Mid Bridge- Bridge Shoulder position

I've been working on the FL iM series as my main conditioning workout lately to work on my shoulder/hip mobility and recently in Low-Mid and finally Bridge(as a test, not that i'm currently working on the last progression) 

 

I find that I default to protracting my shoulders whilst I elevate and am wondering if this is counterproductive? should I strive for an elevation + retraction with straight arms? 

 

wanted to check in on that for sure before I go and spin my wheels some more

 

see what I mean? when I look at the Athlete(especially the one doing the Bridge(SE5 iM) I can't seem to tell how to press and/or how to make it feel how it looks. been playing around with it infront of the camera and can't seem to come to a conclusion on it. 

 read some where that you should do the same movement in HS PE1 IM with your shoulders.

I just retract and try to lean in to the strech and squeze the glutes

1 tip start with your with your feet  on a box and work on getting more parralell with the shoulder. the strech should come most from shoulders and not lowerback

Focus on elevation . i discourage the protraction that can be counterproductive. the back bends movement comes naturally when you try to push the chest over and open your chest. especially in your case open the chest is the main focus since your are flexing the lower back. also i prefer a closed grip (near the ears).

I agree with Alex, the shoulders will find the right spacing, neither fully retreated or protracted, when you think of elevating.

 

To me in back bending it feels more like I'm lifting the body off the arms then pushing up from the shoulders.

 

When moving to straight arms work in this sequence

 

- Straight arms, shoulders will most likely be well behind the hands, like in your pics

- Elevate shoulders, body moves in line with where the arms point

- use legs to push between the shoulder blades and shoulders move more over the hands

- Eventually shoulders will be directly over or slightly in front of hands

got it, I'll do another mobility session tomorrow and take some before and after pictures. 

feels like not much different. gonna go down on my HS iM1 weight and see if i can work on the flexion/elevation that way before tackling the bridge. 

 

 

from a few days ago

i think that HS1 is more related with scapulas-homerus mobility rather then scapulas-thoracic mobility. the HS mobility must be developed in order to achieve mobility while hollowing the upper back and flexing the arms, the Bridge is mobility achieved while flexing  the toracic (medium-upper back region). this is different.

i got your same problem and i simply revisited strongly , and maybe you could do that, the HBP IM7 . how is your proficiency with that? done in the correct way is effective. i remember a post where Coach said that if you can touch with the forearms and chin, then elevate with fingers. i find that both elevate the hands on fingers and also elevate the hands on fingers + elevate the hands on a mat (5 to 10 cm) is very very great. also consider to use this pose with PNF..some very nice popping on the thoracic zone!

it's very strange this thing because during your journey in foundations you can find the solution of a problem at 90% on other progression. i find it very helpful if you aspire to teach gymnastic one day, since you force yourself to watch over and build up some spirit of criticism to understand why!!

thank you for that clarification, Alex.

i find myself moving my head a lot during the bridge, i'm going to film my. bridge and also HBP im7 to see how my mobility in that one can be worked on.

the head movement also happens in HS-im1, i suspect this will also occur in hbp-im7. would be nice to know why its happening(i seem to feel "lost" with my arms sometimes when i elevate my shoulders, especially when I elevate + retract/protract.)

think its about time i learned how to without the chicken mimicking

posting a progress update on my bridge to get refinement pointers. I was using my legs to push myself over my hands more, still getting the hang of elevating and not automatically protracting. still I think I need to loosen up my chest more and bend less from my lower back, for sure.

 

 

thoughts, brothers in inverted arms?

Definitely improved, keilani. Still not a lot of T-spine mobility, but it is better. I find if I squeeze my glutes it forces me to have less bend in the L-spine, and more in the T-spine. I also notice your legs are straighter, so this is a more advanced version than you were doing before. You have much better range of hip extension now. Keep it up!

I don't think you should straighten your legs yet. You should aim to get your shoulders above your wrist first before straightening your legs.

 

I remembered my bridge development got better once I focused more on bringing the shoulders above my wrist rather than prematurely straightening the legs which halted my bridge improvement.

Some very good advice has been offered here. Well done, gentlemen.

My recommendation is to focus on developing the physical elements of a bridge in the following order:

- Elevate the feet as needed for the first three items and then gradually work them down to the ground while maintaining the thoracic mobility.

- First getting up off the ground into some sort of a bridge.

- then being able to straighten the arms

- then increasing thoracic mobility (get that chest in front of those hands!).

- Now bring the hands in to a least shoulder width. Note: I required my athletes to do their bridge work with their hands in a diamond shape.

- Now bring the legs together. The knees may still be bent at this point.

- Now straighten the legs.

- Now get those heels down flat on the ground.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer