Back lever fear

Hi,

I'm pretty new to rings training, i've bought a pair of rings a week ago. I've been practicing bar strength work for quite sometime but i have something like a giant barrier, a fear which keep me from sending my legs backwards and attempting any progression toward the back lever such as skin the cat/german hang etc..From an inverted/pike hang, it's mentally impossible to go backward...if anyone has already experienced such trouble with this movement, tell me how you did to overcome this fear.

Thanks a lot,

Charley.

Adult beginners to ring strength training, without a solid foundation in GB fundamentals, should not do back levers.  Period.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Adult beginners to ring strength training, without a solid foundation in GB fundamentals, should not do back levers.  Period.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

To be honest, I have always read this and ignored it. But really beginning to understand that this is very much the truth. 

Listen to Coach Sommer. Progression is slow and painfull without proper fundamentals.

As for mental fear, perhaps you could work these exercises with a spotter. Can you do an inverted hang?

Of course, i can do an inverted/pike hang by starting from a dead hang and doing a front pull with straigth arms until the inverted hang but the idea of going backward is mentally hard..that's what i thought actually, maybe work with a spotter.. I'd like to let you know, i can do a RTO support hold (3x30') and L-sit with RTO (3x30') locked elbows triceps flexed and straight body. Also, i've been doing a lot of inverted/pike pull-ups to get used to be upside down and working different muscles than a traditional pull up.

Charley Petit said:

Of course, i can do an inverted/pike hang by starting from a dead hang and doing a front pull with straigth arms until the inverted hang but the idea of going backward is mentally hard..that's what i thought actually, maybe work with a spotter.. I'd like to let you know, i can do a RTO support hold (3x30') and L-sit with RTO (3x30') locked elbows triceps flexed and straight body. Also, i've been doing a lot of inverted/pike pull-ups to get used to be upside down and working different muscles than a traditional pull up.

None of which has anything to do with shoulder extension mobility/strength and mobility of the biceps.  

Strong athletes who work back levers which insufficient preparation are the ones who get injured.  While the chances of injury are small; I have seen case after case in the adult fitness population.  Why not take care of first things first and avoid the possibility of an unnecessary injury all together?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

None of which has anything to do with shoulder extension mobility/strength and mobility of the biceps.  

 

Strong athletes who work back levers which insufficient preparation are the ones who get injured.  While the chances of injury are small; I have seen case after case in the adult fitness population.  Why not take care of first things first and avoid the possibility of an unnecessary injury all together?

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks a lot for your advice coach you're right don't need to do it in a hurry and get injured. I'm gonna keep working on improving my front lever hold (5 sec at the moment) and keep working the muscle-up by doing a lot of pull ups with false grip which is the hardest part for me and deep dips. I've also been doing some rope climbing with arms only in straddle-L, which seems to help a lot with the muscle-up as you stated in the barbell shrugged podcast.

I've found out this forum some days ago and i have to say it's a fount of golden knowledge. Thanks

It's a mental fear. Yesterday my friend tried to hang on rings, just for fun. He doesn't train, he's no gymnast... he did an almost inverted pike and i pushed him over. I know it was mean, but he lost his fear in this second. No problem going around the rings now. The fear is broken. Find a method. It's in the head

In the vast majority of cases, literally pushing someone through a fear point is perhaps the worst thing you can do.

Even gymnasts have drills to learn to get comfortable with a skill that is initially frightening. We need to be clear headed and controlled, fear is like putting on a blindfold.

It may have "worked" in this case, but many things could have gone wrong? Was it worth the risk? Was it the most                   productive way?

I know. It wasn't like that, in an instant. He wanted me to just push him over. There was also a mattres on the floor like it always is. We were just goofing around. He's actually thankful. 

Before anyone replies. I KNOW IT'S NOT THE BEST WAY. I just wanted to say that it's a mental fear which you can easily overcome

With a username like that Wade, you acted in character ;-)

Unfortunately, there is no drills to go backward except being spotted...a friend should more likely to be a spotter than someone who push over this way ahaha, in this case it's not a friend but a b..... lol

Charley Petit said:

Unfortunately, there is no drills to go backward except being spotted...

This is incorrect.  

The Foundation and Ring courses are designed to prepare the body for this very purpose.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Charley.

If what you are asking is really only for help to overcome your fear (of tipping over backwards from inverted hang), then using a graduated approach may help.

Lower your rings so your head is only, say, twenty inches from the mattress or other padding you use for protection. In an inverted hang, curl up (to minimize the levering force on your anterior deltoids and pecs), then lower down until your feet touch, and then pull back into an inverted position.  Once you feel comfortable with that, put your rings a little higher and repeat the process. Etc., etc.. That should help you to overcome your fear, even if it will take a couple of weeks (as was my own experience). 

However, if you want to start training your back lever on rings and ask for training advise here on the Forum then you will basically be told to finish Foundation first before you start Rings 1. 

I know, it used to be different before the feedback from practitioners of the Foundation courses became available and showed all sorts of unexpected deficiencies in strength and mobility. I get the impression that coach Sommer found that the general state of gymnastic strength and mobility in the adults that actively follow this Forum is too often not enough to, for example, do a skin the cat without a risk of injury. He, therefore, has to advise to build up gradually and methodically, starting at a well defined beginning. If you attend one of his seminars, he can probably give you some tailor made advise which allows for your individual strength and mobility. But, in all fairness, you can not expect him to try to do that on this Forum.  Especially not, now that Foundation is starting to show that it works.

Good luck.

Once you have had the experience of having a strong adult show you their partially torn biceps that resulted from someone who, with the best of intentions, told them to just go for it "it's only a back lever"; you will begin to treat the back lever with more respect. Especially in terms of adult students.

Done properly, GST will build enormous amounts of strength and mobility; a far more complete physical package than any other training modality. Done improperly, GST will turn around and bite you.

This discussion is now over. If you choose to pursue back lever work without the proper preparation, you will need to do it elsewhere.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer