bHBH Form Check

I was going to post a selfie instead of the video below, but not after seeing what Keilani went through for doing that 

I've been failing to go over 36 seconds for months now and tried several different strategies. Finally, what helped me break 36 was tucking my chin in a bit more (My head is abnormally heavy, it seems) and not raising my shoulders as much as I was doing before.

The result is the video below.

Is this acceptable form?

Thanks for looking!

Nash said:

I was going to post a selfie instead of the video below, but not after seeing what Keilani went through for doing that

I've been failing to go over 36 seconds for months now and tried several different strategies. Finally, what helped me break 36 was tucking my chin in a bit more (My head is abnormally heavy, it seems) and not raising my shoulders as much as I was doing before.

The result is the video below.

Is this acceptable form?

Thanks for looking!

http://youtu.be/nxUhVtkNwJc

With your legs kinked out like that you are probably making it equally or slightly more difficult than the straddle hbh

Think arch hold-- get long, don't get high!

I think your form looks good, Jon's comment notwithstanding.  You could make it longer time I think, as it looked easy for you.  Push into the discomfort zone and you'll be surprised!  As long as you don't lose the hollow body position as you fatigue.  

Thank you guys.

I really thought the athlete in the video had a 90 degree bend at the knees. But after looking closely it's actually less.

I was incorrectly aiming for 90.

MT Nordic said:

I think your form looks good, Jon's comment notwithstanding.  You could make it longer time I think, as it looked easy for you.  Push into the discomfort zone and you'll be surprised!  As long as you don't lose the hollow body position as you fatigue.  

This too! I'm digging deep.

Have you tried the straddle hbh Nash?

you made me laugh with that, Nash.

Jon Douglas said:

This too! I'm digging deep.

Have you tried the straddle hbh Nash?

Nope. I think I'll attempt mastery for this one with the correct leg position and go from there.

I hate it when I get stuck on something because of wrong form. But I think I gained some strength from this particular mistake.

I should request form checks more often when in doubt. Instead of being stubborn!

Hi Guys,

This is the last set in 5x60s.

Do you think this is mastery?

Tons of pain, but can do it.

Nash said:

Thank you guys.

I really thought the athlete in the video had a 90 degree bend at the knees. But after looking closely it's actually less.

I was incorrectly aiming for 90.

Nash said:

Thank you guys.

I really thought the athlete in the video had a 90 degree bend at the knees. But after looking closely it's actually less.

I was incorrectly aiming for 90.

I think the athlete holds his legs at 90 degrees, it's just that he has a strong posterior pelvic tilt (which is the focus) that pulls the legs back further than yours.

Just some thoughts...can you feel yourself actively pushing the lower back into the ground throughout the duration?  I noticed I can hang there for a while even when I loose the strength to actively do that.  Also, I wonder if you notice a difference doing it on a more firm surface.  Not being critical...just throwing some thoughts out there. 

Hmm, I always kept my back flat on the ground, but never thought of it as PPT.

I'll retry week 11 next week with a hard surface and active PPT.

Video coming soon!

Thank you Dynamo and TheColin.

-Nash

Nash said:

Hmm, I always kept my back flat on the ground, but never thought of it as PPT.

 

That's my understanding, that your back should not only be in contact, but actively pressing into the ground. The PPT puts your spine in better alignment to deal with the eventual loads put on it in a full front lever.

thecolin said:

That's my understanding, that your back should not only be in contact, but actively pressing into the ground. The PPT puts your spine in better alignment to deal with the eventual loads put on it in a full front lever.

That makes a lot of sense actually. I'm curious about how it'll affect my hold next week. We shall see.

Hi Guys,

I would really appreciate another form check.

3rd try (last set) with hard surface and PPT. For the past 2 weeks, I repeated Week 11 with PPT to make sure that I got the hang of it.

Last few seconds are pure torture, but I'm always able to reactive PPT if lost.

Is this mastery form?

p.s Video, doesn't play for some reason, but you can click on the timeline to see my form at different times.

Video worked fine for me. I'm guessing you started getting gnarly foot cramp, huh?

I noticed your legs are apart. If you look at the demonstration video, his legs are together.

 

It looks good to me!

Have you tried playing with rocks with your current form? If so, do they feel smooth?

thecolin said:

It looks good to me!

 

Have you tried playing with rocks with your current form? If so, do they feel smooth?

Good question. When I mastered PE1 and went on to the rocks I noticed I curved my lower back more in the rocks than in the static, so I went back and started every PE1 set with a rock or two to get the right position. Definitely a good self form check.

Colin,

Not yet. For the rocks, is the athlete generating motion using his shins? He's very subtle in how he's doing that.

Nash,

Are you actively posterior pelvic tilting during this?

IME that was the single most important cue that got me to really understand FL PE1. If you are not, or lose the ability to maintain your PPT during the movement, then your rocks will not be smooth when you try to progress to PE2 and so on and you will start flexing and extending your hips to create the motion (which is incorrect).

Keegan,

Yup, actively. During the last sets I feel like I lose it a couple of times, but I reactivate immediately.

I'm curious about the proper way to to generate motion or how to visualize it correctly in rocks.

With rocks you first need to create some momentum/kinetic energy to create movement. If you watch the demo vid the athlete does this by first sitting up slightly higher than with a usual BHBH, this then creates a subsequent drop of the shoulders (what goes up must come down). As the torso/shoulders drop there is an equal and opposite rising force which affects the legs. If you remain rigid through your core and are able to create a rounded surface/lower back to rock on the legs should pretty much raise themselves. Then when the legs again fall the force is transferred back to the upper body and you start rep #2.

This alone won't allow you to complete 60 consecutive reps though because some energy is always lost during the transfer due to factors like friction. So, in order to maintain a constant rock/transfer of energy you want to slightly lift your shoulders when they are rising and lift your hips when they are rising.

For me that cue alone is enough, hopefully it will at least help you.

Thanks Keegan. Awesome explanation.

I dont think the form is good still. Point your toes at all time and legs together.

Riku Calderón said:

I dont think the form is good still. Point your toes at all time and legs together.

I think you are correct, but I think these are minor points that shouldn't really affect the difficulty of the move (perhaps I'm incorrect though). But it's probably a good habit to get into before the straight leg progressions where pointing the toes does make a difference.

Hi Riku, Biren,

Thank you for the feedback.

I repeated it tonight with pointed toes and hands and legs together.

It's actually the 6th set because I had to stop one at 40 seconds after realizing that I wasn't pointing.

What do you think?