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Started by bigB, June 22, 2015 · 10 Replies · 323 Views
pike mobility is sometimes weird, isnt it? i've noticed that sometimes the tightest line on my body will jump from being glutes to hamstring to calves and strangely only improve if i stretch my hip flexors.. if you have some difficulty raising the legs, where is the tightest line? if you have difficulty "closing the angle", where do you feel the tightest band now? you might need to do some more hip flexor, hamstring, glute, calve stretching or wait for some strength to catch up.
how has working with the Mn iM been treating you? where are your jefferson curls, weight and ROM wise? pike hang? how tight were your V-ups? straddle ups? also, where are you in SLS? i've noticed my glute strength / flexibility slowly changing from working on Hawaiian squats, focusing on sitting back instead of simply going down.
18in is home stretch! 
I feel my weakness may be a lack of compression, I don't really feel that tight, but as I lift I get more and more pressure in my cervical spine.
I've completed SLS and can do sets of 10.
it's like we have to first get the flexibility, then the mobility, then develop the strength and use that strength to develop compression. it feels like a different cue to simply lift the legs than to close the angle from the hip. lifting the legs makes me get tired after 5-7reps. closing the angle fries me completely in less than a handful.
this is the only insight i can share on this. i thought i was hopeless when it came to flexibility, differentiating between what was mobility, flexibility and strength and how much time i spent on each one put things into perspective.
some of us can be said were carved from stone, that doesn't mean that the marble won't ever give way. just gotta keep chipping
the point of you feeling it in the cervical spine means you're needing to lean back. im willing to bet it looks somewhat like this.
and this is why i mentioned, hamstrings, glutes, etc. gotta stretch the stuff that is hampering the angle being closed. the good news is the more fastidiously we tackle this, the EASIER press handstands become.
Can you get into position passively or with assistance/weight?
What thecolin said + How is your MN6?
Can you do the move with bent knees (ie. bring your knees to the vicinity of your shoulders)? I found that my issue was not hip flexors or core, but rather the tension required around the shoulders. I also found that working on hamstring flexibility helps a lot.
Consider the idea to do some specific stallbar stretch position for HLL.
basically wrap a circular band around the pole where ideally you will touch with the feet in the top part of hll.
grab that bar with hands, kick you legs up and put the feet inside the band. lock your knee and relax. when tension goes away,pull yourself a little bit higher.
Aside that can I see you IM 6 please?
bigB said:
I've been working on this for years but I just can't get my feet to touch the bar when my upper back is supported. I'm probably 18 inches short in ROM.
One other thing to think about is, where did you start? Have you spent years without improvement? Or has it been years with painfully slow progress? This move might post a particular challenge for you or your body type, but progress is progress.
bigB said:these PEs freak me out because the 1.25in maple bars bend and creak and my feet hurt from the pressure
I way 70 lbs less and they freak me out too. 
Heavy guys have managed to break bars before, so you're not being paranoid.
I've gotten a lot of mileage out of weighted pike hangs just by steadily increasing the weight. I worked up to 2 minute holds with body weight on the bar and it helped a lot. I can get a much better stretch than working on the stall bars.
If you can't get into a position of relaxed control, it's going to be almost impossible to improve your flexibility.