The Pursuit to Manna

I'm hoping to get some advice/ feedback/ ideas for the final stages of developing the manna.

Currently I am working on pressing into the manna from a MSH but I consistently get stuck around a straddle-V position...

 

Here is some information regarding my training session. *Performed 1-2x/week. Typically Tuesday/Friday, my upper body work is done Monday/Thursday.

 

WARM-UP: 

Leading up to my manna work I do lots of mobility in my general warmup. Specifically I target the shoulders though performing bungee inlocates & dislocates (rings iM #1), with weighted dowel inlocates and dislocates. Sometimes I use just the empty dowel and work on getting hands closer, other times I perform the exercise prone with 10lbs on the bar. I cannot achieve a shoulder width grip yet but I am working toward that along with building the strength through the entire ROM. Shoulders are tight after many years of bench press.

Aside from specific shoulder prep (not everything is listed above), I will also work on pike and pancake position - J curls, inverted pike & straddle extensions etc.. with compression work. 

 

Once my general warmup is done (approx 30 minutes), I do 30 minutes of free handstand and press work before performing my manna stuff. 

 

MANNA:

Once I target the manna I will usually do a specific warm-up to get my shoulder extension ready. This would be a 10s German hang followed by a rear support slider walk (sometimes elevated rear support) repeated two times using both grips on the German hang. After this I will perform two to three sets of a manna lift, attempting to press as high as possible, followed by a weighted shoulder extension hang - I am currently using a 15kg plate (33lbs). I have been doing this now for the past several months and I find some days are better than others, the lift feels easier, other days it is harder to lift. Generally speaking, the straddle-V position is where I get stuck. I have gotten slightly past, but it is not as often. 

After performing some lifts I will do a few more sets to strengthen the position and work on core. This will be weighted manna wall slides (I use 5lbs/leg) to further develop shoulder mobility, with a static manna position with my hips being supported on a ball. Other times I will do MSH for 10-15s with the ball manna afterward. 

 

Below are videos of my specific work:

 

I think that for you can be useful this drill: instead of adding weight to your ankle you can use 3 solutions, I used both of them with my little gymnasts for reaching the manna:

-first solution perform the wall slide closer to the wall so that when the upper body is horizontal you tend to have the shoulder behind the wrists and this is a good stimuli for pushing your hips forward;

-second, grab a loopband with one hand, pass it around your hips and reach with the other hand. now feel the raise impossible. I remember I was able to press with 20 kg but not one single time with the red band of myprotein (this is my two cent to manna world ;-) )

-perform normal wall slide with the hands touching.

Hi Lucas,

No extra drills required.  No extra mobility required.  You are already prepared.

It is your execution now which must be refined.

1) The manna is NOT a leg lift, it is primarily pressing the hips forward.  

Note also that you lean backward during your manna lift.  How can you press the hips forward if your shoulders are leaning backward?

2)  Retract, retract, retract.

3) I dislike the ball manna drill as it does not require the athlete to learn to press the hips forward which is essential to learning a manna in the first place.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

 

Thanks Alessandro!

I will incorporate all three of those variations for the wall slides and keep the ankle weights in the bin from now on! I like the idea of using a band instead of weight so that the resistance is my progressively difficult as I press the hips further away, like it is when performing a lift to manna. 

 

Thanks for the three notes for execution Coach Sommer! 

I will take away the ball drill and focus my efforts on refining the execution. I loved your breakdown of the manna lift progression in Building The Gymnastic Body - Is your approach still the same today? 

 

When I stick to working on the manna lift (or just manna work in general), how much work should be done here specifically? 15 minute block, 30 minute block? 

 

Thanks Coach! 

Hey Lucas,

Awesome work! 

Coach might have a more precise answer for you, but as a general rule, I suggest allowing the quality of your sets to determine the time block. By that I mean the quality of your sets on any given day AND over the course of the training weeks. Essentially, allow your body to decide. Work hard, but train to an intelligent level of fatigue each session. Balancing quality sets with excellent movement patterns and forward progress is certainly an art. The key is finding the balance that allows you to train hard and improve from day to day and week to week.