Progression from Bridge Curls to Single Leg Bridge Curls

I'm having trouble making the jump from SLS/SE1>iM to SLS/SE2>iM. I mastered SE1, but when I hit to roadblock, I decided to double back and build volume to 10 Bridge Curls per set. I gave SE2 another run today and I'm having trouble banging out one rep. Is there a sensible way to scale the single leg version as an intermediate progression?

Are you capable of doing any portion of the rep?  Do the part that you can do and gradually increase the ROM.

Hi DouglasMN,

I had similar issues when attempting to transition from a double- to a single-leg shoulder bridge curl. The first thing I would try is what you said, build up to 5 sets of 10 reps in the double-leg version. Once you've deloaded, then start trying even just 3 sets of 1 rep each leg in the single-leg variation, eventually building up to 5 sets of 5 reps per leg.

Another gem for me was SL/PE4: Curl-ups. After mastering 5 sets of 15 reps, I also began playing around with single-leg curl-ups, which really helped in engaging my glutes and hamstrings on both sides of the body equally.

Lastly, you could try do just do a negative or eccentric rep on the single-leg shoulder bridge curl, then use both legs to perform the positive or concentric portion of the rep. Hope these help!
 

Best,

Chris

Try using a skateboard for the curling leg. It'll allow you to eliminate the friction which is a big hurdle towards your first rep, and with low friction you can go very slowly instead of having to jerk through the frictional sticking points.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

Chris - the eccentric phase actually feels reasonable all the way out to full extension. It's the concentric portion that's murder Did  you find any significant asymmetry when you worked the single leg Curl-ups? It seems like the concentric phase is equally challenging on both legs.

Tex - I can't curl from full extension, but I bet I could from about 2/3s of the way down so I might give that a try in conjunction with Ravn's suggestion of removing some of the friction. I'm just using an old shoebox top over some carpet. The standard curls were easy enough that I figured it probably didn't hurt to have some additional friction, but maybe I need to cheat a bit until I bring single-leg back up to speed.

I brought my elevated leg in with my knee up near my torso, and only started extending it when I mastered this modified version. 

I like the skate board idea personally. If you are up to it (slightly irresponsible advice here) getting a little eccentric supplementary work on NLCs can help you with the hamstring activation required for these. Dose very light on these though, as by definition you are not yet quite ready to use them as a training tool

I've done them having students get a partial assist with their foot in a Theraband loop attached to a bar ( doorknob would work)

Cole Dano said:

I've done them having students get a partial assist with their foot in a Theraband loop attached to a bar ( doorknob would work)

What do you mean by that?

You put your free foot in the band, it carries some of your weight making it that little bit easier to pull the other under you.

Couple of different options that don't require bands or assistance:

1: if you find the right place, you could start with an inclined variation of those, which should be easier with initiating the movement

2: you could go back to SE1 and remove help from the arms by only supporting your upper body with shoulders, that should increase intensity a bit, so then transitioning to SE2 might be easier

emilianop said:

2: you could go back to SE1 and remove help from the arms by only supporting your upper body with shoulders, that should increase intensity a bit, so then transitioning to SE2 might be easier

Isn't this how it is supposed to be? I went back from SE4>iM to SE1>iM because of too rapid progress for hamstring to adapt but this time with the goal of using nothing other than hamstring and pushing hips up with ppt and straight body at 4x10r as mastery. Even after 4x10r perfect SE1>iM, even 1 rep of SE2>iM was of terrible form. Btw my calves are brought to killer cramps by the SLS/SE>IM's every single time. 

Nino Begovic said:

...this time with the goal of using nothing other than hamstring and pushing hips up with ppt and straight body at 4x10r as mastery. 

I'd like to repeat, that a skateboard or something similar is perfect for eliminating the momentum, which causes bad form and involuntary cheating. When eliminating friction, you can move slow and deliberate.

Nino Begovic said:

Isn't this how it is supposed to be? I went back from SE4>iM to SE1>iM because of too rapid progress for hamstring to adapt but this time with the goal of using nothing other than hamstring and pushing hips up with ppt and straight body at 4x10r as mastery. Even after 4x10r perfect SE1>iM, even 1 rep of SE2>iM was of terrible form. Btw my calves are brought to killer cramps by the SLS/SE>IM's every single time. 

If you check the videos you'll see the athlete there is keeping both arms fully on the floor.

If you lift them and don't let anything but the shoulders resting on the ground, the exercise should be a bit harder.

emilianop said:

If you check the videos you'll see the athlete there is keeping both arms fully on the floor.

If you lift them and don't let anything but the shoulders resting on the ground, the exercise should be a bit harder.

I don't think you're supposed to use them for assistance, though. The jump from SE2>iM to SE3>iM would be even bigger than it already is if you mastered SE2>iM with arm assistance. 

OP - maybe use your arms for assistance in SE2>im to help bridge the gap? Then gradually decrease the arm assistance until you're up to 5x5 with no arms. 

Joshua Slocum said:

I don't think you're supposed to use them for assistance, though. The jump from SE2>iM to SE3>iM would be even bigger than it already is if you mastered SE2>iM with arm assistance. 

 

Sure, I keep them off the ground for both versions, I'm just saying the video shows otherwise, there's no clear specification about this and it's very tricky to tell whether or not the athlete is using them.

If I watch both videos, I'm tempted to say they're not used in the first one (2 legs) but relied on in the second one (single leg), but that's just me guessing.

If I place my arms on the ground I use them for assistance, I really can't help it. To avoid that, I cross them over my chest.

Same here, I keep them off the ground because of that.

Ravn said:

If I place my arms on the ground I use them for assistance, I really can't help it. To avoid that, I cross them over my chest.

This. I had mastered the movement with my elbows touching the ground before realizing that I was inadvertently using them for help. Crossing my arms over my chest definitely increased the intensity of the exercise to the point where I've been at it for three weeks and still haven't mastered it (which is ok, because for some reason I'm finding SLS/SE2 to much more difficult to master than I expected). #quadscrampingup

Keeping hands or elbows down however is probably a good way of assisting the movement for those finding the transition from SE1>im to SE2>im difficult.

Is ppt mandatory for this movement? I thought it's  an arch.

My problem is keeping the hips up on full leg extension. I guess this is crucial for mastery? I feel I sag too much and need to keep a stronger arch. 

For single leg curls I need to support my weight a lot with my arms, on normal ones not so much. Gonna try the progression as described with my arms across the chest. I started doing it with my hands next to my head, like the starting position for a bridge, but shoulders still on the floor.  Also ok that way? 

@Mikkel RavnI do use my skateboard to make the movement smooth and controlled.  Was afraid I was cheating. Happy to see you did it too

I started with the negatives. On the concentric part, I helped myself gently (as little as it was needed) with the other leg… then did the negative slowly on my own. Next week I was able to do a very jerky ones on the positive part too… using those furniture moving pads. They help slightly with the friction, but it is still much more than the skateboard. 

The focus point for the F3 progression mentions using a furniture slider to reduce friction and holding your body rigid while one foot moves.

Assuming Coach Sommer personally did the video recording for the original videos. Going off of the video some assistance with arms is fine. If it were not fine the gymnast in the course video would not have done the leg curls the way it is demonstrated. 

.

Well there was a time when the course material explicitly stated that the videos were the gold standard for exercise execution...

I d say there   s  some truth  to all those different opinions. E.g. some f1elemts show slightly different execution in the follow along vids compared to the technique vids.   Learning from this forum as a vast pool of combined experience is definitely a major advantage.

I ll try to increase difficulty on my bridge curls by eliminating arm support first and then move on to do  single leg curls w good form and  mininal arm support.

What still got me confused is ppt being mentioned. Isn't it rather an arch body hold?! It means engaging your core , but actual ppt (like with a hollow body) wouldn't that make extending the lumbar impossible?! ...sorry, still a bit lost in this universe of physio and biomechanics.