Questions about L-sit training

[Jon Nowick]

Greetings,

I have been doing weight training, martial arts and yoga most of my life. I have recently excepted a cross-fit challenge to be able to do the V-sit and a L-sit to handstand and figured what better place to ask the experts about how to train then here. I recent purchased your book and I have some questions about training. I recently started my handstand work and as of this morning I can hold a L-sit with pushup bars for 20 seconds.

Questions:

L-sit to V-sit training

How frequently should I practice my L-sit? Can I do it every day?

My flexibility is OK and improving. I can currently hold my face to my shins. I typically do standing hamstring stretches. Is there a better stretch I need to be doing? I notice that in the L-sit I have to stop not because of my abs but because of cramping pain in my legs. Is this normal? I stretch before hand but are there any specific stretches that are good for this?

L-sit to handstand training:

I have been training this by using the parallel bars. My shoulder strength in not quite there yet. Are there any specific exercises that can help with this training?

This skill seems very shoulder intensive to me. Is this something I can practice everyday or should I treat it as a shoulder workout and use normal rest days in-between training?

Thanks.

[Parth Rajguru]

It's normal to have fatigue/cramping in the hip flexors from Lsit, Straddle L, Hanging Leg Raises, etc. in the beginning. Eventually the cramping will go away as the musculature adapts to the work load.

Working an easier variation may make the cramping disappear if you build up some volume. For example, if I'm working Lsits and having cramping now, I could back off the intensity and build some volume with the low Lsit. When I return to the Lsit, I may have a better experience and less/no cramping.