Hi !
Is it protracted or retracted ?
Scapula position in Front lever?
Started by MrPuppeh, June 24, 2014 · 9 Replies · 18,882 Views
MrPuppeh said:Hi !
Is it protracted or retracted ?
Depressed and retracted. 
You will find the answer if you search through the forums a bit (hint: consider reading the sticky threads).
https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/5959-scapula-position-for-basic-and-static-exercises/
Zach Armijo said:Please do not follow that. You should not be retracted in a front lever. Your scaps will be in a neutral, widening position. Widen by trying to separate the hands on the horizontal plane. Again... DO NOT retract. This is a well that is constantly being poisoned. If you are following Foundations, you will be hard pressed to find a FL PE with retraction.
If you relax your scapula and dont retract it in front lever it will naturally protract. I didnt mean to retract as much as much as you can, i mean to retract just a little bit so your scapula dont relax and protract.
Zach Armijo said:Widen by trying to separate the hands on the horizontal plane.
that is some useful information there, thx
Paf said:If you relax your scapula and dont retract it in front lever it will naturally protract. I didnt mean to retract as much as much as you can, i mean to retract just a little bit so your scapula dont relax and protract.
that is the point, i cannot really understand who say that you need to protract when gravity does it for you, it's like to perform benchpress and say that you will work the lats since you are pulling the bar to your chest during the descent portion. what the hell??
I've always been a little confused on this one. In F1, coach says to "partially protract" the scapula. I guess partially protracted is the same as partially retracted? Somewhere in the middle? I find that if I retract just enough (I can't even fully retract if I wanted to in a horizontal position) to stay neutral, and not let my shoulders fall to protraction, I feel more stable. The Front Lever has been a long, and frustrating road to progress.
Partially protracted is not the same as partially retracted. They are on opposite sides of neutral. The partial protraction should occur naturally with gravity.
To make it less confusing, focus on what Zach said - keep scapulae neutral, and just feel they are pulling apart. Not protracting or retracting. In fact when I do a FL, if I try to retract, it makes it very difficult. Likewise, if I let the shoulders go into protraction it again becomes difficult. For me I can best describe it as this... put your arms in front of you and protract, then screw your shoulders back into place so they feel tight and neutral. This is the position you are striving for. Not retracted, not protracted. Tight and neutral.
The body naturally assume the best position in the movement where you are suspended like the front lever. if the scapulae tends to protract is this because is the best leverage position. different many studies in fact suggest that also the pulley machine (that is a extremely similar situation of a front lever) improves the lats activation.