RC PE6 form question

Hi

I'm currently workin on the PE6, though have a question with regards to how I should approach it.

My original plan was to do as much of it as possible with the standard being chest to bar. I just started on the bent arm hold, though I believe I can get quite far with said standard. However; when I hang with chest to bar I contract my rhomboids and lats quite intensly, arching my thoracic spine. This results in the rest of my body hanging more straight down than in a nice hollow that I am used to when doing pullups/chinups. Straightening my toes and tilting my hip into a hollow position is just too much for my back at the moment. 

To sum it up: should I stick with the chest to bar as long as I am capable, or revert to the way the athlete is showing in the exercise video? An alternative would also be to progress with chest to bar untill I am able to do week one with chest to bar + hollow, and then start over again with the improved form.

Any and all input is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Pulling the chest up to the bar will cause arching/ thoracic extension if your arms and back are not strong enough to stabilise your body in a straight position. You will want to discourage the th. extension from happening as it's not good form.

I would recommend doing it the way the model does (more like shoulders to bar), then once you have that strength, start aiming to pull higher.

Just my two pennies 

Do as you please to your heart's content, but be aware that RC6 is already pretty damn tough using the form shown in the video. I can only imagine that trying to use even stricter form would be simply nightmarish. What do you hope to achieve by altering it?

Ravn said:

...What do you hope to achieve by altering it?

Let me guess - because I've thought about it - it's very tempting to aim to be a bad-ass like the model in PE9 and have that extra ROM.

Thank you both, that was all I needed I will stick to the form in the video, and push my chest through as much as possible without loosing the hollow.

@Ravn: Was hoping to improve my scapular strength. After a seminar with Ido Portal I was introduced to scapular pullups. It radically improved my strength in all pulling exercises. Didn't expect to be able to do it for the full 5x60seconds though. That would be nightmareish indeed!

You got it right LateStarter;)

ROM is king, though they also say patience is a virtue, so all in due time I guess:)

The Northern said:

Thank you both, that was all I needed I will stick to the form in the video, and push my chest through as much as possible without loosing the hollow.

 

@Ravn: Was hoping to improve my scapular strength. After a seminar with Ido Portal I was introduced to scapular pullups. It radically improved my strength in all pulling exercises. Didn't expect to be able to do it for the full 5x60seconds though. That would be nightmareish indeed!

I might be wrong, but I imagine that the vast majority of scapula depression ROM takes place at the bottom of the the chin-up anyway, when you transition from the hang to the pulling motion.

Not an expert by any standard, but I believe you are right. However, I see far too many people loosing their form and collapsing at the shoulder on the top of the chin/pull up. 

IMO you are better off passing it first (one factor of which is getting enough volume to address strength building), and then continuing if you wish to develop chest to bar hold as a warm up element I'm not sure how useful it is, but if it's a personal goal then by all means pursue it.

That was my plan for it. Master with bar at neck height and just use one set as warm up while trying to increase the rom.

ausswe said:

That was my plan for it. Master with bar at neck height and just use one set as warm up while trying to increase the rom.

I find it odd that it's possible to get through the first 5 PEs and not be able to pull your shoulders to the bar.

I'm not trying to be an ass, this just surprises me a bit. 

I find it requires significant more strength to hold that position ( without rolling my shoulders forward)

ausswe said:

I find it requires significant more strength to hold that position ( without rolling my shoulders forward)

I think you are correct in that. But it seems to me that PE 5 is more difficult than pulling shoulders to bar (though not a 5 minute hold!).

I'm good at short Bursts of strength but when it comes to endurance my body is just not so well adapted. 5x5 reps of pe5 are a pebble in the ocean compared to 5x60 second holds for pe6 for me. I do find it odd how hard pe6 is considering my pulling strength is pretty decent and I feel it the most in the forearms despite the fact I can rock climb 7b problems.... Makes no sense that this is so tough for me. Just goes to show that you shouldn't assume you are strong enough and skip progressions because your assumptions are probably wrong.

ausswe said:

I'm good at short Bursts of strength but when it comes to endurance my body is just not so well adapted. 5x5 reps of pe5 are a pebble in the ocean compared to 5x60 second holds for pe6 for me. I do find it odd how hard pe6 is considering my pulling strength is pretty decent and I feel it the most in the forearms despite the fact I can rock climb 7b problems.... Makes no sense that this is so tough for me. Just goes to show that you shouldn't assume you are strong enough and skip progressions because your assumptions are probably wrong.

I've been climbing quite a bit myself, and just knew that RC6 would be tough when I first glanced through F1. I had no idea it would be THAT tough, however...

I don't think that climbers have an inherent advantage with RC6. Most climbers are turned on by max strength, and when we do train endurance, it is not static hold endurance, it's with a focus on moving far, ie. climbing long routes, or chaining together many short routes in the gym, without resting.