road to elevated bridge TBS/SE17 - tips please!

Hi guys! Finally I've just learnt to push myself off the ground, so I want to move on workink consistently on elevated thoracic bridge. 

This is one of my first attempts. 

Definitely my form is not the best, it is clearly far away from video demonstration... above all  I see that I can't fully extend my arms, and I guess this is something I have to fix as soon as possible. So I would like to have some tips to improve the shape.

1. What about the starting set position? Should I get my butt even closer to the stall bars? Also what about hands position?

2. As you can see I place my feet on the third rung, should I move them even higher?

3. Is it ok if in the beginning I can't fully extend my legs and are they not close? Is this something I can fix in time with more practice?

Any tip will be appreciated!

Thanks to all!

Alessandro

Hi Alessandro, first: the reference are the arms, they're not extended, so probably this pole it is too much for your, try for an higher one.

I am following this thread. I did my TBS today, and I am still struggling to push myself into elevated (while I can push into a "normal" one, from the floor). I followed all Alessandro Mainente's tips that he posted in another thread: push the hips up, then push so you can get head on the ground and weight on it… I mastered all that. Now, he said to get the hands wider and push up. I cannot do that. Get them close and push up… nothing…  Did you have some special "aha" moment when you happened to push yourself up into this elevated one? It's irritating to me that I am not able to mimic how I push myself into it from the floor and just do the same while elevated, grrrr… 

2 hours ago, Suzanna McGee said:

I am following this thread. I did my TBS today, and I am still struggling to push myself into elevated (while I can push into a "normal" one, from the floor). I followed all Alessandro Mainente's tips that he posted in another thread: push the hips up, then push so you can get head on the ground and weight on it… I mastered all that. Now, he said to get the hands wider and push up. I cannot do that. Get them close and push up… nothing…  Did you have some special "aha" moment when you happened to push yourself up into this elevated one? It's irritating to me that I am not able to mimic how I push myself into it from the floor and just do the same while elevated, grrrr… 

Getting into bridge is not easy; it requires quite a bit of specific training to acquire the requisite strength to get into that position IMO. 

That said, there are many iterations you could use to do this. You could start by mastering it from the ground, as you're doing, for 60s. After that, if you have access to a stall bar, get into bridge using the lowest rung of the stall bar. When you master the 60s from that height, elevate your feet to the next rung up the ladder, and so on, until you can do it from at least the 4th rung, which is what I think most people need. If your arms are longer you might need to use the 5th rung, etc.

To give you an example, this is how I'm scaling into the hip taps (SE21). I cannot even move my hands from the elevated bridge position so I decided to scale into it by first doing it from the ground. Yesterday I did 2 taps on my left and 1 on my right. (My right shoulder is weaker than my left.) I've set myself a goal of adding one hip-tap each week to each side, so that in about 8 weeks' time I shall be able to do all 10 from the ground. After that I shall begin to elevate my feet and master 10 hip taps before raising my feet again, etc., until I'm able to do it from the same height as the thoracic bridge.

5 hours ago, Alessandro Di Sanzo said:

Hi guys! Finally I've just learnt to push myself off the ground, so I want to move on workink consistently on elevated thoracic bridge. 

This is one of my first attempts. 

Definitely my form is not the best, it is clearly far away from video demonstration... above all  I see that I can't fully extend my arms, and I guess this is something I have to fix as soon as possible. So I would like to have some tips to improve the shape.

1. What about the starting set position? Should I get my butt even closer to the stall bars? Also what about hands position?

2. As you can see I place my feet on the third rung, should I move them even higher?

3. Is it ok if in the beginning I can't fully extend my legs and are they not close? Is this something I can fix in time with more practice?

Any tip will be appreciated!

Thanks to all!

Alessandro

 

 @Alessandro, nice effort. 

But, I would strongly urge you to put some padding on the floor while doing this exercise, in order to protect your head, neck, back and pelvis from potential injury should you get fatigued and crash to the floor as happened in this video.

3 hours ago, John Kiggundu said:

To give you an example, this is how I'm scaling into the hip taps (SE21). I cannot even move my hands from the elevated bridge position so I decided to scale into it by first doing it from the ground.

This is great. Nice to hear that it is easier for you too to do it on the ground compared to the elevated. I thought the idea was that the elevated should be easier to do. I tried once do to off the ground and then step on the first rung but I didn't make it then… maybe I will try next time again, I may be stronger. Thanks for your thoughts. I am still doing the push-up and hip-taps from the standing variation… a lot of work to do… 

5 hours ago, John Kiggundu said:

 @Alessandro, nice effort. 

But, I would strongly urge you to put some padding on the floor while doing this exercise, in order to protect your head, neck, back and pelvis from potential injury should you get fatigued and crash to the floor as happened in this video.

Ehm... I think I will follow your wise suggestion @John Kiggundu! 

@Suzanna McGee more or less I did just like @John Kiggundu suggested. Firstly I practiced for a while on the ground, without trying to fully extend my arms (I have no mobility to do that, and I did not wanted to overstress my lower back)... A sort of low Bridge with bent arms on the ground. Actually I didn't hold the position too long (5-6 sets of 10-15 secs, no more) because I didn't want to feel too much effort on my lower back... Once I got comfortable I moved on the stall bars... Again some practice from the First rung, then second and so on. As @Alessandro Mainente suggested, I'm going to elevate my feet even higher!

Thank you all for your suggestions! 

As I was reading your answer, and the suggestions to put pillows under you to protect yourself, I got the idea that maybe I will put a bunch of pillows (or foam rollers that we have at the gym) under my shoulder blades so the push-off from the ground could be easier, as my shoulder blades will be already higher… And then I raise myself up into a full elevated bridge. Can't wait to test it next time, maybe that could work great.  

4 hours ago, Suzanna McGee said:

As I was reading your answer, and the suggestions to put pillows under you to protect yourself, I got the idea that maybe I will put a bunch of pillows (or foam rollers that we have at the gym) under my shoulder blades so the push-off from the ground could be easier, as my shoulder blades will be already higher… And then I raise myself up into a full elevated bridge. Can't wait to test it next time, maybe that could work great.  

@SuzannaMcGee sounds like a plan.

Just remember that the move required to get into the elevated bridge position is a pseudo-bridge pushup and requires not only strength in the shoulder girdle but also mobility, particularly in the thoracic spine area. It's a combination of those two things and is not just about strength or the lack thereof.

Hello again guys!

I tried to follow your advices, and this is my current elevated thoracic bridge:

I think form is much better than in the previous video. At Least I feel I can lock my arms just from the second rung, and come down more gently. 

I still can't hold the position for 60 entire seconds, so I'm trying to do 5 sets of 15 seconds, aiming to reach the final target of 1 min hold.

What I am looking for is to push with my feet more and more in order to lock my legs too. Is it a good plan?

Any tip to improve my form will be much appreciated!

Thanks to all!

Alessandro 

HI Alessandro, move one step higher and hold the same distance from the stallbarr as in the video but:

-begin with legs straddled as much as possible

-complete the full knees extensione

-reduce the legs stance up to legs completely together

-then begin again trying to extend the knees

PLEASE NOTICE: you are welcome to decrease one pole only when you can show the full legs extension of the bridge from the first set.

7 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

HI Alessandro, move one step higher and hold the same distance from the stallbarr as in the video but:

-begin with legs straddled as much as possible

-complete the full knees extensione

-reduce the legs stance up to legs completely together

-then begin again trying to extend the knees

PLEASE NOTICE: you are welcome to decrease one pole only when you can show the full legs extension of the bridge from the first set.

Beautiful tips @Alessandro Mainente! I will do as you suggested! Grazie!! 

Hello Guys, here's an update of my thoracic bridge.

60 sec hold looks too demanding for my current level, especially if I want to try to extend legs progressively during the hold (which is a thing I should do, I guess).

 So I've been performing some sets of 25-30 sec in order to cover the volume work, aiming to increase the duration little by little. Is that a good plan?

In any case, here's a video from a side view:

Compared to the previous video I moved one step higher , and I set feet more distant each other.

I feel and see my arms now are fully locked. What about the overall form? Is there something to fix?

Any feedback will be appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

Alessandro
 

Hi Alessandro, you will not obtain the same results, it is like to say that you want to train only 4 reps of an exercise rather than the 10 reps you need. Instead of increasing the knee extension during the hold you have to maintain the same degree of stretch during all the set, it is like increasing the weight of a barbell curl as you became more fatigued. consider the position as a static stretching, no increase in the range of motion during the set. the range of motion increases from session to session.

1 hour ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hi Alessandro, you will not obtain the same results, it is like to say that you want to train only 4 reps of an exercise rather than the 10 reps you need. Instead of increasing the knee extension during the hold you have to maintain the same degree of stretch during all the set, it is like increasing the weight of a barbell curl as you became more fatigued. consider the position as a static stretching, no increase in the range of motion during the set. the range of motion increases from session to session.

Oh, I see! It makes sense! I will proceed as you suggest! Thank you Ale as always!