HS/iM2

1.7 kg bar. Is the head allowed to protrude as in my video?

https://youtu.be/W7Kx2wTlusM

I don't know if allowed is the right word for it, it's going to happen at first.

You've got decent hight there, so now work on getting rid of 'the neck' and also having straight wrists.

Eventually you still may get a couple inches higher, but this is a great start.

Hi Cole

OK, I wasn't paying attention to my wrists so I'll fix that for starters.

Just out of curiosity, how does good shoulder extension benefit handstands? I can see how flexion does but this?

In any case I intend to build this exercise and the extension lifts to a high weight with full ROM to be able to do Russian dips and slow MU transitions. I think weakness in shoulder extension is at least one factor that's been holding me back to get that shoulder rotation. I know it's not pulling or dipping strength.

Thanks for the feedback

Building overall shoulder mobility is essential to strengthening the shoulder muscles, preventing injury and muscular imbalance, and refining the handstand line/ body line

Working on retraction and rotation tends to just help overall. I've recently re-started longer sets of ag walks (which basically keep you in active shoulder extension for 5-10mins) and seen week-to-week improved posture and ability to position my scaps, which in turn means my protraction, flexion and ability to engage muscles around and between the shoulders is improved. Complex system; must be trained as such and can't build endurance without strength, can't build strength without mobility

Saw a video of ag walks. I think I'll incorporate some into my "HS-iM circuit" that now has the iMs 1-5, wall extensions and supine shoulder extension.

AG-walks can be quite tiring, trust me. Be careful with programming them in to your regular workout as they really suck up capacity.

I believe it. I'll keep the volume low while I'm still doing many other iMs.

I've managed to increase bar height to a point where I can now hold it horizontal. If I can do this with straight wrists (forgot again to keep them straight ), can I consider this iM mastered for the purposes of eventually moving on in the progression? If so, I'll keep working it with heavier bars until I can lift each to the same height.

https://youtu.be/1P6V1H38iSk

need to be able to hold 90 degrees with retracted shoulder blades and head not protruding so much.  id personally go slightly wider and sort out the shoulder blade retraction and neck forward stuff first.  thats just what id do though.  you can tell you dont have the shouldermobility becausewhen you get to like 45 degrees or there abouts (notice the point in the movement where you seem to kind of stick for a second before moving higher) you round your upper back to get height.... 

ausswe said:

need to be able to hold 90 degrees with retracted shoulder blades and head not protruding so much.  id personally go slightly wider and sort out the shoulder blade retraction and neck forward stuff first.  thats just what id do though.  you can tell you dont have the shouldermobility becausewhen you get to like 45 degrees or there abouts (notice the point in the movement where you seem to kind of stick for a second before moving higher) you round your upper back to get height.... 

This is where I have really found the 'money' on this element, having recently come back to it. That last few degrees, full retraction and keeping that 90 degree angle between upper arms and back, have dictacted the amount of weight I'm working with on a given day.

Thanks for the feedback, gents. It's really valuable as the course video is from an angle that doesn't give all the necessary information on form. I've approached this exercise using always the same (=target) grip width and worked myself up to 90 degrees. My expectation is that if I keep training at 90 deg the neck-sticking will reduce as it becomes easier to reach 90 deg. I'll also experiment with a slightly wider grip with the current and heavier bars.

Shellberight said:

Thanks for the feedback, gents. It's really valuable as the course video is from an angle that doesn't give all the necessary information on form. I've approached this exercise using always the same (=target) grip width and worked myself up to 90 degrees. My expectation is that if I keep training at 90 deg the neck-sticking will reduce as it becomes easier to reach 90 deg. I'll also experiment with a slightly wider grip with the current and heavier bars.

Do your shoulder extension stretches too.

There is a nice blog post about it here on GB in case you do not own the TB stretch course.

I'm doing each Stretch course once a week. Love the flexion and extension stretches of TB. F1, H1 and S really interlock in a clever way.

So I've been training this together with shoulder extension stretches which have seen a large increase in ROM. I'm hoping that is translating into acceptable form here. Normally I keep my wrists straight but forgot it this time as I was focusing on avoiding upper back rounding. Can I start adding weight to work this up to 7 kg?

https://youtu.be/WZNEhM-_WbY

Bump 

Lets get it just a little higher first. Keep in mind you can and should keep working this iM well after you've moved on past the PE. That would be the time to worry about adding more weight IMO.

OK, I'll do that Cole. I thought the current weight was too small to progress past PE2. My long-term plan is to get this to 10 kg as I think both the ROM and the strength in it will be vital in F2 HBP.

This is my current form. Hope I'm getting there.

Bump 

It's getting there alright. Just a touch higher ideally, But I'd consider that right on the cusp of passing. 

1 hour ago, Cole Dano said:

It's getting there alright. Just a touch higher ideally, But I'd consider that right on the cusp of passing. 

Despite how much the spine is flexed? If he straightened out he would be nowhere near 90%. I assume we measure the angle between shoulder and spine?

Sure there's room for improvement, which is why I said it's on the cusp. But we're looking at 6 months of hard work here and solid improvement. As my civil servant grandfather used to say, "It's good enough for government work".

9 hours ago, Cole Dano said:

It's getting there alright. Just a touch higher ideally, But I'd consider that right on the cusp of passing. 

And don't worry guys, I see the value of building up this exercise so I'll keep training it with some more weight. In another 6 months I'd expect to improve in other areas too to meet the requirements of the private sector.