Stuck in a FL variation - no progress

[Alexis Solis]

Hey everyone, today I have a video.

Please help me. I can hold an Adv. Tuck FL for 30 seconds (max. hold) maybe a little more. However, when I try the Straddle variation, I can't stay in the position!! :shock: :shock:

I've been trying to do Negative Front Pulls using the straddle variation, but this hasn't helped quite much. :roll: :roll:

So, any suggestions?

Adv. tuck hold:

Straddle variation attempt:

Thank you!

-Alex

[Erik Sjolin]

Weighted pull ups helped me. Joshua was the one who suggested I do them, so he might be able to tell you more about it.

[timg]

from this angle it doesn't look like your straddle is very wide, Maybe working on making your straddle wider will bring the difficulty closer to advanced tuck

[Gavin Strelitz]

You can also try lowering in to the straddle from inverted hang. Get into the hang, set your shoulders (retracted), set the straddle and then lower in.

[Ian Legrow]

Why don't you just try to stay in the adv tuck for 60s before trying the straddle variation. The straddle is very difficult, and if you do not have adequate strength you will just hit a brick wall trying to train it. I think that might be what you are running into

[Joshua Naterman]

Weighted pull ups will help.

Getting your Adv tuck to 60s will help.

Working on straddle right now will probably not help.

What you CAN do, once or twice a week, is one or two holds where you get into the straddle in inverted hang and lower down as far as you can without losing it, and hold for time at that angle. Go for 15-20s holds. Every so often you will be able to go lower. Eventually you will have a strong straddle FL.

If you try that last suggestion as the focus of your training you need to whack yourself on the back of the head It is the most minor part, there to help you make use of what the first two suggestions will build. Not a good place to put your focus.

Focus on weighted pull ups and getting to a 60s advanced tuck.

[Mikko Saks]

Play with ice cream makers, and in adv tuck extend one leg to full FL and keep the other one tucked, this helped me in understanding how to retract the shoulders the correct way (check out Jovtchevs ring strength video from youtube),

GTG helped me to transition from tucked to straddle pretty quickly. Basically doing about 10 holds each day. I tried getting one hold every hour. The first thing i did when i woke up was FL Now im working my planche the same way cause im stuck at 10sec. tuck. Progression is more evident when working with pbars/parallettes, but i want fingers backwards planche, so progress is slow..

[Brian Li]

Hmm some how I find negative front pulls from inverted hang and trying to hold at the front lever to be very good.

Play with ice cream makers, and in adv tuck extend one leg to full FL and keep the other one tucked, this helped me in understanding how to retract the shoulders the correct way (check out Jovtchevs ring strength video from youtube),

GTG helped me to transition from tucked to straddle pretty quickly. Basically doing about 10 holds each day. I tried getting one hold every hour. The first thing i did when i woke up was FL Now im working my planche the same way cause im stuck at 10sec. tuck. Progression is more evident when working with pbars/parallettes, but i want fingers backwards planche, so progress is slow..

How helpful are ice cream makers for developing strength in the front lever any ways? Would they be more beneficial than front pulls and front lever rows?

That's basically what I did most for front lever. I would do a negative front pull and hold or a short circuit of 2 or 3 different FL exercises the first thing I get up in the morning and also before I go to bed at night with one or more sessions between those.

[Joshua Naterman]

Hmm some how I find negative front pulls from inverted hang and trying to hold at the front lever to be very good.

Play with ice cream makers' date=' and in adv tuck extend one leg to full FL and keep the other one tucked, this helped me in understanding how to retract the shoulders the correct way (check out Jovtchevs ring strength video from youtube),

GTG helped me to transition from tucked to straddle pretty quickly. Basically doing about 10 holds each day. I tried getting one hold every hour. The first thing i did when i woke up was FL Now im working my planche the same way cause im stuck at 10sec. tuck. Progression is more evident when working with pbars/parallettes, but i want fingers backwards planche, so progress is slow..[/quote']

How helpful are ice cream makers for developing strength in the front lever any ways? Would they be more beneficial than front pulls and front lever rows?

That's basically what I did most for front lever. I would do a negative front pull and hold or a short circuit of 2 or 3 different FL exercises the first thing I get up in the morning and also before I go to bed at night with one or more sessions between those.

Agreed. Frequency of training is important.

I didn't do 10 holds a day or anything, but I probably did 3-4 when I really wanted FL. Of course, I was also already ridiculously strong and didn't have to worry about actually BUILDING much strength, just learning how to use it.

I still did everything else, and I can definitely say that my previous focus on weighted pull ups and weighted dips before coming to GB were the two things that contributed the most to upper body strength progress here. I still think they are important as basic strength components.

[Alessandro Mainente]

weigthed pull up helps a lot...around 150% BW pullup i hit 18 sec fo straddle.

also front lever rows.

in boths exercise you can stop at the top of the movement for 3-4 seconds to boost your strengh gains

[David Picó García]

1.On your adv. tuck try to go your feet lower, as if you were on the floor with bend knees and feet on floor (feet at the same height as your glutes). That will give a bit more lever. At this position you can do pullups on a bar, the knee will go up on the side of the feet not on the side of your shoulders, and try to go as high as possible to your abs.

2.Also try full front lever negatives trying to go as slowly as possible, maybe this would be fast at first but doing them periodically you'll see the drop is slower.

3.Do bicycle front levers, one leg straight the other one bent and switch.

This is my to cents, the straddle variation is a bit harder in my opinion because at that position are more involved hip/abs muscles that maybe are not yet strong or flexible enough at that positin

[Alessandro Mainente]

much depends on yoour straddle...more opened is your straddle less difficult is the transition between adv tuck and str FL

[Felipe]

my 2 cents

1 retract the shoulder, it's really important, use a chair the first time to really feel what the max retraction is

2 after the first point use this, it is very important, it's about the smallest improvement you could do in the adv position:

just slightly put your legs past the 90 degrees angle, so like the knees are out and legs are not perpendicular anymore.

Very simple, just extend some cm more (but still tucked, just more open) and you will found it becomes harder but not impossible. You will also find that the more you slowly extend, the more the pecs are involved

[Alexis Solis]

Thank you so much for all your kind recommendations!! I will try ALL of them, and let you know which one helped me most!

Many of you mention that I have to retract my shoulders, and so, I have two questions:

1. What for? To make my back straighter?

2. How much should I retract them? Does the motion has to feel like I'm trying to do a FL row?

Or is it more like this:

?

Thanks again!