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Hello everyone, I hope everyone and their loved ones are safe from this f**k**g pandemic. My blessings from France. How to increase the participation of the long head of the triceps during fundamental pulling exercices (such as pullups/chinups, rows or front lever progressions) ? i know they're always working with the lats and shoulders to execute shoulder extension but i would like to know at wich angle they're getting optimal work as shoulder extensors. Thank you in advance for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge Long head

Hello! I have more of a theoretical question, hope is no problem that I ask here. I have being studying some mechanisms of spinal extension, namely Intra-abdominal pressure, Thoracolumbar fascia gain and Hydraulic amplifier mechanism (there is some information here http://www.futurefittraining.co.uk/Courses/courseid973562240/Mechanismsofspinalstability/AdvAP_U5L3_Mechanisms of spinal stability.pdf). It's mainly the fact that during flexion of the spine deep muscles within the ribcage and abdominal area protect the spine by hooking around the abdominal cavity, but this bracing is counterbalanced with an extension mechanism that through the fascia in our lower backs compresses the erector spinae, and that in turns extends our spine. This three mechanisms help us counterbalance either movements of flexion or extension, so we can balance upright. I cannot say I can explain it greatly yet, but hopefully somebody here would have hear about it. If you do, do you think this mechanism can work in the same way but only backwards during a Press Handstand? I'm starting to understand the huge "core strength" (including things like the pelvic floor and transverse abdominis) this movement requires. Also, if it does, would the trapezius serve the function of the thoracolumbar fascia, compressing the erector spinae and that creating extension at the hips? That would explain why so much trap strength is required for this! I hope somebody can give me your thoughts on this, or at least point me to any resources. Thank you for your time

First and foremost, I would like to introduce myself to this wonderful forum Coach Sommer has assembled and made available to the public gymnastic enthusiast. The standard of this website and the people who use/used it is admirable. Secondly, even though It's never pleasant talking about injuries especially as a first poster here, it is a question i have been wanting to answer for about 3 years now and even though the "web" is crammed with so much info (ranging from very useful to extremely futile) i have not yet found any info concerning my "not so common" inquiry. So down to business.. I believe my wrist flexibility is fairly good yet there seems to be an issue when it comes to hand extension with the fingers totally extended. See, when my hand is parallel/or lets call it in line with my forearm, I can completely extend my fingers with very little effort. However, when i extend my hand(bringing my hand perpendicular to my forearm vector) my fingers start curling. It looks very similar to the so-called "Tiger claw" they use in certain martial arts disciplines. To be more specific, the PIP and DIP joints of the fingers are where the lack of ROM occurs, which leads to 2 conclusions: 1)Either my flexor musculature is way stronger that my extensors, which is basically a muscular imbalance issue; BUT the issue is that since the issue is at the PIP/DIP level it can't really be muscle(can it?) since that region is occupied (exclusively?!) by tendons and ligaments. (So since I dont know much about flexibility, let alone flexibility in tendons and ligaments..my conclusion remains..inconclusive 2)the other option may be that I have a lack of active flexibility in my "strong/stiff" hand flexor muscles (i.e.weak extensors + not flexible flexors). If I pull on the curled fingers while in a hand extended position, they can be passively stretched to be perpendicular to my forearm. But without an external force/assistance I cannot actively extend my hand. So my question is a twofold one: Does anyone have similar issues with this and if so do you know why this happens and how do you correct it? I attached a video demonstrating what I've tried to explain above. Thanks, BirzieX