pHS/PE1 Form Check

This is my first go-round with these in a while and HOLY MOLY the inverted pike stretches are amazeballs when done on a steady surface. Never before had I been able to dig deep into this stretch, but man--wow it felt good.

Let me know how my form looks. I gave the mastery template a-go today, and it felt fine. So if I'm not mastered, I'll stick with Step 9 for a while otherwise. I'm a glutton for the pain that the stretch brings to my hammies 

(Also, sorry about the angle, the "stall bar" I'm using is a ladder in a poorly lit alcove in my basement. The gap between my feet and hands is about 2-3 feet and my legs are firmly together in the im)

PE: Protract more. Start with full protraction from the top support and attempt to keep it. Push hard into the floor.

The iM was great. I like the pause at the bottom. Nice work there.

lovely setup you got there @Daniel Taylor-Shaut 

Thanks @Everett Carroll. So the depth on the im is good? For the PE, I need more protraction (which is probably true of all elements: sPL, HBP,...lol). Will continue to work on that.

Looking good. It will get lower over time but once you fix the protraction issue with the PE, go ahead and move on. You are almost there.

Ah. So I'm close....well I'll schedule myself for Step 9 and then take some form checks at the end of the block. No need for me to rush, I like this stretch. Once I progress, what's the rule on revisiting skill work. For Foundations I understand about keeping it in the warmup or as extra sets during the cooldown (namely for MN/PE1>im, PE2>im, as well as HBP/PE2>im, and PE3>im). Should I progress similarly with Handstand work? I finally mastered HS/PE1, as well. So I'm thinking to do all of my HS/PE2 & PE2>im work, then 3-5 sets of PE1>im (with incrementally more weight until I eventually get to 10-15 lbs), then my pHS work. So, once I'm on to the second progression of pHS should it also look like: pHS/PE2 & PE2>im work, then tacking on PE1>im work after the requisite sets? Is that a good way to go about it?

yes, the mastered elements with the mastered template used as a warm up . e.g handstand 30'' + 5 lbs 10'' sh flexion.

at the end you can try to improve only the IM of handstand 1.

Got it. But to be sure...with my HS work:

WRS #1-#4

Wrist Series (no warmup)

HS Warmup (PE1 - 60" /PE1>im 5lbs for 10")

HS Work 

Extra HS work (increasing the weight on a mobility, etc.)

And then the same protocol for Press Handstand and also for Foundations?

Yes that all sounds good. Remember that the warmup doesn't need to be excessively long. I keep mine around 10 minutes and the first thing I do is some easy cardio and light stretching. I follow that up with easier progressions of movements I'm working that session.

Yeah, I've been playing with doing either the Fundamentals daily limber and/or the Quadrupedal Warmup (in addition to some pro+ work: shoulder/bicep stretch circuit, straddle extension circuits; and also previous PEs). I find that most recently doing only the daily limber in addition to all the other stuff has suited me best. It really keeps my energy reserved for the work ahead.

For Thursday, I'll end up just doing the daily limber, the WRS, the Pro+ chest/bicep stretch circuit, and now I'll add in HS/PE1 for some extra warm-up for a set or two, as I mentioned above. Will do similar work for my Foundations session later today. Thanks @Alessandro Mainente and @Everett Carroll for the quick responses and for clearing all this up. 

Is this any better? I feel like, judging from the video, maybe if I moved my hands towards my hips I might get even more protraction? From this position, though I am protracting *hard*. Let me know how this looks.

Are my hips going low enough in this IM? I certainly enjoy these so working them more isn't an issue, but if they're mastered that be nice, too. 

Cheers.

Spend one cycle on this, Daniel. Try to protract more in the PE. Nice pauses at the bottom of the iM. It will pay off to spend a few weeks on these.

Yep, got it. Will recheck form in a few weeks.

So, today I was aiming to increase protraction and I came to realize that elevated and protracting through the move might be a good way to perform (perhaps even the right way). What I found though is that I kept getting a bit of clicking in the right anterior deltoid (front of my right shoulder) on the descent of PE if I came out of shoulder elevation/protraction and the feeling had me wary given my previous issues/intermittently recurring issues with shoulders. Any insights?

You want to be elevated and protracted in all press handstand work. Keep the elevation and protraction and this should help with the "clicks" shoulder. If you still have  issues/pain, see a physio for an assessment. 

Thanks. When I was careful to not lose elevation (which was quite hard given the positioning for PE1) there wasn't as much clicking. So I'll be mindful of that going forward.

Yes keeping elevation is important for your shoulder health in the handstand work.