SL/PE2 need help, body arching

Hello all, I've been doing SL/PE2 since Feb and though I can do the volume I am having trouble

with form on this one. From the beginning I have had an issue with my body arching so that my

hips are the highest point of my body line when I am at the bottom of the move, or when my back

is parallel with the ceiling if you like. What is causing this? I have concentrated on trying to pull my

hips towards the ground but it still seem to happen when I review my videos I have been filming weekly

to see if there has been any improvement which there has not. I have been viewing the video's and

cannot work out whats goin on here. Anyone help me nut this out, my form is holding me back on

this element, I wonder when I get this figured out if I'll be able to do the volume, I'll put a link to my

form checks so you can see. Next week I'll post a form check and compare current form to previous

attempts. Thanks.

Hey Wayne,

I'm in the same situation with this PE. Cole recommended to engage PPT to help with the arching and I think it is working very well, my form feels much more solid now (haven't yet filmed myself to see if there is improvement but I will in one of the next sessions).

1 hour ago, Leonhard Krahé said:

Hey Wayne,

I'm in the same situation with this PE. Cole recommended to engage PPT to help with the arching and I think it is working very well, my form feels much more solid now (haven't yet filmed myself to see if there is improvement but I will in one of the next sessions).

I'll certainly try that Leon, thanks for the advice. It reiterates to me how important PPT is in a lot

of GB's elements, something to keep in mind.

I have another question about this element, so rather than start another thread I thought I'd just add to

this one.

My question is, while performing the twist is it ok if the hips rotate as well. I see there is not much twist

from the hips in the demo video, but in my form checks no one has brought that to my attention so I figure

it's  ok. I'm doing mastery step this week. I feel I have got the body arching issue I had to an acceptable

level but I do rotate the hips more than the demo. If this is not acceptable I'll work on that and then post

a vid and see whether to move on to PE3.

You can view my form checks in my 1st post in this thread, many thanks.

Ideally your hips will remain almost stationary. Think of it as the mobility component of this exercise. If your hips move with the torso you are lessening your spinal rotation and reducing ROM. I'm not sure what ROM is needed for mastery but personally I love the stretch I get from keeping the hips still. Feels almost like a different exercise compared to letting the hips rotate a bit. As someone who used this exercise and Russian twists to fix a minor back tweak I would highly recommend nailing the ROM even if you just keep it in your warm up. 

To do this element with a nice straight body is a real test of dynamic PPT along keeping the bottom ribs back to lock the line in place and allow the twist to happen along a straight spine.

Something that might help with understanding how to straighten an arch. If you think what we are trying to do is a bit similar than trying straighten a U shape into a line. Say you have a horseshoe, to straighten it you'd need to not just grab one end of it and pull but both. Trying to flatten your lower back by just pulling your ribs in and crunching, is like pulling on one end of the horseshoe, the other side is PPT.

Thanks Cole. I feel that my arch or U shape has greatly improved as I have gained more experience doing this element.

When I started my line would be in a U shape and my head would be a lot lower than my hips.I think I have overcome this

now.

Just when I review my footage I noticed my hips also rotate significantly more than in the demo vids and was wondering

if this is a problem I should address.

I'm at a stage where I'm doing 5 sets of 10 reps and will post a video in my form check and see how it goes. Really enjoying

GB's, been doing it since October, how time fly's.

For me, the hip rotation isn't an issue. In the wild there are a couple of variations on this particular drill, some emphasize rotation more and some straight body line, which will have the hips rotating.

Last summer in Stroud, coach Sommer was focused on the former, so that's the way I'm emphasising as well. I'm sure you feel you have to keep a lot of lateral tension to perform the movement, I sure do. There is only so much 'twist' that will happen this way, and it's ok keeping everything I just said in mind.