Hey guys
I filmed a workout with lever work to check my form. I am very new to these exercises, but decided to film now because I'm off at college for a few months before I'll have access to a camera and pullup bar
(sorry for the bad camera angles. Doorway pullup bars are hard to film)
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I've progressed on the skin-the-cat and german hang really quickly. I dabbled in doing skin the cat before, but could only do a few reps before I lost pulling strength or felt a strain in my elbows. The first time I tried a german hang, I barely got past the point of being in a tuck back lever. Now after two weeks, I've seen measurable improvement.
Also, my proprioception is god awful when it comes to the back lever position. It is very hard for me to tell what angle my body is at. Front lever is substantially easier to get a mental hold over.
Some questions:
How does my form look? (I tried ice-cream makers at the very end, I know they're embarrassingly bad)
On my german hang it looks like my scapulae are being pulled off of my back- is that normal? Are there any form points on german hangs- all I know is to go as far down as I comfortably can and let gravity do its work. It feels like such a weird position, and I don't know whether I should consciously try to extend my upper back or keep my shoulders back or what.
Are one armed hangs a good exercise? I sort of made these up on the fly, I alternate hanging by one arm and try to depress my scapula hard, sucking my shoulder into my body.
For the front lever, my flat tuck seems pretty solid. I'm not sure if its the camera angle, but my back seems a little bit low compared to the picture in BtGB. On the other hand, my legs are extended past my elbows, which is further out than the picture in the book. Should I focus on flat tuck holds, or are the front lever rows or ice cream makers also important in progressing? Also, when people hit a straddle planche, is it a really gradual process of extending the flat tuck, or do they just sort of hit it one day?
Finally, I think I'm gonna hold off on back lever training. I don't pass the german hang prerequisite and my proprioception is whacky. The only way I can think of getting into a back lever is to do a straight inverted hang and slowly lower, but I'm not nearly strong enough to do that. I've heard its very hard to progress with front levers without a back lever. Is this true?
Thanks for your responses