Calisthenic Movement's Level 5 Program test week results - 45 second L sit and 14 DEAD HANG pull ups!

[cactus_lil]

Hey guys!

A few weeks ago now I mentioned that I'd ran Calisthenic Movement's Level 4 intermediate bodyweight program, and had great success with it - actually getting a full back lever en-route.

I went on to do their level 5 program and have been for the last 6 weeks. I'm now at the halfway point for the program and testing some baseline numbers, which happened to be the good old L-sit and pull up.

Here are the links to the footage of the movements:

L sit:

Pull ups:

And if you guys want a more thorough summary of these test weeks and my results, here's a blog post I've scribbled up:

https://straighttalkingfitness.wordpress.com/2017/03/17/testing-my-maxes-l-sits-pull-ups/

Feedback, critique, questions........whatever you want to say, hit me with it! Thanks guys.

UPDATE: Many of you have suggested it would have been better testing the L sit on the floor, and by doing so you've sparked intrigue in me now too. So I've decided I'll test and film it on Sunday. It will be interesting to see the comparison. I know I've held a 20 second floor L sit without too much trouble a while ago, so I'm thinking 30 will be a good target. We shall see on Sunday!

 

[faithsong01]

@cactus_lil Impressive, but why lsit on parallettes? It would be a better test in the floor since there is zero room for cheating.

 

[cactus_lil]

@faithsong01 Only because I first tested on them handles and wanted to keep the test conditions the same. You've now made me want to test my floor L sit max now!

 

[dawn16]

@faithsong01 Why is it better to do so on the floor than on the handles?

Personally I've always struggled with L-sits because my torso is very long and I can barely clear the floor when on my hands. Using something like that would make it easier to get clearance and actually manage to do the exercise.

 

[joannsak]

@dawn16 There is no room for cheating on the floor. You will immediately hit the floor and therefore fail if there is slight movement. It is very unlikely that your torso is 'too long'. It is way harder to do it on the floor. If you can do a 20 second l sit on handles, does not automatically mean you can even do it for 2 seconds on the floor.

 

[cactus_lil]

@joannsak The floor L sit is a different beast to the one on dip bars or parallettes. You can't get away with scapula elevation on the floor, but you can on parallettes. I will see what I can manage on the floor tomorrow.

 

[dawn16]

@joannsak

It is very unlikely that your torso is 'too long'

Well I push my shoulders all the way down, straighten my arms, and with my palms flat I can't even raise myself 2cm off the surface. Happens with chairs as well as in an L-sit position, so I don't think it's weight related. Not sure what else you're suggesting.

 

[joannsak]

@dawn16 I think it is possible, that you think you are fully stretched out but it still being a strength issue. When you are seated somewhere, put your arms down, and see where it ends up. I'm pretty sure it'll be more than 2 cm. If not, then you are right.

 

[dawn16]

@joannsak Definitely right, unfortunately! I'm very tall (1m93) but apparently it's more in my torso than my legs.

 

[bobbilynn]

@dawn16 Unless you're this guy, you have no excuse
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6a/80/50/6a8050bbefc7bdcf06d5c792061b5ef4.jpg

 

[cactus_lil]

@bobbilynn "I don't think my arms are long enough for a floor L sit"........Oh shit, maybe they aren't! Haha

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@cactus_lil I read 45sec L-sit and went wow, but then I saw it's on parallettes and went... oh yea, duh.. lol Nice pullups at least tho!

 

[cactus_lil]

@fromgenesistorevelation Haha! I know I know

I only used the parallette handles because I used them originally to test. I will test my floor L sit in the next couple of days. Even I want to know what it is now!

 

[dawn16]

@cactus_lil Any advice on how to keep my shoulders straight throughout the movement? My shoulders are often rounded at the top of the movement. Also, I find my legs naturally swing forward at the top of the movement too, do you get that and if so how do I prevent it?

 

[cactus_lil]

@dawn16 Rounded shoulders at the top are often due to a lack of scapula retraction at the top and throughout. In other words, your scapula is likely to be a weak link.

Things like scapula pull ups and scapula pull up holds can help with that, massively.

With the leg swing, this is common and I believe it's down to the body trying to counter-balance itself to get higher over the bar. Kind of like how it helps to bring your legs into an 'L' for a strict muscle up, in order to get through the transition. It's similar with pull ups.

Keeping the core as tight as possible throughout helps. Hollow body holds are great for learning core control.

 

[dawn16]

@cactus_lil Alright thanks!

 

[lauris]

@cactus_lil Have you ran all of their courses? I'm really interested in them and I'm in talks with them to head to one of their workshops next time I'm in Germany. Just wondering if you could just straight into an intermediate course or if you'd advise starting from their first?

 

[cactus_lil]

@lauris I've ran level 4 and am running level 5. I didn't do any of the previous levels because I already had the pre-requisites for level 4 from my previous training history.

If you've got the pre requisite strength for the intermediate courses, then sure! That's what I did. The pre-requisites are here: https://plan.eleggs.de/product/intermediate-bundle/?ref=352

 

[lauris]

@cactus_lil Nice one! Don't know how I've never come across this before, thanks mate!

 

[cactus_lil]

@lauris No problem. Pleased to help. There's not much out there on the internet about their programs. As far as I'm aware, I'm the first to even do a full review!