Half press one

... I finally got it!

Press handstand hasn't responded to my prodding for maybe a couple years, and I'd all but given up on it. TodayI got my 5*10sec in 1/2 press hold, and followed it up with a couple sets on 5 of the next one-- same hold with a negative to straddle L.

Like everyone else I've read on here, the big breakthrough for me was stretching pancake harder. I have been able to get my stomach to the floor for a long time, but working it harder until I could do that cold made it click nicely.

Thanks Coach, plugging away at basics comes through again and I have hope I could actually get some passable press HS going on now

Just to double check, I did these on floor. I don't expect there is any problem with that, is there? The negative to straddle L was fine but my compression wasn't good enough to do the negative to Lsit; will have to try that next time

Jon

Also quick tip for people struggling with this. At first I wasn't able to do the full position-- feet off floor. On low paralettes I assumed the position and did the same press motion as the previous (box press) elements, letting my toes drag along the ground with no weight on them until I went too far and lost balance orposition and held it at the furthest point (that where I was most compressed) with my toes barely brushing the ground. At first this was something like 10cm and i felt really kinda dumb. Over a cycle this range increased until my toes were off the ground and I was able to balance at the ' top'. A burst of hard stretching for another week and there it was

Congratulations the more you compress on 1/2 press hold the easier it becomes to hold. The iM for the  exercise feels like meditative rest after all the stall bar work.

 

I really doubt doing half press two on the floor is a problem - It just means you have a great pancake. For the L sit negative, I know it's possible to do it on floor, it just still boggles my mind how to get that much active compression.

Well done mate!

Cheers

And yeah, I guess I'll have to turn my attention to working pike stretch with the same intensity. I've taken my flexibility for granted a bit and assumed that wasn't the limiting factor, might be interesting to see what effect it has