My Backwards proggressing BL

lLike the title says i have a backwards progressing BL

Iv been training the BL for over a year now and iv seen little to no progress with it. Same with my other FSP's that i train. (The L-sit and FL)

When i started training i focused on getting my max hold time, then halving that for working sets and doing those working sets to give a total time of 1m work each day 4 days a week. This was working well, but between the sets it took me 45min to 1h to train just 3 statics! I was taking upto 90sec breaks between each working set.

For example

BL Tuck max hold time: 30secs

Working sets: 4X15s

I started training the GB wods around feb this year. At the same time i watched slizzardmans FSP warmup video and saw he did his whole warmup in 10mins! I was amazed lol! so i decided to take a step back( In progressions) and go for high volume low intensity quickly moving onto one FSP to the next.

When i was training this way i was at:

4 days per week

Working sets:

L-sit- 10secs

FL flat tuck 15secs

BL straddle- 15 secs

Now after a few months of training heres where im at:

L-sit tuck- 20secs easy, did on the rings for ages because my wrist couldnt handle the PB's

FL flat tuck-20secs and easy

BL flat tuck- 15s which is now my max hold time , it hurts like hell

I pair the BL and L-sit together.I sometimes do straddle L & FL together

I can no longer hold the BL straddle for even 5 seconds :/. Sometimes now when doing the BL i get elbow pain aswell.

I havent tested my max hold times in ages, but i do know that my BL now really strains me to do it so id say my max is around 15secs.

What happened? why did i go backwards Its soooo frustrating! BL's ment to be the easiest static to attain and im actually going backwards with it!

Any thoughts on how best to reprogram?

I will post a video of myself doing the BL soon, so you guys can see what im doing.

Almost forgot to add:

Before i was able to get the BL straddle i found i had to do alot of extra sets of the BL flat tuck. I think i was doing up around 1:30-2mins total work for the 4 days.

Hope i can get some help!

Thanks

What are your height and weight and body dimensions? Do you have long limbs or a long torso or a lot of weight in the legs?

Generally BL can be attained before FL but it's harder on the joints and body than FL for the most part. Especially the lateral side of the elbow. Thus it needs more preparation. German Hang and a solid support.

How long can you hold a ring support for? Can you do a german hang and how long can you do it for? Do you have any hyperextension in your elbow angle?

Do you work the reverse/inverse plank? This is another good exercise for the shoulder girdle, easier than the german hang.

Can you do a tuck BL for 60s? This is important to train before moving to advanced tuck.

Can you not hold the straddle BL any longer due to elbow pain. If so, you need to back off as your elbow would have been pushed beyond it's limits.

I do not pair the FSP when training. I have always preferred tackling L-sit alone though I have set up the levers and planche as a circuit to save on time that was sort of efficient and worthwhile(I do ring support instead for now and will soon transition to ring HS which afterwards I will insert floor planche with ring support and HS as FSP WU).

Sliz one time mentioned during an inverted hang with a BL grip. I do this type of inverted hang early in my WU and it helps prepare my elbow for BL work. Hangs supinated with a slight angle off the vertical plane, triceps off the lats. In fact my first basic inverted hang is neutral grip pulling hands away from the side of the body.

Thanks Blairbob, heres the answer to your questions....

What are your height and weight and body dimensions? Do you have long limbs or a long torso or a lot of weight in the legs?

I am 183cm and 75Kgs.

My body dimensions

Arm length: 76cm -80cm

Torso from groin to bottom of neck- 98cm

Legs: 99cm

How long can you hold a ring support for?

I can do it for 35 seconds RTO.

Can you do a german hang and how long can you do it for? Do you have any hyperextension in your elbow angle?

German hang- 1min and it was pretty easy. My elbows do hyperextend especially my left arm. I broke it as a kid.

Do you work the reverse/inverse plank? This is another good exercise for the shoulder girdle, easier than the german hang.

I know a reverse plank, but inverse plank? When I tried an inverse plank for the first time I was able to hold it for 1minute very easily, haven’t trained it since then. That was about 2 months ago.

Can you do a tuck BL for 60s? This is important to train before moving to advanced tuck.

Tried this today, first attempt I got 40seconds, 2nd attempt after more of a warm up I was able to to 1min but it was very hard, especially the last 10secs.

Can you not hold the straddle BL any longer due to elbow pain. If so, you need to back off as your elbow would have been pushed beyond it's limits.

I think it’s a combination of not being strong enough, feels like my eyes and chest are going to burst, then my back just fails and I drop. I get a little bit of elbow pain, but not much. No its not the main reason for not being able to hold it.

reverse/inverse plank just mean a plank with your belly button towards the sky. In all honesty, it should be pretty easy to hold.

hmm, for now I might focus on doing just skin the cats and see about getting your bent arm strength up like pullups and dips (on rings, or pushups if need be). I would also work towards getting that ring support longer. Mine is 50s right now but when I do it on short rings, I'm so much stronger ( on short rings, I can do RTO dips but on the long ones I train on I have a difficult time just doing a parallel ring dip ).

I noticed after Fridays WOD my BL was much easier, so maybe im not warming up properly?

My normal warmup routine pre wods is:

Skip 5min

Wrist routine

FSP warmup BL FL L-sit

Wod specific warmups 1-3 sets

WOD

I think because my elbows and muscles were already used to doing backpulls(decend in staddle, ascent tuck/flat tuck) in the wod it made it alot easier, my chest also didnt hurt as much.

1. What else could i do for a warmup for BL training? couple sets of 360 pulls in tuck?

2. In the last set of my BL training, i noticed my right elbow hurt a bit, not enough to stop me doing it, but i did notice it when released the tension and came down. should i back off abit and do german hangs instead?

3.Also would a video help?

Sometimes when I just drop out of german hang it doesn't feel great. It feels much better if I pull back to inverted, then hang and drop. Too quick of a release from the tension, I think.

360's pulls besides ring supports should warm you up. Some warm up sets in tuck and adv tuck might work too.