Half press drills questions

Hello, I’m currently going to start pHS/PE 8 next week. For my work I have to travel frequently, so access to paralettes might not be always possible. Is there any problem doing this drill on floor ?

Hey Christian,

You are welcome to do this exercise on the floor while you travel.

Alright, that is good to know.

I suppose it'll be a bit hard to do so in the next progressions though, as the parallettes are more forgiving.

One additional question. At the moment I don't have good a straddle L. I can see myself finishing  pHS/PE8 without much difficulty as I already can do a standing straddle press. In the Manna progressions from Foundation, I'm at MN/PE9 and making good progress, but it'll be a while till I'm working straddle L specifically. How should I approach pHS/PE9 once I finish pHS/PE8 ?

For reference my passive mobility in pancake, while not yet perfect, has improved by leaps and bounds with the MS series (still just need to get some more APT and the  position being a bit less stressfull).

Hi @Christian Nogueira,

Nice pancake. Just keep in mind to keep your toes pointed and make sure that your legs stay activated. (make everything activated and it will carry over your mobility) It is hard but you need these things to refine your form and have better carry over to your strength. I hope this helps.

Alright. So the plan is to enjoy pHS/PE9 till my straddle L catches up with improving pancake and Manna Progressions.

Would doing the half press, then down into a straddle L with bent arms be of any use ?

Hi Christian,

Doing your straddle L with bent arms can be counterproductive as it will teach you to use the wrong muscles to do your straddle L. It's always better to learn new skills the with good form from the start rather than trying to correct bad habits later on down the road. 

Sorry I meant straddle L with bent legs , like the MN progressions.

18 hours ago, Christian Nogueira said:

Would doing the half press, then down into a straddle L with bent arms be of any use ?

I think so, as long as the rest of your form is solid, that is a nice intermediate step. 

Can I get a form check here for  pHS/PE8. I keep forgetting to point the toes :).

You're off to a good start, Christian! Keep working on improving your compression. Remember to push as tall as you can through your shoulders. Keep it up!

A couple tips: 

1. try to get your hips a bit more over your hands, that will allow you a longer hold

2. I have found the half press very different on parallettes vs floor. I find floor easier. So you might consider some mini parallettes for your travels. I have ones that are maybe twice as long as my hand is wide and that are just high enough to grab around without touching the floor. Very light and no problem to bring traveling. Not high enough for piking through but some elevation to help getting into straddle L.

3. It was counterintuitive, but straightening the legs (it had to become my main focus) for half press 1 and press HS actually made the movement easier.

4. Your pancake looks plenty good for a straddle L, and I would suspect you could lower into that from HS on floor without touching your feet to the ground. If not, you might just throw in some L-sit work (out of order, gasp!) because it's not the flexibility that's limiting you there.

Your experience is very much in line with what I'm learning in this drill (it has done wonders for my press, btw). I'm able to get longer holds now (I'll post a form check again on a longer hold next week.).

I think floor vs parallettes, one of the things is that on the parallettes it seems that they encourage you to press down harder instead of leaning. I have the feeling that this is because it's a bit scarier to lean on the the paralettes (specially if they are high as mine). Could be the hand positioning too. Would be interesting to hear from the coaches why H2 use parallettes for these drills instead of floor (whatever the reason is, I like it).

Yeah, I think it's active mobility rather than flexibility is what limits me for the straddle L.

I would agree, it's scarier on the parallettes. The lean just feels strange. 

My guess as to why pHS is on parallettes: transfer to PBars, less rigorous mobility requirements esp. for pike press from L-sit and progressions, maybe also because HS is a bit easier to control.

I’m able to do longer holds now. Still needs work on active compression I think.

Nice improvement, Christian!