Ideas for loosening hamstrings for L-Sit

The L-Sit is an exercise that is part of SCT4KB (Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells). I plan to take it on after completing all the SCT4KB floor work. The L-Sit requires the hamstrings to be loose enough to allow for both legs to be locked straight, at 90 degrees to the torso.

Eugene Teo advises increasing the strength of the hip flexors and quads by practicing a gymnastic exercise known as the pike pulse. The underlying principle is contraction of the antagonist muscles - in this case, the hip flexors and quads - will cause the agonist muscle - the hamstring - to loosen.

I tried Teo's approach before but dropped it as I started to prioritize SCT4KB work more. I started with my torso about 45 degrees from the floor and improved to about 60 degrees by the time I gave up on it. I am on track to achieve the full hollow body hold - legs straight and arms straight - sometime this year. After that I plan to work through the 2 other exercises in SCT4KB floor work - bent knee leg raises and straight leg leg raises. The floor work combined with isometric Zercher Lunge training might deliver enough strength gains in the hip flexors and quads so that contracting them will give me the needed hamstring flexibility, or at least get me further in the progression in Teo's approach

GMB has a different solution for the problem of weak hip flexors or quads holding you back from a full L-Sit. In this video, they show a superset of seated leg raise and shoulder bridge. The shoulder bridge is there to prevent cramping of the quads/hip flexors. Their version of pike pulse/seated leg raise puts the torso at 90 degrees to the floor. In Eugene's approach it is ok to start with your torso lesser than 90 degrees and in fact he advises it if 90 degrees is just too hard. At any rate I like the idea of adding in a 30-second shoulder bridge hold for relief for the hip flexors and quads. The other idea that GMB shows that I like is the active hang with knees squeezed together and raised for 30-45 seconds. This is more doable for me than full-range hanging leg raise because my pullup bar is a doorway pullup bar. This bar does not give me enough height to hang with legs fully straight - I have to bend my knees when I hang from it.

I suspect though that I may have to do some work on hamstring loosening, other than just strengthening its antagonist muscles. This video by Oscar Moves has some ideas. The first drill he shows is the Elephant Walk, which seems to be gaining popularity as a solution for hamstring tightness. Oscar describes it as a nerve gliding technique, for the purpose of reducing nerve tension. The 2nd drill is a PNF stretch, which at first glance looks familiar, but his version has some key points that I haven't seen taught elsewhere:

1. Extend the leg until you feel a light to moderate stretch. He does not say to make the leg as straight as possible
2. Contract the hamstring with the intention to pull the heel away from the head and down an arc towards the floor. Other methods have you try to push the leg straight, which contracts the quads instead.

The third drill is a deep squat flow. GMB has a video which shows a flow based on their Bear and Monkey movements for loosening hamstrings which takes just under 5 minutes. Oscar's third drill looks like a good option if you can't spare the 5 min.

Tendon Burn Count: Week 9

I retested my Zercher Lunge 1-rep max and got 95.7 lbs, which about a 10lb. improvement over the 85.4 lb. 1-rep max as tested 3 weeks ago.

I continue to put in the work for the other exercises and have observed modest progress, though nothing dramatic

I started Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells (SCT4KB) back in June. Lately I've been focusing on the hollow body progression. If you search the Internet you'll find a variety of tutorials with suggested progressions. SCT4KB's approach is working great for me. It starts with 10-sec. holds and gets you to 60-sec. holds in a sensible way. I completed all the milestones for Supine and Prone training in the Stability phase, which prepared me well for starting the hollow body progression with tucked knees and feet lifted off the floor. I quickly reached a 60-sec. hold, then moved to the next progression which is one leg straight, the other leg tucked. I then got to 60 sec. holds on both sides. I then attempted a hold with both legs straight but could not get the legs lower than about 45 degress to the floor. I then decided the next progression would be one leg straight and the other leg bent with the toe touching the ankle of the straight leg. I eventually got to 60 sec. hold on each side. This week I retested with both legs straight and this time the legs were closer to about 30 degrees. I was able to easily hold the position for 10 sec.

I haven't worked on SCT4KB side lying as much because Tendon Burn Count sessions are 3x a week and each session takes about an hour, even after cutting Zercher Lunge holds from 30 sec. per side to 6 sec. per side. I've preferred to focus on TGU and hollow body training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully after I'm done with Tendon Burn Count I'll have more time to work on side lying again.

I'm on track to achieve a 60-sec. hollow body hold with both legs straight and both arms extended overhead before the end of the year. SCT4KB suggests completing all floor work before moving on to supported/hanging work. The floor work includes hollow body hold and supine leg raises. The supported/hanging work includes L-Sit and hanging leg raise. I'll probably hit all the milestones for the supine leg raises next. After that if I'm still not satisfied with my overhead reaching mobility, I might take on hollow body with weighted pullover instead of supported/hanging work.

Tendon Burn Count: Week 8

Switching my Zercher Lunge practice from trying to go for 30-second holds at a min. 70% 1-rep max, to 6-second holds shaved off some time from the overall workout. I'm still training at 70% 1RM but now I'm going for max force instead of max hold time.

Calf Raise performance continues to progress. I lowered the bar setting by one slot to try to get the calves working at a little longer length. I progressed from 134 lbs. at the start of Week 8, and finished working at 144 lbs. at the end of Week 8. Having the hands in contact with the thighs seems to reduce the load on the grip. If I keep my grip just wide enough, I can feel my external shoulder rotators working, which should be a good thing for improving shoulder stability

In the Overhead Press, I progressed from 48lbs at the start of Week 7 to 50lbs by the end of Week 8. Pulling the shoulders back and down increases the force that the chest muscles can generate. In order to pull the shoulders back and down, the lats have to work. Therefore, working the lats hard helps generate more force for pressing overhead.

My Bicep Curl performance has been at 46 lbs. for 3 weeks. I've been able to sustain 46 lbs. of force at the position for 34-37 seconds. I've not been able to break the 37-sec. barrier yet. However as the exercise of choice for addressing my golfer's elbow under the tendon stress relaxation protocol, the curl seems to be working fine. The pain that I feel when I lift my mattress to change bedsheets is less than half of what it used to be at the start of Tendon Burn Count

My Standing Shoulder Extension perforamce continues to improve, from 34lbs. at the start of Week 7 to 37 lbs. by the end of Week 8

Piano Chords in Natural Minor Keys

One of my latest activities on the piano is practicing chords that are diatonic to the natural minor scale, in all 12 keys. I need work on all the keys but these are the ones I'm weakest at as of today:

• C# minor
• Eb minor
• Gb minor
• G# minor
• Bb minor
• B minor

I thought at first I would think of the natural minor diatonic chords in the manner described in this article. For example in the key of C# minor, the i chord would be C# min, the ii chord would be D# min7b5, the III chord would be E Maj, etc. Then I learned there is another way to think of the natural minor diatonic chords, and that would be to treat the first chord as the chord vi of the relative major scale. So, C# min would be the vi chord, D# min7b5 would be the vii chord, E Maj would be the I chord, etc. Thus, if I practice the diatonic chords for E Major, it would be the same as practicing the chords as C# min. Therefore, to work on the diatonic chords for the above natural minor keys, I should practice the diatonic chords of the followng corresponding relative major keys.

• E Major
• Gb Major
• A Major
• B Major
• Db Major
• D Major

Miles Davis chromatic lick from his solo on Oreo

Matt Otto's lesson on Miles Davis chromatic concept