Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » Fitness » The Hollow Body Position: Why Its So Important for Fitness Athletes – BarBend

The hollow body position is a bit like the foundation of a house: Without a well built foundation, good luck building that house.

This is especially true when it comes to learning gymnastics movements: Its much easier and safer to master skills like pull-ups, handstand walking, handstand push-ups and muscle ups when you can maintain a solid hollow body position.

A hollow body position happens when you contract your abs, thus shortening your torso, and tilt your pelvic to achieve a posterior pelvic tilt. Squeezing your glutes together helps achieve this pelvic tilt. This effectively puts your torso into a slightly rounded position, which is the key to the hollow body.

When youre in a hollow hold position on the ground doing a hollow hold, this means your lower back and bum must remain on the ground, while your upper back, shoulder blades and head will be a few inches off the ground with your arms extended straight over your head. Also, your legs and feet should also hover about six inches off the ground.

Lets consider a handstand or a handstand push-up, for example. Often what happens when athletes are pressing out of a handstand is that they end up extending their spine and effectively losing the hollow body position. This spinal extension puts a lot of pressure on both the spine and the shoulders.

Keeping a hollow body position throughout, on the other hand, ensures your shoulders, spine and hips are stacked nicely on top of each other in an anatomically safer position.

Not only that, when your bones and joints are stacked on top of each other, then the muscles dont have to do as much work.

Thus, the stronger your hollow body position is, the stronger your gymnastics movements have the ability to be.

Four common mistakes with a hollow hold I see include, sometimes due to laziness and other times due to weakness in the core:

Test yourself: How long can you hold a hollow body hold in a perfect position? What letter grade are you?

C + = 20-30 secondsB = 30-60 secondsB + = 60-90 secondsA = 90 seconds or more

If you werent able to hold the hollow body position for at least 30-45 seconds, here are two ways to log more time under tension while building your hollow body prowess.

Get into a hollow body position and then simply pull one knee toward you, ensuring your back and bum are on the ground. If this is still too challenging, then bend both knees.

Deadbugs are a great way to be able to log a lot more time under tension. I like wall pressing deadbugswhere you get into a deadbug position while simultaneously pressing against the wall with your handsas this allows you to build more tension through your body.

And, if you scored a B+ or an A on the max effort hollow hold challenge, here are two challenges to strengthen your hollow hold even more, and transfer the position to gymnastics movements.

Can you maintain a perfect hollow body position throughout?

Complete the following without resting:

Rest 1 minute and repeat 3 to 5 times.

Toes-to-nose handstand holds are a great way to ensure youre in a perfect handstand position.

Just like the name sounds, the only part of your body that should be touching the wall are your toes and your nose.

Focus on squeezing your abs to round out your torso, squeezing your glutes together, and pressing your hands into the ground and your feet to the sky to get as long as possible.

Read the original:
The Hollow Body Position: Why Its So Important for Fitness Athletes - BarBend

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » Fitness » The Hollow Body Position: Why Its So Important for Fitness Athletes – BarBend