Prior to discussing Cirque performance guidelines, there are several caveats that must first be reviewed:
1) To perform, or even to safely attempt cirques, you must first be capable of a standard rope climb with no legs; as demonstrated in the ascent portion of the video clip below. The ability to only climb the rope using the legs for assistance is not indicative of sufficient strength to attempt cirque training.
2) All rope climb training should be done a safe area that is suitably soft in case of an unexpected slip or fall. Use a proper climbing rope that is adequately anchored.
3) It is my strongest recommendation that initially you should only attempt cirques from just barely off of the ground. Do not immediately seek to emulate the athlete in the video and perform them from 25' in the air. Failure to follow this recommendation may result in a grip failure at a great height from the ground, leading to a fall and followed shortly thereafter by an abrupt and sudden stop on an unacceptably hard surface
.Cirques are essentially a rope climb with no legs followed by a series of negative one-arm chins. After reaching your chosen height at the end of either an L-sit or straddle L rope climb, pull your chosen support arm strongly into the chest, tucking the gripping hand into the notch between your neck and shoulder. This position of the arm and hand will greatly increase your leverage for this movement.
Now release one hand from the rope and attempt to perform a one-arm lock off. A one-arm lock off is simply statically holding your bent arm position without dropping lower. If you are not able to comfortably maintain yourself in the one-arm lock off position (3-5 seconds), you are not yet proficient enough at rope climbs to train cirques. Go back to less advanced rope climb variations and build a stronger foundation prior to returning to cirque training.
From the one-arm lock off, slowly begin to extend the arm into a negative one-arm chin. At first, be cautious and use a very abbreviated range of motion for the negative one-arm chin. Remember that the greater the range of motion during the one-arm negative, the greater the intensity of this movement. Be wise and gradually extend the range of motion over a period of weeks or even months, allowing the body plenty of time to adapt and grow to meet the new training demands being placed upon it. Over time you will safely and progressively build the range of motion of the one-arm negative.
Do not at first widely extend you non-supporting arm to the side. While this is very cool and quite dramatic, it is for advanced athletes only. Rather keep the non-supporting arm close to the rope to assist in the case of a grip failure. Once you reach the limit of your one-arm negative chin, simply switch hands and begin the next negative one-arm chin with the other arm. Continue in this fashion for the duration of the cirque descent.
At first it is best to limit yourself to only one negative one-arm chin per arm. This is an intense movement and it is wise to test the waters judiciously prior to committing yourself to a full-blown workout of cirques.
Cirques are an advanced rope climbing variation that is quite useful for building high levels of gymnastic dynamic, grip and biceps strength; as well as being excellent preparation for advanced ring strength elements (malteses especially). My three athletes who are the strongest at malteses are also quite proficient at cirques.
Yours in Fitness,
Coach Sommer
