RC/PE1

it should go without saying that this PE definitely gets more retraction into your life. something, i've learned, is not something we frequently do. so doing it with who knows what % of BW might give you a run for your money for a while. I'm upto 15/15/13/10/8 and my back looks nothing like it used to before. it's just one of those places I never worked on, like stretching...and mobility....and a bunch of other things.

edit: just 14 reps away...and then who knows how many reps to get it to feel like butter. it was good getting to know ya, Hinge row. next stop. Front Lever Pulls / Cranks.

Not sure if this will be helpful, but I too am progressing slowly with this exercise, which is ok.....but i'm not going to lie is frustrating at times. I had mentioned in another thread that I started doing hanging from a bar, straight armed, for time to help with a shoulder issue I was having unrelated to this movement (which it did help). Previous to this I was not progressing very much with this hinge row.  I did notice that as my ability to hang longer increased so did my strength in doing more reps of the hinged row. The movement became smoother and more controlled to my surprise.

Makes sense since I have read before that Coach said a lot struggle with the hand strength and supporting own bodyweight of this exercise. Prior to reading this post i had also started experimenting with hinged row holds.  Nice to know I wasn't taking a shot in the dark or wasting my time now, thanks Coach for that recommendation. Currently working on 4x12 and that's only because of the hanging work I was doing on days in-between. 

Coach says, in the program material, take a video of yourself and compare it to the athlete performing for proper execution. This has helped me greatly as I go. I must admit it sometimes takes me awhile of practicing and reviewing videos of myself and athlete to reveal that when I'm struggling it's because I'm still not quite performing it properly. Or even when I thought I had it right there was a small detail I missed, hand position, equipment set up, etc. I've never found the effort a waste of time. If you haven't done this suggestion recommended by Coach I think your doing yourself a disservice. I guess my point is to make sure your starting off down the right path and continue to make course corrections as needed or get lost. Just my experience for what its worth, but always take the direction of the GB coaches when available or completely disregard.....whatever floats your boat 

If your stuck on this PULL routine, as I am, start all over again to strengthen the joints (the Mastery Key).  Reason being, your joints are not ready yet.  It downed on me in this PUSH forum, that I recently replied to, if you wish to get further, go to the link and read on why I thought about this.

Even if your hitting 15's on 1-4 of the sets, and low numbers at the last set(s), you may think, just a few more cycles of this and I'll eventually get out of it.  It may take a few months. Why not take 8 weeks to test the theory?  I know I will.  

This thought, and of course execution, may even help me get to another level of strength.  For now it's low-medium, according to training cycle, being that I'm working out and taking a day off before going to the next routine and so on,.

Coach Sommer said:

Start with a hinged chin hold (build to 5x60s), then progress onto negative hinge row and then move on to to regular hinge rows.

Continue working RC/PE1>iM at a minimum during this process.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Ok, so last night I'm working on RC/PE1 @ 5sets by 3reps.  Realizing that I can go in slow motion with TUT, during the 4th set, I decided to slowly go up and pause at the top for a few breaths, then slowly go down.  I actually went through 7 sets overall.  Goes to show that I didn't have to go absolute beginner with this, but I will continue to go that route for next training on this will be 3sets x 6reps.  So at least the reps are doubled and I now know to pause as long as I can at the top, as I go as slow as I can going up and down.  

Oh and I get a stretch feeling at the bottom, instead of keeping it tense, getting full range of motion from top to bottom.  

After doing this type of routine, I felt my upper back in a different feeling, can't explain, but it felt like it was worked.  

I did similar with push routine (HBP/PE2), for I'm stuck there as well.  Going extremely slow up and down.  In the top position, I'm beginning to get a better understanding of "Hollow Back" in that sense of pressing.  It's like a stretch, as mentioned above with the pull at the bottom, but vise versa.  

Thanks coach for your input, it really helped with this understanding I received with this trial I put myself in yesterday.  Looking forward to Mastery.  

This is my second time in for the week (Mon/Thurs) with this (as I wrote to self (journal)):

And finally, the RCPE1.  Another routine that I have a plateau of Mastery with, as well as HBP2 (although stronger on the push than pull (past training on this with Mastery throughout the time).  As mentioned, I go under a pause at the top and hold it for as long as I can and still do the TUT (time under tension).  I noticed that the length of hold diminishes with every rep.  I was going there for quite some time until I had to just go to moderate speed after a while (the very end).  I was still holding on to the top as much as I could throughout all the reps.  

Coach Sommer said:

Start with a hinged chin hold (build to 5x60s), then progress onto negative hinge row and then move on to to regular hinge rows.

Continue working RC/PE1>iM at a minimum during this process.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

One post (#14) following this one interpreted this cue as holding at the top position of the hinge row, and another post (#13) said it was the position in PE6 except with a hinge (and rings, I suppose).  These are two pretty different interpretations.  The chin hold in PE6 ends with the hands in a supinated grip roughly at the level of clavical, whereas the hands in PE1 end in a more neutral position roughly at the level of the ears.  And then there is the bar in PE6 rather than rings in PE1.  If it's simply a hold at the top of PE1, what's the "chin" part of the hinge chin hold?

Coach, could you please clarify what position you're describing when you say hinge chin hold?

mcneuen: I think Coach Sommer meant holding the top position of PE1 (elbows at shoulder height [just look at the video]), forget the chin equation in it.

Hollow Man said:

mcneuen: I think Coach Sommer meant holding the top position of PE1 (elbows at shoulder height [just look at the video]), forget the chin equation in it.

This is correct.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Is it too early for this:

I'm in the middle of a movie where someone dead hangs for dear life, for a time.  That reminds me of hanging off of a pull up position, the bottom position.  Is it too early to get into that kind of stretch/hold (as a side routine during free time)?  

Also thinking back to the routine talked about here with RC/PE1, I've gone from super slow motion (TUT (Time Under Tension)), as slow as I can, and holding at the very top, per rep (again, for as long as I could), @ first when I started over again at Block 1.  Now at Block 2, I've started going at a moderate pace, being that I'm @ 9 reps at a time.  At first I was going as slow as I could then started going at moderate speed after a few reps, due to the length of time it took to do the reps and/or feeling slight fatigue where my body automatically reacted to go at the normal speed. 

In addition, on Monday, I did 2 warmup sets of "Hinge Chin Hold" for as long as I can, and on Thursday, I did 1 warmup set of that.  All in addition to the original 4 sets by 9 reps, of course (which might've been the reason for feeling fatigue from going into transition of super slow speed to the moderate.

I had been doing hinged chin holds, but now it seems I should be doing hinged row holds. I'm glad for the clarification as I, too, had been unclear as to which interpretation was correct. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that the hinged chin holds I was doing were beneficial. I completed week 8 without failing a set and the difference was noticeable. As soon as my wrist heals I'll start over with the hinged row holds.

What are negative hinge rows?

We are now at over a year since my last post on this thread.  Still in same spot trying to complete 5x30s of hinged hangs.  After a year I'd say it's safe to call it a plateau.  Since I'm 39, 6'2", and about 210 with a  historically weak upper body I'm not surprised by this.  However, it does get a bit tedious to do this exercise repeatedly with no sign of progress.

Overall the Foundation One series has served me well.  I'm much stronger and leaner than I used to be and the mobility work has really changed my life.  However I do seem to have hit my limits at level 2 or 3 of all the progressions.   Anyone else ever experience this?   

What is the correct scapular position for this exercise?

Kai: how do regular hinge rows feel now?

Henry: depressed and retracted

Thanks Jason. Should elbows on come to shoulder height? I find mine generally end up below shoulders

My suggestion would be to review the course vid, that is the standard for mastery. Looks to me to be close to 90 of shoulder.

john_c said:

This one is causing me a lot of grief as well. I have an ongoing issue with tendinitis in the inside right bicep (golfers elbow?) when I do this or even hold the static position. I am desperate to try to progress this but I fear I tinker too much with it. I can do PE2 without any issue ie tendinitis and am thinking of just doing this, trying to crack that first then move back to PE1.

Does anyone think there is a problem with that ?  It's either that or nothing till the tendinitis clears up.

Hey, i got that same problem (pain in forearm/biceps)! Couldn't find any answers yet.

Anybody got some advice?

Thanks :-)

Henry Skinner said:

Thanks Jason. Should elbows on come to shoulder height? I find mine generally end up below shoulders

Elbows should most definitely be at shoulder height at the end of the movement.

When your elbows are not at shoulder height at the end of the movement, they'll form a "W" type of shape. Now imagine that in lieu of a "W" they were to form a "U" with one straight line straddling both elbows and shoulders. It is at that height that you should calibrate your rings to make your elbows form that "U."