L-sit Walks - An Abdominal Challenge

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L-sit walks are nice combination of support work, static abdominal strength and dynamic movement. They are especially useful in group training situations, as the intensity of the movement can easily be tailored to a wide variety of athletic abilities within a particular group by simply adjusting the distance assigned to each athlete.

To get started, first decide on a distance which you THINK you would like to traverse. Be challenging, but fair. Remember, if you fall prior to reaching the designated mark, you must return to the beginning and start again. This tends to be a wonderful incentive to focus and get the job done. Now assume a standard L-sit position on the floor. The arms should be locked, with the chest high and the legs extended out in front of you. To travel forward, lean slightly to one side while swinging the other arm forward; all without allowing the legs to drop to the floor. Continue this stepping motion until the desired distance is covered. Do not bend the knees. Do not allow the glutes to touch the ground. Sliding the feet along the floor is also not acceptable.

I generally use this movement as a finisher at the end of my athletes' conditioning. It is rather strange, but on the days that I use this exercise, I am not nearly as popular with my athletes as on other days :?. I require intermediate athletes to travel 20' and advanced athletes to traverse 40'. Invariably, there are those athletes who are unable to complete their assignment. In that case, they will simply continue attempting to successfully negotiate the distance for a ten minute block of time. Excessive rest between attempts is frowned upon. Those who complete their assigned distance, may immediately move on.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Variations and Progressions

hope you don't mind coach but I thought I might list some progressions for those who are not at this level and some variations for those who are past this level or want to change it up a little differently.

Obviously you must be able to do an L-sit in support for the L-sit walks and for these progressions (unless specified) I'll assume you can.

First off work support L's on floor or p-bars (if you can't then use the same progression as in coach sommer's hanging leg lift article) then move to rings (this will help extremely with L-walking and can be used even if your more advanced).

Next is dynamic support work, if you are training static support L's (straight or tucked) and aren't very proficient at them then start with penguin walks (walking along p-bars or something you can walk along in a regular support position). If your proficient at tuck L's or are working on straight L's you should work on penguin walks in tuck L. Eventually you should be able to perform in a straight leg L. These progressions are for people who are beginners (strength wise) who particularly want (to work) this conditioning skill .

Now some variations. The first is V-sit walking, same thing just in V rather than L, work V-sits on rings statics and movements (some [little] dipping motion and just moving the rings around a little, all within your limits) then take it to floor or p-bars, strive to keep your hips still as possible (not swinging into manna).

The next is manna walking (this is just an idea, I've never seen anyone do it or heard of anyone doing it, it would be for advanced athletes), I won't go into how to work up to a manna here (mainly because I'm not that knowledgeable on it) with this it would/will not be possible to keep perfect form just make sure there's minimal swinging motion (if wanting to try these and your unable to perform static manna's but can do V's swing into manna as best as possible and hold as best as possible).

The final two are weighted and/or object carrying L or V-sit walking, this can be done in any number of ways, some for actually weighing you down others for keeping your form or balance etc. firstly the very obvious ankle weights (can be any weight carried between your ankles) I won't spend any time explaining this one. I like carrying medicine balls on top of my legs (they weigh you down and force you to keep steady) or it can be any type of ball (basketball, soccer, etc) these can be placed anywhere along your legs for diiferent challenges. One fun and challenging thing to carry is a cup of water (wise to do this one outside) this one will really stop swinging.

There are also lots of games you can play with this (good if your a coach or if you train with a kid/ just playing with them) like carrying objects (soft toys or something light and simple to carry) from one point to another with various rules (most in set time period, most without touching floor [apart from hands], most water still in container) or races.

Like I said before the progression presented here are for people who are starting strength training and want to be able to train this from the start whereas for more advanced trainees (not advanced athletes) who can do support L-sits and such this "skill" should come quit quickly just practice it a bit.

I hope this quide helps you,

Ed

L sit walks sideways on beams or around the horse are good. L sit walks on pbars work well. These are all good if a gymnast cannot do an L sit on floor. I guess they could walk on small parallettes possibly too.

yeah those are good ones as well, I didn't put L-sit (straight legged) on p-bars in my progressions because I feel people can really cheat on these with slumped shoulders (also so legs going parallel but I wouldn't be too worried about that) which is a bad habit to get into but doing it off a beam or horse (pommel) or a table or something is a good idea.

also coach I thought of this awhile ago and thought I should I should ask you if you've ever seen or heard of it done (if anyone can do it it would be your students 8) ), planche walking?

Ed,

oww and I was gonna say do you think it might be beneficial to do L-sit climbing across a bar, I find one-arm L-sit deadhangs are very demanding

Hi,

Just looking for some advice on L-sit walks. I can do an L-sit pretty comfortably on rings & parallettes however when it comes to the flloor i need to be on my fingertips rather than flat palms. Is this just a flexibility issue or is it possible my arms aren't long enough? I tried walking with the paralletes and can do it for a few metres but i think it would be easier to get it on the floor. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.

Yes, my students occasionally do planche walks; although I must say my popularity seems to drop on those days :?.

If the wrists are not yet conditioned to comfortably work flat on the floor, than training on the finger tips is fine. I would not be overly concerned about this; your wrist stability will naturally improve over time, without injury or substantial discomfort, if you are patient and respect your current limits. Working elevated on your finger tips will also lessen the degree of hamstring flexibility required for L-sit walks. The catch 22 is that you must have very strong fingers to get a reasonable volume of work accomplished.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks, I'll keep working on it

I tried this exercise at kids (9-12) and they said it's hard They have problems with feet...But in month they'll all do walks. For the begining we'll start L-seat walks on p.bars, it will eased their work (feet can go a little lower then horizontally).

Good exercise coach :wink:

I can actually do this one.

I tried it a few months ago before I knew what an L sit was called.

Today I also discovered that I can do a V sit now, I couldn't do it before so I'm happy.

hmm, maybe friday we'll have to do these but they will be more of butt scoots. I'm sure it will create much hate for my first day.

Jim from beast skills reccomends pressing the wrists into the legs between the hams/quads and glutes. I think it looks tidyer(no offence Coach), and it also transfers well to circles. This is all very well for his fingers (and consequently elbows) back method, but my fingers forward and elbows to either side method causes my arm to bend when I attempt this, and is not very comfortable, nor practical, because even if I make the effort to straighten the elbow a tricep is never as stable as a bone. Is it worth changing my hand position (which would also help in some Lsit-other skill manouvers), going for a loose armed walk, or both?

My preference is for your arms to remain completely clear of the legs at all times during this exercise. Pressing the arms into the legs provides a "brace"; greatly decreasing the intensity and thus the subsequent strength gains from this element.

As for the strength transferring to circle work,

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Having the wrists next to the legs definitely makes it a LOT easier. I can barely get 8 feet with my arms completely separated from my body the whole time!

Edit: Animal, I think you need to work on triceps strength. I am 220 lbs at the moment, and my triceps don't bend. I'm not trying to be insulting, I just figured I would point out that if someone my size can do the L-sit walk without the tricep issue you mentioned, that you could overcome it yourself with some extra tricep work. I don't know if this will help you or not, but I have started doing rotator cuff work specifically every day for a week now, and my abilities are increasing like crazy in everything else due to better shoulder stability. I don't know if that will do anything for you since my situation involves shoulder injuries that I never properly rehabbed, but I figure I'll mention it

Ok thanks alot both of you. Hopefully Ag walks wont damage any carpets. And yes, once I'm shot of a current headache I plan to work on some Hand stand pushups (and the HS itself).

A frisbee on carpet will not damage the carpet. Put feet into frisbee. I prefer to place the instep than flex the toes but it does put more pressure down on the frisbee if you place the instep but also can be harder to drag.

I require intermediate athletes to travel 20' and advanced athletes to traverse 40'

Are those feet?

I can hold an L-sit on the floor (palms, not fingertips) for 30 seconds at least, but I can't do a single step in L-sit walk. So hard.

I feel like I weigh one ton.

My knees also tend to bend if I try and take the step. Is that a flexibility issue?

What can I do? I don't have access to pbars at the moment.

Knees bending is most likely flexibility and if you want to do l-sit walks just keep practicing and you will get it. If you have a solid l-sit the first 5-10 lsit walking steps is just about the weight transfer more or less

irongymnast said:

Are those feet?

(regarding my requirement for intermediate athletes to travel 20' and advanced athletes to traverse 40')

Yes, those measurements are in feet.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I'm having trouble doing these lol. I can hold an l-sit on the floor for a full minute, but I can't take more than two steps in the l-sit walks. The heel of my foot keeps hitting the ground and throwing off my balance. Is this just a practicing issue? Does the length of my legs matter?

If you have a 1 minute l-sit it's probably a practice issue getting used to the weight transfer from side to side. I believe I have about a 1 minute l-sit and without having trained this exercise for a while I should be able to get at least 5-10'

Thanks I'll start practicing these

Demus said:

Hi,

I can do an L-sit pretty comfortably on rings & parallettes however when it comes to the flloor i need to be on my fingertips rather than flat palms. Is this just a flexibility issue or is it possible my arms aren't long enough? I tried walking with the paralletes and can do it for a few metres but i think it would be easier to get it on the floor. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated.

Demus, I'm in the exact same situation. Is this a problem of flexibility (I'm guessing it is because I'm not flexible at all!) :x

How can I progress into putting my entire hand on the floor? :roll: