Straddle L

Hello,

I am trying to find ways to increase my strength in my ashtanga practice and feel like the straddle l is a movement(though not traditional) that could fit within the context of the practice. There's a pose in primary series called upavistha konasana which is essentially a pancake stretch which would provide an opportunity to work on this movement with the ultimate goal of being able to do stalder press. I'm a little confused as to what is considered a straddle l as some pictures clearly seem to show the gymnast squeezing the inner thigh onto the arms and others where it's not. What is considered to be the truer technique and although I am imagining the first to be easier I would ideally like to learn it the proper way. Can one squeeze the legs onto the arms as a way to progress towards the other version? Thanks

The legs should not rest on the arms during a straddle L. You can use other exercises to build strength that will carry over to the straddle L, but that wouldn't generally include resting the legs on the arms.

Good to know and thanks for the replies. I will work on hip flexors and the progressions I am aware of. I can straddle press to handstand but is there much carry over from that to straddle l? I can only hold straddle l(w/o squeezing onto my arms) for about 4 secs. I guess I should work on this a lot more. Also I've been experimenting with straddle l holds with my back against the wall to act as a way to displace weight in order to hold it longer. I feel like this is okay since you can keep the legs lifted but am not sure if this is detrimental towards further progress