Advanced L-sit, V-sit, Manna and Straddle L-sit Progressions

Video: In the video below, Ryan of GMB demonstrates the progressions for attaining the V-sit and also presents a few different, advanced hand positions for you to try.

Below, I have outlined the progressions from the video and explain a bit more about how to improve your flexibility for improving your V-sit.

1. High tuck.  This is a tucked V-sit. The difference between a tucked V-sit and tucked L-sit is that…

• You’re striving to bring your knees as high and close to your chest as possible.
• You’ll be leaning back a lot more in this high tuck and loading your triceps.

You will feel the long-head of your triceps working a lot more (maybe even cramping) to perform this. At first you may fall backwards, but you’ll get used to leaning back and bringing your knees up higher with practice.

2. One-Legged V-sit. From the high tuck, extend just one leg the best you can. This is the progression that will build your active flexibility as you try to straighten/lock that knee out.

3. V-sit.  The final step of course, is to do it with both legs extended.

Supplemental Dynamic Exercise for the V-sit:

• L-sit Lifts (3×8)
  • L-sit Lifts with ankle weights
• Seated Leg Lifts (You could do 3×10-15sec/reps)

What about the flexibility aspect?

In the overcoming gravity charts, it lists V-sits starting from 45 degree and going all the way up to 170 degrees (that’s right, past vertical).

Hamstring flexibility (pike compression) is a great limiting factor for most people when it comes to the V-sit. It’s going to feel like it’s very difficult to build strength in a position that you can’t even get into. You could have all the strength in your abs, triceps, lats and shoulders but get nowhere past the L-sit if your pike stretch is poor. But the beautiful thing is these progressions  will build active flexibility. Active flexibility is all about getting into your end range of motion (and exceeding it) under your own muscular power. It is a combination of strength and passive flexibility.

When mastering your L-sit, nice thing with the L-sit is that as you extend the legs out and your quads get stronger, they naturally stretch and lengthen the hamstrings at the same time. (The quads are, afterall, antagonistic to the hamstrings.) The same thing is happening during the V-sit progressions.  The high tuck starts to challenge my shoulder flexibility and the one-legged v-sit starts challenging my hamstrings to lengthen.  (I could barely lock out the knee of that raised leg when I started, so, I feel how the V-sit progressions themselves are going to build active flexibility.)

Now, it’s highly likely that the progressions are not enough and you’re going to have to loosen up your body to help.  To increase your pike flexibility, I recommend you follow the stretches I have listed in my toe-touching routine.

I can easily touch my toes but can’t go beyond a 45° V-sit! What do I do to increase my active flexibility?

Instead of doing the piked, seated leg lifts dynamically, hold the compressed position for time.  Make a goal of having your hands/fingertips eventually past your ankles.

To increase compression even further: Make a goal of doing the compression exercises on your forearms/elbows. Built up to it by practicing with the forearms on a stack of books and lowering down to the floor with time. Anywhere from 10-30 sec for 3-10 sets.

To increase difficultly even further: Do the above drill with your back against the wall.

In an Advanced L-sit, you need to be pushing your hips more forward and be retracting the shoulder blades.  This is substantially harder and will be stressing the bananas out of your abs and scapular retractors. (In a regular L-sit, you could get away with the hips being behind the hands and the shoulder blades being protracted.)

This is the best example of an Advanced L-sit on YouTube at the moment, demonstrated by Andrea Alborghetti holding it for 11 seconds:

Progression #1: L-sit Pushes (a dynamic exercise)

This is a dynamic exercise.   Do a full L-sit and push your hips forward and flatten your back like you’re getting into an advanced L-sit until you cannot hold anymore and your butt drops down. That’s one rep. Repeat. So you’re essentially pushing your hips forward into an advanced L-sit for a moment and repeating. Start with something like 3×3 and work your way up to 3×8.

Progression #2: Advanced L-sit (static hold)

Cues:

• Work on flattening out your back by bringing the hips forward and pushing your chest up.
• “Look proud.”
• It will be very difficult to do this initially and you may feel like you’re going nowhere because your back is still rounded even when you’re trying to retract the shoulder blades.  But keep on pushing and eventually your back will straighten up. Don’t worry too much about it, as all things do, it will come with time.

Your feet may be above the hips in an advanced L. Not much, but the hip flexion will stay at 90 degrees while the hips move forward, which will make the feet rise some.

Once you start putting the L-sit in motion, this This is a monstrously difficult exercise that will tax your shoulder/scapular strength.  It is imperative you master the prerequisites (Ag and Plank walks) to help.

Note: L-sit walks on the floor can feel particularly hard on the wrists, so parallel bars may work better here if your wrists need a break.

1. L-sit Wipers (From a full L-sit, wipe side to side) (30sec)
2. Uneven Elevated L-sit using props (Elevate hands unevenly to prepare for the nature of L-sit walk) (30sec both sides)
3. Tucked L-sit just one hand at a time. (Bring one hand forward and REST)
4. Full L-sit walk  just one hand at a time. (Again, just bring one hand forward and REST.)
5. L-sit walks (The best demonstration is this, but most of us will look like this cause we aren’t 60lbs.)

Bonus Variation: L-sit 360 Turn (on floor or parallel bars)

This guy made a “course” for the L-sit walk. Pretty evil.

Note: You probably won’t be able to turn the thumbs out as much as you do in an RTO Support, so don’t fret about that.  Your ability to turn the rings out will improve with time.

• RTO Tucked L-sit (20-30sec minimum)
• RTO Full L-sit
• Optional: L-Muscle Up into RTO L-sit

RTO V-sit

Prerequisite: RTO L-sit (minimum 30sec)

• RTO High Tucks (tucked V-sit)
• RTO One-Leg Tuck V
• RTO V-sit

Note: Your elbows will want to bend. Don’t let them!

In the V-sit, we are striving to bring the legs higher and higher and higher. But in the Manna, we are striving to bring the hips forward and up, not the legs. So that’s why these progressions will be drastically different than the L/V.

The manna is a different boat than the L/V also in terms of scapular positioning.  In both the L/V, the shoulder blades are usually protracted some.  The manna is retracted. (An advanced L-sit is also an L-sit with shoulder retraction.)  If you have an L-sit, you could skip the V-sit route, go for the Manna, and get a V-sit along the way, since lifting the hips is much harder than lifting the legs. (But it doesn’t hurt to have a V-sit :P)

If you have a strong L-sit, you could technically start working on the “Middle Split Hold” progressions (below) but you may find it difficult to retract at all, so what I would do, if Manna is the goal, is to work on improving the “Advanced L-sit” (progressions above) and once you can retract a little bit in the L-sit, you’ll have a much stronger base to start working the middle split holds.

Anyway, here are the progressions taken from this thread.

1. Middle Split Hold on parallettes/pb (or chairs) with bent legs and legs hanging below the bars (Elevated MSH bent legs)
2. Middle Split Hold on parallettes/pb (or chairs) with straight legs. It’s okay if the legs are below the bars as well. (Elevated MSH straight legs)
3. Middle Split Hold on the floor (you will spend 90% of your training time here)
4. MSH elevated (lifting the hips higher and higher)
5. Manna

If your goal is the manna, you would get a V-sit on the way with these progressions anyway.  Problem is, it will take you about 6-12 months just to get proficient with the Middle Split Hold.  But it’s just like the planche in the sense that it has extremely high strength requirements. If you have the ambition for it then I would recommend you get your butt working on these progressions:

The Middle Split Hold

For this, hands backwards is the way to go.

In the beginning, you may only be able to do it for like 2 seconds liek this guy:

But eventually, you’ll be able to hold it for 15 seconds (same guy, Joshua Slocum, from above video):

Elevated Middle Split Hold

Basically, just lift your hips and legs up higher. This is where you’ll be stuck on for the rest of your life. But this is pretty much what will take you all the way to the manna.

Manna Wall Slides are a dynamic exercise that could help you.

When you get to the Manna, let everyone know if you reach here. Post it on /r/bodyweightfitness. Post YouTube videos. Be proud.

Flexibility is a bigger issue that prevents you from directly training the Straddle-L even if you have a strong L-sit. If you have long legs, you’ll also realize that you need a lot of space in your bedroom to do a straddled L. 🙂

Be able to hit a 1x60sec goal for each side before moving onto the next progression:

1. One-Hand-Center, Foot supported: One hand center (in between your legs) and one hand back, press your butt off the floor with your feet in a straddle.
2. One-Hand-Center, Outer-foot supported: One hand center and one hand back, press your butt off the floor and lift the leg that’s in between your hands.
3. One-Hand-Center, Inner-foot supported: One hand center/back, one-foot-supported. Lift your bum off the floor and only lift the leg that’s NOT between the hands.
4. Rolls to Straddle (both hands in center).
5. Straddle L on PB
6. Straddle L on Rings

Supplemental Dynamic Exercise:

• Seated, straddled leg lifts
• Progression (3×12):
  • Hands in front of your crotch (or maybe even behind you).
  • Hands at your knees.
  • Hands further forward as much as you can.

Increasing Straddle Flexibility

You’ll feel progression #3 will actively build your straddle flexibility, but if you need more help, these will help you be a little more limber for your Straddle L practice:

Cossack Squats, Skandasana, Frog Pose, Horse Stance, Middle Splits, Pancake Splits. Work on all of these. Check my splits stretching resources for more help.

To build active straddle flexibility and core strength at the same time:

Straddled flat hollow hold: You must be able to hold the hollow hold legs just a few inches off the ground (with the lower back glued to the ground, of course, cause then you wouldn’t be in the hollow position).  If you could do that, do it in the straddled position.

Straddled arch/superman holds: Arch/superman hold with the legs split apart.

For 5 more evil ideas, check out this post by Coach Sommer.