First Gymnastics Skill!! Back Lever

Hi all,

This is my first topic on this forum, i've been reading it avidly for a little while and i've been making solid progress using the advice in Coach's book and on this site for a few months. When i first tried a BL i nailed it first time and felt great about myself. However, i quickly realised that i had been using the wrong grip, and went back to try with a supinated grip. Even the German Hang felt like it was trying to snap my bicep in half! However, a few months down the line and i've managed to get a full BL again, with the correct grip this time. I just thought i'd ask for some opinions on form, so that i don't cement any bad habits. I realise that the hold is a little short, but i didn't want to hold for too long, as i'm still nervous about the stress on my elbows.

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It looks pretty good to me from what I can see! You still can't hold it long enough to train full lay regularly, and it sounds as though your elbows and biceps tendons are not quite ready for it either. Scale it down to a flat tuck and build up some volume (if you have not already done so) then move to the straddle. I know it's tempting but don't hold that full lay any more than like once a week until you get a little stronger. Nice work though!

Thanks for the feedback guys! I definitely agree that i'm not ready to do this regularly - i think i'll try and warm-up with flat tuck, work 1 or 2 straddles if i feel really good, and then end with some more flat tuck for volume if i still feel strong. It's always tempting to progress too fast, so nice to be reminded to take it steady

Any suggestions on how long i should be able to hold the full BL for before i start to use it regularly in my training? I'll probably test it out once a week or one every two weeks depending on my other training. I'm working towards a OAC, which is stressing my elbows quite a bit too, so i don't want to overload too much!

Thank you for your kind words and sage advice! I will continue to take care with the OAC work, and will wait until i have the full BL for at least 5 seconds comfortably before i start training it. As far as muscle ups go, i can do them explosively and slowly on a bar and rings (although actually i've never tried doing one quickly on rings due to limitations of my set-up). I've attached a video of my best attempt at a strict muscle up with rings wide. I think that my main weakness in the motion is in my inability to execute the bodyweight tricep push-down type movement that Aguilar does so wonderfully. Instead, i compensate for lack of tricep strength by leaning over the rings to recruit my chest. However, i'm new to critiquing my own movements, so i may be mistaken.

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PatrickMeniru said:

Thank you for your kind words and sage advice! I will continue to take care with the OAC work, and will wait until i have the full BL for at least 5 seconds comfortably before i start training it. As far as muscle ups go, i can do them explosively and slowly on a bar and rings (although actually i've never tried doing one quickly on rings due to limitations of my set-up). I've attached a video of my best attempt at a strict muscle up with rings wide. I think that my main weakness in the motion is in my inability to execute the bodyweight tricep push-down type movement that Aguilar does so wonderfully. Instead, i compensate for lack of tricep strength by leaning over the rings to recruit my chest. However, i'm new to critiquing my own movements, so i may be mistaken.

I don't think it is lack of triceps strength. Aguilar's MU doesn't take much or any triceps strength, he extends his elbows in a way that hardly if at all resists gravity or flexion and merely to straighten his arms which in this case should not be considered a triceps press. He just adducts and straightens the arms to get to the support position. Now if it was done with a narrow grip, then that will take a lot of triceps strength.

Zach Armijo said:

Not bad at all man. Nice transition. I would suggest you spend more time with dips and RTO support. The Aguilar MU has been discussed several times and people hold that as a what a MU should look like. That is what we all strive to do with such fluid beauty but also at the same time, this strict no lean wide MU is magnitudes above your standard MU. I believe Coach has commented on the subject by saying that when you achieve an Aguilar MU, you will no longer even consider MUs as a strength element, or something of the like. So your forward lean is very natural and something most of us will still have over the course of our training. Keep doing your MUs for reps if possible. They look good, just a little weak in the dip portion, but that can easily be trained.

Thanks! I'll definitely keep working on my dips and supports, i only bought a set of rings recently, and i've found that my pulling strength has translated much more easily than my pressing strength for work my work above the rings - for obvious stability reasons i guess. I still feel quite a good level of stress across my chest,forearms, biceps even lats and abs when i do RTO supports for time. Four sets of 30 seconds is really all i can do before i start to lose form. I'll also try and do some volume work with the muscle ups.

B1214N said:

I don't think it is lack of triceps strength. Aguilar's MU doesn't take much or any triceps strength, he extends his elbows in a way that hardly if at all resists gravity or flexion and merely to straighten his arms which in this case should not be considered a triceps press. He just adducts and straightens the arms to get to the support position. Now if it was done with a narrow grip, then that will take a lot of triceps strength.

Thanks for the reply I'm not sure i understand entirely what you mean though, in the video, the rings don't appear to move laterally that much at all, and with my limited knowledge of physiology, 'just straightening the arms to get to the support position' without recruiting the chest, relies almost purely on the triceps, with a little assist from the lats to keep the rings in. At any rate, i'll almost certainly never get a MU to look like Aguilar does, so it's just something that i'm striving towards in an effort to make the best strength gains possible.