V-sit Breakdown

[Kyle Devlin]

I don't very much know the technical aspects of a V-sit, but it seems like there is one thing that I personally have a problem with.

On top of the abdominal aspect of the position, there is a need to press the hips forward. I can't do that, and it seems like that is my biggest trouble spot. But I also don't have much knowledge on the position other than it seems like the shoulders are allowed to lean back to compensate for balance while the hips are pressed past the hands.

If someone can help enlighten me on the strength involved throughout the different aspects of the v-sit. And cramps are extremely unpleasant and they seem to be more common while attempting this, how can I get rid of those?

[Aaron Griffin]

Maybe working the manna progressions from the book might be helpful, as that trains the hip lift almost in isolation

[Ian Legrow]

l-sit lifts in the tight tuck position might be of ome help

[Evilllamas]

I'v managed to get my hips allot more forward just doing L Sits, as an advanced L sit requires the hips to be brought forwards, not as far as a V sit, but it's a very different movement to the standard L sit, where you must be `bent` at less than 90 degrees at your hips, to keep straight legs, in an advanced L sit the angle is closer to 110 degrees or so.

I'v also found working on other levers has helped this significantly- by biggest obstacle at the moment is flexibility.

[Marlon]

I've found that you can make large improvements in your v-sit simply by putting a lot of quality effort into basic support positions. Before you even start working on L-sits you should have a solid 60 second support hold, as on parallel bars. You want to really make sure you shoulders are pushed down as far as they can go and keep your chest as open as possible. The reverse plank is important too if you want to start building that strength to push your hips forward. Once you have mastered the support position you should start moving on to the l-sit progressions making sure to implement that open chest support position into your l-sits from the beginning. If you've put that effort into a good support position, then by the time you have a solid l-sit you will probably find that you have developed a decent v-sit simply as a by-product of that training.

Working on the advanced l-sit by pushing your hips forward as well as manna progressions will, of course, develop the kind of strength you are looking for, but only if you are able to hold proper form in your basic support position to begin with. Pike flexibility is very important as well, the more compression you have the easier it will be to hold the position.