Deck Squats In F1

Would it be recommended to do the deck squats with legs bent throughout the movement or with straight legs ending up in a candlestick when you have rolled all the way back? 

Straight legs feel a lot better but which way is more beneficial?

I assume if Coach wanted you to do a candlestick he would of had the athlete model it that way.

Use bent legs. This will prevent you from using momentum to assist your ascent. 

Yes I figured as such, just thought I'd ask though just in case 

I'm really struggling to do deck squats as in can't even get off the ground for one rep. I have long legs in proportion to my upper body don't if that's part of it but I can't get enough weight forward to stand even with using as much momentum as possible. Is there a viable alternative, I know coach says to work through all moves but not sure just rolling about the floor was what he had in mind or should I just stick with it and hope it happens? Thanks in advance for any help.

I am having a similar issue. I am almost capable of a full one legged squat (I can do multiple reps to parallel) but struggle markedly to get my weight onto my feet after the roll. I'm not sure if it is my proportions, technique or flexibility. Seems strange to think about spending time working on such a basic move. I am 6'1 with long legs if that helps. Any tips/advice would be much appreciated

When I started doing these a few years ago I pushed with my hands behind my head to gain even more momentum on the forward roll. In case you haven't done that it's something to try out. 

Holding a weight out in front of you might work as well.

Or try rolling on a slightly elevated platform like a mat.  More info about that can be found in this thread:

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/topic/10097-question-on-high-reps/

I think it's probably mostly an issue with core compression. I'm currently focusing on keeping my core as tight as possible but as yet I can't get up off the floor without a little assistance from my hands. Other things you could try are rolling off a higher surface onto a lower one or you could try preforming a full forward roll but I don't know which Coach would recommend though

I'm also having difficulty getting off the floor with these so I've created SLS/PE0.5 - Deck Squat with hand assistance. I'm not as far as I thought from getting off the floor but I'll run an 8 week 15r mastery cycle... by which time I should be ready to crack on with SLS/PE1 proper. I'm also going to aim for 60s mastery with the 3rd world squat but that'll be a long term project for me...

Roll to the squat first. Do NOT try to stand up right away until you have the roll down. Practice rolling into a squat. Most people try and stand to soon which pushes you backwards instead of upwards.

Good tip... thanks Nic

Also I usually train with shoes on, but found I was able to perform these once I had taken my shoes off. Form's not great but it's progress!

Thanks everyone for the help, I tried it off a 3 panel mat about 6 inches high and managed it so gives me something to work with will also try to delay standing until properly over feet. Thanks again, no stopping me now

I'm finding this level 1 exercise embarrassingly difficult as well ;-)

It helped me to pull my legs as close to the trunk as possible. Really squeeze them into a tight tucked position. Since this puts more of your weight closer to the axis of rotation it will make you spin faster with the same angular momentum.

I also noticed that I subconsciously tend to pull back so that I don't roll too far and fall on my face. I tried doing the deck squat with a really soft mat in front of me and roll onto it intentionally a couple of times and it helped a little bit.

One helpful tip that I found was that as you're rolling ready to pop up on your feet, use your hands around your ankles to pull them underneath your butt.

That way, you're up and over your feet much quicker.

Scott Richards said:

One helpful tip that I found was that as you're rolling ready to pop up on your feet, use your hands around your ankles to pull them underneath your butt.

 

That way, you're up and over your feet much quicker.

This is a bad habit. I do not suggest using it. You can however use your arms to help generate the momentum to get to your feet and extend them in front to get your weight offset as you're learning.

Watch the athlete in the video closely. Pay attention to his arm motion during the roll.

spinelli said:

Also I usually train with shoes on, but found I was able to perform these once I had taken my shoes off. Form's not great but it's progress!

I had the same thing happen. If you're stuck, try taking your shoes off for this exercise

I'm 6' 2" 175# and have the same prob.  I can do the deck squats but really use a lot of momentum with my arms,.  Much more than the person in the video.  For me it is definitely a compression issue.  I feel my hip flexors working hard when doing this movement.  I will try to lessen the arm momentum as I build the necessary strength.  I am realizing I have very weak hip flexors (or perhaps gymnast have markedly strong ones)

I'm no expert . But I found that if I wait till I can tap the ground with strait arms out in front of me after the roll onto my feet. It helps to delay the stand up and keeps from pushing me back instead of up.

After playing around with this movement a little today, I think by week 6 we'll be pretty proficient at it. Also, shoes don't help. I noticed if I followed the 'feet to glutes' cue I could get up easier.

Use your arms as a counterweight.  Think of your hands as anchors pulling you forward into the squat before you go up.

After some playing around with the best way of trying to do these I've resorted to working on perfect fwd rolls in to the squat and then standing.

Having fractured my heel 12yrs ago and not having bothered rehabbing it I'm finding anterior tib, right hip flexors and glute med getting the biggest workout. It's definitely helping strenthen my weak spots and along with tuck ups I'm pretty sure my compression is improving. Doing fwd rolls sounds ridiculously easy but its what I think I need to do to get where I want. It seems to be working for now anyway

I think F1 is will be a long road for me... but one that's going to make massive change to my ability to move better

Forward rolls and backward rolls in general will get you closer to feeling the movement of the deck squat - and so will hollow rocks. The key to a good roll back / forth is to hollow the back as much as possible - this rounds your back and makes the movement much smoother. 

I found that training deck squats has helped me a great deal with the back extension roll to HS - by learning to hollow your back in the correct way and roll into the movement, the second part of the back extension roll becomes much easier. So I think it's worthwhile to do deck squats even if they aren't a challenge from the point of view of SLS progressions - if you do any rolling skill on floor or even some forms of tumbling, your body will thank you for the prep work. And back extension rolls have a lot of applications/help with a lot of skills on all the apparatuses - casts/peaches on PB, giants/release skills on HB/even some stuff on rings

Are you supposed to contract the hip flexors as well as the abs strongly in order to compress yourself during the roll?