bleeding after back lever

Dear boardmembers, please advise. I have a pretty solid back lever (can hold for 20secs or so). I recently got a pair of rings (love them) so I tried my hand at straight body pullouts (from German hang up to backlever to inverted hang to front lever, etc). It felt challenging but pleasant (I don't remember if I held my breath or not during the hard phases). Afterward, I found a few veins in my eyes had burst, and there were what looked like vague hickies on my collarbone and shoulders. There was light speckled bruising around the eyes too.

I've recently been given a clean bill of health from my doc, I only weigh 145lbs at 5'8", and as I said I don't find this exercise to be too demanding. Can I expect this reaction to go away in time? I really love this exercise and don't wish to stop. Is there a way of "proofing" one's body against this kind of reaction by building up more slowly to the exercise? Has anyone else experienced this?

If I understand you correctly....you are not using your energy correctly, and allot of pressure goes to head. I had the same problems elsewhere.

Great, so there is a solution. What is it?

Breathe correctly and don't pressure your head.

hello from kilkenny colm, looks like youve totally mastered the back lever- hows your front lever?

Hi Cathal,

going to Cat Laughs this year? I've got a friend who is helping to organise it.

How's my front lever? Really poor. I can't even lower into it. If I tuck one leg then I can hold it about 20 secs. How much could a leg weigh?? I have no problem with body levers, so it must be a weakness in my shoulders/lats. I figure doing front lever chins will solve the problem but my alignment (keeping the ankle-hip-shoulder in a line) goes to hell when I try them with the single leg extended. Over the past week I've tied light weights to my waist and done tuck front lever chins (tucks seem much easier to maintain strict form). I can already feel an improvement.

the cats laugh was on 2 weeks ago here, its over. are you thinking of something else?

if you can hold a one leg front lever for 20 secs then you should really be able to hold the full one for 2-3 secs. have you tried the straddle?

Yeah, that's the festival I was thinking of. I'm in the US at the moment so I'm out of touch with anything on in Ireland at the moment.

I can't stand straddle lever. I found with back lever it was easier for me to make the leap from single leg back lever to full back lever rather than going through the straddle phase. Don't know why - I have side splits. I just find the straddle really tricky. I noticed Jim from Beastskills has the same aversion to straddles (though he can do them).

I prefer straddle levers to one leg as it seemed to me easier to be more horizontal as the one leg tends to round and pike the body a bit more. Dunno.

Learning how to relax and stay tight in all of the strength moves is tricky but comes with time. You basically kept so tight till you popped some lesser blood vessels it sounds.

Yes, I know what you mean Blairbob. The tucked leg can ruin the line of the lever. Though I find that if I don't tuck the leg too much then it's not so bad. I've been trying the back levers again, breathing naturally and using the minimum amount of effort to hold the shape. Turns out I was REALLY overdoing it before. So far I'm bruising-free.