DaveS
Level 3 Valued Member
Hi all,
Following a form check on OAPU's recently with some great feedback from Anna C and Mark Limbaga we had identified some form problems and specifically needing to tuck the hips under more and engage the glutes and abs as to prevent my hips piking particularly as I reached the bottom of the OAPU. Also, to not try to lower quite so far down (I was literally touching my chest to the floor) so I could maintain more tension in my shoulder girdle to increase the strength development from it.
I also received advice to start narrowing my stance to make them more difficult as I was already comfortably doing 5 x 5 of them. As I started playing around with this I noticed part of my problem with keeping the hips tucked seems to come from having my legs too wide as it causes a conflict in the hip flexors to be flexed/tucked whilst the legs are spread that far.
So since then I've worked on narrowing my stance and keeping the hips tucked with some success. Today I was playing around with it further and decided to try out a OLOAPU to see how it feels as I had done them many years a go probably with not great form for optimising performance but still strict in the sense of 'not cheating' and was curious to see how well I could do them now after drilling the OAPU's with these technical changes. I found I felt strong enough to do sets of 2 without failure and felt like I was strong enough to do 4 reps or so but the balance was the issue as fatigue set in (and generally) and so kept it to 5 set of 2 for now. My right arm definitely feels stronger and more co-ordinated than my left even though I'm left handed for handwriting at least interestingly. Much harder to keep my hips tucked on my weaker side to I noticed though I suspect that may relate to an old back injury I sustained playing Football (soccer) as a teenager that isn't an injury as such nowadays but there is still a weakness there I can aggravate from time to time.
I videoed my last efforts and so any feedback welcome on helping me spot technical flaws to improve further.
Thanks!
Dave.
Following a form check on OAPU's recently with some great feedback from Anna C and Mark Limbaga we had identified some form problems and specifically needing to tuck the hips under more and engage the glutes and abs as to prevent my hips piking particularly as I reached the bottom of the OAPU. Also, to not try to lower quite so far down (I was literally touching my chest to the floor) so I could maintain more tension in my shoulder girdle to increase the strength development from it.
I also received advice to start narrowing my stance to make them more difficult as I was already comfortably doing 5 x 5 of them. As I started playing around with this I noticed part of my problem with keeping the hips tucked seems to come from having my legs too wide as it causes a conflict in the hip flexors to be flexed/tucked whilst the legs are spread that far.
So since then I've worked on narrowing my stance and keeping the hips tucked with some success. Today I was playing around with it further and decided to try out a OLOAPU to see how it feels as I had done them many years a go probably with not great form for optimising performance but still strict in the sense of 'not cheating' and was curious to see how well I could do them now after drilling the OAPU's with these technical changes. I found I felt strong enough to do sets of 2 without failure and felt like I was strong enough to do 4 reps or so but the balance was the issue as fatigue set in (and generally) and so kept it to 5 set of 2 for now. My right arm definitely feels stronger and more co-ordinated than my left even though I'm left handed for handwriting at least interestingly. Much harder to keep my hips tucked on my weaker side to I noticed though I suspect that may relate to an old back injury I sustained playing Football (soccer) as a teenager that isn't an injury as such nowadays but there is still a weakness there I can aggravate from time to time.
I videoed my last efforts and so any feedback welcome on helping me spot technical flaws to improve further.
Thanks!
Dave.