Stuck on deck squat

I've been "stuck" on the Deck Squat (PE5) for a couple months. I have plenty of strength to do body weight squats, but I seem to lack the flexibility to do a full deck squat. Or so I thought - recently discovered if I pull my legs closer to my chest with my hands as I'm rolling back up, I can usually pop right up. Without assistance pulling my legs in, I guess my feet/heels aren't landing close enough to my butt and I end up half standing up and half falling/stumbling backwards. 

Any thoughts on what the issue(s) might be? I seem to have the range of motion, but not enough strength somewhere to pull my legs in close enough without assistance (hands). 

Hi Michael,

Thanks for reaching out.

In order to be able to tell you what the issue might be it would be helpful with a video. Please submit your video here  

Hi Michael,

How did you transition from PE4 to PE5? 

I mastered PE4 with a six-inch mat for elevation. So instead of moving right to the floor, I reduced elevation by an inch or two, and remastered the reps just a little lower. Reduce again, repeat. Currently I can do 6-8 deck squats on one little inch of a mat, but I'm not consistent with even one rep when it's just me and the floor.

It's a little column A, little column B.
Deck squats are an athletic movement first and foremost, but if you have solid mobility you could do them with little to no rock.
Try doing them with your arms up, when you're on the floor so you can better feel your shoulders press into the ground, then push off them into the rock for extra momentum. Then just minimize the shoulder involvement as you get the technique down.

4 hours ago, Jennifer Marie said:

Hi Michael,

How did you transition from PE4 to PE5? 

I mastered PE4 with a six-inch mat for elevation. So instead of moving right to the floor, I reduced elevation by an inch or two, and remastered the reps just a little lower. Reduce again, repeat. Currently I can do 6-8 deck squats on one little inch of a mat, but I'm not consistent with even one rep when it's just me and the floor.

If you have strong ankle limitation no matter how much you reduce the height of the mat or how progressively you reduce the height. you have low chances to perform the exercise slowly. you need to perform a good roll.

I recommend you to strecht your achilles as much as your recovery allows which in my case is every other day for around 3-4 minutes each foot. 

here's a hack to help you get the movement pattern down: 

Hold like a 10 pound weight out in front of you as you do the motion on the floor. Same hand position, just a relatively light weight there. 

The weight will pull you forward and counter balance you.

After doing a few of those, try it again on the floor without the weight. 

Worth a try I think. 

I've tried that Paul. I found it helpful to get the feel of the necessary motion, but not as helpful to progressing with the strength and mobility pieces of the puzzle.

1 hour ago, Jennifer Marie said:

I've tried that Paul. I found it helpful to get the feel of the necessary motion, but not as helpful to progressing with the strength and mobility pieces of the puzzle.

yeah, that's all it did for me. but it sort of got me over a hump. 

Thanks all for the helpful thoughts. 

@Jennifer Marie - great point about the progression mastery. I was just removing another inch or so after I could do 2-3 good reps. Probably need to go back up an inch or so. 

Great points @Alessandro Mainente & @Antonio Alías Montoya about the ankle and achilles mobility issues. That could definitely (translation: likely) be a problem for me. Will integrate more stretching into my morning mobility work. 

@PAUL DALY - interesting hack, might try it. I've been toying with just rocking back and forth without standing up just to try and get the movement down. I definitely have the strength to get up, I just can't seem to rock all the way up once I get within an inch or so of elevation from the ground - that's how I discovered the likely mobility issues. 

Will report back in a prob a month or two with a progress report. Thanks all!!