Inverted pike help

Hi!

I've been doing the inverted pike pull for a while now and start to go deeper than I used to. The problem is I can't keep my grip for the whole 5 sets.  On the last, I can't go as deep as the first one due to my lack of strength.. Any suggestions?

I also feel low back pain after every set, I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong.  Any idea?  I could send a form check if needed.

Thanks a lot!

Hi Étienne,

My suggestion is to strengthen your Foundations. Grip strength will be no problem if you master your RC and MN exercises (more than enough hanging work for grip). As for lower back strength, again mastering the FL and SL exercises will make your lower back impervious to these lower back discomforts. I can't emphasis more in words how important the Foundation Series is and its carry over to other courses like Handstand One and Handstand Two. 

Thank you @Leo Trinidad, I'm already working on them!  So you're saying that the lower back discomforts are usual?

Discomforts are okay but pain is not. If your body feels pain then that means your lower back is not ready. I remember before I started Handstand Two, I am halfway of Foundation Two already. 

And if it's pain, I'll have to stop until it's ready to take the charge again, right?

Yes we definitely do not train through pain.

Alright, thanks again!

Assuming you're following all of Leo's advice, you can use weightlifting straps to take grip strength out of the equation for the last couple sets.

Yeah, but doesn't it removes one of the main part of the exercise? I mean, the grip will strengthen doing the pike too.

3 hours ago, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

The problem is I can't keep my grip for the whole 5 sets.  On the last, I can't go as deep as the first one due to my lack of strength.. Any suggestions?

My grip used to be really weak too… it's getting stronger. No other suggestions than what Leo said. Keep working and it gets stronger over time. I am (kind of) impressed how much stronger my grip got by now… even though I feel it is still not really, really strong. But at least strong enough that I can do all my sets without struggling, just with a focus. There was a time period where I added daily hanging as one of my experiments. There is a post in the forum here somewhere about it. It helped a LOT. 

7 hours ago, Suzanna McGee said:

My grip used to be really weak too… it's getting stronger. No other suggestions than what Leo said. Keep working and it gets stronger over time. I am (kind of) impressed how much stronger my grip got by now… even though I feel it is still not really, really strong. But at least strong enough that I can do all my sets without struggling, just with a focus. There was a time period where I added daily hanging as one of my experiments. There is a post in the forum here somewhere about it. It helped a LOT. 

Thanks Suzanna, I will look for it

@Suzanna McGee, so it's about the grip challenge!  I'm interested to try it!

On 5/18/2017 at 11:36 AM, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

Yeah, but doesn't it removes one of the main part of the exercise? I mean, the grip will strengthen doing the pike too.

On 5/18/2017 at 8:18 AM, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

The problem is I can't keep my grip for the whole 5 sets.  On the last, I can't go as deep as the first one due to my lack of strength.. Any suggestions?

Yes, it removes the grip portion of the exercise, which is the problem you wanted suggestions on.

Do as much work as you can without straps (so your grip strengthens), then you can continue to work with straps (to get more pike work). Your grip strength is likely to develop much faster than your pike flexibility. So do as Leo said and work on your Foundations and hangs for grip strength. And use straps as needed to continue making slow pike progress.

Or do something else. It's your body and your journey, so do what you think is best.

2 hours ago, Jeremy Huston said:

 

Yes, it removes the grip portion of the exercise, which is the problem you wanted suggestions on.

Do as much work as you can without straps (so your grip strengthens), then you can continue to work with straps (to get more pike work). Your grip strength is likely to develop much faster than your pike flexibility. So do as Leo said and work on your Foundations and hangs for grip strength. And use straps as needed to continue making slow pike progress.

Or do something else. It's your body and your journey, so do what you think is best.

 

 

I always take good ideas! Unfortunately, I don't remember having lifting straps where I train, is there something that could replace those?

I've seen two different hanging challenges, both of which will help with your grip. One is to accumulate 7 min of hanging throughout the day every day for 30 days. The other one starts with 2 min of accumulated hanging on day one, then adds 10 sec every day to end up at 7 min after 31 days. Accumulated means you hang however long you can or want to at different times during the day and add it all up for your accumulated total.

Lower back pain can also mean that you are trying to go deeper in the stretch than your hamstrings allow by rounding your back. Keeping the back straight might help with the strain on the back.

When I first approached these I did as many sets/ reps as I could inverted, then filled out the remainder with a 'normal' (non inverted) pike hang. Obviously I wouldn't advance until my grip adjusted but this is a simple way to drop down a step while getting little extra volume on the same areas.

I was particularly cautious about losing my grip as I was training on a park ladder at the time with concrete beneath.

2 minutes ago, Kai Ewert said:

I've seen two different hanging challenges, both of which will help with your grip. One is to accumulate 7 min of hanging throughout the day every day for 30 days. The other one starts with 2 min of accumulated hanging on day one, then adds 10 sec every day to end up at 7 min after 31 days. Accumulated means you hang however long you can or want to at different times during the day and add it all up for your accumulated total.

Lower back pain can also mean that you are trying to go deeper in the stretch than your hamstrings allow by rounding your back. Keeping the back straight might help with the strain on the back.

Yeah, I saw the first version of the challenge, but the second one seems a bit easier.

For my low back, is it really possible to keep the low back flat? 

I'd say strive to keep the lower back as flat as you can and see if that alleviates your back issues.

1 minute ago, Jon Douglas said:

When I first approached these I did as many sets/ reps as I could inverted, rhen filled out the remainder with a 'normal' (non inverted) pike hang. Obviously I wouldn't advance until my grip adjusted but this is a simple way to drop down a step while getting little extra volume on the same areas

By a non inverted, you mean the one your facing the bars then drop the hips down backward?

2 hours ago, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

By a non inverted, you mean the one your facing the bars then drop the hips down backward?

Yep.

Note that the inverted version is substantially more strain on the body than the upright version, so if the latter is hard (not that I'm saying it is for you here) the former should be approached with caution.

4 hours ago, Kai Ewert said:

accumulate 7 min of hanging throughout the day every day for 30 days.

That's the one I was doing, @Étienne Lajeunesse. I loved it. I just made a spreadsheet for 30 days, 14 slots, and was hanging through the day, here and there, for 30 second… It was great!

9 hours ago, Suzanna McGee said:

That's the one I was doing, @Étienne Lajeunesse. I loved it. I just made a spreadsheet for 30 days, 14 slots, and was hanging through the day, here and there, for 30 second… It was great!

Nice! How's your grip today since you started doing it?

5 hours ago, Étienne Lajeunesse said:

Nice! How's your grip today since you started doing it?

It has improved great during that month. I could feel that thanks to it I have improved even in my RC/PE2 (even though I am still stuck on it, but I had a different feel). I don't do the daily 7 minutes hanging now, as I have other "challenges" going on. I added extra daily pole practices at home and also squeezing the Captain of Crunch. I need to build my grip strength to a point that I am able to hang on one arm on that pole, at least for a short moment. I am not there, yet. 

1 hour ago, Suzanna McGee said:

It has improved great during that month. I could feel that thanks to it I have improved even in my RC/PE2 (even though I am still stuck on it, but I had a different feel). I don't do the daily 7 minutes hanging now, as I have other "challenges" going on. I added extra daily pole practices at home and also squeezing the Captain of Crunch. I need to build my grip strength to a point that I am able to hang on one arm on that pole, at least for a short moment. I am not there, yet. 

Yeah, I can say that for many things to

It's nice to see it worked for you! I will try it and make follow-ups with the other progressions.

And good luck for your one arm hangings

Have, someone, ever had good results with COC grippers for their grips?  I came back to this tread to find tools for grip training but didn't find any infos on COCs. Are they good for this?