HBP/PE3>im (Xiopeng) sPL/PE3 (Pseudo Planche) RC/PE1 (Hinge Row)

Hi! So the issues I'm seeing that I'd like feedback on:

Hinge Rows- I know my head is leading the movement too much and my arm angle isn't there yet. I think both of these issues are caused by shoulder mobility restrictions. Unweighted I have trouble creating the "touchdown" (right angle) position with my arms with my wrist in line with the shoulders; they want to rotate forward in front of me. My shoulders pop every single rep too. Any suggestions for mobilizing/proceeding?

Pseudo Planche - Too much anterior tilt of pelvis (I think) - need more core strength/transverse abdominal engagement. I Also would love some feedback on my hand position. Is it far enough back (AKA enough tilt of the upper body forward)?

Xiopeng Backward- I'm using a light weight because I have pretty bad shoulder mobility. I think I'm getting the basic idea but since I'm novice, I'd love feedback too.

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYBODY!

P.S. I just read the form check rules and noticed that I'm not supposed to post a bunch of different exercises together in one vid; I'll be sure to follow that next time.

Some tips for you:

hinge row: hold the hips at the same height , the movement is reserved to the upper body. legs together Wesley!

PPP: needs a lot of refinements:

1- keep the posterior pelvic tilt at the top without piking the hips or arching the lower back

2-you need to lean a bit more so that the forearms are a bit more inclined and less vertical

3-xiaopeng are good, slow down the tempo on the backward part. your right arm it is better. think about having a wall next to your and you need to stay closer, with the rx arm you are closer to this imaginary wall, on the left you are moving too far.

Thank you @Alessandro Mainente!

One more quick question for the hinge rows- should I have already engaged/retracted the shoulder girdle before even beginning the movement? Right now I'm starting it neutral. Also, is the popping in the shoulders "ok" or an indicator I'm not ready to do this movement yet?

Begin neutral but do not collapse, also in the beginning position you need to engage the posterior pelvic tilt.

During the popping are you feeling pain? focus on holding a strong depression during the row.

For the Pseudo Planche Pushups, I would highly recommend going back to pushups and mastering with perfect form. Make sure that your glutes, quads, and core are kept tight throughout the movement. Protract strongly at the top of the pushup and touch your chest to the ground at the bottom. Keep up the hard work!

@Dustin Lord Thanks for the suggestion. I passed myself on the mastery test for the push ups, but perhaps my form could use improvements. I'll upload a vid for critique. Thanks!

@Alessandro Mainente No- there is no pain. I just notice the popping sensation. It feels fine afterwards too. There's no residual soreness that suggests I'm doing harm.

that's fine, refine the movement and move on.

I would actually add  that your hand position in the PPP video pretty much illustrates what the correct distance of your hands vis-à-vis your chest should be for push ups. This will probably be different from the way you've done push ups in your previous athletic efforts.

Strive to ensure that your forearms are perpendicular to the ground when you are in the lowered position. That should be your guide of how far back to place your hands in order to execute the push up properly.

Then with PPP you should strive to ensure that your forearms are at an angle of at least 70-80° vis-à-vis the ground when you are in the lowered position.

@John Kiggundu

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are suggesting that most people (myself included) are stacking the hands underneath the shoulders for standards push ups but the hands should be a bit further back- closer to being in line with the nipples (sorry- lol- that's just a good point of reference). For the psuedo planche we will go even further back near the lower ribs.

Am I getting that right? I have to admit I'm a little confused since the forum videos have the push up being executed with hands under the shoulders.

5 hours ago, Wesley Pittman said:

@John Kiggundu

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are suggesting that most people (myself included) are stacking the hands underneath the shoulders for standards push ups but the hands should be a bit further back- closer to being in line with the nipples (sorry- lol- that's just a good point of reference). For the psuedo planche we will go even further back near the lower ribs.

Am I getting that right? I have to admit I'm a little confused since the forum videos have the push up being executed with hands under the shoulders.

@wesleypittman,

It's not a question of moving the hands further back, it's a question of understanding the purpose of the exercise and adjusting your limbs in such a way that the objective is realized while doing the exercise.

If you take a close look at this picture you'll see that his forearms are vertically aligned at the bottom of the movement. That is the correct way of doing GST push ups.

There is one more important point: His shoulders are depressed, not elevated (or "shrugged") and he has an active posterior pelvic tilt (PPT) as well. (Don't worry, all these tiny details will come as you continue to refine the exercise, and you shouldn't expect to have it "perfected" right out of the gate.) 

I too had to move my hands a tad lower than previously in order to ensure that my forearms were at a roughly perpendicular angle.

As I understand it, the gist of the GST push ups is to develop the deltoids, the triceps, and the infraspinatus for more advanced HBP elements down the road, and this objective is slightly compromised when the forearms are not perpendicular at the bottom of the exercise.

@John Kiggundu Thanks for such a thorough and thoughtful answer. I really appreciate it! Knowing myself my guess is that the actual "push" strength is okay for the PE2 push-up but I doubt I am able to keep the pelvic tilt  through the whole thing. I'll adjust my next workout to be back on PE2 and take a video to look it over.

@John Kiggundu and @Dustin Lord

Thanks guys for the honest feedback; sometimes it's hard to check your ego at the door, but I needed to go back a few exercises. I took some footage of myself doing the incline push up and found that even at that level the core was sagging. My push strength is fine through the chest but I've got work to do on the core strength so I'm back to PE1. I appreciate your insight! Thanks again.