FL/PE4 (Straddle rocks)

I wonder if the amplitude is too small...

Yes, that is a bit too small

Head is also crunched up a bit too high. Nice position other than that though

Well, it's a start...

Appreciate the feedback, Jon.

Another attempt. Sorry, I forgot not to crunch my head at the start.

Bump

Nice execution, but as Hon stated before, try to reduce the crunch of the head.

@Jon Douglas@Alessandro Mainente

I'm progressing well in terms of reps but I hope it hasn't come at the cost of form. Is it acceptable? 

Curious to hear what the coaches say, but to me those look like mine feel when I get tired. When I am fresh, it's a smooth roll and it feels like that. When I get tired, the upper body clunks down somewhat, the legs come up a bit higher than before, and on the way down provide the momentum to pull the upper body back of the floor. Meaning the shape of the body is not constant during all of the movement. You can see that in your video when you pause it at the two end points (where the movement reverses direction) and compare body shapes. The hip angle is noticeably different. 

That said, I'd say they're at least as good as the ones in the follow along video

Hi Kai

Although this was my last set I didn't have much fatigue so if the coaches' verdict is thumbs down I won't have any excuse. I don't expect them to be perfect but I'd be happy with good enough for mastery. I'd rather spend my time refining PE6 than this. 

The thing that gets the thumbs down from me is a pike at the top getting a bit too pronounced. I know it doesn't feel like it during a long set but this is a compromise that breaks the tension.

That said you shouldn't have trouble instituting full hbh into your fl sessions now; if they're significantly easier than the rocks you may be able to put a 60s set into warmup to help you set and keep the body shape

HI Petri, in the most of the reps there is a breaking of the hips angle that it the major issue.

Thanks guys, I'll try to improve the hip alignment before reposting. 

It was a really good idea what @Kai Ewert suggested: to look at the movement frame by frame. You can really see, from frame by frame, how the different  body parts (upper vs lower) move independently at times, rather than staying like one unit. I was surprised how obvious it is when looking at the frames. I am going to do it with my videos as well. Dreading the view already, ha ha.    But striving for perfection will bring us excellence, right?

3 minutes ago, Suzanna McGee said:

It was a really good idea what @Kai Ewert suggested: to look at the movement frame by frame. You can really see, from frame by frame, how the different  body parts (upper vs lower) move independently at times, rather than staying like one unit. I was surprised how obvious it is when looking at the frames. I am going to do it what my videos as well. Dreading the view already, ha ha.    But striving for perfection will bring us excellence, right?

Yeah I had a look too and it was more obvious on some reps than others. I think it's largely a coordination issue.

I was in a similar situation as you, Petri (or I may just be assuming that), back when I first got into GST. I didn't think the intermediate PEs (straddle) were worth my time because I was already able to do a set of 60 HBRs at the time. I also felt that the straddle made it a bit harder for me to feel the difference between a nice rock with a constant shape and one where the body opens and closes. Part of that was also that I had been training static FL holds for quite a while before I got into GST and I was eager to do more specific FL work. 

As a consequence (?), my progress in the HBHs/HBRs was agonizingly slow if not (feeling) nonexistent, and over time as I did not train FL holds I did lose some of that strength. I also tried some other approaches to building strength for the HBH/Rs. It didn't help my mindset that I could do most of the body lever progressions right away, either. 

I eventually focused on other things while still doing some GST, but eventually stalled in most of the progressions. I also hurt my shoulder (unrelated to GST) and after getting that under control started more or less fresh. With a different mindset of just giving it how long it takes to master the exercises. Even if that means to the standard of myself or the coaches on the forum rather than the form displayed in the follow along videos . I know you are on a similar path from the diligence with which you post your form checks. To help me be "patiently impatient", I try to maintain a level of (in this case) FL holds by adding that kind of work to my program. I can use that straight arm strength in climbing and take responsibility for including it. 

From my past experience with hard-to-master (for me) PEs, I know how great it feels to complete actual mastery on an element which I was tempted to call it "good enough" on. Somewhere in the back of my mind I'd know I could do better, and that someone out on the forum would also want to hold me to a higher standard. I am now after this reward, rather than the earlier one of getting through as many elements as fast as I could. That old approach stalled out soon enough for me.

Nice post, Kai. True words of wisdom that I can learn from. Very timely too as I was just about to post a new form check :-). Yes, you've gotta post your form checks - god almighty if I had to rely on my own judgement...

@Jon Douglas@Alessandro Mainente

I think I've reduced the piking substantially. Do they look better now?

Hi Petri,

Nice improvement! You have done a great job of keeping the hips flat. You are a bit flat in you lower back causing the bumping motion in your rocks. Think about lifting the shoulders a bit higher while pressing the lower back into the ground. Be sure that when you do this you do not allow the hips to begin piking again. Keep it up!

Okay Jeffrey, thanks. Pressing the legs down on their ascent helped with the hips. I'm already trying to press the lower back down but I'll see if I can't lift the shoulders a bit.

@Jon Douglas

@Alessandro Mainente

@Jeffrey Bittner

I think I've done away with most of the bumping. Hope there aren't any more pieces of the puzzle unknown to me :-)

Nice work Petri, nice work.

6 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Nice work Petri, nice work.

Great, thanks for checking, Alessandro. Now it's time to go back to volume work!

Awesome job Petri!