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Started by Young Chan, December 23, 2015 · 18 Replies · 374 Views
HS/PE1 (5th set)
HS/PE1 > iM (5th set)
I don't have a straight bar in the house so I used my doorway pull-up bar instead.
The weight is approximately 4.4lb. Just under the recommended minimum weight.
How is the flexion of the shoulders? I'm quite confident with the strength element but a bit unsure with the iM.
It looks like its going back quite a bit but does it only look like that because of the back arch and head being tilted forward?
Thanks in advance!
You need to fix the back before worrying about shoulders. It should be completely straight. Check out some other form checks to see what I mean.
I wasted a lot of time on this iM before understanding that hands have to be much narrower (somewhere between shoulder distance and shoulder distance + 1 hand, I believe). Once I started doing that a few weeks back this exercises finally started to make sense...
I saw this post and tried it out.
Better than before?
Just need to go further back?
This was on my 5th set again.
Jason Dupree said:You need to fix the back before worrying about shoulders. It should be completely straight. Check out some other form checks to see what I mean.
Giovanni Garcea said:I wasted a lot of time on this iM before understanding that hands have to be much narrower (somewhere between shoulder distance and shoulder distance + 1 hand, I believe). Once I started doing that a few weeks back this exercises finally started to make sense...
More improved version of iM.
HS/PE1 > iM Side view
HS/PE1 > iM Back view
I also disassembled part of the pullup bar just to have the straight bar and added 3.5kg on.
How does it look?
Watch that mid/lower back, looks like it's trying to arch. Make sure it's completely straight. Much better though.
Elevate those shoulders much more.
On 30 December 2015 at 4:38 PM, Jason Dupree said:Watch that mid/lower back, looks like it's trying to arch. Make sure it's completely straight. Much better though.
Elevate those shoulders much more.
On 23 December 2015 at 10:20 PM, Giovanni Garcea said:I wasted a lot of time on this iM before understanding that hands have to be much narrower (somewhere between shoulder distance and shoulder distance + 1 hand, I believe). Once I started doing that a few weeks back this exercises finally started to make sense...
Hi guys,
I haven't been making much progress on this.
The weight has been increased from 3.5kg to 5kg but that's about it.
HS/PE1 iM Side view
HS/PE1 iM Back view
HS/PE1 iM No Weight
How does it look?
I also added a video of me doing the iM with no weights. I got some questions for the form on no weights.
1. is my back straight enough?
2. Am I leaning forward enough? Or do I have to lean more?
3. I need to work on my arms to go further back without losing my straight back, correct?
I can't lean as deep and and raise my arms as much with the weights so I filmed a unweighted version just to check the form.
Thanks!
It looks to me like your main problem is lack of elevation of the shoulders. This is keeping you from full ROM. Do you do dead hangs at all? They really help with this one, especially if you have something against your back stopping your body from moving backwards (like stall bars).
The answer to all 3 questions is yes.
10 minutes ago, Jason Dupree said:It looks to me like your main problem is lack of elevation of the shoulders. This is keeping you from full ROM. Do you do dead hangs at all? They really help with this one, especially if you have something against your back stopping your body from moving backwards (like stall bars).
The answer to all 3 questions is yes.
Never done dead hangs before. I'll try that out
On 23 February 2016 at 6:52 PM, Jason Dupree said:It looks to me like your main problem is lack of elevation of the shoulders. This is keeping you from full ROM. Do you do dead hangs at all? They really help with this one, especially if you have something against your back stopping your body from moving backwards (like stall bars).
The answer to all 3 questions is yes.
How does it look now?
I read Cole saying we need to feel the tension in our mid trap. I can feel it now 
Although I did reduce the weight from 5kg to 3.5kg
Sometimes less weight is more. Looks much better and it clearly shows you are now hitting the right muscles.
You can still take your bottom ribs a bit further back, but that's a minor issue at this stage.
10 hours ago, Cole Dano said:Sometimes less weight is more. Looks much better and it clearly shows you are now hitting the right muscles.
You can still take your bottom ribs a bit further back, but that's a minor issue at this stage.
When should I move on?
Should I slowly increase the weight and move on when I reach a certain weight with the same form?
On 9 March 2016 at 10:33 AM, Cole Dano said:Sometimes less weight is more. Looks much better and it clearly shows you are now hitting the right muscles.
You can still take your bottom ribs a bit further back, but that's a minor issue at this stage.
Increased the weight from 3.5kg to 4kg now.
My arms slowly drop forward because of the weight. Other than this, has the form improved? Do I need to lean more forward?
It's just going to take some time for this to get there.
2 things to work on
1) Keep the bottom ribs in, they are almost in enough but not quite, you can see this from the slight concave you have mid back.
2) As you already mentioned, keep the arms up by the ears.
As an intermediate step it might help to widen your grip a bit so you can get keep the stick back with effort.
On 25 March 2016 at 9:37 PM, Cole Dano said:It's just going to take some time for this to get there.
2 things to work on
1) Keep the bottom ribs in, they are almost in enough but not quite, you can see this from the slight concave you have mid back.
2) As you already mentioned, keep the arms up by the ears.
As an intermediate step it might help to widen your grip a bit so you can get keep the stick back with effort.
Hi Cole, is the bottom ribs in enough now? I've lowered the weight again down to 2.5kg as well.
What is the weight I should aim for on this iM with good form? If I get the form right with 2.5kg, is it ok to move on? Or is 2.5kg too low?
That looks good, but you need to hold steady once you are in position.
2.5kg is ok for this, but it's recommended to keep this in your routine for a while and build up the weight.
On 16 April 2016 at 11:46 PM, Cole Dano said:That looks good, but you need to hold steady once you are in position.
2.5kg is ok for this, but it's recommended to keep this in your routine for a while and build up the weight.
Is it steady enough to move on now?
Thanks 
I can live with that, there's still room for more flexion of the shoulders, so even if you move on, keep this iM in your program for a while to come.
7 minutes ago, Cole Dano said:I can live with that, there's still room for more flexion of the shoulders, so even if you move on, keep this iM in your program for a while to come.
Yeah I can see my arms aren't completely straight. Thanks for the anawer :)))