Blue MISC

The members of the family:

When entering the world of pikes, te first position we want to work on is the frog.

InfoWarningTip

You will find out the pike shape you prefer as you explore them all. Some will feel easier, others maybe impossible. Put all your chips behind your favorite pike for now. Towards the end of the Belt, you will start mastering the other shapes.

The frog is the friendliest of all shapes - the bum counterweight is clear, the bent, wide leg position won't stress too much your upper back, and it offers the perfect transition point to understand the tuck, the diamond and the straddle.

We want to start practicing this shape safely bum to the wall.

#Frog bum to the wall

Of course by now, you should have a solid bailing system.

An important part of our understanding alignment is to perform each shape chest to the wall.

#Frog chest to the wall

#Landing into a frog

For every shape, I will strongly advise that you approach it following these progressions:

Land bum on the wall first, and find the shape (country house).

Practice chest to the wall to improve your understanding of the shape.

Practice kicking up into the shape.

#From the frog to the straddle

With a solid frog, the straddle usually comes easily.

One thing that is likely to start happening is a change in your shoulder angle.

Make sure to identify it if it happens and to work on having nicely open shoulders.

InfoWarningTip

Some students will prefer the straddle from the frog. From the very beginning. If that’s you, ignore the frog for now.

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If you struggle with hinging the hips and shooting the butt far enough, priming would be a good idea:

The Tuck

The Tuck is usually the harder position in the pike family.

As usual, I have met exceptions in students favoring it over the other piked shapes.

Try for yourself:

If your shoulders start collapsing forward or the load becomes greater in a tuck → it’s probably not the shape to start piking with!

#C2W

The tuck will be a bit harder to take off from C2W than the others - you won’t be able to peel your way off the wall like the other shape but will have instead to actively change the position of your legs through knee flexion.