Straight Arms/Legs

Reasons and benefits of straight arms and legs.

You will often read in the instructions that you need to keep your arms or legs straight, and as it may sound like a detail, it is actually not!

When an exercise requires the arms or legs to be straight, it is important to stay mindful of this throughout the exercise, and for different but equally important reasons.

First of all, developing straight-arm strength might be a mandatory requirement for advanced exercises like the levers, the planche or the handstand to name a few. Failing to train simple exercises without keeping your arms straight won't build enough of what we call straight-arm strength, which essentially comes from the biceps. You will feel like you are progressing because your other muscles will get stronger, but you will later hit a plateau and have to train the basics again if you want to unlock harder moves.

Being forced to train the basics when we have reached a relatively advanced level is not always fun!

Keeping our legs straight on the other hand is more about developing flexibility and mobility.

If your goal is to perform a pistol squat for example, strength won't be enough and you won't be able to do it if you can't keep your front leg perfectly straight.

Another main reason to learn to keep your legs straight is purely aesthetic. This might not seem important for some, but it is for many, and an L-sit with perfectly straight legs definitely doesn't look the same as an L-sit with legs slightly bent.

Finally, if you have to remember one thing from this post, remember this: almost straight is not straight! Arms straight means elbows locked, legs straight means knees locked. Always.

There can be different reasons depending on the exercise but overall, keeping your arms and legs perfectly straight when instructed makes for a fully functional and strong body.