Elevated Bridge hand/feet placement

I’ve been performing the Bridge course weekly for some time and want to make sure I’m moving in the right direction.

I’d like some feedback on my hand distance relative to the stall bars and my feet placement (height). Based on where I am now, should I aim for hands closer to the stall bars. Feet higher or lower?

I did some hip taps and push ups for form critique (all in one take after session). I know, not great. I can’t quite straighten my legs yet with my hip taps and my left arm is a bit wobbly (still weak from surgery, dammit). Is it required to keep legs straight for the taps while elevated? My push ups are pretty weak too. I don’t think I can close in my elbows further in at this point, but going for it! Oh, and I'm already working on my one-joint hip flexors and quads flexibility on the side. 

Your feedback is much appreciated. Thank you!  https://youtu.be/TKU6Ad7xVSY

You have full knees extension but your shoulders are not passing over the wrists this mean that the starting position is not enough close to the stallbar. can you post a video please?

Yes, video link is above. Thank you.

My personal suggestion is try to use the standard bridge position so if you are putting the heels on one pole then the butt should be enough near to the stall bar so that you can emulate the floor version. during the floor version you should put the heels just after the butt and then lift. try to emulate this one by moving yourself closer to the stallbar before reaching the bridge. then from here adjust in function of your level of flexibility:

-by choosing an higher pole

-by straddling the legs

Another tip for the bridge pushup: before trying to move into full bridge you need complete the push up, moving into the bridge with bent arms puts unnecessary tension on shoulders. forced flexion with bent arm could be a prelude of dislocation. so do not perform it. the only case where you can extend the elbows during the shoulders flexion is if you can hold the elbows in the same position of the full bridge and not opening them outside. check the photo below for further clarifications.

Thank you so much for your feedback and drawings! I'll study your response and I'll get back to you with some questions, I'm sure.

I tried moving my butt closer to stall bars and started with feet elevated as you suggested. However, when I get up my legs were not straight anymore. At that point, if I understood correctly, you gave me 2 options: choosing a higher rung or straddling my legs. Straddle wasn’t enough for me, so I had to climb much higher, almost to the point of HS feel (in order to keep my legs straight) and I didn’t feel I was opening my hips as much compared to my video above. So I have a few questions:

1. I want to understand why it’s better to have my hands closer to the stall bars and my feet higher up on the rungs (> vertical shape), rather than my hands further away from the stall bars but my feet at a lower rung and straight (> horizontal shape) – Assuming that in both cases I would have the same degree of opened shoulders. 

2. I know that in the floor version, we don’t want to initiate the bridge with the knees going over the toes. Is the main reason to load more of the upper back/shoulder structures that are ultimate meant to bear the weight and a matter of movement efficiency, in the sense we are pushing up diagonally, towards the hands direction. Or is there something else I’m missing?

3. While I can continue to make improvements in my thoracic and shoulder flexibility/strength, the place where I feel the most restricted/limited is around my illiopsoas and 2-joint hip flexors. I used to be able to do Back Bridge Walks to open my hips. I’m thinking about re-introducing them in my warm-ups. Or anything else you would recommend?

4. Why is it important to start the Bridge with the feet elevated, if we can push off from the ground?

Thank you in advance @Alessandro Mainente for your time. I hope others who read this thread can benefit as well.

The adjustments I cited for the bridge, the elevated version etc are necessary to build up a easier version of the bridge that must be as much similar as possible to a floor bridge. e.g. in the floor bridge if you start with heels near the glutes you are sure that with full legs extension your shoulders will be past the wrists that is our goal. use the same idea on the stallbar is a good way to hold specificity.

In your case that is very similar to mine the restriction is the thoracic spine, our spine it is not able to bend to 90° and we start to feel over different body segments. i'm very close to front split on both sides , so it is difficult think that psoas is the major problem, if you are feeling stretch on abs and lower ribs then your problem is on the thoracic part. 

the more you try to extend your knees the more the butt moves down, the more thoracic extension you need.

Ok great, I understand what you're saying about specificity and you're right about my thoracic. Still ways to go! I usually feel light soreness in that area the next day, which I think is a good indication that I'm doing a little bit every week. 

I don't feel a stretch in my abs or lower ribs. It's more in my quads and soft tissues structures deep around ASIS. I can feel that fascia pulling burning sensation, big time. The reason why I mentioned psoas is because my stretch deepens and intensifies if I try to internally rotate my femurs, or if I try to adduct by attempting to bring legs closer together (which feels impossible). What kind of strategy do you follow with students who have similar anterior hips/quads tension in bridge? 

Pre-stretch the quads before the bridge. if you tend to work a lot with bent knees the problem is the rectus femoris , so when I say quads I mean rectus femoris.

Yes, I always do the Vertical Lunge Bent for rectus femoris. I also hang from rings in an arch body shape with feet on the ground + ppt to pre-stretch psoas and deep anterior hip structures which feel tight to me. I’ve been doing these and variations thereof consistently (for years) in order to improve my structural alignment and flexibility. As you know, it takes a long time to see noticeable improvements after a certain point.

Yesterday in TB, I moved my hands about 30cm closer and it seemed a big increment! Today my T-spine is a bit more sore than usual so hopefully that means I went a little deeper.

I want to mentioned that my back went into a contracture after this change, so I didn’t do my hip tabs or push-ups this time. I got a bit “scared” and wanted to play it safe. I remember Coach saying you can always do more tomorrow but not if over do it. I also want to tell you that my elbows felt a bit little strained, like taking more of the brunt than before as they tend to hyper-expend under load, which to me indicates that I couldn’t go any further in my T-Spine and I was using any ROM available at my elbows. Possibly not a good thing!

I shot a video with the new hand placement for you to see if my hands are close enough (for now) or if you still want me closer: https://youtu.be/DbhQ4R7lIeI
I made a before/after picture below for comparison to make sure my elbow/shoulder/wrist alignment are safe.

Thanks again for your guidance in this matter.

Definitely better, now look how your posterior part of the shoulder it is in front of the wrist, now it's it time to move feet together first then diamond grip, then you are welcome to move on the lower grip.

Sounds like a plan: I'll hang in here for a while focusing on straightening and closing my legs together. Very ambitious goal since it feels feels "impossible" (not available) now.
What if I cannot do the hip taps and pushups from this deeper t-spine position? I think I won't be able to do it right away... Is it ok to bend my legs temporarily for those 2?

You can do partial rom, the more you elevate your feet the more the push up it is shoulder/tricep strength dependent. So it is fine that an higher pole makes them harder then before.

-simply perform the push up in a rom that is comfortable for you.

-the hip tap it is more a problem of being stacked over one hands, so basically you need to move the hands closer before attempting it.

For the course purpose the idea is work an elevated version where you do not feel any lower back tension, so if your elevated version mean 4° pole go for it, with the time you will see that the lower back tension may disappear also in the 3rd , after the second and so on.

This has been helpful to read! Thanks, guys.