Planche lean sPL/PE5: about scapula depression

Hi!

Today I would like to talk about scapula depression, a stuff that even now I find still not at all clear. While protraction is something that I understood quite well, depression is a bit different.

I posted the first pic to an athlete of my country.

He didn't explain me the reason,

But he said me that the main lack was about scapula depression. ("Almost absent", his words).

A friend of mine told me that he was right. In order to fix it, I should contract/activate my lats, so that my shoulders move away from my ears.

Yesterday I tried to work on this stuff. Standing on top push position.

Here's a video:

Scapular Depression - Planche Lean: http://youtu.be/zXd_2m9xq40

Watching the video I realized that as I tried to activate lats, my shoulders move away from my ears, and my scapula blades is much more visible.

I made a comparison between the two forms. I drew a red circle to sign what I'm talking about.

Now, two stuffs I need to clarify:

1. I don't know if there is exactly the movement I should make to depress effectively my scapula. I'm asking you about this!

2. Besides, maybe in the bottom form of the comparison pic my scapula are a bit less protracted... What's your opinion? Which form is the best after all?

Thank you!!

I would suggest you try and achieve the activation you are looking for while standing up. Protract as hard as you can then depress. For me, I get MUCH more activation of the lats once the depression is added. Now try to emulate this in your lean.

EXRx.net: Joint Articulations

ExRx.net: Scapula & Clavical Articulations

I've found that contracting the glutes and really locking in the PPT helps with the depression/lat activation.  It feels like it creates a chain between the two, gives something for you to hollow against, and prevents lumbar sag.  Squeezing the glutes (especially if you tend to let them go lazy) really lets you lock in the right shoulder orientation, lean farther forward, and get a sense for what an actual planche feels like (at least it feels like what I think a planche will feel like once I can do it).

I'm going to sneak into this post, since my question is about scapulae depression during HBP/PE3. I've been trying to figure out how to depress and protract the scapulae during this movement, because I'm not able to maintain them in the right position during the descent. Here's a video of my scapulae during the exercises. I really don't know what to do to make my form better, any inputs?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoLq6W4khJY&feature=youtu.be