HS pe1 iM: correct activation?

Hi there, i've been having some trouble with this one (i should have done this long ago) for a while now, i have 2 problems: firstly i can't yet get to full ROM, and second i'm having some trouble with feeling the right activation in my scaps. What happens to me is that as i try to pull the bar back, i tend to retract my scaps, i just find it hard to conect the protraction with the shoulder flexion. So i've been practicing with no weight and a mirror, trying to feel the correct activation.

How does it look? Am i protacting enough?

I'm not an expert, so you'll want someone with more experience to confirm, but I don't think your scaps are supposed to be protracted during this movement?! My impression is that you elevate and retract in order to mimic the body line of a handstand.

I just did some reading, and you were right, scaps should be protracted. Looks like I need to go back and revisit some of these.

You need to increase the hands distance in order to have the correct range of motion, then work with this position for the necessary seconds.

While doing flexion you do not need to focus on actively protract the scapulas since the elevation itself promotes partial protraction  due to activation lower fibers of serratus anterior.

bend your body forward and perform the shoulders flexion that is the primarily goal of the exercise. what you do not have to do is arch your lower back or begin the dislocation. for beginner and frozen people a limited quantity of active thoracic extension is needed to achieve a decent shoulder flexion.

Incredibly this tuesday, without realizing i performed this excercise not focusing too much on protracting, and i found that then i could correctly activate my traps, which i couldn't do too much when focusing on protraction. Also checking my older videos, i was doing this correctly, but probably since i read from someone that some internal rotation of the humerus provides extra stability for handstands, i lost some focus and i ended up with some scap retraction, which made me focus on protaction... sigh.

Now i'm pretty sure i'm on the right way, thanks for your answer Alessandro.

I think the idea that the traps should protracted is due to confusion regarding joint action terminology. During upward rotation of the scapulae (which is what occurs during shoulder Flexion and shoulder Abduction) the top of the scapulae are pulled towards the spine (resulting in what some might call Retraction, though in fact is technically not) while the bottoms are the scapulae are pulled away from the spine (which some might mistake to be Protraction).

The Upper and middle fibers of the Trapezius perform this Upward rotation (and essentially do pull the top portion of the scapulae together towards each other), hence why when performed correctly Handstand work will hit the "Traps" (I put that in parentheses because technically the lower fibers of the traps produce the opposite motion called "Downward rotation, but they aren't what the average person associates with being the "Traps").

True Protraction is what happens in sPL work where the scapulae are pulled apart and the Upper and especially Middle Traps are inhibited from contracting due to their antagonists (Serratus Anterior, Pec Minor, and to an extent the Lower Traps) being activated to produce Protraction and prevent elevation.

Look at HS/PE10>iM to see the body line that a true Protraction plus upward rotation/should Flexion produces. Hardly a straight line as required in HS/PE1>iM. I was very confused and frustrated by this for some time as well as I could open my shoulders to what felt like their actual "hard stop" (I didn't feel any kind of stretch per SE, they just wouldn't flex any further), but could never get them in line with my spine because I thought I needed to be Protracting. After watching the course videos many times though and researching more about the activation produced by upward rotation I have realized that the cue of Protraction is incorrect for this element. Like you I was actually doing the motion correctly before I got that cue and am doing so again now.

Hopefully this will help some people.