FLAG BEARER

Your four-step progression for hitting a perfect flag and forging a rock-strong core 1. SPLIT-GRIP CRUNCH

This will develop your wrist and grip strength. It will also get you used to pulling with your top arm, while pushing with your bottom arm.

It’s not just about straightening your arms, but about protracting your shoulders actively – that’s when your shoulders will feel more powerful.

The knee lift is a nice way to develop your abs and your hip flexors.

If you extend your legs, you’ll increase the leverage, and the abs and hip flexors will be working a lot harder.

2. REVERT CRUNCH

This is the same set-up with the arms as the split-grip crunch (left). The difference now is that you’re going to start with your legs under your lower arm, and then as you pull up and lift your knees, you’re going to turn your hips to face the other way.

This rotation is what you need to be able to do to hit your hand springs: when you start going upside down on the pole.

It’s also an amazing exercise for cutting some good shape into your abs. The progression is to hit a v-sit at the top of the crunch, by extending your knees.

3. SHOULDER MOUNT CRUNCH

If all I knew was the shoulder mount crunch, it would still be enough for me to love pole. It’s such an amazing stretch for your abs, and it links that strength from your lats to your hips in posterior rotation. You will enjoy the results a lot.

Set up by taking a strong grip that essentially feels like you are trying to snap the pole over your shoulder.

Start looking up, and get the pole on the chunkier part of your traps, near your neck.

Pull hard to create the grip, and pull your knees up to your elbows. As progressions, you can start by extending your knees to push your feet up to the ceiling.

Next, lower one leg down to increase the leverage. After that, try lowering both legs down.

Don’t let your hips drop. Keep the hips in posterior rotation, and keep pulling hard on the pole.

4. CC FLAG DROP

This isn’t a flag, but it’s an easier option to start developing the strength needed.

You can use a split grip like you’ve practised before, or a false grip, where you rotate your top arm internally.

Pop up and get upside down, with one leg either side of the pole. Then, as you lower your hips back down very slowly, you want to bend one knee and keep both hips flexed – this is to reduce leverage and give you the opportunity of slowing down the lowering phase.

This is all about pulling with your top arm, pushing with your bottom arm, and staying tight through your core and hips.

The slower you go on the drop, the closer you’ll get to holding the static, then you can start to work on options to gradually extend your legs.