Hey! So happy to be here.

I'm wondering if you could offer more info on how to set up seated pancake work. I have been struggling to find a stretch that does not give me discomfort behind the knee in my tendons.

Up until recently I have been doing the standing variation and perhaps i need to continue this but I'm wondering if you have suggestions on how to elevate myself to the right level and how to trouble shoot this.

Let me know if you need more info to best answer this inquiry!

Thanks again :)

Hey Jason

Thanks for the info. I spent the week playing with some of the ideas you shared and found that two things were present that were affecting this "pulling" feeling in the back of my knee on the right side

1) was I hadn't found the correct height and was set up too low
2) having my hips too much in external rotation didn't yield the stretch I was looking for and I have to slightly internally rotate my hips to have my shins facing more forward to hit the meat my muscles and not the back of the knee
3) My right leg has less range so I hit end range earlier than on my left so I have to work with this in mind when I do bilateral work on my splits and pancake.

I found a good set up by using my using a mirror while doing standing straddle good mornings to see what my end range looked like and then created a seated version that allowed me to move in and out of the end range with about 15 degrees of play. I had to be way higher on a bench than I initially thought

I also counted how many steps out to the side it took me to set up for my standing straddle GM to measure the distance when seated.

I'm going to load a bit more this coming week for my pulses but I feel the stretch I want now which was my goal for this past week.

Will combine both straddle GM and pulses in this phase as you suggested!

One other question about programming

Would you say that this would be a fair super set? I saw that you suggested doing each set of 10 pulses + a hold one after another without pause so in total per session you would do 90 pulses + 90 seconds of hold if this was the format. Any further info on how to structure end range in combination with full range and the thought process behind that in programming would be great.

a1 - Straddle Good morning 10 reps + 10 second isometric hold on last rep
a2- Loaded elevated Pancake stretch- 3x 10 pulses + 10 second iso hold on last rep
3 sets , 60 seconds rest between sets

Also, when it comes to progression sets v.s. end range pulses, how do you think about placing those in a cycle?

Forgive me if you answer this stuff further in your intro videos, I'm slowly making my way through them. I really appreciate this format of learning and am grateful to be able to engage with you about questions.

I had an idea of starting a thread called " post your program" to see how people are structuring their work. I'm curious if you're okay with that.

Thanks again!

Your superset looks sound, however you might consider throwing in either a hip-EXTENSION context (e.g. 'long-lunge', a 'Kneeling hip-flexor release' variation, or keep it bilateral with a 'Quad-bridge' or 'Low-bridge' isometric) in between the two exercises (i.e. as a2.) This would be a nice hip-extension/flexion combo, and give a little rest to the knee-tendons/hamstrings - whilst 'Straddle good-morning' and 'Pancake' are loading at different angles, they still affect the same chain of muscles and it could catch up a little after time.

If you want to keep it all leg-abduction/hinge-focused, however, you can also throw in 'Loaded butterfly' as A2 - it will contribute directly to both forms, and yet, as its more isolated with knees flexed, absolutely no loading on the knees or posterior-chain. Again, allowing some rest. we have found 'Loaded butterfly', when there are restrictions there, placed just before direct 'Pancake' work to be very effective at "opening" the hips into ER, so, as it seems you experience some restriction here, it would be worth trying.

R.e. structuring end-range work with full-range, your current superset expresses this well. It's a relatively simple concept - firstly, it is focused work in the END-range which will extended it (e.g. CR & pulsing), but we also want this to be "patterned-in" with the FULL-range, which requires then MOVING in & out of it with STRENGTH (there is also a fundamental coordinative aspect to this as well, which is important) - this then means that the range is expressed as "usable". So, in wider programming, I would just ensure that this is taken into account. You could, for example, focus strongly on end-range work in a dedicated mobility-development session, but then in a 'lower-body' or 'floor-communication' session practice leg-abducted, bipdal-locomotion forms (e.g. 'Pu-bu' variations) to express MOVEMENT through the range.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'progression sets v.s. end-range pulses'? You'll have to elaborate.

"Post your program" is a nice idea, however it would need to be more specific so that it's of value for reference to others. If people are just posting whole programs without regard for a specific subject/project of focus, whereby it fits into more of a SUBJECT-based thread, then others are less likely to find/look for it when they have specific questions - even if there could be helpful content in there for them.

At the moment I feel programming could be shared in threads according to the subjects as laid out in the current boards (more or less), or opened as a specific question on a project, as you've done here. If you've better suggestions however, feel free to feedback.

Hi Cam,

Whilst you can certainly program compression work at any time, just consider how much space/time you have for its practice. If you're still working elevated pancake, there's no rush to work on compression as it would start being the most productive once you've a more or less floor-pancake with 45-degrees "neutral" spine-angle, from floor. In the same breath, it definitely won't hurt, but you might just consider practicing just 1 phase on, one phase off, one phase on... and just stick with the fundamental 'Compression 1.0' routine. It can give endlessly. When pancake range develops to floor, you can then consider keeping it in as a staple, practiced 1-3x per week, depending on your personal priority for it.

R.e. loaded-butterfly, yes I would say once you've reach knees-to-floor, the loaded context has more or less served its course. You can, however, try this context with higher frequency (3-4x per week) as it's not loaded, and higher frequency will help your nervous system "accustom" to the range you've visited when loaded:

(this one is not currently on the VRL as it's due for a re-record). But yes - if you're getting results with 'Horse-stance', keep that up. Different people respond different to certain contexts.

Lastly, another context which you can use to explore a similar more "isolated" leg-abduction range (i.e. knees-flexed) are the 'Prone frog' variations here: https://www.movemorevrl.com/videos/leg-adductor-stretching Again, you can practice these more frequently as they're lower intensity, and they will serve to help accustom your CNS to the developing ranges.

Wishing you all the best!