Managing volume for Negative Wall HS presses?

Well, i have began working for my HS as i think is time to achieve that skill..

But unfortunately i have some wrists pain that has been lowered by doing active stretches, wrists pushups and other stuff.

I can do lots of press to free HeS and i feel they very easy. The problem here is in the moment when i try to do them against a wall in a HS position. I have lots of difficulties for doing them.

I began working in very slow negatives against the wall, but i'm not pretty sure how much volume should i work...

today, for example, i worked 6 single repetitions...

How much volume could be a good idea to begin with?

thaks!!

martinponce said:

How much volume could be a good idea to begin with?

As much as you can recover from quickly enough, and no more.

Doing Press HS against a wall can really tax the wrists due to the flexibility required.

One solution is to turn the hands out a bit more than usual. Also as you get stronger you will be able to do it with your hands closer to wall, which will be easier on the wrists.

The other solution is to not do the wall press at all. I think it's more of an assistance exercise for HS Press. Really it's part of the RLL family, rather than press family.

Instead you can work Box Press, and since you can do freestanding HS, do negative presses.

My overhead pressing is probably the weakest link for me. I started doing 2 or 3 straddle press negatives (wall assisted) and then I added one more rep every 4 weeks. I am now up to 5 and could have increased the reps a couple of times but I am instead focussing on better form and better control in the descent.

One question with freestanding negative presses:

Is it better to -control down as far as you can come back up from

or -control your descent further than you can rise from and continue to the floor?

i'm expecting a "Why not do both" response

timg said:

One question with freestanding negative presses:

Is it better to -control down as far as you can come back up from

or -control your descent further than you can rise from and continue to the floor?

i'm expecting a "Why not do both" response

Slightly different exercises with slightly different effects.

I found full-ROM negatives (i.e. your second option) were great to break into new levels of strength with the corresponding regular press, but they're quite strong medicine and personally I can't do very many in a given training period. They can give a lot back but they take a lot out of you, use them wisely.

Agreed.

I found that, while frustrating at first because I fell a lot when learning to press back up, the partial freestanding reps were great for my balance and form but the really slow negatives with holds near the bottom for as long as I could manage helped with strength a bit more.

For me, the effort to move really slowly (like taking 10-15 seconds to move through the bottom half or so of the rep) was what made the biggest difference. Obviously it took me a while to be able to go that slowly, and I eventually found that I could just press back up after lightly touching my hairline to the ground. Wasn't long before that became 2 reps, and so on. I got up to 5 reps before I had to stop training in January.

This is just from memory, but I remember those slow reps really being important for developing my balance in the partial reps as well. They allowed me to maintain my shape, which I would lose at first when pressing back up and thus lose my balance

I'm not sure, are we talking about Neg Wall Press HS here or Neg Wall HS Pus Ups?

Cole Dano said:

I'm not sure, are we talking about Neg Wall Press HS here or Neg Wall HS Pus Ups?

I think I was tired and thought we were talking about push ups.

I've never had the flexibility to do a proper straight arm press, even with negatives, against the wall. I always go through a low straddle planche, which I'm nowhere near strong enough for.

The single thing I have heard from many people that have HS presses is that working on progressively slower negatives is the most important thing to focus on, because it lets you learn the skill. Obviously you have to have the flexibility to compress fairly well if you want a nice press.

Back to stretching for me...

How much volume could be a good idea to begin with?

More than 6 reps.

Here is the thing. You need to find out how much volume you can do. This will also depend on how much time you have to spend on working the presses per workout and day. We just don't typically have 2 hours to work presses in a standard workout day. Maybe 15 to 20 minutes at most. So much stuff to be done.

I'm not sure how much time Coach Sommer has his guys work. I wouldn't be surprised if it's more than just 15 minutes going with the 50% Physical Prep and 4-5 hr workouts. MAG does have a bit different requirements though. More events, different time plans though. Especially as most MAG gymnasts don't hit all 6 every day. Most WAG gymnasts do with maybe the exception of Vault. And they gotta dance and spend time doing choreography on FX and quite often longer event times.

So, more than 6 reps ?

Actually i'm doing wall assisted negative HS Presses, my wrists don't feel too taxed as in the beginning.

I'm doing slow singles of 12-16 secs eccentrics...

and resting about 60-90secs....

i don't feel like getting sore or something like that later in that day or the next one....

more volume could be a good idea?

I know I keep saying this, but it's only because it is true: Make sure your nutrition is decent. Make sure you are getting enough energy to cover the workout debt plus a surplus for several hours after the workout.

Other than that, if you are making progress then what you are doing is good. You shouldn't add more work until you see progress slowing down considerably or stopping.

If you have a solid freestanding HS you will benefit GREATLY by simply doing the slowest freestanding eccentric you can. It is very important to focus on coming down to at least an upside down straddled L position (90 degrees hip flexion in your widest straddle) before letting your back start to curl. This will be weird, most likely, and doing this about 8-12" from a wall with back to wall in a free handstand will give you freedom to find out how to move your back so that this is possible. You'll be arching while the hips flex, so that your center of gravity stays over your hands by your butt moving back while legs move down and forward from the initial straight handstand into the straddle.

At first, you need to just find the wall with your butt. That will allow you to then use your shoulders and upper back to lift yourself off of the wall as you adjust the legs to where you find your balance. This part is tough at first and will come with practice.

After that is easy for you I think you will be fine with freestanding negatives.

Wall negatives won't help you if you're pressing your head into the wall. I am pretty sure your weight should be on the wall at your hips, with your upper back trying to pull the weight OFF of the wall, but stand by for more experienced advice in that department.