FL/pe15 form check

Hey folks. I’ve been working on negative front pulls for almost 3 years!! I’ve tried going back to pe/1 and working my way back up. I’ve tried adding more sets/reps of pe/15. I’ve tried slowing my descent down to 6 seconds. Whenever I try to move on to regular front pulls I can’t perform them without piking my hips. I feel like my negatives are strong. They should be after so much time. I would love to move ahead in my FL training. I think I’m missing something here.

MY suggestion, for now, is looking at the point where you are piking and then use the negative to slow down the movement in this angle.

For PE15, I think that's way too fast. You need to be able to stop and either continue, or go backwards if you have full control of the movement. When I used to treat people, moving too fast usually meant they couldn't feel what was going on.

Maybe try with both knees bent and held together, with a really slow descent, get that rock-solid. Both up and down. Then extend one leg & repeat. Put a shoe on that leg. Repeat.

Bent knees gives much less leverage on the shoulders so it should be easier to slow down and control. And to feel what is happening around the hips.

(Note that I'm officially up to PE7, but I use PE13-15 as part of ongoing shoulder rehab.)

Thanks guys. Allesandro, it feels like like my weakest point (where I start piking) is almost at the bottom of the movement. I’ll start focusing on slowing down towards the bottom. Nick, I tried going really slow with knees bent and could feel the difference in control. It helped give me an idea of what it should feel like. Any suggestions on how many seconds the descent should take? The course library video shows about 4 seconds per descent. Do you guys suggest longer for mastery? Other than speed does my form look good? Thanks again.

p.s. Anyone know how to change profile name.

On 9/21/2018 at 6:56 PM, Karen Swartzbaugh said:

Thanks guys. Allesandro, it feels like like my weakest point (where I start piking) is almost at the bottom of the movement. I’ll start focusing on slowing down towards the bottom. Nick, I tried going really slow with knees bent and could feel the difference in control. It helped give me an idea of what it should feel like. Any suggestions on how many seconds the descent should take? The course library video shows about 4 seconds per descent. Do you guys suggest longer for mastery? Other than speed does my form look good? Thanks again.

p.s. Anyone know how to change profile name.

IN order to change the profile name you need to contact Cory Fair with a PM. remember that in order to post on the forum you still need a full real name.

There's no hard and fast rule to say how long the make the descent. However, there is more torque on your shoulders as you descend, so there are a couple of strategies to try:

A) Descend a few degrees, slowly, then stop, then return to the top. Repeat til your shoulders are tired. This has two benefits:

1. You learn control.

2. Stopping takes more force/strength than continuing a descent, so you get stronger, and you also feel (on the backs of the shoulders) some of the effort/strength/muscle activation needed, as you've discovered. You could also pause at the stopping point, then ascend again.

B) Slow it down the further you descend until the torso is horizontal. So the first 30 degrees of legs from vertical, take 2 seconds or so.  It shouldn't need much effort, but after that it increases rapidly. Spend most of your time where it's hardest (this is why I suggested bending the knees or "sitting cross-legged in the air") so you learn the entire movement from inverted to upright with less load than a "proper" FL. This is pretty much just saying what Alesandro said.

Because muscles activate when they receive impulses from nerves (usually), and nerve output depends on what you sense through torso, shoulders and hips, this type of strength is a skill - you're training muscles to be stronger by training their nerves to fire at the appropriate point. This is oversimplifying things a lot, but it's still a useful concept to have.

The GB Facebook page had this video on it a while ago:

Looks impossible, but I tried this in a full tuck, and could get almost the same range (my shoulders are a problem). And it's a great conditioning exercise for SPL/SE3, which I've been stuck on for a while. So, remove the load, get the movement, build strength over time, which is really the GB method anyway!

Thanks a lot guys. I’ll put these suggestions into practice through this month and post a video on the progress.

@Neil Gyntherhow are you going with this? I'm officially up to this progression now (I know, 6 years later!)