Front Lever - Retraction

Hello Guys!

So the last six months been tough and my strength in front lever decreased significantly.

I was following the forum and I saw the discussions about FL. Slizzardman said in a video that you have to retract your shoulder blades when doing the progressions.

1. Why is this so important?

2. If it is, how come Coach never mentioned it in the book?

3. is it only vaild for the progressions, or do I have to retract it when i'm incorporating it into a ring strength series?

Thanks in advance!

norbeex3 said:

I was following the forum and I saw the discussions about FL. Slizzardman said in a video that you have to retract your shoulder blades when doing the progressions.

1. Why is this so important?

2. If it is, how come Coach never mentioned it in the book?

3. is it only vaild for the progressions, or do I have to retract it when i'm incorporating it into a ring strength series?

It will help to prevent you from arching your chest.

It was not mentioned in the book, but Coach has mentioned it before (in this post).

Coach Sommer said:

Two simple cues will always help you to have the correct scapula position during your FSP work; for levers keep the scapula retracted (pulled together), for PL work keep the scapula protracted (pulled as far apart as possible). Even if you are not yet strong enough to actually achieve the protracted scapula position, you should feel yourself striving to do so.

I think the importance of retraction adresses the question of what type of FL you want to achieve and why.

I had tight shoulders (working on it hard) and use to nearly achieve FL without thinking about retraction. Together with planche work etc it went NOWHERE.

I had to step back, learn more about what a shoulder is (thanks to this forum). With time, lot of stretching, rehab and focus I DO now feel where the humeral head is, it's degre of rotation, where and how is the scapula fixed etc, and control them better and better. THIS goes somewhere, the strenght goes far further and the path is injury-free.

For the FL I also had to step back and activate / feel the blade retraction more with tucked variations, SSC etc. Even the lower back was engaged in this process at the very begining (althought it was strong in itself), and it was like a loss of strenght. But now the ex-"missing" muscles (rhomboïds, middle / low traps and others like infraspinatus / teres minor, don't know for sure) are getting stronger and I KNOW that if I keep it this way I will have a really solid FL this time, with many other FSP following nicely...

Of course in rings series it's harder to focus on that, this is why SSC comes first. But with mastering and neuro-muscular integration (wich takes a "synaptic" time you have no hands on...), the "conscious" activation should become easier and easier to a point of no necessity.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, thanks learningtofly, that clears everything up, that was the answer I was hoping to hear. I'd like to develop an all around quality strength and this is an important key point for a solid Front Lever I guess.

thank you for the quotation thanners, the protraction about the planche seems to be a missing point for me as well

I'm once again confused over this Front Lever topic. Altough I'm trying to retract my shoulder blades I do not know if I'm doing it right. Please can someone clear this mess up once and for all? I was doing one legged FLs without retraction. I went back to tuck FL and even then I do not know if I retract it fully and how it feels? Is it a problem? How much retraction is needed? Maximum? What should I feel then at my shoulder blades? :? And how can this be achieved?

To make it simple, just always strive to have your blades touching each other. This won't really happen with FL yet, of course (too much traction).

Some auxiliary exercices, like wall slides, where you can fully retract those blades, help to feel that.

Google "romboids" and see what they do...

You need to take a video to see if you are doing it.

norbeex3 said:

Hello Guys!

So the last six months been tough and my strength in front lever decreased significantly.

I was following the forum and I saw the discussions about FL. Slizzardman said in a video that you have to retract your shoulder blades when doing the progressions.

1. Why is this so important?

2. If it is, how come Coach never mentioned it in the book?

3. is it only vaild for the progressions, or do I have to retract it when i'm incorporating it into a ring strength series?

Thanks in advance!

1) The retraction helps keep a fairly neutral shoulder position and gives the lats a base from which to pull the arm and thus raise into and hold your body in FL.

2) Details like this seem obvious when you have been immersed in the sport at a high level for so many years, and you simply forget that people do not actually know these things. Even a reviewer or editor would not know that this detail needs to be added, so it is easily missed. Fortunately we have this forum and the seminars, which have both had a huge impact on BtGB and future volumes.

3) You want to be able to do this properly all the time, but in ring strength do the best you can. I would suggest practicing lifting INTO your FL by retracting the scaps, this is the easiest way learn. It's super hard to do, but it teaches you correct activation. At first, if you can't do that, I'd retract the shoulder blades during inverted hang and THEN lower to FL! Eventually you'll be able to do that first thing. You can also try retracting while you lower, which is a very good idea but very hard to do as well.

Excellent posts here, guys! Thanks!

Thanks again! I think it's fairly clear now, I'll try to put it to practice soon.

And yeah, I understand the Coach cannot remember every little thing when dealing with us beginners. The forum is one of my greatest help and inspiration, when I tell about it to my friends they have a hard time believeing that so many experts are gathered at a single place willing to help us newbies.

Hi

I realise that this is probably tantamount to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted but I made a quick wee video on my phone tonight to help show the Scapula Retraction, if this is helpful to anyone great, if not, it only took 3 mins to do so who cares

3HJHHZuIGMA

wow Breaks Thank You very much for this video! I cant tell you how greatful I am for this one. :shock:

Finally I know how to get into it correctly.

Maybe we should gather these things collected here with the video into a clean topic and make it a sticky because this retraction topic was the hardest to figure out in all of its aspects despite owning the book, and reading the forum actively.

glad it helped