Standing single leg pike not against the wall

I have noticed that in this exercises I can pike more if I keep the non-stretching ground off the ground, with the knee bent at around 90 degrees, rather than fully bent against the wall. Is it acceptable form?

Can you post a photo or a video?

Do you mean having the back leg ("vertical shin") a little off the wall? 

If you mean coming off the wall to get more of your hands on the ground; no, this is not acceptable

The stretch can be increased or decreased by moving hands closer or further from the wall. The stretch you are avoiding here is actually the stretch you want

I guess I was cheating then, this is what I meant

15 hours ago, Guido Franchetti said:

I guess I was cheating then, this is what I meant

 

Let's not say you are cheating; let's instead say you WERE cheating and now you have a great opportunity to fix it

I tried again against the wall. Actually my problem is not the stretch, I am pretty sure I could bend at the hips more, but the fact that most of my weight is resting on my arms, which makes the position quite tiring. To go lower I would have to keep my arms bent which makes it even harder. What am I doing wrong?

Ditch the blocks first. You clearly don't need themto get your hands on the ground and they are just getting in the way  from there its just getting weight onto your foot and compression. If there's too much weight on hands, come forward the wall a little -- just that back foot, keep the other leg where it is -- and aim to move it closer to the wall over time. 

If that does not answer the question, a video from the side would be good so we can see what's goin on with your angles

Hi Jon, thanks a lot for this and the other replies.

I will try your suggestions and report back. By the back foot you mean the one on the ground, right?

2 minutes ago, Guido Franchetti said:

Hi Jon, thanks a lot for this and the other replies.

I will try your suggestions and report back. By the back foot you mean the one on the ground, right?

Yes I do, sorry for any confusion

Ok, I have played a bit with the position.

I still feel my shoulder strength is a bigger limit than the mobility unless I move the leg really dar from the wall. I could even go lower, but then I have to bend the arms (I try for a moment at the end of the second video) which makes it even more tiring. Is the problem the fact that my straight leg is at an angle instead of parallel to the wall?

bump

Your bent leg should be held with heel to the butt then you can adjust the deeply of the stretch with some supports (chairs or yoga cubes).

I think I've been doing this similar your latest picture Guido and I've always thought it was probably wrong.  To me our goal is the same shape as the narrow hurdler but instead of on the floor were on the wall.  To do the narrow hurdler I sit my non bent leg's hip up on a step just to keep my hips square.  My quads are so tight I can't fold my foot in next to me without falling way over. 

So now we go to the narrow hurdler position but on the wall.  Against the wall gravity isn't helping me with my tight quad.  In an upright position I can't get my bent legs quad to flex to get my heal to my butt even standing straight up.   Soon as I bend over the space between but and heel gets bigger.

Should Guido and I try to scale this stretch some how?  Or substitute in another set of narrow hurdlers on the floor? Or substitute extra set of Vertical Lunge Bent to work on the Quad?

Sorry to hijack your thread Guido.  

Keen to hear any answers to Ryan's question also. I'm in the same boat.

You can consider to do it on the wall but make a little step forward with the extended leg. the rest remains the same. the reason of that is that we can take off some stretch from the calves.with the time you will see that is possible to step back again and put the extended leg completely vertical.

That's exactly how I've been approaching this stretch since my Sept 12 post.  My straight leg is about a foot away from the wall it helps keep but and heel together.  My arms aren't supporting so much weight and I can get a better stretch.  I put a chair in front of me for support and keep a flat back.

On 10/5/2016 at 11:03 AM, Ryan Reynolds said:

That's exactly how I've been approaching this stretch since my Sept 12 post.  My straight leg is about a foot away from the wall it helps keep but and heel together.  My arms aren't supporting so much weight and I can get a better stretch.  I put a chair in front of me for support and keep a flat back.

This was helpful. I have the same problem where my shoulders tire out during the stretch and I don't feel like I'm stretching my leg much. My straight leg's heel is about an inch or two from the wall.