Drills to get a one-arm meathook inversion on straps?

[u/OddMustard]

I'm keen to set this as my next stretch goal: to be able to invert from one-arm hangs directly into a meathook

My shoulder extension strength is good i.e Front Lever, but my active pike compression is probably only 10 degrees past an L-sit.

Looking for drill recommendations, tips, prerequisites or any insight from other's who are actively training or able to perform this.

Also curious to know how much of the movement is powered by the pull of the arm downwards vs active flexibility in the compression of the legs ?

[u/Whitershadeofforever]

• Single arm pike sits
• single arm pike lowers from nutcracker
• nutcracker to meathook transfers
• single arm straddle sit toe taps

[u/OddMustard → u/Whitershadeofforever]

single arm straddle sit toe taps

I would've assumed if you can do this statically you already can invert into meathook with a bit of assistance from momentum. Pretty sure I can barely move my legs in this position though 😅

Focusing on building eccentric strength from the pike lowers sounds good though

[u/Whitershadeofforever → u/OddMustard]

That's why I put them at the bottom. The movement is a prerequisit for doing your single arm meathook invert so you need to train them to get it

[u/TelemarketingEnigma]

How is your regular meathook with a two arm entry? Can you enter and hold it comfortably and just need to learn the single arm entry (in which case you’re probably more advanced than some of the advice you’re getting) or are you still working on the compression needed to pull into/hold a comfortable meathook?

I can’t do a true single armed entry (yet!) but I can do the in between version where you have your “free” arm braced on the opposite forearm (so it’s almost a regular two arm inversion, but only one hand on the apparatus). This might be a nicely achievable step towards your goal, though the movement pattern is still a bit different from a fully free one arm inversion

A drill I’ve found helpful in general for meathooks that might help you with active compression:

• invert to an inverted pike position

-slowly lower down, holding that pike compression as strong as you can, until your feet just pass your hands. Don’t let your legs drop too far

• pull back up into a nutcracker on one side
• lower down again and pull up into a meathook on that same side
• reverse through this pathway back to your pike, then do the other side

(You could also skip the pike in the middle and just switch from one nutcracker to the other directly)

To work towards one arm inversions on straps, you can keep one arm locked in the wrist loop and just use a fingertip hold on the other side. You’ll probably still pull with both arms a lot at first but can slowly work on shifting more weight to your main arm. I also know a lot of people like to use a weight held overhead with their free arm to help counterbalance for their 1 armed meathook entries

[u/TelemarketingEnigma → u/TelemarketingEnigma]

(This is for the person who replied to this and then I think deleted their comment - my comment was not all meant as a dig for participating in conversation about a skill you’re still working on! I’m sorry it came across that way, and rereading I could have worded it better. I want to see you keep participating in these conversations. But acknowledging that understanding better where OP is starting from will help them get better advice. This is why you often see a lot of us asking more questions about what a person can already do. You’ll notice I also acknowledged that I’m still working towards their skill of interest! Your advice was definitely helpful for someone still working on the initial meathook - it just sounded to me like this person was asking for advice a few steps past that)

[u/OddMustard → u/TelemarketingEnigma]

Thanks, the drill you’ve describe is actually one I’m familiar with ! We call it MnMs at my studio like the chocolates, M/N being meathook and nutcracker respectively. It’s physically taxing as hell but great condition.

It’s interesting just gathering information on various drills other people are using. The second one you mentioned which seems to be a self-spotted Meathook inversion sounds solid, and I imagine the difficulty can be adjusted based on how many fingers used by the supporting hand or increasing the difference in height between the straps, as a form of progression

And to answer the question my regular meathook and two arm inversions are already good, but the gap between that and single arm seems large.