SE20 (Floating pancake) - weighted or not?

I've reached a point in floating pancake where my chest is a few cms off the floor. To get all the way to the floor sooner, should I stay the course or use a barbell? I remember @Jon Douglas is/was doing these weighted.  I used a 20 kg barbell until a few months ago but at the moment I'm APTing and dragging my butt backwards (no bending from the lower back) until I get my head to the floor and from there I grab my feet to maximise ROM.

Hi Petri, are your knees completely locked? this can make a huge difference.

INstead of thinking about move the chest to the floor, think about elongate yourself forward until your can feel the rolling of the hips.

15 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hi Petri, are your knees completely locked? this can make a huge difference.

INstead of thinking about move the chest to the floor, think about elongate yourself forward until your can feel the rolling of the hips.

Hi Alessandro

Yes, my knees are locked. I think I'm doing the elongation you describe as I can feel the hip muscles working as I get deeper, pushing my butt backwards. So I'm not trying to press the chest down, getting the chest closer to the floor is just how I gauge my progress. The question in my mind is just whether I would benefit from weighted work at this stage.

Hi man,

A little tricky to see from the front angle but it does look like you are leaning over instead of flattening forward.

There's no point adding weight to a floating pancake until your chest is on the floor and arms straight out in front of you at shoulder width (think midpointof a stalder press turned 90 degrees-- fully hinged and balanced on hands). These are a wakeup call to the traps if you have neglected them!

The weighted pancakes I use have a slightly different focus. These (floating pancakes) are more active as you are pulling yourself down  (with some assistance from gravity but requires hip flexor hard work). Weighting it by holding a barbell above your head and partially exlocating it as you lean forward is more passive, using the weight to assist the stretch. Done reps, sort of a pancake good morning, I have also found they assist in building hamstring strength

So its two related but distinct exercises here. Hope that clears it up

Hi Jon

Yes, I too found the stretch with a barbell to be passive which is why stopped doing them as I wanted a more active stretch. Now it's definitely coming from the hip flexors and I feel them strongly engaged. I guess the angle makes that hard to see. I'll post a form check from a side view once I can get my chest on the floor. I won't use weight before that as you advise. Thanks for the feedback!