30 Dragon Flags a day

 

 Update Dec 2024 - Only realize how I have been doing it wrong on 25th Nov 2023 and started correcting the hip hinging error... something I been consistently doing wrong for almost 2 years!

 

 

First off, this isn't some trendy "Let's do "X" no of "Y" for a "Z" no. of days" thing as popularized on many sites and channels.

Rather it's another "experiment" this year stemming from things I have been mulling.

• Cores is one big group of muscles that can be worked daily. Most people gravitate towards the "6-pack" aka rectus abdominis because of aesthetics, but it is more. Much more.
•  
•  Even when not directly focused in exercising them, it's utilized as supporting/ stabilizing muscles in almost every other exercise. Hence testing out with a daily 3 sets of 10 in the morning, still fasted, isn't all that ridiculous or overworking them in my opinion.

• Secondly it's part of my form improvement and mind-body awareness/ connection journey

• Mental Endurance and Functional Core development..improved aesthetics if any is but a bonus... ok that's half a lie :)
  

Fine tuning is always a slow arduous process.

Straight vs Arched 

Fast forward from my first ever pathetic "Caterpillar-looking Dragon Flag" attemptt, this exercise has come a long way personally. 

Having tried different ways of doing, it all boils down to ONE thing that seems to divide opinions. 

Most fitness videos shows how its being done with legs and body in a straight line but heels never touch the floor since one of the "criteria" is not to let the butt comes into contact with the floor.

Yet the very person who popularize the Dragon Flag can be often seen in old photos having an arch while hyperextending the entire body and legs...

...compared to what's often seen a lot with a quick Google search...

The "arch" version is often described as "do not let your legs droop down in-front of your torso - this is a sign of a weak lower back.' ALMOST every guru who advocates the straight-line version uses the same exact wording. Don't believe me?-- Just do a quick search.

After 3093 Dragon Flags as of this morning (18 Nov 23), since recording this exercise on 26 Oct 2021, I beg to differ.

Doing both versions to test out the differences... On the left.."all straight", at lowest point, heel is ~2" from the floor. Any lower, butt will touch the floor. Right: "overarched", but legs are locked-out and middle/ lower back is higher off from the floor which actually adds more strain to the back core. Extent of effort on the front core is dependent on how much the hips and toes are being extended.

 

 

 

If the legs are arching but not hyperextended-- it's a little "easier" on the way down but harder to control a slow steady ascent. However if the legs are first hyperextended (via a combination of pushing/ lengthening the hips while toes are pointed out to the furthest at the same time), this increases the tension felt in the core being worked.

The straight legged and arch version when executing affects the intensity on various parts of your core muscles and also in the shoulders and other parts of the body differently.

When first starting, it feels more taxing on the shoulders and arms holding back the weight of the body. This will reduce with time as one gets stronger and better at the move.

The main difference I felt with the dead-on straight legs version is ROM (Range of Motion) gets reduced but it has a more intense effect during the lowering on the Transverse Abdominis.

The arched version places more emphasis near the middle of the Rectus Abdominis (I feel) on the downward movement of the exercise. While the whole hyperextended-arching at the same time really stretches out the entire sides (obliques) more.

Overall, having the arch places less load on the pivot which are your scapula and head when done in the strictest form but this lessening is shifted towards the middle and lower back. Thus in my opinion it actually makes it harder in some way. The next time -- try not to let your middle back touch the floor and see how high you can go with the middle back with both arching and straight legs version.

Distilling further- -I came to the conclusion that in the arched version-- it comes down to how and where the body/ legs start arching. Is it from just below chest level or it starts from the hips/ waist area? 

Last but not least are 2 other forces that determines the difficulty of this exercis.

• Hand (Holding) Position  

1. How high or low
2. Single point or spread apart

• Pivot Point - The scapulas is the main fulcrum (though the weight is also supported by the neck and head). How far are they from where the hands are holding?
• 
  

Ok, finally come to the point of this "exercise" and experimenting -- Is it possible to bridge the difference and reap the maximum benefits from both forms and blend it into an efficient yet aesthetically pleasing move with the maximum ROM and TUT while executing?

Below are some of the daily reps as I try to discover more by the day...

 Day 05

Straight Leg version but trying to reach as low as possible. Legs hyper-extension is reset at top of each rep. Slight arching which I attribute to upper portion of quads forcibly pressing lower body on the down especially when nearing the floor. A lot to fine tune...

Day10 -

Shaky start as usual on the first set of the day. Still feeling a bit of a tight pang in the thoracic region early in the morning as I start this new morning subroutine. Tried to repeat as before-- with as much straight leg reps as usual. Begin to realize (not the first time though) that my pivot point is not optimized...that is my scapulas are too high up, near to where my hands are holding). This causes an imbalance to get a good control rising rate on the reps but makes it "easier" to go down...

Beginning to standardize interlocking hands holding position-- thumbs are just touching the top of the yoga block. Old mountain biking gloves was a great idea as it prevents sweaty fingers from sliding off when holding.

 Day11

 

Again, another shaky first set right after finishing a morning hybrid run-brisk walk. But by 2nd set had adjusted based on last few days trial and error on shoulder position. Slid a little further down (about ~ 1-2cm) by extending neck while pushing elbows together tighter. This forces a little more scapula protraction, thereby reducing contact point with ground at the same time.

Going with these adjustment in the upper body, it took a little more concentration to do it with straight legs and still try to hit the heels to the floor. Definitely can feel a little more work on the abs.

 

Day12

3rd day around the house from a long weekend... had coffee this morning before kicking off with the 10x3. Also had a break from hard workout the last 2 days skipping my main evening sessions. Felt the best 30 reps this morning. Much easier to control the holding and get into a good balanced position right off the bat of the first set.

Other than rushing the first 2 reps of the last set-- all others were maximally controlled to hit the lowest point with straight legs and waist/ hips in good control.

By now, don't have to consciously reset at the top of each rep to hyperextend body or legs... extension can be kept largely through out the sets.

Day13

Yesterday was a heavy chest session at the gym, feeling a little sore and tired in the morning. Probably affected the hold on the DF. Regressed back to a few days ago having to re-set my position at the top after a few reps but at least not at every rep. Legs got back into over-arching, more significant from the changes of the last few days... but settled back into straight legged reps towards end of set 3 as I re-focus mentally.

Conclusion-- the DF is an exercise that demands absolute focus to execute well with good form. Fatigue and energy level definitely plays a part unlike dropping down to do 30 pushups. In comparison that would have been a lot easier to maintain in super strict form.

Day14 

Deleted the earlier vids taken in office so far. But looking at today's analysis, realized that it's always the same. Somehow it ended up with the arch version if I want to touch heels to the ground.While doing-- it doesn't feel that way... thought I was holding out as straight as possible. This morning energy level was Ok... despite pecs being sore AF from the weekend. 

Tension at the shoulders and lats definitely not quite the same... Attribute this to the holding of the rails-- slightly lower and wider apart than the single-point clasping at home. Elbows wider apart-- harder to get into the tighter muscular control for middle and upper back muscles.

Good? Bad? ...still analyzing.

Day15

Squeezing cores harder this morning to "compensate" and try to keep body-legs in a straighter line.

Day16

Tried to tension the same way but increase mid back clearance. This creates a greater arch again. Legs definitely aren't able to straighten as much in this manner.

Day17

Not really bothered if its straight or arched by now.. basing on the tension felt during movement. Only you yourself will know if you are actually executing in the tightest form at current level.

Since around Day 14... these morning 30 reps has stopped becoming "hard"... in fact at the end of each 10 rep set, the temptation to carry on was great but resisting to do excessively is another form of mental training...

Realize another thing by now... Due to the way I have to hold it with the thin railing in the office-- the "hardest" part is actually on the hold where it's lower than the rail at home and at times only gripping on with a couple of fingers from each hand... hence all the weight pulling downwards is held by just 4-6 fingers!. This causes some instability and probably contributed to a lack in body control on the move.

May attempt a max rep set before the end of the month but it will be during the daily evening session at home... not during these "Morning 30s"..

Day18

Weekend once again and back to my single-point holding position. Ate too much last night at dinner with customers and arrived home much later than usual. Morning was alright although Sleep HR was a tad higher than usual. Energy level felt good as yesterday was also a break from usual workout

 

Made a conscious effort to keep mid back off the floor as far away as possible... resulted in a sort of hybrid straight to arch (towards bottom) and back to straight (up). Really hard to judge from visuals alone. So I decided to go with RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)

RPE of Set 1: ~4 - 5
RPE of Set 2: ~5
RPE of Set 3: ~5 - 6  and maybe around 6-7 in the last 4 reps.

 

Definitely felt much stronger and coordinated right from the start of each set with less "downtime" to set up body position before beginning. Rise of legs to starting position was also much easier with one smooth motion.

 

Day19

BIG DAY yesterday which I forgotten and added to today's vid instead! An impromptu decision to try the ONE HANDED DRAGON FLAG again. Something that I failed spectacularly a few months ago. At that time it was still a struggle to try and hit 3 sets of 10 reps normal DF...

 

Not a perfect rep but close I would say

 

Day20 "Eureka"

Finally figured why I can't hold a straight line for heels to touch the floor in office but doable at home. Hand position! -- as what I was suspecting before but got confirmation when i compared the days at home and office side by side and work out the math and physics in my head.

Not so much whether it's apart or clasped together, although being apart do require a bit more effort to stabilize the lats... BUT more on the holding height.

When hands are at the level of forehead or below, it becomes much harder at the bottom. To create the space for the mid and lower back to clear the floor would put the body into an over-arching position relative to the hands height! Simple as that.

Holding higher allows for the body and legs to go down lower in a straight line if everything is held tight enough. Still the clearance of the back and butt to the ground would be very minimal.

The only exception when hands are in line or even lower than the head but can go down in a straight line is to do it on an incline bench due to the angle formed. Having said... such a dragon flag is much harder to execute. The over-arching described above, will still occur but now it happens when the legs and body go below 0⁰ to the horizonal plane.

 

Day21

Following yesterday's realization I decided to tighten up things even further today... kickoff by starting with the initial elevation in the strictest manner... (or as best I can do it by set 3). Decently straight legs but tempo was off in mid reps during sets.

Got a comment on FB on the one handed DF done on day 18... that I should align my body and core more in a straight line. Thought about it-- yes I understand where that comes from but the way I'm doing the DF is to maximize on the ROM to max out TUT (Time Under Tension). Plus, the hands/head position if I want to do just the whole straight line motion should be a little lower in order for the shoulders/ scapulas to get the right leverage...  No ego or excuses but always good to reflect. Its how we can improve ourselves.

Day22

Day23

Mulling on the comment about core alignment and I finally found the video today of the originator of this exercise.. realized I had been doing it all wrong.. So yes the ROM would be much lesser than what I'm doing. Tried this morning but I couldnt get my scapula in the right position. Flu bug these few days also taking a toll...  will try again tomorrow. It's back to the drawing board starting from scratch and probably have to kickoff with progressions again from bent knees to straddles to do the Dragon Flag but this time with body and legs all in a single line...

Day24

Tried again today but my brain not rewired enough.. Still overcooking in hinging the legs towards the top. Need to push up with scapulas even more and learn to stop when body can't go any higher.... Still, overall with the changes, its a little harder by the last 2 reps compared to what I been doing before

Day25

Finally getting into a semblance of the straight on DF on some reps today. Gotta admit... this "half" rep move is a lot tougher... 

Probably have to re-set and do 5 rep sets going by the vids today until mind-body has rewired to go back to 10/set.

Day26

Rushing off to airport. Not having the best focus this morning and messed up recording set 3... was also pushing to finish monthly quota of "Daily Salad"... 25 pullups, 100 dips. Gotta give the  remaining 10km run a miss..

Day27

Frankfurt, Germany. 2⁰ C outside... looking for a spot to DF... end up with the weirdest combos around the room. Decide to check out the gym room.. realize its open 24/7, I can do my morning DF there!.. a bit slippery. Will throw a towel beneath tomorrow.

Day28

As usual... 30 but broken into sets of 5. Hard to control doing on the slippery tiles again and holding onto the nightstand in the hotel room.

Day29

5:45 a.m. ...Back to doing it in the gym. Lazy to record all sets.. finish off with bodyweight exercises as usual.

Day30 -- 30th DAY consecutively!

A bit unfocused today but just got the numbers in. Should have focus a little more

So in conclusion, there are merits to both and to get a better range of motion for the straight body-legs alignment. I think, executing with 2 yoga blocks beneath the scapula would be better. As the neck and head can go a little further downwards when the legs are at the higher end, not restricting the overall movement. This should also help align the body and legs in a stricter manner. Will try out later.

Update: 8th Dec 2024 -- The hip hinging is very hard to correct because in a lying down position, it's difficult to really see and assess the alignment of one's body with the legs... hence everything is really by "feel" and muscle memory of where and when to stop once the restrictions of the scapula-neck-head comes into play. Yes, tried out the idea above of propping with yoga blocks at the scapula indeed works to improve the form without hip hinging but is much harder at the end range at the lower end as the effect of changing the fulcrum now increases the load feel with the effort/ motion.