Jim Pickles

Ideally yes, but there may be medical reasons why that is not possible.

A recent news report alerted me to this issue. I am a firm believer in the value of supplemental magnesium as an anti-inflammatory - combined with the fact that it is difficult to overdose on (except for a few people with a genetic difference) because the extra is not absorbed and is just excreted. However, magnesium supplements often contain vitamin B6, which apparently enhances magnesium absorption and effects. The trouble is, that too much B6 can cause nerve damage (peripheral neuropathy) - and the B6 levels needed are not that high - maybe 50-150 mg/day. My magnesium supplements contain 60 mg/tablet of vitamin B6, so with 2-3 tablets/day one could be in danger. The recommended intake of B6 is 1.5- 2 mg/day, and the diet of most of us has sufficient anyway. The European Food Safety Authority set an upper limit of 12 mg/day for adults. So why do they do this to us? Why dont they let us decide for ourselves what we eat, instead of including ingredients that they only show in the very small print? So magnesium (in the supplements that we buy) isnt so safe after all. Jim. See https://www.tga.gov.au/news/safety-alerts/health-supplements-containing-vitamin-b6-can-cause-peripheral-neuropathy

Not at all. It gives me the chance to correct a common misconception.

Psychosomatic? Definitely not. Fibromyalgia is not properly understood, but there are changes in biochemical signalling in the brain - for instance, continuing inflammatory signals from the microglia (support cells) in the brain, and many other changes. It may result - in some cases at least - from a past virus infection such as Epstein-Barr virus (which gives mononucleosis/glandular fever) that remains in the body, and for unknown reasons is not cleared by the immune system, and keeps flaring up.

That clarifies it. As for the emotional and related issues, I cant comment, as I've never eexperienced anything like that myself. It is often said that backbending will evoke feelings like you say you have had, but I've never had that myself so cant comment from my experience. I can only suggest that you may be carrying a lot of tension in your body that you do not know about, in which case of course what you are doing with ST and I presume yoga is that ideal approach. This may come from a genetic difference in for instance your fascia - one of my students has a very tight body which I suggest is fascia-related, even though he has spent decades trying to counter it. Apparently all his family are like that - they are tighter than he is, but through continued ST he has stopped his own body getting tighter over time. One nerve that might be heavily involved is the vagus, since this runs in the area. However it is parasympathetic, so if your movements stimulated it, we might expect a damping down of stress rather than an increase. The diaphragm itself is innervated by the phrenic nerve, which has a sympathetic component, so maybe this has received some unusual stimulation. In which case I guess you have to repeat the exercise until the CNS becomes used to it (maybe). Jim.

Just to be certain what you were doing: "The exercise was to inhale with resistance by biting over a ball and then readjusting to completely block the air track afterwards. Now one needs to push with the diaphragm with 100% force," A muscle cant push, and can only pull, so please explain what you mean by "pushing with the diaphragm". Thanks, Jim.

The serratus inferior posterior – a muscle that is commonly neglected. For instance, it doesnt get a mention in Stretching and Flexibility. The muscle runs diagonally downwards from the lower ribs to join the T11, T12, L1 and L2 vertebrae (see fig). Its function is described as “drawing the lower ribs backward and downward to assist in rotation and extension of the trunk”. Drawing the lower ribs downwards is the function most often mentioned, and this is commonly used to suggest a role in forced expiration. I’ve had a bit of an interest in this muscle for a long time. It started in the days when I stood up from backbending. I found it I was part way up, if I contracted a muscle in this area, it made standing up from a backbend much easier – it was as though someone had placed a hand in the area to help me up. It was the only muscle that I could identify as a candidate in this area, but is was a bit of a puzzle, because we would expect it to ENCOURAGE back bending (by pulling the ribs back and down) rather than helping to get out of one. However every muscle has two ends, and it we view the upper (rib) ends as fixed (by the tensions in the rib cage) then the action would be to lift the T11-L2 region, maybe transferring the bend from lower in the lumbar region up towards the T-L junction, where different musculature could then help lift the torso further. Not sure if this explanation holds water but maybe someone has better ideas. I was more recently reminded of this muscle when doing a sphinx. It came in strongly and powerfully assisted in bringing the torso more vertical. I am maybe feeling it more now because it is also strongly activated when going into the arch body hold (arms up), in the way demonstrated in Olivia’s Vimeo video by going through intermediate stages first, with arms down, then out to sides. So I’ll emphasise use of this muscle routinely now when doing sphinxes with my students (which we do every week), as its so powerful in its effect. As I would encourage everyone else to do, if you're not aware of using already. Not sure if anyone will read of all this, but if anyone else has any use for this muscle, I’d appreciate hearing it. Jim.

As well as everything else, I strongly suggest you do the downward dog, and at first dont attempt to put your heels to the floor. Then alternately lower the heels to the floor in time with the outbreaths. This will help stretch the whole posterior fascial chain, which is one of the major limitations of forward bending at the hips. It can give relatively rapid improvement in the forward fold, and you may be amazed by the results. And as Kit said, it is important to stay relaxed, and this is difficult if your hamstrings are holding your body weight up in a forward fold. So the other exercises listed here give a stretch while allowing the body weight to be taken off the hamstrings. The downward dog exercise uses body weight to stretch, but the fascia arent muscles, so you dont need to relax it in the same way (though you shoud of course relax the hamstrings and calf muscles as much as possible). Jim.

"both inspiring and intimidating, surrounding by many people who've been practicing long before they could even speak." To learn classical ballet, you have to be able to put up with humiliation. Because if the teacher is good, you will be getting lots of corrections (in front of the whole class, of course). You only know when you've got something right, when they start correcting you on something else. Of course one tries to hide in the crowd. That falls to pieces rather when in the big travelling moves they say "why dont we do it from the corner in twos?" (I know why not!). Then you have to do it in front of everyone else, with everyone looking on. The trick I learned, is to go early, and pair yourself with a good one. Then you hope the class will all be looking at the good one (to learn if possible), not at you. The tendency is to go as late as possible, then you will have two useless ones going together (and nobody to model yourself on if its a complicated sequence). Even worse, if they run out of pairs, you may have to do it on your OWN. No escaping everyones' eyes then. But you do get to hang out with lots of gorgeous young women with perfect bodies in figure-hugging clothing. And they're NICE to you as well! (out of pity, probably).

Update then on my own transition to a new life. Age 45, I was an uptight inhibited scientist, tight body, in denial of my body and of physical activity generally (also medical issues had held me back when younger). Emigrated from the UK to Australia, which was the beginning of a new life. I then discovered it was difficult sitting cross-legged, and decided to do something about it. Started yoga, tried many different styles, learned a lot, but all the time kept coming back to the same hatha yoga teacher. Not much happened to my tight body for a few years. But then I decided, as a scientist, I should experiment and find out ways to overcome my inflexibility. I discovered that by absolutely exhausting the muscles first, they would not pull back so much, so I could stretch them. I started to make progress. The teacher, seeing my keenness, introduced me to Kit's work. Also meanwhile, I decided to live my dreams, and started classical ballet (age 52). One thing led to another, and my dance school started performing dance pieces in concerts - and we found that dance comedy went over well. Not all of us were good dancers, and if you keep the audience laughing they tend to overlook deficiencies in technique. That led to an interest in clowning, and also performing using flexibility. Performed (solo or small group) in local cabarets, on stage at international Contortion Conventions (among the best contortionists in the world; I contributed by adding some light relief and comedy), have been invited onto Britains Got Talent and Austrlalia's Got Talent (didnt do well in either by the way, but that was OK by me). At 78, still stretching (legs better than ever, spine much worse). I've been teaching regular (bi-weekely at first, now weekly) ST classes using Kit's technique, but am not performing so much now (though havent given up). So what is the conclusion? That you can attempt to live your dreams, at any age. Do so!

Yes, thank you for pointing that out. I've been trying the exercises following Olivia's cues, and the improvement is massive - and immediate. And now it is preserved in a new session, even if I go straight into it. I get to pretty much to where Craig is in the video (though I havent videoed myself yet, so cannot be sure). Many thanks indeed - my students will be very pleased, as I am. All the best, Jim.

@Kit_L Thanks. Here are pics of the first two I mentioned - I won't show the ABH because there's nothing special about it. I put a red belt around my hips that was horizontal when I was standing, so you can roughly see the tilt of the hips though it will I guess move around a little bit. 1 is the TA exercise with knees to chest, 2 is the TA exercise with legs raised (not vertical as I imagined), 3 is the glut exercise on my good side. Assuming the belt is a reliable marker the hips are indeed tilted up at the front in no. 1, and a little less so if the legs are raised. Maybe that explains why the second is much easier, though I am not sure because the difference in the pelvic tilt is small. In 3 the thigh is neutral with respect to the pelvis, so I'm not sure why that is so difficult (even though I can do it a bit on this side). However your comments about the ABH express what I think I was feeling my way towards in a fumbling uneducated way - that the lack of ability went beyond the lack of strength. In other words, its due to lack of correct activation, a.k.a. lack of skill. I worked though Olivia's video again with the cues. For the upper body, there was a massive difference, when I first did it with arms down, then aeroplane arms, then arms up. It showed me how to progressively incorporate the different groups of muscles that contribute to the action. I guess if you just go straight into it, you only feel (and therefore activate) the muscles that do most of the work, and this means you neglect the others - and in a complex structure such as the back they may in fact contribute as much or even more than the main ones worked by going straight into it. I've not been able to do partner versions yet, but will try when I have the chance. Many thanks indeed for your help and insights. I'll try it with my class next week and see how they find it. Jim.

Thanks. Some of them are near the end range - maybe - but the arch body hold is not, and I am still wondering why that is so difficult.

I have a few exercises that I use with my students, that I call the “impossible exercises”, Well, they’re not exactly impossible, but its difficult to do them much, or we can do much less than we imagine we ought to be able to do. One is the transversus abdominis activator – lie on the back, arms crossed over chest, knees to chest, and then raise the sacrum a little bit off the floor. Surprisingly difficult. I get my students to learn the movement if they cant do it, by flinging the legs up a little bit and then getting the deep abdominals to come in at the end to give the legs and sacrum a little kick along the way. I hope this gives them the feeling of what activating the TA is like, so they can concentrate on that and enhance it. Why is it so difficult? This exercise is much easier if the legs are raised vertically instead (lying on one’s back). I think this shows why – when the knees are to the chest, the pelvis is tilted up towards the head at the front, so the TA is already shortened, so its difficult to make it contract more. Not sure if this is correct though. Maybe in that position other muscles can come in. Other impossible exercises are done on the front. One is a glut activator – lie on the front, one knee bent up to chest, other leg out straight behind. Then lift the straight leg off the floor, using the glutes – without bending the knee. I can do this on my flexible side, but only sometimes on my other side, and in neither case can I go far, or hold it for a long time. Many of my students can’t do it at all. To make it easier for them, I then get them to raise their hips up on a block, and then they can do it. Why is it so difficult? When standing, and not working against gravity, we can take our leg back at the hip much further than we can when on our front. I am not sure why, but it may be that with the knee bent to the chest, the pelvis (as in the previous case) is tilted up towards the head at the front, so the hip joint of the leg going back at the starting position, is already extended beyond its normal neutral position. So naturally it is more difficult to take it further. Again, I am not sure if this explains it fully. Another difficult one is the arch body hold. I and many of my students can passively (with our arms) push up quite high into a cobra. However we find it difficult to raise the upper body in the arch body hold more than a short distance, and difficult to hold it for a long time (though we are working on that). Why is the active range so very much less than the passive range? I think it might be just lack of strength (even on these people who are already stronger than the average). However it is a common gymnastic/contortion exercise to arch the upper body high just with back power, so the muscles are there – just not strong enough in us. Whether normal people need them that strong is another matter. Still, its frustrating that we are so bad. Same with the legs in the arch body hold. The active range is far less than the passive range (and unlike the earlier cases, the pelvis is in neutral, so there is no pre-contraction at the starting position which might explain the poor lift). Again, maybe lack of strength. If anyone has any views on this I’d appreciate hearing them, and whether they think my analysis is correct, because it is frustrating that we are so bad. If anyone cant understand the starting positions, I can post photos if needed. Thanks, Jim.

I suggest changing what foods are your favourites. Gradually reduce the amouts of your favourites, and increase the amounts of the healthy ones (non-starchy vegetables, fruit, non-fatty meats and fish) instead. Cheese and other milk products are supposed to be non-fattening, for reasons unknown (I dont know how true this is though). Have the previous favourite ones only as occasional treats. Maybe the new ones will become your favourite ones over time. Perhaps. It maytake a couple of years to get to where you want to be, I suggest. I must admit, it is easy for me to say this, as I dont have a problem with weight control.

"all of the front of the back leg on the floor" - really? - does that include all of the front of the thigh? That sounds a big ask. It means the angle between the thighs of the front and back legs must be about 210 degrees. Most people cant get beyond (or even to) 180.

There used to be a topic for dramatic or unusual poses, but I cant find it, so am starting a new one. I hope I've got the identification right, as I've never seen it like this before.

"... because the aging population changes its use profile so predictably (most people, anyway). We simply do not know which is the cause and which is the effect. The jury's still out on that one, I'd say." I agree entirely. Yes, people are reluctant to do what they find difficult, and things become difficult with underuse. I dont know any studies that address this issue, though maybe there is some indirect (and hence less reliable) information out there. A "proper" study would involve assigning people randomly to two groups, making them do different sorts of exercise as they got older, and then assessing after a decade otr two. Pie in the sky if that was going to happen. As for the other issue, as neural input is so important at keeping the fast twitch fibres activated properly, clearly it needs realistic exercise, which means, as you say, doing it early to get maximum effectiveness. However I like your suggestion of doing different types on different days, and I'll take that up. The fast stuff at home (when I can do it at any time I want), the slow stuff at the gym, at a time chosen so that the chatterers arent sitting on the machines for ages.

@Kit_L Kit - the loss of type II fibres in ageing has been mentioned in many places - I found this early on in a quick look through my saved papers - its mentioned on the 6th line of the section headed Epidemiology and Pathophysiology. As for training, I am aware that the get maximum speed from a muscle, one should test at the beginning of a session, rather than at an end, because the fast fibres tire faster. However, to strengthen a muscle, isnt it true that one should overload it? My logic is that asking it to do something (that only it can do) once it has been exhausted is a way of encouraging it to do more. This may deal with the muscle fibres themselves; the neural innervation pattern is another matter, as that is probably developed best when undertaking its optimal pattern of activity. Happy to be guided on this. I need to so some reading on this, since I just made it up*. But I want to be sure that I include lots of resistance training, as that has been shown to be effective. *Disclaimer. Cho et al 2022 sarcopenia review.pdf

What Kit said. Also, as we get older, one of the first muscle changes is reduction in fast twitch muscle fibres. That is one reason why jumping etc gets worse as we age. This needs to be countered by fast twitch exercises - as Kit mentioned, jumping UP onto something is excellent, because there is less of a problem with the landing. As part of my routine, after a maximal muscle workout with lots of slow eccentric contractions (which I hope has clobbered the slow twitch fibres, and led to recruitment of fast twitch fibres), I then stress the fast twitch fibres further with jumping up, which I hope gives them the signal to get stronger, or at least, stop getting weaker. I dont know if this is the best way though.

Can she push her feet against a wall to stop the sliding? Either that, or sandpaper on the butt.

The shirt hides it, but the curve of the front of the chest, and the crease in the shirt at the back, show that most bending is occurring in the thoracic-upper lumbar region. If you were mainly bending in the lumbar region, the biggest bend would be below where your bare tum is showing.

I used to do a fair amount of backbending when I was younger. Firstly, well done, you have very good thoracic flexibility. Next, I'd say its good that you are doing forced exhalations, because the emptier the lungs are, the more chest flexibility you willl have. But I suspect that the way you are doing it, as a series of hard puffs, is not leading to full relaxation and may not be emptying the lungs as much as you can. I was told instead by a contortion trainer to use long slow "Whoooooo..." outbreaths. In the bend, breathing for any backbender becomes a limitation, because the ribs become immobilised. Instead, people move to abdominal breathing, using the lower (floating) ribs which move out sideways. Look at videos of backbending contortionists who have their middles bare. In any case, the stress of backbending and the difficulty of breathing means there is a strong tendency to hold the breath (even partially) and retain some breath in the lungs, which has to be countered. I'd say the soreness in the back is a sign that the cartilage is getting damaged or at least stressed. Not a good idea. I'd suggest going more gently, and keeping out of the range that does this. Eventually it should improve as the tissues adapt, though at some point you will come to an absolute limitation (from the facet joints pressing together - and you dont want to damage them). Jim.

Update. What seems to be working best for me is weekly 1 set 8 reps, with 30 seconds rest in between reps (I'm trying to make this shorter so as to reduce the times on the machines). I'm using the weights that were maximal with moving quickly, but with a fast contraction phase and with a slow (12-15 sec) eccentric phase. Legs and upper body. Afterwards I do maximal leg stretches. I know the total number of reps is low compared with what most people would suggest for most training. but this (technical term here) buggers me. I also take nearly a week to fully recover, so if I go harder its going to interfere with other activities. If total time under tension positively affects strength, then this way I actually have more total time under tension than with my usual routine of fast 8x3. I havent upped my weights yet to see if my maximal strength has changed, as I want to settle into the routine before making any changes. I hope the maximal stretches after each session will take advantage of any possible increase in flexibility. As before, I am particularly making sure my form is correct, and that I dont collapse during the final moments of the eccentric phase (before, I was just going back to the start as fast as possible). No DOMS, but some muscle weakness in recovery. Any comments appreciated. The long recovery times (nearly a week) may suggest I'm going too hard, but if I used lighter weights I'd have to go more often, so I'd still be recovering most of the time. Besides, often I cant go to the gym more often. @Kit_L re "the ultimate form of this training" and static stretches - as I understand it, the critical point about eccentric contractions is how the myofibrils "let go" of the contraction during the eccentric phase, and this is what causes the muscle damage (and, hopefully, the signal to remodel). Any comment? Many thanks, Jim. Update this week: getting easier, so I'm getting stronger, but I'm not increasing the weights yet.

@Jason I encourage my students (and myself) to pause at the end of an exhalation. Our relaxation routine (done lying) includes instructions like: as you breath out, imagine the breath draining out down your body, down your legs, and out through your feet. Follow the breath down your body with your mind. As you go deeper into the relaxation, pause a moment in full exhalation, and feel how your mind is empty, before breathing in again. Imagine the breath rising up your body." There is no mention of when to stop breathing in and starting to breathe out (that comes naturally). Lengthening the pause at the end of the outbreath (and the focus of the mind at the feet, with thoughts stilled) are encouraged. I (and they) find this very relaxing.