Wrist Series (WP/SE3, FKP/SE4, WR/SE3, FTP/SE3)

So after taking a lot of time to work back to SE3 on a few elements, I realized what was key and what was missing and what led to injury: the elbow and shoulder position. By keeping my elbows squarely tucked by my sides and being sure to keep a hollow body while my shoulders were depressed and protracted the wrist series became profoundly less difficult. I'm currently on Step 8 of WP/SE3 and WR/SE3, and FKP/SE4 I've been on Step 9 for about a year now. Regarding FTP/SE3, I find that 5x5 is easy, but then Step 1 of SE4, namely the ROM is too much pressure on my fingertips. Is there any way to assess an FTP/SE3.5? Or something like that, I've started to hold a longer hollow position while I perform the kneeling fingertip pushups but the full pushups are still too difficult. I'll keep working these, but I don't feel like it's making my fingers/wrists much stronger in any way by spinning my wheels on SE3. Insights are appreciated.

Danny

Could try putting more weight on your hands by adding more of a planche lean to it, like the sPL progressions, so that at the top when you are on your knees your shoulders are stacked more on top of your hands in the finished position. Or alternatively you could raise your knees on a yoga block/support/box or something? 

Following as I'm curious as well

When you get to SE4, just open your legs wide, that will make the amount of weight on your hands manageable. As you get stronger, move the feet closer together. That worked for me pretty fine. 

If it's too much on the fingers, whether temporarily or not, there is no problem working it at a lower intensity such as on the knees, even if this is for the forseeable. The wrists are small and have very little muscle; they take the time they take to adapt, and as long as they are not getting irritated by your assorted support work they are doing what they should be  

My favorite variant is kneeling with straight arms for slow reps. Varying how open the hips are allows me to adjust the weight, such as over the course of the set to start harder and lighten it as necessary

Thanks for all the tips. I'm in no rush with these as previously, I injured/irritated the left radius bone (forearm bone inside of arm that is nearest the thumb) by progressing too quickly on WP and WR. I will give the various suggestions a try for the fingertip pushups...I like the idea of straddling wide to distribute the weight easier. SE3 really isn't much of a hurdle at this point, so it's largely just getting reps in. If the straddling approach works then I will try that (I am using a similar stairstep approach for WR/SE3, my knees are slowly moving further and further back to increase the stretch; I started with them almost touching my wrists as the stretch on the radius bone was what was problematic for me and it's working well).

Thanks for all the feedback and insights.

Oh man, I get it now. The whole 'no daylight in the hips' thing did it for me. Wow. It makes these a lot harder. Going to apply this notion next time I do HBP/PE2 and will give it a shot at the follow-along video pace, while also filming my sets. Man, who knew such simple exercises could be so damned nuanced....

2 hours ago, Daniel Taylor-Shaut said:

Man, who knew such simple exercises could be so damned nuanced....

Right?

9 minutes ago, Jon Douglas said:

Right?

Yeah. Ensuring that my hips were flush with the ground will keeping my core hollow and the protracting at the top ensured proper form on the wrist series and they were waaay harder. Even FTP/SE3 which I had thought I had mastered. My description may not make sense, but I can't help but feel convinced my form automatically improved on these. The sets were a little sloppy today as I wasn't used to the ramped up difficulty from a slight form alteration. I'll post a video once I feel more comfortable in this position.