Back Lever, "flattening" the shoulders

[Dilraj Dhillon]

Hello.
 

When I lower my back lever closer to the horizontal position my shoulders keep rounding like the first progression of the back lever. I want to maintain a flat shoulder position.

 

Is it a matter of more practice, or are there specific exercises I can do to help keep the shoulders "flat"?

 

Thank You.

[Jon Douglas]

Hollow body holds will help if its your body positioning that's suffering

I also think about rotating my shoulders a little-- to get the inside of my elbows.pointing towards the ground and to get them off my lats.

[Dilraj Dhillon]

Thanks for the reply.

 

I will try your suggestion. As for getting the arms of the lats I just take a grip that is a little wider and it seems to work nicely since my lats aren't that big lol.

[Karri Kytömaa]

I think Charm was referring to BL on rings.

 

I think stretching your shoulders and chest well might do wonders.

[Ralph Palutke]

hm i always thought you want to have protracted shoulders in a backlever?

[Jon Douglas]

  On 7/22/2013 at 10:42 AM, Flameous said:

I think Charm was referring to BL on rings.

I think stretching your shoulders and chest well might do wonders.

Yeah, I was. And yes, stretching the chest makes a big difference. Getting your German hang near vertical will go a long way

[Niklas Slotte]

When you say "shoulders keep rounding" as you lower down, do you mean that you are flexing your upper back? If this is the case, you might need more shoulder mobility, like others have mentioned, or more strength, because by flexing the (upper) back you are shortening the lever to make it easier.

[Dilraj Dhillon]

Thanks for the replies guys. I will be working on shoulder flexibility through german hangs.

 

To clarify I want my upper body to mimic the back lever flat tuck as illustrated in BtBG.

 

Couple more question:

 

What do you guys think of swimming for full body mobility?

 

Does performing the front lever with a supinated grip have any benefit?

[Jon Douglas]

  On 7/22/2013 at 11:13 PM, Dilraj said:

Thanks for the replies guys. I will be working on shoulder flexibility through german hangs.

 

To clarify I want my upper body to mimic the back lever flat tuck as illustrated in BtBG.

 

Couple more question:

 

What do you guys think of swimming for full body mobility?

 

Does performing the front lever with a supinated grip have any benefit?

Oh, I thought you meant full lay. If you are struggling to move to flat tuck I would suggest that lower back strength is the failing point. Various RLL's can sort this out pretty quickly, but the German hangs and hollow holds will still help you transition to straddle/half lay.

 

I think swimming is great active recovery and cardio, but I don't like to swim for time etc; more interested in getting out in the ocean and loosening up I'm not sure it's really possible to do a supinated grip front lever, it 'disconnects' your shoulders, lats etc. If it is possible, I don't think it would be useful, as it would limit transitions from that position.

I could be wrong, these are just my thoughts

[Brian Li]

The supinated grip FL is possible. It's slightly harder than the pronated grip FL. Your triceps work harder to keep the arms locked and you can't use your lats as much and probably works the rear delts harder than pronated grip FL. Can't really say how useful it is, but I still prefer pronated grip for FL.