Hello everyone,

I wanted to share my current state of Shrimps. I’m at level 2 and currently building capacity with around four sets of six to seven reps per side. Looking to get these in the mid teens before attempting the next progression.

I’d probably say to myself to put the brakes even more on the eccentric, but with the shrimps I see an improvement from session to session literally, especially with developing dorsiflexion which I keep hammering on daily with the pulsing drills. I’ve filmed the exercise side and front, any feedback is very welcome.
Best, M

Max,

Great to see you in the practice! Would love to see more.

Your form & structure are pretty much spot on. Just always start from the bottom & position/calibrate trajectory so that you start/finish with front of back knee in line with back of front heel. This ensures that the context remains consistently measurable, which is hugely important both for tracking as well as bridging the gap between bodyweight-training progressions.

The main thing I see - yes, "put the brakes on" a little more but more specifically we want the truly FEATHER-LIGHT touchdown. It's literally training this last couple of centimeters which will change EVERYTHING. Not only in developing your sensitivity (the skin of the knee should touch UNSUBSTANTIALLY - i.e. no weight - into the floor BEFORE you shift weight back to the starting/finishing kneeling position), but also noticing the SHIFT of weight into the BALL of the foot.

As mentioned in other thread, progression here requires your weight to go in one direction - FORWARD (unless you have VERY good dorsiflexion, then you can keep a flat foot). And the featherlight touchdown is what will bring you toward this place.

Visualisation - your knee is coming down onto the skull of the head of a newborn baby. Don't crush it!

Plug this small but significant detail into practice max - it makes all the difference!

Keep us updated

J

Aha, I really like the feather-light cue. I just tried it and it does make a difference–a difference to be ingrained over the next few months.

As for the weight shift forward, is it okay then if the heel of the working leg slightly leaves the floor at the very end of the eccentric phase? I've read the resource/watched the webinar bit, and I know it's fine to raise the heel for the "advanced" progressions (lv3 and onwards) to really go into the ball of the foot and load the knee, but is it acceptable also in the current lvl 2 I'm focusing on? If I allow myself to do so, then the feather cueing becomes even more applicable...

M

Massi,

Yes - this is totally fine. If you zoom out and see strength-progressions as always lying on a blending scale which you can affect with structural mechanical dis-/advantage, rather than progressions being "fixed" in stone, then heel-lifting becomes a natural occurrence depending on individual structure & capacities (namely dorsiflexion here -the more available, the more likely the foot is to remain flat on the floor), rather than innate to a specific progression.

Just let the heel "peel" naturally off of the floor as of when it needs as a result of the forward-lean. And, when it does, emphasise the downward force through the ball of the foot for the vertical-drive.

Onward!