Proceeding from a flat tuck FL????

Hi there,

I'm new on the forum. I just bought the book and the rings. I've been doing the FL, planche and BL for 6 months or so on the basis of the article on this webpage. Lately i've added the L sit, hollow and arch holds, wall handstand

I've been working rather slowly, i always rest 2 days between FSP, in between i might do lots of other stuff, MA related, dips. pull ups whatever, but now i'm contlempating stuffing all strength training on the same days with these 2 days in between, as it seems to work quite well for me. Right now my maxes are: FL, flat tuck 60 s consistently. Planche, tuck 40 s consistently. BL tuck 55s (got started on those just recently).

I have a couple of questions i hope somebody might be able to answer:

1:When proceeding from a flat tuck FL where the thighs are approximately in a 45 degrees angle to the torso how many steps do you divide the progressions in until able to do the straddle FL? And how do you spot yourself, i mean i find it difficult form time to time to assess whether i'm in the exact same position as the last workout, eg. when going beyoond af 90 degrees angle between torso and thighs it's difficult to tell the difference between 100 degrees and 110 degrees from time to time.

2: The shift from working towards a 60 s hold to towards a 15 s hold, should that take place as soon as you start working beyond af flat tuck or only when reaching a full straddle or half lay. At the moment i have a max hold of 40s thighs together and a 90 degree angle, should i rather proceed onwards every time i reach a 15 s hold and am able to do those 15s consistently?

Jens

so i'll speak fro my own experience. I never used an advanced flat tuck bl or fl. I followed exactly the progressions in the book: flat tuck fl -> straddle fl. I am technically still working on my flat tuck fl to get it to a full 60 seconds perfect form. I'm about to test in a few days again. I've only been working 3 sets of 20 seconds flat tuck bl and fl.

And 1 year ago, I had a max time of about 10 seconds flat tuck fl and 10 seconds flat tuck bl.

And now 1 year later, I'm at 10 seconds full lay front lever, 10 seconds full lay back lever, AND still working on FLAT TUCK, not even the advanced. What does this mean? It means that I believe you shouldn't worry about trying to incrementally improve. Just keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. It may seem monotonous, but all of a sudden, you try some straddles and oh wow, "I can hold a straddle, but I'm going to keep working the flat tuck till I'm at 60 seconds". Then a month later , "Oh wow , I can hold a full lay for 2 seconds". Then a month later, "Oh wow I can hold a full lay for 10 seconds". But I'm still working the flat tuck.

So my suggestion is to keep working the flat tuck till you test with a max of 60 seconds. Also work the Lsits! And get 60 seconds with that with hands flat on floor (not on finger tips). I believe that helped me a lot as well.

Again, this is an n=1 experiment... but it kind of reinforces what the book had mentioned.

*EDIT* so from rereading your post, it seems like you have a flat tuck of 60 seconds. Hmmm, I guess the first is to analyze if you really do have one by using a mirror, which is what I do to make sure my form is perfect (elbows are straight AND locked). Also, I followed slizzardman's advice to make sure that the flat tuck front lever hold has my shoulders retracted. This makes it harder. I guess if you do have the flat tuck legitmately for 60 seconds, then advanced flat tuck (right angles) or one leg out may be the next step....

Its 60 seconds for everything before straddle, 15 seconds for everything after.

Can you do a good body lever? How many/how heavy pullups can you do?

Thanks to both of you!

I've tested my FL with a mirror quite a few times. Up until lately i've been doing them outside at playgrounds and places like that. For the past month i've been doing it from the bar in a smitth machine with a mirror close by. But now that i'm getting my rings up at home i will have my wife spot me and do some photos.

I feel quite sure about retracted scaps and straight elbows but i'm having small doubts about my lower back. Also i've not been doing the BL for so long, so i think it's best to catch up with that. So i guess i'll continue perfecting my flat tuck and be playing a little with increasing the angles and straightening one leg at a time.

Last time i tested my max pull ups BW pronated and slow were 14 reps, BW+5 kilos=9 reps. At the moment i'm doing BW+10 kilos for sets of three and false grip hangs for 30-60 s.

No bodylevers yet.

/jens