palms flat L-Seat on floor

are my arms too short or am I a weakling? I can't seem to get the lift off the ground with palms flat, though on fingertips it is simple.

For many people starting the l-sit on the floor is tough, and yes it may seem your arms are to short, many people I've known tried starting off on the floor it is a lot tougher, start off with parallettes and once you have it their the floor will seem easier; or you just may have really small arms. lol

lol yeah I always thought I had short arms, last time I was at the doctor I asked him about it. he told me I am in perfect proportion, but, being a bodybuilder(at the time) my arms were just thicker than most and this made them look shorter.

Yea, you just have to get used to the l-sit and work some flexibility, that's all.

Tight hip flexors or hamstrings can make this movement more difficult, especially if you want to go beyond L.

Could it be that all that bodybuilding made the old glutes a little large!?

Make sure you're shrugging your shoulders all the way down, if not and they are relaxed you're losing about 2-3 inches of clearance.

Hi All,

I've noticed this theme pop up a number of times, and wondered if for a lot of people it might be less a question of strength, and more a lack of ROM through the shoulders in pressing downwards ...maybe tight upper traps?

Earlier on I decided to see whether I was able to do an L-sit on the floor myself, out of curiosity, since I usually do them on parallettes or dip station. I found that if I sit on the floor, legs straight, hips at 90, back straight ...my palm-heels barely touched the ground ...let alone enable me to put any pressure through them!!

My wingspan (arms outstretched, fingertip to fingertip) is around the same as my height, which suggests that my arms are roughly the right length for my height, so the only other thing I can think of is that it could be torso length ...but I wouldn't know where to start with assessing that!?

Cheers,

George.

For myself if I sit in an L-sit position on the floor there is quite a bend in my elbows when I place my hands flat on the floor. Even my shoulders are slightly raised. Hence, pressing into an L-sit on the floor is quite easy for me.

For you George it could be a torso thing because you are correct in saying your fingertip to fingertip should roughly equal your height.

Personally I am 5 feet 8 inches tall but my fingertip to fingertip measurement is 6 feet 1 inch so I guess I have long arms or I never grew to my potential height.

Paul.

one more tip, make sure your pressing your hips forward, in line with your hands.

I can't seem to pull it off with palms on the floor but I read about the finger tip idea and i was able to get myself up... not I think it's a matter of balance and ab strength...

I'm definitely no expert, so I don't know if this is correct technique, but I find it is easier to get a bit of clearance between my legs and the ground if I learn forward a little that there is about a 70-80 degree angle between my body and legs.