RC/PE1 help

Hi All, 

I just started Foundations 1 yesterday, and was feeling pretty competent until I hit the RC/PE1 exercise at the end. Somehow my brain doesn't want to hinge at the hips (or I'm starting with my feet too far back) and I end up doing Crossfit style ring-rows instead. Basically, I wanted to ask if anyone had any good mental/verbal cues to help with form. 

Thanks!

Make sure you've got your rings setup right and check your position in relationship to them. I think a lot of people make these way too hard by not copying the video exactly.

How much do you use your abs to pull yourself up?

I struggle with these but i dont really use my abs and it seems like a bodyweight face-pull.

Pretty sure im doing these wrong.

There is a Lon g thread about these somewhere but here are the cues people generally get wrong

Do not squeeze the butt so hard you can't bend

Do not push on the ground hard with your legs. (Same effect as the first point)

Practice the hinge motion from a bent arm hang without the pull

Thing of going from row to leg assisted pullup. Let the body switch planes of motion.

I have the same issue.  Here's my solution.  I hang my rings off the top of the Smith machine.  I hang off the rings facing the mirror and move my butt so I'm sitting on the floor directly under the rings.  Then I straighten the body and start the row.  At the top of each row, I can see myself in the mirror and give a nice "show off my biceps pose" for each rep.

StrongZombie said:

How much do you use your abs to pull yourself up?

 

I struggle with these but i dont really use my abs and it seems like a bodyweight face-pull.

 

Pretty sure im doing these wrong.

Use your abs, it's an assisted pulling exercise. If you find it harder than PE-2 then adjust your approach.

Thinking about these as an assisted sit up, or a face pull like you said, is a good way to go.

thecolin said:

Use your abs, it's an assisted pulling exercise. If you find it harder than PE-2 then adjust your approach.

Thinking about these as an assisted sit up, or a face pull like you said, is a good way to go.

Exactly, I get the impression that some people are almost doing a modified Bulgarian row.

Thanks guys! Thinking of it as a sit-up more than as a row makes more sense to me (I think). Will try it tonight and report back!

Murray Truelove said:

Exactly, I get the impression that some people are almost doing a modified Bulgarian row.

Actually I think that the correct way to do it is like an assisted modified Bulgarian Row where you change planes of motion.

Kristine Whalen said:

Thanks guys! Thinking of it as a sit-up more than as a row makes more sense to me (I think). Will try it tonight and report back!

I personally think it's better to literally see it as a bodyweight external face pull, but whatever works.

If you're struggling to get the motion correctly, I think it's worth spending time on the hinge position and holding it there for time

Murray Truelove said:

Exactly, I get the impression that some people are almost doing a modified Bulgarian row.

Yep, people love making things harder than they should be, it's only the first exercise and it is already hard enough.

When it is time to actually do Bulgarians you guys will get Bulgarians.

I'm on my third microcycle week 1 for RC/PE1 (4sets x 12 reps) and I am struggling hardcore.  Even with a picture on my phone of Coach Sommers for motivation, on the 3rd and 4th sets I am really having a tough time getting past 8-9 reps.  Not sure what the best approach should be.  Work on holding the top position for time?  Take a few seconds and then finish the set?  Re-start the second level microcycle?

First try taking 10 seconds and finishing the set. If you do not notice an increase in about a week then go back a cycle and restart where you are able to complete all sets and reps.

By increase do you mean if I don't catch up next week to able to do the entire set without stopping?  In other words, what if the next 3-4 sessions I have to take a 10 second break to finish the set?  Is that sufficient evidence that I'm doing too much or should I just keep busting ass?

Damon, I'm also finding the 12 and 15 rep sequences really difficult.  15 reps smokes my biceps.  The back muscles are fine at 15 reps.  The biceps are the weakest link in RE/PE1 for me. I wonder if I'm in doing them correctly too.  

Does anyone know if it's correct to be feeling RC/PE1 in the biceps?   

If the 15 rep template is too challenging at first, you could begin with the 10 rep or even the 5 rep template if necessary. Once the lower rep template is mastered then transition to the 15 rep template to work towards mastery.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Murray Truelove said:

Exactly, I get the impression that some people are almost doing a modified Bulgarian row.

But for a heavier guy with severly underdeveloped pulling there's still bicep involmen at the top position. Even with proper hinging it completely fries my biceps on the 3rd set 11th/12th rep, to the point where I get stuck hanging halfway in the hinge. If I try to finish the rep at that point I just drop down on my butt.

Worst case scenario, the bulgariam rowr will come easy. 

Setup: Sit up straight directly under the rings like in the video, then plant your feet / heels to the ground just enough so you don't slide forward, then lean your body back so its straight like a plank at an angle, but make sure it's high enough off the ground like the video.

Execution: Hinge at the hips as you pull yourself up and forward with the arms/lats and also keep your elbows wide enough so you hinge at the shoulder joints as well.  I feel my shoulder joints hinging if I flare my elbows just wide enough.  When I was doing them w/ my elbows in tight to my body I did not feel my shoulders hinging and it was much harder.

I didn't mean to imply that it should be easy, only that it's possible to make the movement much harder by improper ring placement and sitting too far from the rings.

Coach Sommer said:

If the 15 rep template is too challenging at first, you could begin with the 10 rep or even the 5 rep template if necessary. Once the lower rep template is mastered then transition to the 15 rep template to work towards mastery.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks, Coach.  I'm actually 9 weeks into the Foundation 1 and HS 1 programs--started with 4x6r on RC/PE1.  15 reps is doable, but reps 12 to 15 don't look as good as the first 11 reps.  I'll keep at it.  Thanks again.