In this video, I work with bar master Scott Mathison to give us some inside tips into mastering your first human flag!
The human flag is a test of upper-body and core strength. Building up to a human flag will develop incredible core stability and strength throughout the entire upper-body.
Very few people in the world can perform this exercise. As a result, mastering this exercise means you have world-class strength.
What’s more, the exercise just plain and simple looks bad ass! No other exercise garners attention like the human flag. In fact, when Scott and I were practicing our flags, numerous people were approaching us in amazement. It was pretty cool to witness…
What Will You Need In Order To Do A Human Flag?
Before thinking about attempting the human flag, a few things are important!
For one, I’d suggest being at a very low body fat. The leaner you are, the easier this exercise will be.
If you need to lean down fast, Aggressive Fat Loss is the best program you can do. Plain and simple, you’re not going to be performing a human flag with 20+ lbs of body fat.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
Secondly, you want to have a very high level of strength. The stronger your weighted pull ups and shoulder presses are, the easier this exercise will be. This is because in order to maintain the flag position your back, shoulders and triceps have to work like crazy.
How To Train For The Human Flag
Lets assume you have solid strength and you’re at a low body fat (6-10%). Now you’ll have a solid base to build up to the human flag. Simply following the steps in the video above and practicing the movement 1-2 days per week (on your lifting days), you’ll gradually be able to work up to the human flag.
Now, I don’t perform this exercise very often. In fact, I find that the flag tends to trigger elbow and forearm injuries for me. Simply, the stress is so high!
(This is why I didn’t include this exercise in the Bodyweight Mastery Program.)
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very cool exercise and will support solid strength improvements – especially throughout the core – but it’s not a necessity. In the future, I may spend more time with this exercise, but again, you have to be very careful with flag training and not push it too hard.
Quick note – I could probably side-step these issues by building up to it very slowly and allowing my body time to become accustomed to the stress.
You Should Get Strong At Bodyweight Training
No doubt, the human flag is a kick ass exercise, but you need to be really advanced to train for it. As well, you need to take training slow, and make sure you don’t aggravate anything.
My preferred approach with bodyweight training is to get strong on muscle ups, handstand push ups, L sits, front levers, one arm chins and one arm push ups.
This is what my Bodyweight Mastery Program is honed in on!
Furthermore, when you master those exercises naturally, you’ll have the strength to do a flag without specifically training for it… (This is really cool!)
When you practice it a couple times a week for a month or two, you’ll become a flag master.
