From HBPE2 to HBPE3

Hi,

I would like to share some thoughts about this two progressions of the HBP.

After working on the HBPE2 for 10 months or so I was able to do the prescribed 5x15 reps and was given green light to move to next progression and then decided to start with HBPE3

Although it has been said that this constitutes a great amount of strength for such an early phase, I found it soooo much more difficult than HBPE2, after some weeks training I could only do 5x2 on a good day and not even with full lean, and felt great fatigue in the front part of my shoulders (this is an important detail I’ll mention later)

So I decided to revisit again my HBPE2 to see If I did missed something and after viewing many times the athlete video on the site, I came across the idea that I might have been doing it wrong.

Please correct me if I’m wrong but as per my understanding, during the pushup full protraction and posterior pelvic tilt should be maintained. In order to do so, all the body except the arms should constitute a “block”, then form the top of the pushup, the elbow articulation is the only one that should move to get the body form the top position to the bottom position of the pushup. If this is right, I was starting the movement with a little retraction of the scapulae at the top of the movement, then hinging elbows to complete the movement…did I explained myself? I’m not native English so to speak, so my description might not be fully precise.

After trying this, I’ve found that pushups are a complete different animal for me, now at third set my shoulders are about to explode, and I can’t go even through 4x15. When I mastered pushups, I could do 4x15 plus a last set of 20-22 pushups.

Here is the video where I make that little scapulae retraction, although It might not be noticeable.

And here is the other one where I try to keep my protraction intact through the whole movement.

Please shed some light on this topic, I would not like to work in vain!

TIA!

In the second video you humeral head has increased anterior translation and the scapula is tiliting anteriorly. No wonder your shoulders are about to explode as this places the anterior shoulder under too much load in a bad way.

Try not to overthink the push up. The scapula naturally retract with glenohumeral joint extension and protract with flexion.

Psuedo planche push ups are hard as we are not use to training in this range of motion. 5x2 even with limited range of motion is a good effort. I took around 18 months to master them so dont be worried if the progress is slow.

So ia the form on the first video enough for mastery? Provided that the the form and tempo is maintained through the whole 5 series...

The course videos are intentionally performed at a slower tempo so that the correct technical execution may be more clearly seen.

Use the F1 follow along videos in GB Pro+ to evaluate whether or not you have achieved mastery in terms of tempo and work capacity.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer