Straddle Ups

Hi folks. I have been stuck on straddle ups for awhile. I cannot get my legs even close to the level displayed in the video. He has them almost vertical and perfectly straight. Are there suggestions as to how to get te legs higher? I could do 5x10 from an abdominal perspective, my legs just do not come up that high.

Thanks for any help.

Do you have enough passive flexibility? You need a fairly reasonable pancake for straddle ups.

No....i do not. I have simply been following the F1 program and this is the first exercise that hasn't improved just by working the movement.

So I need to look up some pancake specific stretches?

Thank you for your help.

I'm stuck on this one as well so can't really offer any advise beyond improving your flexibility.

Depending on your deficits you might need to improve your pike, straddle or both. For pike flexibility MN/PE1>IM and MN/PE>2 are great but additional hamstring stretching might be needed. For straddle SLS/PE2 is good for strengthening the adductors, you can also Google/Youtube "horse stance" to find some information on isometric holds. 

Gymnasticbodies also sells the Stretch courses that focus on the front and middle splits. I'm using these as are others. 

Best of luck! 

I did some pancake stretches after the sets of straddle ups. Other than that, for me it just took a long time to develop the strength to do them all the way up. I also made sure that I was not using momentum so that I would get the proper strength training over time. And I got there eventually.

Thanks to you both for the feedback. I did some research on pancake stretches and will work on those.

PapaMatt said:

Hi folks. I have been stuck on straddle ups for awhile. I cannot get my legs even close to the level displayed in the video. He has them almost vertical and perfectly straight. Are there suggestions as to how to get te legs higher? I could do 5x10 from an abdominal perspective, my legs just do not come up that high.

Thanks for any help.

You need tons of pancake stretching for this one. I have been on it for 7 months now too. Try the stretch courses or find some weighted pancake stretches. The key is to increase strength while you stretch. For optimal results daily pancake stretches is good as long as you keep the weight low on off days.

The problem with straddle ups is that it is the easiest progression towards straddle L sits and is later required for manna work. At some point this road block has to come up (which sucks) but it is crucial for later manna variations. Keep working on normal (legs together) core compression though, on a maintenance level.

Add some speed to the reps. Do active straddle compressions. Lead with the head at a diagonally up and forward angle.

That and what everyone else said...

Sean Hunter said:

Add some speed to the reps.

Trying different things for sure is something worth trying when hitting a plateau. However, I did it the other way around. I put effort in making the movement controlled. Not slow, but making sure I did not use momentum. I am thinking that using muscles in the easy low phase to build momentum and then just bouncing up to the top avoids the stress of really making an effort in that difficult top position to build the strength and mobility up there.

But then, I am sure I have also used momentum to push hard, when getting exhausted toward the end of the sets/reps, so maybe that did contribute too.

Also try to mentally focus on using all your muscles, even low down the abdomen. Think that you are rotating at your hips, rather than your upper back. I think that also helped me.

Working hard seems to be the key.