Cam Ogle

14/09/2021 Bench Press- 5 x 8 @ 40kg - shoulder held up well. Will be able to progress this nicely. BACK BRIDGE 1.a) ROS FRENCH PRESS- 3x5- 4 1/4 reps equals 1 rep 1.b) CROSS BENCH PULLOVER 3x5- 4 second hold on each rep. 1.c) TRUNK EXTENSION 3x5 1.d) BACK BRIDGE HOLD 3x10s -elevate legs - shoulder not up to this though

Have still been training the last two week but rather ad hoc around some vertigo, a couple of sprained ankles and my ongoing right shoulder issues. Into more of a detailed plan now and also with the clear vision to slow everything down. Not the physical training part but my expectations and setting of goals. 13/09/2021 Squat – 5 x 8 @ 70 FRONT SPLIT 1.a) 1/4 ATG SPLIT SQUAT- 4 1/4 reps equals one rep. Complete 5 each leg. 1.b) LONG LUNGE PULSE- 10- 4 sec hold on each rep 1.c) HERO POSE- 10s x 3 2. FRONT SPLIT CHECK-IN- 1x60s Really kept the back leg and hips straight. Depth was obviously compromised but that's ok.

Perrhaps the only thing I have in common with a dancer haha. Ideally I am aiming for square hips and whether I get there or not is kind of irrelevant. With my body the way it is I think its important to get into those areas that I am unconsciously trying to avoid.

Thanks Kit. That's a great pick up. Just having a look at some anatomy pictures I can see it runs into the peroneal nerve and lateral sural cutaneous nerve. Most likely the latter is in the area that provides that sensation. Also, yes I can see I am cheating the stretch somewhat (a lot haha). Especially with opening the hips and turning that back leg out. I will back it off and keep them as square as I can. Don't have a bolster but I do have some old couch cushions that may suit. I would suggest this may offset the calf pain for the moment too.

@Kit_L I am hoping you may be able to help with something. When I am in a max effort front split I often get a scratching/catching sensation (like the warning before a muscle tears) on the outside of the calf of the front leg. It never eventuates to anything but does prevent me from maintaining this position for more than 5-10s. Once I retreat from that position it completely goes away without any lingering effects. Any ideas on what may be behind this?

Struggled with consistency this week. Work + home schooling is a completely full load and I let myself get overwhelmed this week. Saturday 28/08/21 Morning Hapkido Class. 60 minutes of solo work. Had to pull my punches and be careful due to shoulder but the rest was a welcomed difference in my training. These online sessions are available all week and I want to hit at least 3-4 each week from here on in. Sunday 29/08/21 Warm Up Stretches- plantar fascia, tibialis, calf, SL pike, couch, leaning lat and pec. Deadlifts- bar x 5, 60 x 5, 80 x 3, 100 x 3, 120 x 1, 130 x 1, 140 x 1 (had no particular plan and decided on a single- RPE of about 7.5) Front Splits focused session- SL GM + SL seated Compression, Kit's quad + hip combo, long lunge x 60s/side, front splits check in x 60s/side Both legs were definitely lower than last week. Right leg forward is almost flat- albeit with very unsquared hips.

Thanks again Kit. That's actually a great point you make about the relative tightness. I know that I am naturally quite flexible which can make it harder for me to be patient. I also know I probably need more strength and stability than most people might. I may also give it a few tries before getting someone else involved. I think I can push well past where I was yeterday with a bit of mental preparation going in. Haha yes I know I can't do it everyday. I just had such a great feeling with that right leg forward. Next time I will do this post workout when I am warm.

@Kit_L I got in the gym this afternoon and just tried this. It's been a few days since my cold check in as I've done plenty of quad and hamstring work since then. Results speak for themselves. (it was a total of about 4 and a half minutes of work per leg). Pics below. I followed the instructions and held each position for at least 30s before moving on and using any contractions. I did two 5s contractions in each position followed by 10s rest held that position for a bit and moved on. I have a significant amount of quad tightness. Especially the outer quad. I could and perhaps should have held certain positions for longer but to be honest I was slightly unprepared for the pain that was coming my way lol. I also had a pretty decent amount of hamstring tightness from this week being the first real week back of exercise. Even with that it's a pretty significant difference. How often would you suggest I can implement these? Can I do them everyday?

Hey Phil. How's the rehab going?

20/08/2021 Back Squat- top set of 3 @ 100. ATG Style Split Squat- 3 x 5 @ bw, 20, 30 SL Good Morning- 2 x 8 @ bw, 10, Hammer Curls- 2 x 12 @ 6s French Press- 2 x 12 @ 10 Elbows- DB Rotations- DB only- no additional weight for 2 x 12/side Couch Stretch- 2 min/side Pec Stretch- Played around with some different hang variations. Didn't work out too well. Not a great stretch. Long lunge- 30s/side. Once again legs felt great after this. Definite fatigue but no unusual soreness. Great depth on squats. Included some light arm work as I have had golfers elbow in the last 12 months which is returning slightly and is no doubt related to bicep tendon which is related to shoulder injury and neck. Need to build in some hypertrophy work for the arms alonside some stretching. Next session going to expand my warm up to include wrist and bodyline work. Found the old Monkey Gym printout from a few years back and will go back to using that. All in all feeling good. Diet needs some work though. Working, home schooling and all this lockdown business have me running in 17 different directions. Just need to do a little better every day and not worry about perfection. Will get there.

18/08/21 Deadlifts- top set at 110 for 5 DB RDL- Glute focus- slight round back- no extension at top- 3x15 @ 12, 20, 30kg (calf stretch in between sets) Seated Compression- Single Leg Lifts- 3x10 with 3s pause at top Jefferson Curl- 4x5@20kg with 10s pause on last rep of each set Pike Test- 60s Couch Stretch- 2min/side Rear knee elevated HF stretch- 3x60s @ 12, 20, 30kg Long Lunge- 1x30s each Notes: Pretty good session. I'm doing some experimenting at the moment so there's going to be some moving parts to this before I refine it. Legs felt like butter after this session. Fatigued but smooth. I need more calf stretching/strenghening and will keep the weight on J curls the same but increase the pause hold time at the end. I felt some good movement on the last set when the nervy pain started to shift. Lots of testing and feeling out but certainly not pushing it. Did do my shoulder rehab earlier in the day too. R shoulder was horrible this morning but quite good after the rehab. Otherwise I weigh 103 right now. That's too much. First stop is sub 100 then 95 and finally 90. Sub 100 by Monday next week though. Stop eating too many carbs and I will lose 4-5kg of water in a couple of days. That will be a nice kicker to start.

Hey @Kit_L. Here's my front splits. Cold. Let me know if these angles are ok. I can reshoot if you need jumper out of the way, etc.

Thanks Kit. This is great. I always thought is was a postural issue and this exercise is a great reminder.

Thanks mate. I agree that its the smart play. Will be a good opporunity to really focus on my compression too.

Went and saw my physio yesterday. Was a very interesting appointment. I had gone to a chiro a couple of weeks before that and he was atrocious. Did the usual assessment, took some x-rays and then doing an adjustment. In the second appointment he told me mhy neck had a less than idea amount of C curve and that my lower back had too much curve. That these things would take 2-3 years to fix and that I needed to start seeing him for twice weekly adjustments for 6 weeks (at $70 a pop) and then once a week from there. Also, that if I missed an appointment it wouldn't work. I asked him point blank if this was just a result of my posture and that if I had stood up straighter (I was slouching slightly in the x-rays) the results would have been different. He said no. I also asked him if stretching certain areas and strenghening others would be more beneficial. He also said no. None of this I believed of course. I had gone to see him for neck and shoulder pain. He said I likely had a rotator cuff tear but he would look at that again after the 6 weeks of adjustments. Now, my physio laughed so hard at this but was also pretty shocked that this kind of treatment still exists. She confirmed no rotator cuff tear but a strain and also a supraspinatus strain. Both of these placed additional load and work onto my scaps, upper back, neck and chest which was why everytrhing was sore. Great news is that I'm now only looking at a couple of weeks of rehab. I'm now understanding what Kit means by layering tension over tension. I've been hammering my upper back and scaps when really they're already overloaded because of the shoulder. I am kind of at a loss as to what to do now with upper body training though. Do I just complete the shoulder rehab, fast forward 2 weeks and then resume other upper body work? Do I still include some other upper body training to keep those areas going? IDK. I'm leaning towards just doing the rehab and seeing where I'm at in 2 weeks time. For lower body though this training block will be forward bend/compression focused. I will still hit other areas as to not neglect the overall picture but the bulk of the attention will be on compression. Starting with a four week block and then reassessing. I have it in mind to run with this for 8-12 weeks before moving on though. In the past I have been too quick to change and I want to make these positions a real strength before I do. I also figure that my front splits will not go backwards while working on compression and that when I decide to move onto H2T it will be a much shorter transition that it otherwise would have been. Any thoughts or feedback is much appreciated. *Edit- still deciding whether or not to put a google review in on that chiro. I feel I should because not as many people are as skeptical as I am. On the fence at the moment.

Log Reactivated. Kind of wish I had added more pictures here. I can see the training but had no idea of actually where I was at during this time. Since then I have taken 2 steps forward and 1 step back a few times. A bit of circle work and although I have trained the entire time I am not too much further down the road. One issue I have identified is my degrees of adjustment when wanting to fix something or try something new. Instead of minor, quantifiable adjustments I have made major 90 degree turns and sometimes 180s. That's a big lesson for me to make micro adjustments to any training I'm doing which will build on top of what I already have rather than effectively starting again on a different foundation. Two main highlights from the last two and a half years: Fixed my knee and ankle pain for good thanks to Ben Patrick (kneesovertoesguy). Got an almost balls to floor front split back and chin to floor pancake in Feb this year thanks to Lucas Aaron. I do feel I fell outside of their respective boxes with my goals which is why I moved on with my training. Now I'm back here and looking to fix some issues before attacking the rest of 2021. Two main things I need to fix, which go hand in hand, are forward head posture and anterior pelvic tilt. Both causing their own issues but the head forward posture is giving me neck and right shoulder problems. I had a laughable encounter with a chiropractor last week which lead me straight back to Kit's videos and the jaw/neck one is a winner and has an immediate impact. From there the goals are to become the single most flexible 41 year old I can be. Get my pike, H2T and side splits. I still have a calves to floor front split pretty much cold so no doubt that will come good as well. Then it's just about pairing that with training martial arts and once the upper body is capabll to get into calisthenics (handstands, levers, etc). Most important thing for me to remember is to not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Deadlifts fixed my dodgy ankles 15 years ago, split squats and stretching fixed my dodgy knees, ballistic stretching got me significant flexibility gains in a pretty short period of time. These need to remain. Major work to be done on the upper body which has always been my weak point. Immediate plans are to continue working on the jaw, neck and chest while at the same time strenghening the upper back. I'm well aware of the "don't layer tension over more tension" but feel that training is better than no training during this time. The same applies for the lower body. Getting some serious work into the HFs whilst getting some good work into the hams and glutes. Other training will be to keep strong, get some good volume and make those minor adjustments along the way. And pictures! I will add more pictures and videos to track more closely this time. Hope everyone is well and enjoying various stages of lockdown too.

04/03/19 Deadmill- backwards- 5 x 60s Poliquin step up- 3" box + heel elevation- sets of 5 20, 40, 50, 60, 70 Incline DB Bench- 15kg DBs x 10 x 2 Chins- bw x 3, 3 Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Have a cold/flu thing so am doing the absolute minimum. Training felt good. So did the stretching. Tired AF though.

28/02/19 Rest- unintended but Thursday seems to get me every time 01/03/19 Deadmill backwards x 5min J curl- sets of 5 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 Modified Garhammer Raise 4, 3, 4, 3, 6 Single Arm DB Scott Curl 5 x 10, 10 x 10, 10 Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses 02/03/19 Rest 03/03/19 Deadmill sprints- 15s forward, 30s backwards x 2 Sissy Squats- 3 x 5 Bench Press-sets of 5 20, 40, 50, 60, 70 L-Sit single leg extensions 5 x 5 Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Basketball game- Good game but I need better fitness. Looks like I'm getting back on the running train.

27/02/19 8pm Deadmill- 15s sprint x 3 SL Calf Raise- 15kg x 5 x 3 Front foot elevated Split Squat- 4" box- bw x 15, 12 x 15, 12 x 15 Banded ankle mobilisations- 3 sets to failure each way each ankle 11pm Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Had some groin discomfort during the day which was definitely present during the split squats. I think a slight strain from hapkido. Cut the squats 1 set short and went a little easier in the middle splits and pancake stretches. It actually felt better after the squats though so idk. Will take it easy the next couple of days on movements that might aggravate it.

Warning- rambling notes to follow. I'm learning to write these things down mainly to get them out of my head but also to allow me to think through the ideas more which will frame my thought process differently going forward. What happened to mastery and what is the actual cost of mastery? I've been contemplating work ethic vs mastery a lot lately. The minimum effective dose mindset seems to have become entrenched and filters how I approach everything. I'm not sure where it started but the 4 hour work week might take some of the blame. Instagram, general culture, etc wouldn't be any further behind though. Most learning these days, especially that aimed at adults, is filtered through this hacking lens. Quicker, shorter, faster. I'm starting to believe this lens I think is a dangerous one. Not just for me but also I look at my kids and they're facing the same wall of information/misinformation. I don't know if there's such a thing as the maximum effective dose but it might be worth a try. On mastery- I find the "minimum effective dose" approach gets me to a proficient level in most skills pretty quickly be it physical fitness, music, language, etc. The gap though, between proficient and what would even be called "good" is large. The gap between proficient and mastery is tremendous. A caveat- Proficiency and mastery are obviously two massively different outcomes and as long as one is honest with oneself on the goal the choosing either is fine. Choosing one with a work ethic based on the other however is taking a far too sentimental approach with oneself. Like I said these are ramblings but if anyone has any thoughts/opinions/feedback on this I would be glad to hear them.

26/02/19 6pm Deadmill- 30s x 5 Reverse Step Up- sets of 15- heel down- 6.5"box- 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 BW ring dips 6, 2, 4- my second set straight up sucked haha. Almost forgot how to dip BW ring rows- feet elevated 10, 10 (not full ROM), 8- I "got" the movement on the second and third sets and was actually pulling properly with my back for the first time in ages. Felt great but a lot weaker obviously. 10pm Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins but ended up spending 5 mins here- ended up feeling really comfortable H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses 27/02/19 3.30pm 2.5min deadmill- backwards slow steps Seated GM- sets of 10 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 Straddle l-sit- 15-20s x 5 Cross bench pullover 6kg x 10, 10, x 7, 10 x 8 Single Leg Tib Raise LR, (7,4)(6,4)(10,8) Trap 3 Raise- sets of 10 2.5kg dbs, 5kg, 5kg 7pm 90 min hapkido class. Lots and lots of basics. Reinforcing good form and practicing kicking. Great class. 11pm Stretching- Head 2 Tow (H2T)- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch- 36 pulses Wall piriformis- 90s/side Wall middle splits- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses Pigeon pose- 90s/side Pancake- 2 mins H2T- 72 pulses/side Couch Stretch 36 pulses This stretching is a killer routine for me. It's 14 days straight of this setup and seems to work well for me in this order. I love/hate the wall middle splits but find I'm getting some great depth. The same in the pancake. H2T sucks and I feel so far away but I guess we all start somewhere. I need to do some more strength work on my hip flexors though especially the right side which has always given me trouble.

20/02/19 5pm SL Calf Raise- Sets of 5- bw, +20, +35, +35, +35, +35, +35, +35 Split Squat- sets of 3 with 4s pause at bottom- bw, +10, +15, +25, +35, +40, +45, +45 Cross Bench Pullover- got 1 set in and had a kitchen emergency. The local supermarket had included a couple of flies when they wrapped our chicken and I was nominated to deal with it. 9pm Wall Piriformis- 3 x 90s each side Wall Middle Split- 3 x 90s Pigeon Pose- 3 x 90s each side Pancake- 3 x 90s Couch Stretch- 2.5mins per side

19/02/19 5pm Head 2 toe- 3 x 60 each leg 30 on last set each leg- decent upper calf discomfort RDL- x 10, 40 x 10, 50 x 10, 60 x 15 Floor L-Sit- Single leg compression- 10-20s each leg x 4 Ring Chins- bw x 5, 5, 4, 6 Couch Stretch- 60 pulses each leg x 3 7pm Hapkido class. Two instructors sick and another injured put me running the class. Forgot half my Korean terms but was an otherwise good class. Didn't get the same level of training I would normally get but was good to stretch the brain and have to think about things a bit more. Had a good chat to the guys that run my kid's gymnastics club which I'm on the committee for. Turns out Gymnastics Victoria has outlawed teachers stretching students by force (sitting on them during splits, etc). Thought this was an interesting development and I seem to remember some posts here about these kinds of techniques. It had never worried me before and I wasn't sure if this was a political correctness move or actually based in science. From what they have said other students can still apply these techniques but the teachers can no longer do it. Also makes it interesting for the Chinese and Russian coaches we have who have been applying these techniques for decades. I wonder how quickly they can adapt and what methods they will turn to.

18/02/19 PM stretching- 90s wall piriformis each side/90s wall middle split x 3 90s pigeon pose each side/90s pancake x 3 Couch stretch - 5 mins each side - my couch stretch is getting better and better. Not necessarily the ROM but the actual stretch itself. Feels like I'm finally doing it close to properly and getting some good results in return. Took about 45 mins total but it was late and I was switching between reading and watching Rambo First Blood at first then having a game of Fortnite during couch stretch. Good times.

Missed the last three workouts of last week. Not great but I still played netball and did Hapkido so it wasn't like I sat on my ass doing nothing. Played ball yesterday. 62-7. Our way lol. It was a train wreck of a game. The other team had two brothers who took at least 20 3's between then with most being from the "NBA" 3 point line. Half of them were step backs too. They hit 1 between them. In the end we didn't even bother defending them they were that far out. I felt sorry for their team mates. Especially one guy who was my height and had decent skills but just never got the ball. I also felt sorry for another of their players who ran into me as I made a cut. My shoulder made contact with his jaw and I felt it snap like I threw a nasty hook. Poor guy was probably 20-30kgs lighter than me too. He was ok and we had a good chat after the game. I had a couple of pre game dunks but no real opportunities in game. Aside from the alley that my teammate threw me with a couple of minutes left. Legit no legs that late in the game. 18/02/19 5am training Reverse sled drag- 60m x 5 Peterson Step Up- bar x 15, 25 x 15, 30 x 15, 35 x 15, 40 x 15 Seated Calf Raise- 3 x 10 @+40 Seated DB Ext rotation- 5 x 10, 6 x 10, 7 x 10 Seated Tib Raise- 3 x 10 @ 15 Done. Stretch later tonight.