SLS/PE1 & iM

Hi,

SLS/PE1 has been giving me problems for a while - if I'd videoed the first attempts I made with a friend, I'd have some prize comedy footage of us falling backwards into walls and such (I'm pretty sure other people in the gym thought'd we'd been drinking...).

After a bit of reading around the forums I decided to scale the movement by having my feet on the mat, and concentrating on pulling my feet to my glutes as much as possible (and over time reducing the momentum I'm currently using).  I've also got quite tight quads, which a physio has told me is an adaptation/result of having hypermobile knees (as a kid I always had more developed quads that a Nintendo-trained athlete should really expect!).  Hopefully Front Split will help me address these issues.

Thanks again for any help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWvkR7KtToI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zfvfuYTi0Y

Looks good.  I believe momentum is an important part of this movement.  Maybe try doing it while watching the example video (as best as possible) to improve your tempo.

Thanks Matthew - so today I looked at the video again, noticed that I wasn't going back as far, and my roll wasn't as fast (so less momentum).

Had a go today at decreasing the depth of the mat by half, getting there towards the end, better at pulling my heels in - think I'll just have to keep chipping away at this one!

Hi all,

So, another form check video. but sadly not much progress on this element - of all the elements, this is by far the one that I've made the least progress on.  I'd scaled this by having my feet off the mat, so that my backside was slightly higher than my feet, and I'd managed to put together a fair few good reps with this - but at same level, I can't even do one properly....

In this video I've stitched together a couple of attempts from one set, and the last rep attempt is one where I noticed that I wasn't keeping my chin as close to my knees on the roll to stand as I could - so, that gives me some improvement, but the problem remains getting my feet to my glutes, which looks very much like a mobility problem.

Given that I'm not making much progress on this element, I was wondering if it might be better to put this aside for a few weeks and just do extra stretching/mobility work to try and get my feet to my glutes - what do others think?

Once again advice on this or any other elements of the video would be greatly appreciated

MIke.

https://youtu.be/fDs9Z9YuEMw

I recently was training someone on this movement who was tight. They became frustrated on the first try and threw a small weight in each hand. This allowed them to complete ~5 reps.

Also, some other options:

Elevate butt onto a mat. 8 inches if needed to get perfect technique.

Are you doing front split stretch course for ankle stretches?

My ankles/knees/hips were similar in tightness to you over a year ago. I trialled high volume holds, end low range of the movement 1-2 months, until it felt smooth and natural.

I do not think stopping this movement will help to work on mobility.

Scaling the movement to the individual Range of movement is working on specific mobility.

Good luck,

Ryan

I had a lot of trouble with these when I first started as well. I found this really helped to make the movement more efficient (which is crucial for gaining mastery):

Don't "throw" your feet/hips out away from you/down to the floor as you roll forwards. This "seems" like a good idea and I too intuitively did it at first. But in actuality this turns your body from a "ball shape" into a "brick shape" and we all know that rolling a ball requires much less energy than rolling a brick. This effectively kills the momentum/kinetic energy that is created as your hips and lower body begin to be pulled back down to earth as your roll forwards and so forces you to try to recreate that momentum to get back to your feet. It also tends to place your feet further forward of your center of gravity, making it harder to get over them into a squatting position.

Instead, you want to keep your chest and thighs pulled together (think MN/PE1) for the entire duration of your roll and keep your lower back round (think FL/PE1). Also keep your heels pulled s close to your butt as possible (especially as your roll forwards. If you do this with good compression your lower body falling to earth will create enough momentum to pull your upper body up into a squatting position.

If you still can't smoothly get onto your feet then it probably means you have a mobility deficit (quads perhaps, but in more cases ankles are the culprit) so you need to scale the movement down by standing on the floor, but rolling back onto an elevated surface (like the mat you are using in the video). This will reduce the depth of your squatting position and make the exercise more manageable until you gain the required mobility.

Finally, yeah the FS stretch course will be your best friend for improving your mobility for these.

Hope this helps.

Ryan - thanks for this - I'll look at doing end ROM holds (although I'm doing a lot of goblet squat holds for olympic lifting mobility, with an emphasis  on trying to get the glutes closer to heels - not sure if this is the kind of thing you're getting at?

Keegan - many thanks for this, really helpful - I took the advice about ball shape/brick shape, and while I still can't do it without scaling to a mat, when I did the movement scaled, the smoothness of the moment was instantly noticeable - combined with mobility I think I can see a way through this now.

I may post another vid in a little while to illustrate the difference movement after incorporating your advice.

I will have to agree with a lot of what Keegan wrote. I am anything but a flexible person, but still found out that I can do this exercise fairly easy (at least the strength part, not the iM). 

Try and see if you are able to just sit down in a squat position. Not with you knees far apart, but as close together as possible, and with your feet completely flat to the ground. Without falling backwards. 
If you can do this I think you are mobile enough to be successful at this element. 

From the standing position, sit pretty much straight down and let yourself roll backwards (no need to push away to give yourself extra momentum). Keep back rounded. 
As you roll forward again, set your feet down as close to your butt as possible. Not wide apart, but close together. 
Use a bit of momentum at first by throwing your arms forward (but try to reduce the momentum as you become more proficient at these).
Don't wear any shoes. 

From your videos I think that the "rolling forward and placing your feet as close to your butt as possible" part will be the most helpful. 

Let us know how you're doing

Ankle flex and reach!!! Forward in a full squat

Primalisten - thanks: I do a lot of goblet squat holds for Oly lifitng mobility, but after reading this I might alternate sets of having knees close together, and see what happens then.

Jon - yes, I think the ankles reaching for the ground is something I've neglected because of other issues, so I'll look at this also.

Primalisten said:

I will have to agree with a lot of what Keegan wrote. I am anything but a flexible person, but still found out that I can do this exercise fairly easy (at least the strength part, not the iM). 

Try and see if you are able to just sit down in a squat position. Not with you knees far apart, but as close together as possible, and with your feet completely flat to the ground. Without falling backwards. 

If you can do this I think you are mobile enough to be successful at this element. 

From the standing position, sit pretty much straight down and let yourself roll backwards (no need to push away to give yourself extra momentum). Keep back rounded. 

As you roll forward again, set your feet down as close to your butt as possible. Not wide apart, but close together. 

Use a bit of momentum at first by throwing your arms forward (but try to reduce the momentum as you become more proficient at these).

Don't wear any shoes. 

From your videos I think that the "rolling forward and placing your feet as close to your butt as possible" part will be the most helpful. 

Let us know how you're doing

Jon Douglas said:

Ankle flex and reach!!! Forward in a full squat

Many thanks both - the two points (ankle reach, emphasising sitting back onto heels) were the two elements I needed to get the technique sorted -can do the scaled ok now, just got to work on mobility to do it from the floor.