Started by Stigz, February 25, 2016 · 6 Replies · 2,097 Views
Hey everyone,
I finally got access to some stall bars (proper stall balls, not jury rigging barbells on racks in my box) - and I was trying to work on some side lever work, specifically blocking. Just facing the bars and positioning my hands, and lifting my feet.
It's proving very difficult - i was hoping some of you could give me some pointers?
Thanks in advance!
feel it in the shoulders, pretend the arms aren't there, and are just sticks. brace the shoulders using your scapular stabilizers. You probably need some easier progressions to strengthen them until you're ready. this should be a fairly easy exercise if your scaps are ready. cheers,
What do you mean by scap stablizers? Can you by chance give me a barometer of "If you can do this _ you can do side lever blocking"
hmmm...well, how are your planche progressions? can you tuck planche for a reasonable amount of time? It's different, but similar. what about scap pulls? like hanging from a bar and just pulling with your scapular muscles until your chest is parallel to the ground? I don't think you'd want to just jump right in at side lever blocks, but of course I don't know your training background. I'm suspecting since they're challenging, that you're fairly new to GST.
I've been working planche progressions- that's been my achilles heel. But my strength lies in rope climbing and hollow back press elements. I do scap rotatations from a bar to warm up my shoulders pre workouts. I can do full front levers for about 10 seconds, kip extensions, etc, as front lever pulls.
I think you might be right, as my planche is lacking. Once I get that dialed in, i should be able to hit a side lever block easily if you're right.
sounds like straight arm strength is your weakness. bent arm strength doesn't incorporate any of those scapular muscles to any large degree. side lever is like planche, pure straight arm strength. i'm guessing you may slightly cheat your front lever with slightly bent arms, as that makes it a lot easier, but then takes out the scapular elements. Good luck on all.
Specific side lever work is covered in F3 and 4 