Side Lever questions

I've mastered the SL and I've noticed recently that when I do it, I'm more comfortable when my torso is turned towards the ceiling and my back is towards the floor. Previously I was more perpendicular, where my lats were facing the floor and ceiling. I'm attributing this to increased shoulder flexibility, but I don't really know. Is this OK?

Also, when an exercise is mastered, should I keep doing the full 5 sets with each workout? I feel pretty drained at the end of SL and RC and I'm wondering if that extra energy is better spent on exercises I haven't mastered. 

Thanks.

Well done, man!  My guess is you are doing that not because of shoulder flexibility, but because of slight weakness of your obliques and scap stabilizers.  twisting so your abs are up not only recruits more the ventral core, it also allows your shoulders to use the bigger muscles.  So don't let your core rotate around like that in this exercise. Force yourself to keep your body perpendicular to the floor so you don't lose ground.  

As far as maintenance, I would suggest trying to build up to a single set of twice the volume.  So if you're doing 5 sets of 10 seconds, try to do 1 set of 20 seconds for your warmup.  I would still do a full 5 sets periodically to make sure you're not losing capacity in the meantime, but if you are progressing in your training you shouldn't find this to be the case.

Keep up the good work!  

Douglaa is bang on with the twisting. It's an easy fault and one to avoid

I am not a huge fan of the staticholds tbh. Not to say they're not effective but I am happier putting more time into SL Pulls, which I find harder than the 5x10s static hold, and I find maintains the hold without worry 

Thanks for the tips. I'll get back on that. Working SL Pulls again would mix things up. I find them harder too.

from se6 to se 8 how fast did u progress ? and do you have any tips , i have a short space between ceiling and floor so i cant extend my legs in the top or botton position would that be a problem ? 

you can simply position the arms on lower poles, the important part is over the horizontal position so no matter if you are closer to the floor, you work higher than horizontal.

2 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

you can simply position the arms on lower poles, the important part is over the horizontal position so no matter if you are closer to the floor, you work higher than horizontal.

actually thats wht i do i made it to the negative half negative side lever i will post after a form check but because its half i didnt prepare the muscles enough for the next progression so i though i should make static 45 degree full side lever in order to strengthen the muscles involved is it good ?

I built up by doing this, reps first to only 45 degrees then reps to horizontal and back up. Works well. I made a mistake and neglected the bottom half, which then required more work to fix; you should be fine with maintaining full negatives even if you have to bend your knees at the bottom position to keep your legs off the floor.

I worked with tuck and other body position sl pulls for a while but although they are good for the shoulders they  changed the mechanics of the movement and require far less oblique strength; not a fan

thank you jon