8 months on FLPE1 bent hollow body holds

1 hour ago, Ethan Grossman said:

I’ve spent at least 6 months on FLPE1 step 5 @ 36 seconds.  I’ve made zero progress and even fell back a little after getting hit with a bad cold.  I’m thinking of going back down to step 4 and make sure I’m 100% on that in hopes of making progress on this.  Any thoughts?  

I also tried incorporating a dialing routine of activating this muscle with 3x10sec holds in my warm up but didn’t break through (either didn’t give it enough time or it just didn’t work).

I was at the same point Ethan. What I have realised, is I am actually stopping because of intense burning in my ab, not muscle failure. I have now told myself that the intense burn is when I'm making progress. I'm also adding some sets to failure after the prescribed set. I'm now getting to the point where the burn doesn't happen in the 4th set. That's my personal marker I'm ready to progress. 

29 minutes ago, Christopher Hancox said:

What I have realised, is I am actually stopping because of intense burning in my ab, not muscle failure. I have now told myself that the intense burn is when I'm making progress. I'm also adding some sets to failure after the prescribed set. I'm now getting to the point where the burn doesn't happen in the 4th set. That's my personal marker I'm ready to progress. 

You're right.  As long as you can keep the form, even if it burns like hell, it still works! 

When it was hurting too much, I just tried to think to something else (while making sure to not lose my form) to make the experience less painful!

I'm plateaued here as well. However, I was recently reminded of the Navy Seal's 40% rule. Google it. It's a great read, and a very good reminder that failure can often be mental.

So, I've been pushing through the burn on these, until if my back breaks good form. If I lose the back position, I only take a 2-3 second break to fix it before continuing my rep count. (I admit, I used that as an excuse to rest!) I've also add a "max" extra set to the end of the workout. Though Max in this situation tends to forget the 40% rule. I still have some mental work to do too!

@Jennifer Marie,

Thanks for mentioning the 40% rule! The idea is interesting and still true when we figure out that we always can push a bit further!

I wonder if it's okay to go to failure each and every time though. I've read that going to failure on an exercise can have a considerable impact on the CNS.

But maybe it depends on how often you do them, and also for core it might be different because it's one of those muscle groups that needs the high intensity work.

4 hours ago, Stefan Broeder said:

I wonder if it's okay to go to failure each and every time though. I've read that going to failure on an exercise can have a considerable impact on the CNS.

But maybe it depends on how often you do them, and also for core it might be different because it's one of those muscle groups that needs the high intensity work.

Going to failure has a bad impact in the sense that failure has a lower techinique quality. since the brain optmizes movement , the bad  technique means wrong adaptations.

PIke it is the most beneficial exercise for the upper back. Gb offers the front split course. have you tried it?

Yes, I love that session. Best 45min of my week. Are there a few moves you've found to be most beneficial before core work?

Also, love the 40% rule. I learned this in highschool wrestling when we'd work until pukeing, take a break to have some water and get back at it. Here's a link to the 40% rule for those who want it https://thehustle.co/40-percent-rule-navy-seal-secret-mental-toughness

I had a boss that used to say, top performers don't need managers as much as they need reminders. This was a great reminder. 

Thanks for the thread discussion everyone. I too had been spinning my wheels a bit on FL PE1 (bent hollow holds) on the 4x36" step. One week even got to 35" on the last set! But of course the next week got to 33" on 3rd set and 28" on last set.... yesterday similar stultifying lack of progress.

@Ryan Segervall I'm going to employ some of your strategy in fracturing the workload into several more smaller sets. Sounds reasonable as this worked well for me on pushups for the HPB progression. Thanks for your insights.

Of course the other factor that weighs on my performance is the sleep issue (infant child making rest unpredictable). Going to a full round of workouts every 10ish days instead of every week: it's been a useful adjustment. Have to feel somewhat fresh.

On 1/9/2018 at 10:05 PM, Brian Sparks said:

Thanks for the thread discussion everyone. I too had been spinning my wheels a bit on FL PE1 (bent hollow holds) on the 4x36" step. One week even got to 35" on the last set! But of course the next week got to 33" on 3rd set and 28" on last set.... yesterday similar stultifying lack of progress.

@Ryan Segervall I'm going to employ some of your strategy in fracturing the workload into several more smaller sets. Sounds reasonable as this worked well for me on pushups for the HPB progression. Thanks for your insights.

Of course the other factor that weighs on my performance is the sleep issue (infant child making rest unpredictable). Going to a full round of workouts every 10ish days instead of every week: it's been a useful adjustment. Have to feel somewhat fresh.

yes give it a go! 

Also I will say the biggest thing that helped me progress out of FL PE 1 was decreasing the amount of tension I am trying to generate. During my sets I would be squeezing everything so hard that I would almost pop a blood vessel. This level of tension is almost impossible to hold for the 5x60s duration without passing out. For me I dialed it back to a level of tension that allowed me to keep form but also allowed me to breath. 

once I made this change in tension I was able to graduate from PE 1 in about 8 weeks time after being stuck at 4x36 for half a decade  

@Wesley Tan does a great job at explaining proper breathing in this video 

UPDATE: I began following the advice to stretch hip flexors prior to the workout about 1 month ago.  I also read more about the “40% rule”.  Today I marked 5x36s as “easy” and moved to the next step.  HUGE accomplishment that took far too many months to pass.  The combo of the stretching and keeping a “I can do this” mindset finally pushed me through.

For the stretch here is what I added to my daily limber:

30 seconds of “lunge stretch” on right and left leg (http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/news/hip-stretches)

30 second bridge w/ hands and feet on floor 

30 seconds of foam rolling on each hip flexor

overall I think my progress was 50% mental and 50% physical.  Getting past the plateau was 100% emotional ;-)

Congrats Ethan! So good to hear about a plateau being shattered!!