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Started by Giulio Pizzini, February 24, 2018 · 26 Replies · 583 Views
After almost 18 months FL PE1 is mastered !!!
I hear you fellow gymnast, stuck on it month after month, but do not despair, success will come.
If I did it you can do it too.
My two top tips are:
1) learn to breath relaxedly while keeping the abs contract - check this thread:
2) Do this release, also before training FL:
Good luck!
Congratulations @Giulio Pizzini 
keep up the good work. Excited to hear more about your progress.
I am 14 months in and still doing 5*36sec. Awesome attitude Giulio this give me hope@Giulio Pizzini
I ve been more than a year and recently mastered 4x48! Congratulations! I hope to publish in the near future a similar post. And also another about push ups, ground rows, scaps shrugs, deck squats and tuck ups mastered! 
Yes, more than a year in many of them! We are not alone, there are many like us so keep working and have faith! I m starting to see results!
Congrats! ... and thank you for this post ... especially for that psoas release topic link. I’m gonna give it a go, coz I’m fighting with my tight and overactive flexors in so many exercises ...
Congrats! You showed terrific commitment!
On 2018-02-24 at 10:33 PM, Antonio Alías Montoya said:I ve been more than a year and recently mastered 4x48! Congratulations! I hope to publish in the near future a similar post. And also another about push ups, ground rows, scaps shrugs, deck squats and tuck ups mastered!
Hey Antonio, i just moved up to 4*48 sec. Lets have a friendly but competitive competition on who of us make 5*60 soonest?
2 hours ago, Jonas Berglund said:Hey Antonio, i just moved up to 4*48 sec. Lets have a friendly but competitive competition on who of us make 5*60 soonest?
That s a great idea! I m not competitive but it s a good idea to motivate us, haha. But I ve been more than a year in fl pe1 so it won t happen by tomorrow, but I m completely dedicated to master ir for sure before summer, maybe earlier!Ok, so I accept your proposition. What about a video of the whole 5x60 when mastered? Of course coaches should approve it! Good luck!
PD. Yesterday I did less than 4x48! I don t know what happen with this exercise that I continuously progress and regress!
I also progressed and regressed a few times on this one, it was very frustrating!
2 hours ago, Jonas Berglund said:Hey Antonio, i just moved up to 4*48 sec. Lets have a friendly but competitive competition on who of us make 5*60 soonest?
Mind if I join in on the race to 5x60. I'm always up for some friendly competition. I've been three weeks on 4x48. I am also aiming for 5x60 by start of summer.
@Antonio Alías Montoya @Christopher Hancox
Lets do this, Christopher you are so welcome to join
a video of all 5sets in a follow along, with an ok mastery from a forum coach. I hope this add some motivation for all of us :).
ive been workin on pe1 for over a year aswell Antonio.
i mastered 5*36 for the first time 6 months ago but had to move back and forth since then.This time i made sure 5*36 felt easy and painfree(had some 2/10scale pain in my hip when doing this before). Hopefully transition to 4*48 goes better this time.
It s a deal 
First try at 4*48 today went 48-48-48-41.
after 2 sets i actually thought id make all 4, but at set 4 my breathing messed up. If it was mental of physical im not sure:)
@Christopher Hancox & @Antonio Alías Montoya, how are you doing?
I'm also in I progressed to 4x48s last week and I'm happy to say that I had no real trouble completing the sets. I'm planning to submit a few form checks soon, though (I just ordered a Gorilla Pod stand for my phone so I can record myself properly) so it's entirely possible that my form is lacking... but we'll see.
What helps me is to focus on maintaining the minimum contraction that is necessary to 1) keep my lower back in contact with the floor and 2) keep my abdomen as flat as possible while breathing. What also helped me in my progress: one of the focus points in the course material says: 'Keep the feet and shoulders off the ground during the set'. I started out lifting my back a little too high. I now focus on keeping my shoulder blades plus a few lower (thoracic) vertebrae off the floor but not more than that. This also makes a huge difference compared to when I would lift my back a few centimeters more.
PS by the way: I first started following GB way back in 2009 or so when I was still doing capoeira. I purchased the courses when they became available but was never able to fully commit to training due to 'life' (work, studying, becoming a father). So I started a few times but never really got beyond PE1 but now I'm finally able to make it work in my schedule and although I'm an absolute beginner I'm very happy with the progress I'm making!
1 hour ago, Jonas Berglund said:First try at 4*48 today went 48-48-48-41.
after 2 sets i actually thought id make all 4, but at set 4 my breathing messed up. If it was mental of physical im not sure:)
@Christopher Hancox & @Antonio Alías Montoya, how are you doing?
Good work. That's so close!
I don't stick to a regimented schedule, but core will be the later end of this week. I have been pretty much identical to you the last three weeks. I added an extra set of 36sec after a rest. Hopefully this week I can get it completed and go for two weeks in a row.
1 hour ago, Jonas Berglund said:First try at 4*48 today went 48-48-48-41.
after 2 sets i actually thought id make all 4, but at set 4 my breathing messed up. If it was mental of physical im not sure:)
@Christopher Hancox & @Antonio Alías Montoya, how are you doing?
That s great! I just finished my core workout and took it the most seriously of my life! Hahaha! My abs where in real pain but I want to win! Unfortunately for me I was cheating a bit by adding 10 seconds of extra rest between sets, which seems it was making quite more easy... Since I have the perspective that I have to show my whole mastery video I decided to start working 100% honest so I just did 48-48-40-30! And added a 5th set of 30 seconds. I just swallowed a huge protein shake with oats and banana, so hungry! We are gonna beat it!
Double
3 hours ago, Michaël Van den Berg said:I'm also in
What helps me is to focus on maintaining the minimum contraction that is necessary to 1) keep my lower back in contact with the floor and 2) keep my abdomen as flat as possible while breathing. What also helped me in my progress: one of the focus points in the course material says: 'Keep the feet and shoulders off the ground during the set'. I started out lifting my back a little too high. I now focus on keeping my shoulder blades plus a few lower (thoracic) vertebrae off the floor but not more than that. This also makes a huge difference compared to when I would lift my back a few centimeters more.
PS by the way: I first started following GB way back in 2009 or so when I was still doing capoeira. I purchased the courses when they became available but was never able to fully commit to training due to 'life' (work, studying, becoming a father). So I started a few times but never really got beyond PE1
welcome onboard Michael, intressting about your shoulder position - there is a possibility im doing bhbh with a Little extra curl in my spine. Intressting ill try a form check for that.
I like to quantify myself so everything is set up the same every workout and for me that is... i lay infront of a mirror and make sure i can keep eyecontact with my brother in the mirror by having the eyes slightly higher than knees
Angle in knee, hips or curl in my spine may vary, but atleast im somewhat close to the same setup every set and every workout.
Keep it up guys!
@Antonio Alías Montoya im gonna have to do 2 protein scoops tonight then 
Doublepost
2 hours ago, Jonas Berglund said:welcome onboard Michael, intressting about your shoulder position - there is a possibility im doing bhbh with a Little extra curl in my spine. Intressting ill try a form check for that.
I like to quantify myself so everything is set up the same every workout and for me that is... i lay infront of a mirror and make sure i can keep eyecontact with my brother in the mirror by having the eyes slightly higher than knees
Angle in knee, hips or curl in my spine may vary, but atleast im somewhat close to the same setup every set and every workout.
I am the same (I also use the same reference points every time) but my eye position is definitely a bit lower - I would say a few cm below the top of my knees, while the top of my head is a bit above knee level. I try to do the same as is shown in the course video (I will know for sure once I am able to film myself, which should be later this week). When I started training again I also had my eyes a bit above knee level.
I just compared the two positions and when my eyes are slightly above my knees, my upper abs contract quite a bit more. In the other position, the tension is distributed more equally throughout my upper and lower abs. I also think this position more closely resembles the upper body position in full hollow body hold.
Oh man, I'm so glad to read this post. I've found that the FL PE1, HBP PE2, RC PE2 all just CRUSH MY SOUL. Been stuck on the same reps for about a year. I try and justify it in that my position feels stronger and I get better contraction out of my muscles but there's weeks I come in and am 8 seconds short on the last two sets or 2/3 reps short each time and I don't know what's holding me back!
I'm going to read the breathing and psoas links from above. I know breathing is difficult as I breath through my tummy but when I'm trying to contract my abs I end up just panting. I absolutely love the gymnastics movements and my mobility has gotten so much better, I just feel like I've done the same workouts for over a year now and should have been able to make more progress.
3 hours ago, Jonathan Mitchell 233254 said:Oh man, I'm so glad to read this post. I've found that the FL PE1, HBP PE2, RC PE2 all just CRUSH MY SOUL. Been stuck on the same reps for about a year. I try and justify it in that my position feels stronger and I get better contraction out of my muscles but there's weeks I come in and am 8 seconds short on the last two sets or 2/3 reps short each time and I don't know what's holding me back!
I'm going to read the breathing and psoas links from above. I know breathing is difficult as I breath through my tummy but when I'm trying to contract my abs I end up just panting. I absolutely love the gymnastics movements and my mobility has gotten so much better, I just feel like I've done the same workouts for over a year now and should have been able to make more progress.
Absolutely understand you. I m over a year with pe1 and pe2. I come to the conclusion that the people that is struggling so much with fl pe1 is due to lack of flexibility, specially on hip flexors, what makes maintaining ppt way too hard. Of course I m not saying there is not a lack of strenght as well. My recommendation for fl pe1 is strecht your hip flexors and your mid back before doing the exercise, try to release your hip flexors in general, do fl pe1 twice a week, do it like if someone will shoot you in da face if you stop, and my last discovery, take creatine! If you are a, responder then you will feel it!
Intressting Antonio and I have had a very similar road on GST training and i can agree to everything he just Said. Fix the hips is for me speeding up the FLPE1 work like 5x.
The creatine was new info, i have thought about it but was affraid the 2-5kg weight gain would mess with bodyweight work. However on flpe1 most of the body rest on the ground so should be good i might give creatine a go.
Would be great if it helps! And interesting about the hip flexors... I have a desk job but for some reason my hip flexors are not really tight. Maybe this explains why I’m progressing quite okay so far...