Static Holds

Here are a few of my static holds. I am trying steady state training and any help on form would be appreciated.

Middle Split Hold - I bounce a lot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zln6QpWqVPI

Tuck Plance - I can not hold this long on the ground but would doing first set on rings, then one on the ground, and finish last few on the parallettes?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRVP52V- ... re=channel

Front Tuck - I have a hard time finding when I am parallel to the ground and I have a huge barrel chest so getting flat seems very hard. I lift my hips when I feel like I am below horizontal a ton. Need lots of help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60M9V_j_thc

Back Tuck - When I am close to horizontal it feels like my hips drop so I lift them higher here too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9qsmxAN ... re=channel

I remember when I was working on tuck front levers I was curled up really tight, not sure if I was parallel to the ground and shaking from exertion within less than ten seconds. but It didn't take long before I had achieved a one minute hold parallel to the ground without any shaking and moved on to advanced tuck FL. My point is that if you're really struggling with an exercise but keep practice it you will get better. Also If you cant hold an 60 second tuck FL with good form Maybe just practice them till you can. Going back to the easier progressions and mastering them before moving on works for me really well.

I had my brother tell me when I was horizontal and am able to hold the position for about 8 seconds at the moment. It was just a matter of knowing when my body was parallel to the ground. On a pull-up bar I can hold both levers much bette horizontally.

Right now I am working out M,W,F and Monday and Friday are my static days. On wednesdays I am doing tuck planche pushups, tuck back lever pulls, negative straddle front and back levers, pseudo planche pushups on rings, handstand pushups on wall (use to be able to do these free balancing),l-sit lifts, jumping single leg squats, and tabata burpees.

Would working negative straddle levers or doing reverse and cranks to advanced or tuck lever be more beneficial?

Would adding yewkis be beneficial or would that be too much work on the core?

Depends on your work capacity. It might be too much now, you'll have to find out by trying. In a few months it won't be a problem. The negatives are a great tool, and with the more advanced variations weighted negatives are working really well for me. I can do front lever on a bar no problem, full lay, but on the long rings straddle is challenging. Doing controlled negatives from the inverted hang down through the lever is helping immensely. You might want to give that a try, because with what I see in your video, your shoulders and back aren't ready. Being flat has nothing to do with the size of your chest, if anything a big chest would make that easier. Your body isn't used to what you're doing yet, maybe, and your shoulders and/or back are still building the strength they need. Don't worry, keep doing your best, use the negatives, and start adding in a set of reverse yewkis. No sense in trying yewkis when you haven't mastered the tuck lever yet. Body levers are probably going to be your best exercise at this point, you can use the side of your car as your anchor. Just grab under the doors and lift away! Start with negatives, maybe even tucked negatives. Keep extending the tuck as the weeks go on until you can do it full lay. It's pretty tough, and it's going to make you really sore at first if you work too hard. I made up body levers for myself on my ship because I was doing inverted situps with 75 lbs for like 15 reps. It was ridiculous. I needed something harder, and those are what I came up with. After the first time I did them, it hurt like hell to get out of bed for a whole week! I mean it was really bad, I had no idea how hard they were until then! Took me a month before i stopped getting painfully sore with them, but now they are pretty easy.

Thanks to both of your replys. In coaches article it says 60 sec for the tuck but in his program design in the book it states once you are able to hold it for 15 seconds you should move on to the next progression. Just curious what people think?

I finished my workout tonight but even in the front tuck lever it does not look like any of the videos I have watched or pictures of it. After I got through all 7 static holds I tried several attempts of the front lever on the bar. On my last attempt I recorded a video of it. I am not able to fully get my hips up on this one but legs are close to 90 degrees but I still have the large hump in my back. I reread the front lever portion in the book about driving my shoulders up and my hands towards my hips. My wrestling team always said I had a hunch back :wink:. I am just confused on what my final position should look like. I can also try it on the bar first thing on Mondays work when my body is rested too.

My tuck planche is also better. In Coach's article on the planche, Bower is slightly above horizontal ,similar to what I look in my video but I did them with my hips horizontal tonight. Horizontal is the correct way right?

Oops forgot the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-86oLWv ... rofilepage

Is that muscle mass or spinal column? It's really hard to tell. Even if it doesn't hurt right now, you might want to get that looked at if it is the actual spinal column doing that. An Egoscue clinic may be able to help you out if that is the problem and a clinic is an option, they are very good at correcting musculo-skeletal dysfunctions without surgery. Should be good about telling you if it's an actual problem that may require surgery as well, though they try not to resort to that. They believe in teaching your body's muscles to pull the bones back where they belong. It's pretty neat, and it's worked wonders for me. Not that I ever had your particular... back You look pretty sharp, honestly. As for the planche, well, you guys correct me if I am wrong!!! Hips slightly up is good, being at a slight upward angle is harder. it also helps keep things balanced when you do pushups. Ok, it's bedtime. I've been up all night

It's my spinal column. My rib cage is barrel shaped. It started sophomore year of football from standing on the sidelines with shoulder pads on for long hours. My back would get very tired and I ended up slouching to relieve the pain. From this, I was not able to bend my head down towards my chest since my upper back was so tight. Our conditioning program mainly involved bench, squat, push jerks, incline bench, and hang cleans. We rarely had time to do auxiliaries and never did rows since we had short class periods. I relieved most of the back pain from rolling in a ball and rocking back and forth on a cement floor for about an hour at a time. It still pops when I sit or standup very and breathe in. Another reason for the barrel chest could be from exercise induced asthma. During wrestling conditioning sometimes I thought I had panic attacks (maybe asthma since) but would keep on since our coach was about developing mental toughness. I usually cough for at least an hour after harder workouts still today. One of the reasons I started these exercises was to develop a stronger midsection since its embarrassing having a huge hunch in the back when you bend over to pick something up or other various activities.

Wow. This is going to sound weird, and if you don't do this then you don't, no sweat. Go read a book called Pain Free by Pete Egoscue. I found out about it on the getfitnow.com forums back when i was training to be a Navy SEAL, and that book helped me fix a lot of problems that started the same way yours did. You don't have any deformations, at least you didn't when this happened, you just have developed a really severe musculoskeletal dysfunction. Nothing is wrong with your bones or muscles, but the bones are being pulled into the wrong position. The information in that book can help you get your straight spine back. If you go to the book store and read it, you will see what I mean. I hope this helps, it should.

I was not able to find the book but I have also not looked to hard :wink: . Others and I have noticed that since starting this kind of training that my standing posture has improved so I hope as I get stronger it keeps correcting. I have started handing on a bar and pushing my back in or forward until the muscles cramp. Would that be an okay exercise?

I also started to do planches on the ground since I find these to take more coordination. The first time moving from parralettes to floor I was not able to even lift into a tuck. After one workout I regained the coordination to be able to hold the advanced tuck on the floor.

I should maybe start a workout log since I plan on uploading my progress and don't feel like creating new forums. Here is a clip of my first time practicing free standing handstands. Any help with form would be appreciated such as head position or if my hips are not over my shoulders enough. I need to work on squeezing body tighter together and developing the flexibility which I think will come since I am able to get my hands within 3 inches of the wall now. I have separated my shoulders numerous times from wrestling and this is the one exercise that makes all the pain go away. No therapist even had me try this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2otbPvtfk

Your head is out because I can see your ears. Your lower back is arched but this could be to compensate for the lack of 180 degree shoulder flexion in your HS. If the shoulder angle is less than open, your spine has to compensate or you have to slightly planche your HS which means it won't be vertical.

kwarny said:

I was not able to find the book but I have also not looked to hard :wink: . Others and I have noticed that since starting this kind of training that my standing posture has improved so I hope as I get stronger it keeps correcting. I have started handing on a bar and pushing my back in or forward until the muscles cramp. Would that be an okay exercise?

I also started to do planches on the ground since I find these to take more coordination. The first time moving from parralettes to floor I was not able to even lift into a tuck. After one workout I regained the coordination to be able to hold the advanced tuck on the floor.

I should maybe start a workout log since I plan on uploading my progress and don't feel like creating new forums. Here is a clip of my first time practicing free standing handstands. Any help with form would be appreciated such as head position or if my hips are not over my shoulders enough. I need to work on squeezing body tighter together and developing the flexibility which I think will come since I am able to get my hands within 3 inches of the wall now. I have separated my shoulders numerous times from wrestling and this is the one exercise that makes all the pain go away. No therapist even had me try this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2otbPvtfk

Obviously not They've got it at major book retailers Borders and Barnes & Noble, and it can always be found cheap on Amazon.

slizzardman said:

Depends on your work capacity. It might be too much now, you'll have to find out by trying. In a few months it won't be a problem. The negatives are a great tool, and with the more advanced variations weighted negatives are working really well for me. I can do front lever on a bar no problem, full lay, but on the long rings straddle is challenging. Doing controlled negatives from the inverted hang down through the lever is helping immensely. You might want to give that a try, because with what I see in your video, your shoulders and back aren't ready. Being flat has nothing to do with the size of your chest, if anything a big chest would make that easier. Your body isn't used to what you're doing yet, maybe, and your shoulders and/or back are still building the strength they need. Don't worry, keep doing your best, use the negatives, and start adding in a set of reverse yewkis. No sense in trying yewkis when you haven't mastered the tuck lever yet. Body levers are probably going to be your best exercise at this point, you can use the side of your car as your anchor. Just grab under the doors and lift away! Start with negatives, maybe even tucked negatives. Keep extending the tuck as the weeks go on until you can do it full lay. It's pretty tough, and it's going to make you really sore at first if you work too hard. I made up body levers for myself on my ship because I was doing inverted situps with 75 lbs for like 15 reps. It was ridiculous. I needed something harder, and those are what I came up with. After the first time I did them, it hurt like hell to get out of bed for a whole week! I mean it was really bad, I had no idea how hard they were until then! Took me a month before i stopped getting painfully sore with them, but now they are pretty easy.

**************Has it ever been tried to use staic holds at the parallel postion in a situp on a GHR machine or pommel horse?

It woud seem that enough weight is used it would"isolate" the core as the weak area in the front lever.

Brandon Green

I've done that, and I can honestly say that it's not super effective. The angles and motion arms make for too much lower back torque, at least in my opinion. It's better to work the body levers and inverted situps, they work the muscles you need to strengthen with the least amount of force exerted on the lumbar spine. That's what I have found in my training, but your mileage may vary.

kwarny said:

It's my spinal column. My rib cage is barrel shaped. It started sophomore year of football from standing on the sidelines with shoulder pads on for long hours. My back would get very tired and I ended up slouching to relieve the pain. From this, I was not able to bend my head down towards my chest since my upper back was so tight. Our conditioning program mainly involved bench, squat, push jerks, incline bench, and hang cleans. We rarely had time to do auxiliaries and never did rows since we had short class periods. I relieved most of the back pain from rolling in a ball and rocking back and forth on a cement floor for about an hour at a time. It still pops when I sit or standup very and breathe in. Another reason for the barrel chest could be from exercise induced asthma. During wrestling conditioning sometimes I thought I had panic attacks (maybe asthma since) but would keep on since our coach was about developing mental toughness. I usually cough for at least an hour after harder workouts still today. One of the reasons I started these exercises was to develop a stronger midsection since its embarrassing having a huge hunch in the back when you bend over to pick something up or other various activities.

Ouch. There are some yoga sequences that would take 5-10 mins to perform and get you relief faster than 1-hour of being in a fetal ball position. One of the yoga poses in the sequence would be that fetal ball position.

You guys are all missing a major point, and it is really frustrating me. It probably shouldn't, because it's not my back, I don't know the guy, and I probably never will, but it's getting under my skin. Pain relief is ok, but the focus should be on straightening the back. You shouldn't learn to manage with a dysfunction, you should fix the dysfunction. This guy's body wasn't born with this condition, and it doesn't have to keep it.