Elbow Levers

I have been working on variations of the elbow lever since the end of October 2014.  It was actually odd how I came upon the elbow lever.  I was messing around on the mat after Jiu Jitsu class and I wanted to see if I could support my body with my arms.  I just rammed my elbows into my abdomen and started lifting my body onto my arms and eventually was able to get my legs straight.  When I got home, I was searching online to see if I could find anything in regards to what that movement was and I found out about elbow levers (aka peacock pose).  I must say, this was another defining point in my last few years of working out that gave me a new breath of fresh air.  The first time was when I was able to do my first chin up.  That was when I really fell in love with working out.  Seems that although I love weight lifting...the body weight stuff always seems to be what pushes me forward and keeps me going.  And it seems elbow levers showed me a new door that I really didn't even realized existed and it has been so eye opening.

I've actually come quite far with my elbow levers since last October.  I approached elbow levers sort of like lifting...reps and sets...but instead of focusing on weight, I focused on time.  I would approach the exercise two ways:  Short duration / More reps (this helped me to get comfortable getting into position) and Long duration / 1 reps (this helped me learn to hold the position).  This approached has been integral with all of my body weight work.


Basic Elbow Lever (on the floor / on the bar)

With the basic elbow lever, I started working with them on a bench.   I would grip the side of the bench which was a bit kinder on my elbows and made it easier to balance.  In addition, it allowed me to drop my head below the bench if necessary which again, helped with balance.  At the same I would also work with them on the smith machine bar.  Again, it was easier to balance by gripping the bar and easier on my wrists.  With the bar I found it to be easier to get into position because my legs had more room to travel...so if they dropped a bit they were still in the air rather than hitting the ground or bench.  But at the same time, it is a bit more difficult mentally encase I lose balance and end up falling over the bar.  Using both of these methods made it easier to master the elbow lever on the floor.

Currently I'm working on two more progressions with elbow levers:

• Elevating the legs
• One arm elbow lever.

Elevated Legs Elbow Lever

Trying to elevate the legs is very difficult on the bench or bar since it is much easier to face plant when raising the legs and I prefer to only face plant a couple inches rather than a few feet. So I have been working on the elevated legs on the floor. It definitely takes a lot more effort, coordination and balance to get the legs up higher than parallel to the floor, but I have been making some progress. I'd say right now I'm able to hold about a 2.5 foot elevation with my legs from the ground. But this is still a work in progress...I do want to get my legs higher.


One Arm Elbow Lever 

As for the one arm elbow lever...I'm not at that point right now. First off, I have to work on conditioning my core to handle the entire body weight to rest on a small surface area where the elbow contacts that abdomen. I remember when I first started doing elbow levers, that area on both sides ended up having a bruised feeling. While I'm building that conditioning, I am also working on developing the balance and coordination. With this one, I'm going back to the bar and working on one arm assisted elbow levers. At first I was working on moving the distance between the two arms...of course having the main arm supporting most of the weight. But in the beginning, the other arm also did take a bit of the weight as well. Now I've gotten the distance between the arms to the point where the other arm is taking very little weight (maybe a couple lbs here or there), but is primarily helping with balance. I haven't been playing around too much with separating my legs to help with balance but that is probably the next step I'm going to be working on to help shift the balance away from the other arm.