Master the pancake: LIVE TODAY

[MT Nordic]

I know...where are the boundaries!!

[thecolin]

Wow, care to share what they edited out?

[Geotrismegistos]

Nice find. I don't think Sommers even realizes how he's losing people because of his dictatorial censoring of open minded dialogue. I had a post edited the other day. They kept it, but with the editing it read a lot differently. I actually wrote him a letter to explain all this, but he doesn't seem to get it.

Wow, pathetic. It makes me feel he is very insecure. I dont expect such cowardly behavior from a guy that trains champions. That suits more to corrupted politicians.

[MT Nordic]

Wow, care to share what they edited out?

My recent post, titled "finding the gold", i had recommended people look back at posts by kit, ido, yuri, naterman, handbalancer, and sommers to mine some good info. It was edited down to naterman, handbalancer, and sommers. He wrote me a note saying that he refused to "promote" those who he feels stole his stuff. I told him i thought they all have acknowledged his influence on their training (and sent him some quotes showing as much), and he should be glad to have their input on his forum, but no dice...

[Sol Amarpreet]

Speaking of which, you ppl know about this website http://antranik.org/...loreio-project/

Well some reddit user made a collection of all of Ido's free released work in a single blog post. Check it out

P.S He just commented on that post that he split the post as it was too long. Heres the second link http://antranik.org/combining-floreio-movements/

Might be others. Dig em up

[MvdB]

I am not happy with Coach Sommers' censorship policy either but maybe this thread should not devolve/derail into a discussion about Coach S. and GB the fact that many GB regulars are migrating to this forum speaks for itself.

[thecolin]

Wow, pathetic. It makes me feel he is very insecure. I dont expect such cowardly behavior from a guy that trains champions. That suits more to corrupted politicians.

I think he just has a very aggressive marketing strategy and he thinks he needs to control 'the message' at all times. It can feel secure to create a community that's very insular with 'absolute' values, but it risks creating a cult of personality. And once that happens, you'll lose all perspective. He tends so strongly towards hyperbole, that the message he sends often contradict one another. Personally I think it is very short sighted.

For now he seems proud of the money he makes and the nice car he bought, so in his mind he is succeeding. I think his product has value at the core, so he has earned it. But I question how long he can go on like this.

[Craig]

Let's try and leave the issues of other people to themselves and concentrate on our own issues! (unless of course they ask help with fixing them).

EDIT: and in regard to this particular thread, our issues are "can we do the pancake" which for me definitely needs and deserves lots of attention!

[Craig]

Speaking of which, you ppl know about this website http://antranik.org/...loreio-project/

Well some reddit user made a collection of all of Ido's free released work in a single blog post. Check it out

P.S He just commented on that post that he split the post as it was too long. Heres the second link http://antranik.org/...reio-movements/

Might be others. Dig em up

Sweet! Can you repost this on the stretch therapy forum so it doesnt get lost in amongst pancake goodness?

[oliviaa]

I'd like to second Craig and MvdB's sentiments. Chris Sommer can manage his forum however he likes, it's his forum. If you don't like the way he operates that forum, don't go there: or, get yourself banned (like K and me) and then you'll have no choice in the matter! You have to laugh, really.

The pancake queen … couldn't resist, in this thread!

[Tris]

Has yours progressed Tris?

Really quickly! I do ballistic limbering with it every morning. Starting position is legs in the 'W' shape but raising my hips off the ground with my hands (like you do in an L-sit). I then do quick mini-dips to bounce my butt on and off the floor. At this rate, I'll be able to rest my butt comfortably on the ground in a week or so.

Incredibly quick progress. Sitting in seiza is nothing now. Man my body likes ballistic work.

[Tris]

For those of us with behind-the-knee issues...

I'm finding the half-pancake, sliding out just far enough to stretch the area but not panick it, and then controlled rocking back and forth is mobilising the area nicely. In other words, I'm gradually able to spread my legs further before the knee starts flaring-up. This is not a "hard" stretch so can comfortably do it daily.

I intend to soon mobilise this area enough to straighten both legs and work on the side split directly.

[piotro]

I've found today that L2A position (with back bending down) is a relatively comfortable position for solo hamstring fascial release.

This position puts front leg into stretch, leg there is naturally resisting fingers digging into hamstrings, so no effort is required here and both hands are free and around leg for quite comfortable access, easy also to use second hand to push fingers stronger.

I'll experiment with this for a bit.

[CraigM]

Having trouble with the pancake exercises, anything that involves straddling my legs apart causes my hips to cramp. Very frustrating I have to keep coming out of the movement waiting for the cramp to leave and go back in again. Usually the outside of the hip that cramps, but also the front of the hip when doing things like L5. Not sure what to focus on to fix this

[Craig]

Focus on strengthening said cramping muscles as well as stretching them a lot so they can be softer!

[AndeL]

Re hanging pancake.

A thick rubber band assist off the stall bars and under the butt turns this into a more pleasant stretch for me rather than a hanging challenge. I found it a bit iffy before, but think this is a more useful exercise now.

[Jasper]

Hi All. I hope I'm posting this in the correct place.

I bought the program about 3 weeks ago and went through some of the exercises to get a feel for them. However, I managed to injure my right knee trying them out and it's only just feeling better now.

About 4 years ago I had an operation on the knee to repair a damaged meniscus membrane. Since then it's generally felt ok until now. I commute to work and back by bicycle (11 miles round trip) 5 days a week and it's fine with that.

I don't know whether my knee is simply less flexible following the operation, in which case persevering with these stretches might help for the future, or if my knee is now not really able to cope with this type of activity in which case I should give up.

I considered starting the stretches again one at a time, just sticking to the same exercise for a week or so, see how my knee is, and then introduce the rest one at a time until I either find one that injures the knee or until the knee gets used to it perhaps. In which case, which stretches would be considered to be the most gentle on the knees, so that I can start with those ones.

Many thanks for reading this.

Jasper

[Craig]

Hi Jasper,

Without an in person look at your issue, my guess is that you simply put too much stress through the knee too soon. Your new approach should identify which stretch is the culprit... Simply go very gently on that particular stretch until the knee gains more strength. Be patient and slowly slowly build up the intensity of the stretch over time until you can do it at "full noise" once again.

I'm sure kit and Dave have something more specific and useful to say about this

[Kit_L]

Jasper wrote:

I don't know whether my knee is simply less flexible following the operation,

Unless you are talking about flexion (getting the heel next to the butt) we do not want flexibility in the knee; we want it in the ankles and hips. The knee is only designed to move in one plane, mostly.

Knees are generally most sensitive to forces that act to move the lower leg further out to the side (like side splits). So, if this is your sensitive area, make sure you do versions of those exercises that work this range using the recommended supports (Dave, for example, has a lovely SS exercise where the lower legs are supported by cushions; he does this precisely to reduce the force I have just described.

Craig's summation ("you simply put too much stress through the knee too soon") is likely accurate.

[Jasper]

Many thanks for the replies. I'm going to try and take it a bit easier on my poor old knee.

[undulating_fish]

I'm struggling to understand the "underbutt" exercise. I don't really understand what Craig is doing in the video - when I try to emulate, it's just a cheat's version of the elephant walk where I'm avoiding the stretch by bending my knees. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

[mtruelove]

This might be a stupid question but how is Skandasana different to the Cossack squat?

[Emmet Louis]

This might be a stupid question but how is Skandasana different to the Cossack squat?

Skandasana foot remains flat on the floor, cossack squat toes on straight leg point to the ceiling/slightly rotated backwards

[mtruelove]

Thanks Emmett!

[Sisyphus]

Wondering if I can pick the collective mind? Thanks to Kit et al, I feel my pancake is progressing nicely (arms and head on the floor with my chest three or four inches away) but when pushing the stretch to move to a new ROM I catch my right leg turning inwards a fair bit. Oddly enough this doesn't happen in the half pancake and my turnout / tailor pose etc is normally pretty good (even if I do say so myself). Weird huh.

Btw thank you all for your time.