3/11/14: Deep Movement

Right now I am sitting at the Sebring international Raceway watching the race teams do time trials for the 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. And yes, that means a twelve-hour race! I honestly woke up to the sounds of high-pitched engines tearing by me roughly 40 yards from where I slept. Being the adrenaline junky that I am, I would have to say this is one of the best ways that you could possibly start your day! This race features many of the same cars and drivers that compete in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. It just so happens that my girlfriend is the ER physician on staff for the day. This means she is the first person rushed out when an accident takes place making her experience a little different from mine….for more info checkout http://www.sebringraceway.comnOn a side note, I keep hearing about this infamous party that the race brings that takes place on the infield. The medical director said to me that they have a saying, “there’s a big party here once a year and a race broke out”.nNow I have been to multiple events with tailgating so I didn’t think much of it. That was until I found out that the gates open Wednesday, and remain open 24 hours a day through Saturday! Race fans literally get here 3 days before the race to start the celebration….now on the handstand push-ups 😉 haha
I believe that this is the one movement that Crossfiters are the most inconsistent with. I see a couple of positions that work and 10 more than don’t. You can add multiple reps to handstand push-ups simply by changing basic positioning. I’m going to do a two-part series with HSPU. It will take you through to what I believe is the most efficient and correct way while also addressing incorrect positions that happen all the time. A shoulder that is in a stable position will benefit you greatly. Many athletes don’t think what happens with the combination of movements let alone what happens when they put themselves in positions that aren’t as mechanically advantageous as they could be. I want you to understand the difference so it’s not a guessing game. Most of the time, athletes are working against themselves in their starting position. If we fix this, we can hopefully stay away from the point of fatigue. As we know, once you get there…you go NOWHERE. ( Boondock Saints anyone?)
This is before we factor in the kipping element of it. Everything I covered the past couple blog posts directly applies to this. The timing is everything in regards to your kipping handstand push-up. If the timing is off then the power transfer is incomplete. You then resort to using 3x the amount of shoulder strength needed to achieve 1 …now let’s do 50!
Today I want to show you the proper positions of a fully extended handstand push-up, down to the loading process at the begin the kip. Look at the distance between his body in the wall in his head placement as well. because everyone is different, these positions may be a little different depending on the person. Play around with it to find exactly what works for you.
The first picture is the first and last position you should be in when completing a HSPU. Everything is active making this a very strong position. Matt’s body is in a perfect line showing the proper abdominal and glute engagement.

The next tow pictures display what I believe to be the proper position when lowering yourself to the floor. The shoulders are in a “tripod” position. The vertical forearm is what you want to be looking for. Mechanically, this is the most advantageous. With that, everything else in Matt’s body is still in a connected position.


And last, the loading stage. I want you to bring your knees down and out. I believe you can recruit more hip this way making it more explosive for each rep especially when attempting deficit HSPU’s. Matt has a closer hand position in the picture below. When at a competition, use the maximal width that they will allow. This will still allow you to achieve a stable shoulder while also shorten your ROM. I have yet to see one that allows competitors to go TO far out.

Tomorrow I will go over many positions that I don’t believe to be the strongest with an explanation of why. If the open throws HSPU at us (hopefully!) Deep Performance will be ready!
skill: After your workout, spend 10 minutes on replicating the positions from above. I want you to experiment with the different positions to see what works best for you. Concentrate on keeping everything engaged throughout the process. Implement the vertical forearm in the tripod position at all times.
Fight the good Fight,
Coach Poppa