FL/PE6 Hollow Body Rock - failure definition?

Hello,

I'm on the 48 reps of FL/PE6 Hollow Body Rocks.  On the first set of 48, my PPT is good.  The lower back stays firmly pressed to the floor.  At about 30 reps into the 2nd set of 48, my PPT starts to degrade and the lower back pulls further away from the floor with each successive rep.  I can complete the 48 reps, but the lower back is arched and completely off the floor on the later reps.  On the third and fourth sets of 48, my PPT looses shape at about 25 reps.  Should I stop the set as soon as the lower back comes off the floor or is it okay to keep going and finish the set?   

This sounds like a maths question 

My answer is that you stop as soon as you lose PPT (back no longer firmly pressed to floor). No point in practising the wrong movement.

Thanks, Kate.  Didn't mean to make a math question out of this, haha.  The only reason to continue after loosing PPT is that the abs are still under tension.  So, I figure there's some benefit in keeping the abs flexed for the entire set.  

It would be probably be better to take a quick breather, reset and continue the set. You might consider going from sets of 36 reps to 42 reps as an intermediate step. 

11 hours ago, Jed Thibodeau said:

Thanks, Kate.  Didn't mean to make a math question out of this, haha.  The only reason to continue after loosing PPT is that the abs are still under tension.  So, I figure there's some benefit in keeping the abs flexed for the entire set.  

I see what you mean Jed, yet developing the FL series of core tension is about (abs with PPT). So take two 

Good question. 

Coach made me laugh in the Tim Ferris podcast, when he said that you must pay attention to pain feedback from joints, but that we can smash the abs all day long without worrying about it. 

So smash away :-) 

Did you complete 5x36r with correct positioning? Because to lose it in the second set seems pretty early. I say drop the reps down to 42 or 36 and only do quality reps.

Personally, if I fail before my last set I consider that I've taken too big a jump from the last step or not mastered the previous step to a high enough standard.

Max

Thanks everyone for your input.  I really want to move past hollow rocks, so I was hoping for different answers. damn, hollow rocks!  haha.  Sounds like taking a step back to get quality reps is the best approach.  Thanks again!  

Once your back arches, call the set done. It doesn't do any good to continue past that point.

Well, {45,30,25,25} doesn't look like exponential decay. Though I'm keen to know what the 5th one was? 25, or 12.5? :-)

Seriously: go back to where you can do all sets in good form.

Samin