SLS PE6

Hello GB community

I've joined Gymnastic Bodies last year and I have to say it has been the smartest decision in terms of my personal athletic endeavor. Currently i practice muay thai and a bit of tumbling (not as an pro athelete, though). I also did capoeira, brazilian jiu-jitsu and before that fencing in primary school. And unfortunatly all that activity has taken its toll on me, I have injured both my knees (medial meniscus tear, dealt with in 2011 and 2013) which give me a bit of a hard time every now and then. Even though I take a humble approach to gymnastic strength training overall, because of aforementioned injuries I am extra cautious when it comes to SLS progressions.

And with the start of foundation two comes my first stumbling block. When testing mastery it seems I am able to do 5x10r strength wise, also with what I consider reasonable depth (my hips go down below the knee). However twisting squat is a bit more tricky. There's no way I can get of the ground, so I use cushion to elevate my hips a bit. Also it does not feel like the most comfortable exercise for my knees (not imposible to perform, but I prefer caution). Lastly I think that the proportion of my limbs give me a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to squatting in general (long femur which makes me lean forward).

So I guess my questions are: Should I keep working on cossack squats with 5X10r and perhaps try to increase the depth of the squat? If I do twisting squat with elevated hips does it count or is it "failed mobility"? Honestly I'd rather stay on that progression for a while, and was wandering weather my thoughts on that are correct.

Hi Jacek,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to hear that you have been enjoying your GB training.

I'd recommend to spend some more time on this progression until your mobility catches up. Work on refining your Cossack squats while you gradually work on being able to do the twisting squats from the ground.  Keep doing the skiers in your warmup. 

Feel free to submit a form check of these exercises, this way we can better assist you with more specific feedback  

@Jacek Ziolek in addition to the great advice above by @Pauline Taube I would suggest your taking a look at this forum discussion on cossack squats specifically w.r.t to focusing on lowering the glutes to the ground.

By focusing on getting your glutes to the ground, your body will reveal to you whichever weaknesses you might need to work on. In my opinion these have mostly to do with the mobility of the hip adductor muscles. I had to redo cossack squats with the emphasis on getting my glutes to the ground as @Jeffrey Bittner had instructed in that discussion and it made a world of a difference.

Concerning twisting squats, your body will eventually adapt to them. Doing them from an elevated position is fine, but it would be a good idea to submit a form check as small details like the set up position of the feet at the bottom can sometimes be the reason why one is having difficulty in this movement.