Pike & Bridge Form Check & Progression

Hey guys

If you remember my thread "What are the flexibility money exercises," the consensus seemed to be pike and bridge were two big ones. I've been focusing on those two for a few weeks, and my pike has improved a noticeable amount. At the end of the first cilp, I also throw in a downward and upward dog- I'll take critique on those as well. I'm working on the pike mainly for flexibility. Is there anything else I should be adding in with the pike for flexibility? I'm very new to these exercises, and generally unaware of how to progress (i.e. which exercises to use, how frequently, how to use them).

I'm hoping that the bridge will improve my back and shoulder mobility and strength, because I've had problems with my thoracic back and shoulders in the past. My bridge sucks, I know that. I don't really know how to make it better, any progressions or auxiliary work I should be doing, I occasionally do bridge wall walks. Otherwise, what would be ways to improve my form and progress further?

Heres the video

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Thanks,

MCem

Don't get me wrong, your form is way better than mine, but you could get your arms more "open" and straighten the legs more.

See this crazy yoga man here:

What's you're routine? I'm working on improving my pike too, but I am miserable. I *just* go to the point where I can hit a 90 degree flat-back bend from a cold start. Stupid hamstrings....

Haha, that bridge is great. I'm always impressed by extreme backbending, like the people who can bring their head between their legs from bridge

I think my bent legs are a reflection of my shoulders and back. If I could bend those more, I would be able to straighten my legs. As far as shoulders, I'm not sure how to open them more. If you look at my down dog, also, my shoulders aren't as open as Id like them to be.

My routine isn't really structured. A lot of the time as a warmup/warmdown, I'll do some sun salutations, starting with a full pike. Just by doing this in warmup/warmdowns I've made a lot of progress. Bridge I just don't do very often, so this can be considered my starting point. Its pretty physically strenuous (I can only hold it for 10 seconds or so), so I think strength is much of an issue in progressing as flexibility

Elevate your bridge. Set feet higher than hands.

Pike is reasonably good.

Definitely set your feet higher and then have straight arms extended shoulders. Then rock back and forth to get at your shoulders more that should help a lot

I've found that in a downward dog, if I try to press my forehead into the ground, this helped my shoulder flexibility a lot

Thanks guys, I'll try elevating my bridge. Any other bridge tips?

phrak said:

I've found that in a downward dog, if I try to press my forehead into the ground, this helped my shoulder flexibility a lot

I tried it, it seems really good for opening my shoulders. Also, should my shoulders be elevated or depressed in a static downward dog? What about when I'm trying to open them?