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Started by Daniel Taylor-Shaut, January 26, 2016 · 4 Replies · 119 Views
This element has been quite difficult. The whole process of inverting myself and the fact that I lack stall bars has required some creativity on my part (also some trust in the weight rack where I perform the mobility). Any tips on this element other than sticking with it, in order to better expedite compression and ROM? Thanks.
pHS/PE1
pHS/PE1>im
Anybody?
You look like you're on track to me. One thing you might want to try in the iM is to look at your shins as opposed to your feet in the bottom portion of the movement. Frankly this movement still makes me a little nervous, like I'm not quite in control at the bottom and it might run away on me. Anyway, I found that my nervousness was causing my upper back to really tense up as a kind of guarding reaction. When I realized that I focused on lengthening and trying to bring my face to my shins. It got me a little more ROM and a a good series of cracks from my mid back.
As for compression, two things have been particularly useful lately. The first is working on core activation, mostly transverse abdominus and pelvic floor. Best cue I've heard is to draw together your pubic floor and a space 2 inches below your navel. Now when I stretch more of it goes into my hips as opposed to my lower back. I think also the more I wake those muscles up the more my hip flexors, piriformis, hammies, etc will be allowed to relax as they won't be compensating for my under active core muscles. The second useful thing is 2 pike 2 squat. I underestimated these at first but 20 of these quickly takes my pike from cold and stiff to warm and flexible. I use these throughout the day to open my hips up after sitting.
Considering the sketchy nature of your set up, not bad. As mentioned above, as you get more comfortable look up rather than forward.
The back to front offset of the bars on the squat rack also goes to make this more difficult. Again as you get comfortable here, you can try to lower the top bar by a notch and see what that does.
Yeah, I'm well aware of the sketchy setup, but, hey gotta be creative when no better alternative exists. (Gyms that feature stall bars in NYC are beyond my pay grade and often too far of a commute since I live in Brooklyn.) I get the notion of eye level, on these I really try to engage my hamstrings and core, pulling my belly button towards my thighs. I know that more work is needed I just wanted to be sure that I was on the right track and that, though my ROM isn't at mastery yet, that my form at least decent. You all confirmed that. Now off to work my core/lower body and do MSs today. So, thanks for approval. Going to keep at it. After yesterday's workout, these movements showed glimmers of improvement. I hope to be progressing soon.