

To me they feel pretty similar, except that when I use a weighted bar I can feel this weird strain in my pecs.....

Have someone with low body fat and good mobility do the drill in front of you, if you can. We had Heath at seminar, who is practically into decimal body fat%, and the difference in activation in his traps/shoulders/upper back doing some related drills with light weights vs. no weight was quite striking.

I don't have a one pounder so I added a two pounder.     Now, which is better higher and wider or lower and narrower as I work towards the proper form?     I think I read somewhere to do higher and wider but I can't find that info again...

Keep height as required with whatever hand distance that allows it, then work narrower grip (or add a bit of weight/do next iM if you have required mobility already ).

I've only ever worked lower and narrower.  Although now that I think about it, that does seem to run contrary to everyone elses advice....

piotro said:

Keep height as required with whatever hand distance that allows it, then work narrower grip (or add a bit of weight/do next iM if you have required mobility already ).

Yep. That's the general rule around these parts: Make the progression easy enough to perform full ROM, add volume to mastery, then make the progression infinitesimally harder, rinse and repeat.

Bipocni said:

I've only ever worked lower and narrower. Although now that I think about it, that does seem to run contrary to everyone elses advice....

i think it has to do more with the nature of where the muscles are located more than anything, im reckon. cause look at what your trapezius muscles do and try to replicate it with an angle your pec mobility isnt allowing you to reach, they won't activate the same. which is what im trying to reach with hs-iM2. it feels unstable to do so with a wider grip, its like my shoulders default into an unstable position. though with doing it at the current width i have my bamboo stick taped at, i have seen progress, just not the quantum bounda and leaps i experienced with iM1. its cool how much body awareness you cultivate, appreciating so many minute details and such, be it strength or mobility wise.

sorry if that was too much rambling and thinking out loud-ness

When I did this I started pretty narrow but lower because no matter how far my. Arms went the height stayed the same. Ended up just starting narrow and building height from there. Not sure why I couldn't get higher when wider at the start but it worked for me anyway ( along with some passive stretching)

Jennifer,

I am not sure if this is still the case, however on reviewing your initial video I noted that your left shoulder tends to hitch up higher than your right shoulder. I recommend using a mirror to make sure you are square and not favoring one shoulder.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you for the reminder to check and recheck form.

 

I had some trouble with the wider and higher method also.  I did a full microcycle of 2lbs with the lower and narrower grip and this last week 5 I've had a breakthrough which I seriously wasn't expecting.    Need to check the shoulders now.