Suggestions

Are there any suggested add-ons to help expedite the process of gaining pike compression? I have a ladder in my basement that serves as a quality replacement for stall bars, but I don't feel like I'm ever making progress on the PE1>im. Granted I'm still stuck on PE1 for Manna (I know, I know, haste makes waste). But I'm trying to figure out what might help "unlock" this issue for me. I sometimes feel stiffness in my lumbar spine. But for the life of me, I'm not sure what to do. I use a standing desk; I go easy on the Front Splits (making sure to keep my jaw loose and breathing steady and easy)--though after yesterday's session I'm feeling unusually tight in the lumbar spine, despite having an 'easy' time with the series yesterday.

Are there any suggested grease the groove type exercises that might help. I'm already doing yoga on my off days and in the morning as a waking up limber. It's been a few months, but I'm not sure I see much progress. I've posted some form checks, and I'll post some more. Kind of 'stuck' so to speak on how to unlock this piece of the puzzle. 

Perhaps, the responses I'll get are 'just keep at it.' But directness aside the frustration of minimal, if any, microscopic progress is frustrating. Unclear as to whether I'm doing something ineffectively, but thoughts are welcome.

Perform the beginning IM exercise of the handstand 2 with little bent knee so that you can completely touch the quads with the belly, then when you do not feel any tension extend the knee  rom of some cm and so on.

14 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Perform the beginning IM exercise of the handstand 2 with little bent knee so that you can completely touch the quads with the belly, then when you do not feel any tension extend the knee  rom of some cm and so on.

 

Great! Thank you. I was playing with this today after my workout by doing PE3>im and realized that when I bent the knee and dropped down I was much more easily able to get my hips below my hands. I will work on this. Your tip is like a light bulb went off. Very much appreciated @Alessandro Mainente, this iM was starting to puzzle me, because the PE is pretty comfortable at this point (after making the technique adjustments), the iM, however wasn't following the same track.

Cheers.

3 hours ago, Daniel Taylor-Shaut said:

Granted I'm still stuck on PE1 for Manna (I know, I know, haste makes waste). But I'm trying to figure out what might help "unlock" this issue for me.

Hey man,

Just thinking out loud with you: Do you ever perform the core workout multiple times per week for 3 weeks consistantly? (Like 2 or 3x/wk or more?) This can sometimes help push over that hump, because the following Manna iM's work really well for what you are after.

Plus: 

3 hours ago, Daniel Taylor-Shaut said:

I go easy on the Front Splits (making sure to keep my jaw loose and breathing steady and easy)--

I have never gone at the stretch series like this. Where did you get this idea? I have heard other professionals discuss stretching but it is mainly relaxing for a "passive", boring stretching. For me, I have tried to make most of the stretches active, almost an endrange hold with attempts to go further and further throughout each movement, never feeling comfortable or easy. 

Just now, Ryan Bailey said:

Hey man,

Just thinking out loud with you: Do you ever perform the core workout multiple times per week for 3 weeks consistantly? (Like 2 or 3x/wk or more?) This can sometimes help push over that hump, because the following Manna iM's work really well for what you are after.

Plus: 

I have never gone at the stretch series like this. Where did you get this idea? I have heard other professionals discuss stretching but it is mainly relaxing for a "passive", boring stretching. For me, I have tried to make most of the stretches active, almost an endrange hold with attempts to go further and further throughout each movement, never feeling comfortable or easy. 

Yes, I do each workout twice a week.

Monday - Upper/Legs

Wednesday - Upper/Core

Friday - Core/Legs

On off days I GTG with FL progressions. I've also started doing mastered iMs periodically throughout my day so long as they don't require any use of weights. 

As per stretching. I mean to say they are easy in the sense that I'm not falling all over myself. I have a tendency to be a bit masochistic, so for me easy means my end range. Like were I too push it further I might injure something. It's certainly active and I definitely sweating but I find that if I can maintain some relaxation (read: control) in my breathing and in my jaw I am better able to focus on stretching versus squirming my way into the modeled range of morion of the athletes in the video. As an aside, I may have pushed something too hard yesterday during FSs but for the life of me I can't recall because nothing ever registers as uncomfortable until I'm usually showering after finishing. 

3 minutes ago, Daniel Taylor-Shaut said:

I mean to say they are easy in the sense that I'm not falling all over myself. I have a tendency to be a bit masochistic, so for me easy means my end range. Like were I too push it further I might injure something

Ahh, I got it now. Sounds like you have the intensity dialed in. Good luck getting through the MN PE1. You know the next element's iM is the game changer!

3 minutes ago, Ryan Bailey said:

Ahh, I got it now. Sounds like you have the intensity dialed in. Good luck getting through the MN PE1. You know the next element's iM is the game changer!

I do. I was working on it last year, but after a while off from training for my thesis I haven't yet regained the mobility. Damned body of mine...hahaha

Hey @Daniel Taylor-Shaut, you should be further along than MN/PE1 by now. I'm not sure what the limiting factor is on that movement for you, but the other PE's will help improve your pike compression as well. Given how long you have been training GST, you should be knocking out mastery sets of MN/PE1, 2, and 3 for warm-ups or cool-downs at this point (seriously). Keep at it!

2 hours ago, Chris Garay said:

Hey @Daniel Taylor-Shaut, you should be further along than MN/PE1 by now. I'm not sure what the limiting factor is on that movement for you, but the other PE's will help improve your pike compression as well. Given how long you have been training GST, you should be knocking out mastery sets of MN/PE1, 2, and 3 for warm-ups or cool-downs at this point (seriously). Keep at it!

Tell me about it. I had to restart pretty much most of my training in late May/early June. I took about two-three months (as I mentioned) to finish my Master's thesis and the toll of late nights hunched over a computer to bang it out left my weak and in poor posture. I've come back stronger and with fewer niggling injuries, but some things like shoulder rotation and lower back/oblique flexibility and rotation are still holding me up. I can sense that the more I work them at a lighter intensity the better they feel. It's just taking some time to get to a decent/mastered point to where I can comfortably move on while continuing to work those ranges of motion at a maintenance level. (e.g. swivel hips and scapular shrugs are quite easy now and when rested I can knock out 20-30 really easily, the same goes for HS/PE1>im. These used to be huge stumbling blocks for me, but not so much anymore.). I'm going to keep working MN/PE1>im as a limbering movement without weights, as well as apply the tip which Alessandro mentioned and see how I fare after a couple weeks of this. I'm really close to mastery on MN/PE1 but not quite there yet. 

Good luck! I can only imagine the toll that finishing a Master's thesis would take on the body. I would suspect as well that as your tuck-ups improve, your V-ups should get that much better as well. Keep at it!

19 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Perform the beginning IM exercise of the handstand 2 with little bent knee so that you can completely touch the quads with the belly, then when you do not feel any tension extend the knee  rom of some cm and so on.

What Alex suggests has helped me a lot!

Pay attention to description, I said Belly, this means that opening the chest it is the major focus.

52 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Pay attention to description, I said Belly, this means that opening the chest it is the major focus.

Yes, absolutely. I aim for the belly to go deep rather than the chest on all pancake, middle split, and pike work. I understood it that getting the chest down was cheating if the belly wasn't down first.