Body lever work

Hi everyone, this is my first post here; I am pretty ignorant when it comes to body weight training so bear with me.

I started doing body levers a little while back, and was able to progress to holding the body at a 45 degree angle and moving back into a candlestick. The thing is, I noticed a few problems. First, I feel most of the work coming from my shoulders which seems to defeat the purpose of the excercise. Second, I'm pretty sure at this point i should be able to do a full negative, which I cannot.

Is the problem shoulder flexibility, core strength, incorrect form, or some combination of both?

Straight arm body lever is signficantly more difficult than bent arm body levers. When the arms are bent, I engage my biceps/triceps to help with the pull. When they are straight it's more delt and lat and there is a longer lever at work. As well, I notice they sometimes can constrict with breathing as to muscles tightening and being engaged.

I have yet to try them like the video where the gymnast lays on that pommel horse trainer versus just laying on floor. Probably harder than floor.

Sometimes, depending on how I grip the post, it can be a bit uncomfortable on my shoulders.

thanks, Matthew as that was supposed to be in my log.

Blairbob, I think you posted that in the wrong place. Haha.