Premature Fatigue on Hollow body/Arch body holds

During both the Hollow body and arch body holds, I find myself losing position long before I really feel fatigued. In hollow body my lower back will start creeping up from the floor and there's nothing I can do to stop it. Likewise in arch body I just start going flat, and it feels like I should be able to fight it but I can't. This especially occurs when I'm trying to 'stretch' my body during the holds, which I understand is the right way to do approach it. I mention them together because it feels like the same muscles are giving out even though they are opposite motions. I suspect my trans abs are being inhibited somehow, but that's just a novice's guess at the problem, and I don't know how to address it regardless.

Any help is much appreciated.

Hi Jake,

Heard about your car, sorry, come to Switzerland you can leave the door open and your laptop on the seat and you're fine

It seems like the specific musculature required to maintain the proper hollow body position and respectively the proper arched position are far too weak and therefore give in long before you get to experience any so called "general fatigue". Also you might not yet be conscious enough about which precise muscles to contract to create this total tension (of course you won't think in terms of muscles but you'll simply know how to do it).

My guess as to why it might feel like the same muscles is because in both cases your are trying to obtain this total body rigidity that is quite remarkable in the F videos of coaches athletes (particularly the arch rocks i find) despite it not being in the same position and in both cases it's not what you think that's giving in and therefore you might associate them.

Try posting a pic or video so that your form can be checked and make sure you are truly working the right position and then "Keep cranking big guy" as Coach would put it.

Take care and train hard my friend,

And be sure to come visit =)

Mark

Howdy random Swiss guy. I made a video of dubious quality. Not sure how helpful it'll be. Pardon the Rammstein.

What it feels like is happening is that as my flexors begin to fatigue, my extensors decide to 'help' and yank me out of position.

Normal. Keep drilling the shape and work on not fighting yourself to do so smaller muscles will catch up fast. Also, hip flexor stretches are a must for me before hollow body work to get the line right; this may be true for you too, and if not hip flexor stretching is rarely a bad thing anyway

I had the exact same problem in the beginning, which I think to be the main reason why people hate these so much. Not feeling any burn and just feeling awkward is not motivating   Yesterday I just had a good workout of straddle holds. First I did four sets of 50 seconds with some sensations of premature death. Then on the fifth set I just decided to behave like Batman's cape (loose and mobile when relaxed, but can be made hold any form with an electric impulse) and determined to hold it for 60 seconds. I felt like an athlete from Coach's video, and my form was pure awesomeness.

Looking to the video i have the sensation of not fully extended legs and of course legs that could be lowered down more. if this thing is connected with premature fatigue , you are working against body compensation too much. consider the idea of implementing some psoas and quads stretch .

Helander said:

... Yesterday I had a good workout of straddle holds ... first I did four sets of 50 seconds with some sensations of premature death...

As I mentioned to you Jake, I've begun doing these 'grease the groove' style in addition to my weekly workouts. It's frustrating, for sure, to see how weak I actually am in that position as compared to other "strength" move I can do with my core/abs. So when I 'grease the groove' just doing a rep here and there every day, I've been focusing on the breathing, b/c I think diaphragm/tva coordination stinks, then this whole thing doesn't go so well. I see a LOT of people who have their diaphragm tied up so much that when it works, the tva moves as well. And while that's not a terrible thing, it's ideal to have the strength to be able to use one (diaphragm) without having to use the other, otherwise every time you go to breathe, you'll lose your tva contraction just a bit. This is all just my guess from doing these and feeling where the dead-spot is on me, and thinking about the biomechanics of this whole area during a position like this.

(or the simple answer: we're just not strong enough yet) ;-)

Thanks for the replies folks, thought I'd give an update. I'm still struggling with these, but today during my workout I discovered a nasty little trigger. My back and especially low back are pretty much chronically clinched, so I thought during the FLPE I'd really concentrate on getting the low back to lay off the over activity. I'm not quite sure if I relaxed it or tucked it, but 'something' in my abs suddenly started working, and my body HATED it. Its just crazy discomfiting and weird (and definitely reminiscent of premature death) even though I think I've managed to find whatever muscles is supposed to be working. So my plan is to once again go back to a shorter time, also greasing the groove at spare moments in the day, until I can make whatever that muscle is work consistently. If anybody has better ideas, I'm all ears