Matt Chung

Day 241 of stretching and flexibility journey Yesterday, I had stretched my (R) quad — key for me is square hips, tail tuck, drive knee back to replicate the "knee" pain — and today, well just a few minutes ago, I squatted down, anticipating the knee pain (as I normally do) but today, noticeably less pain. We're on the right path. Also, on a topic that stretching adjacent, yesterday I took a workshop that combined both yoga and (house) dance. Because it was my friend's workshop, I was able to bring my daughter and made a little recap clip below; I alternate every other weekend with her om and as such, on the weekends I do have my little one, I often skip out on these sort of events. However, having her tag along yesterday filled my heart and soul up and I love being able to integrate her my own practices like stretching and dancing. And last night, her and I did a lying relaxation practice together, her first one. It was so beautiful and full of laughter because I would use my voice to guide her and prompt her to flex a certain muscle — say her arms — and then cue her to relax and immediately following, she would burst out saying "THIS FEELS SO GOOD!". She's right, relaxing after muscle tension does feel good and I hope to get the same kick out of it as her someday! Finally, last night I did not put myself through conscious suffering and I had a worry thought (but let it go), some anxiety, that if I didn't, that I would be regressing. I know these are just thoughts and I'm conscious of growth and recovery happening ONLY during periods of rest. These types of thoughts are just that, thoughts, and though some guilt comes up when I "skip" a session, I extend self-compassion and practice being non-obsessive about this area (and others) of my life.

Day 240 of stretching and flexibility journey I'm sure I'm in good company here but I'm super elated right now and probably a bit of a masochist. Feeling VERY hopeful about my (R) knee pain that I've been describing over past couple months. Just now, while trying to perform the laying down version of the quad stretch for my (R) leg, I lacked the flexibility and felt unsafe. Rather than pushing through the pain, I transitioned to an adaption, an easier version if you will, by standing up and doing the stood up version (that is covered in the starter course). While flexing my knee and holding my ankle, and after performing the tail tuck, I very very very very slowly drove the knee back towards the wall and boom: identical sensation ("knee pain" that I've been describing, that's been so elusive to troubleshoot. I recognize this may been obvious to more seasoned stretchers and probably took me a lot longer to arrive at pinpointing my pain. Anyways, while very painful right now, I'm on the right path. It's funny ... I've been focusing so much on shoulders and hamstrings and hip flexors (big gains in ROM over last couple months) and ankles (big gains here too) and only now getting to quads and sort of wish I started stretching the quads earlier but hey, here we are. I'm sure there will be more road blocks, more running into walls, but I feel fairly confident that my right knee pain will be gone in the next few weeks or months after stretching the quads. (R) Plantar fasciitis update Been recording my sessions and keep tracking of the pain cave / conscious suffering and things are working. I've been continuing to slowly increase load (i.e. dance) and haven't felt significant pain after the sessions. Still present, but less and less overtime. And above all else, not waking up with my right foot pulsating anymore. Also, for some reason, I think putting some stress / load on the foot is in some way actually helping it heal ... because a couple weeks ago, I rested for about 2 weeks and that idle period, perhaps some parts of it necessary, wasn't much progression I noticed.

> Try this: get into the position you show above, then (for L thigh) keep foot pointed backward, and put glutes as far to the left as you can (so over the foot) and try to put the L glute on the floor. Watch the L thigh externally rotate; that should put medialis as the muscle closest the ceiling. Then tuck your tail slowly, and lean back onto your arms, with a straight back, and then onto your elbows, if you can. If vastus medialis is tight, you should feel it (that and rec. fem). It might not be tight, and that may be why you don't feel it. This worked and hit the spot! Thanks @Kit_L. Key for me was to Get the left G placed on the floor Let the (L) ankle roll Tuck the tail (this movement has been so key for SO MANY movements, I realize, even during the lying relaxation practices) Was able to feel the sensation when getting on the elbow. Definitely feel sensation in both rectus femoris too but most importantly, hitting the vastus medialis, a muscle that's been so elusive lately. Silver lining in all of this: the vastus medialis is not only tight in my L side, but it's been particularly tight on my R side as well and I suspect what's been causing pain that I've mentioned when sitting crossed legged, a position similar to one describe above.

> Not so much. The floor quad stretches are much better for that. And you can emphasise lateral versus medial by where you rotate the thigh joint to – flipping off the heel and settling onto the floor inside the lower leg, or as close as you can as you can get to it, and tucking the tail, will emphasise lateralis. If, on the other hand, you put your bottom on the outside of the leg that will tend to emphasise medialis. Let the thigh rotate in both directions as much as you can. Thanks for the tip @Kit_L. I think I get what you are trying to say. However, I'm struggling a bit with sensing/experiencing/feeling the medialis. Does the below gif reflect your instructions?

> I'm not sure if this would work for the vastus medialis or not, but it seems like it might. Appreciate the thought however did try the above exercises above and nope, did not hit the vastus medial. I do see Kit just posted another suggestion so may give that a crack; just finished my LRP (didn't do it this morning but this afternoon instead). No victory too small: Day 06 of consecutive LRP (I had reset the counter when I missed a day).

Day 237 of stretching and flexibility journey Summary Very sore left vastus medialis from 1.5 hr dance class (after taking 2 weeks off) and unable to find stretch exercise that targets the muscle - last night after dance, the quad stretches I was doing were only hitting the rectus femoris. I even tried the frog squash and spreading my legs (kind of side splits) up against wall but they were not hitting the muscle. Will experiment and tinker tonight Day 05 of consecutive lying relaxation practice (LRP) - still lots of resistance in the practice AND doing it anyways; I'm still doing this practice first thing in the morning and that seems to play a role on whether or not I do the LRP because as mentioned before, by end of the night, too much resistance (e.g. too tired, unwillingness) Stretched after dance - piriformis, quads, (left) shoulder (similar sensations to when I repairing my right shoulder cuff; teleports me to another dimension) Suffered consciously after stretch, ending the night with walking on pebbles

Looking for some opinions on some next steps after performing some (successful) myofascial release / massaging on surrounding muscles (i.e. gracilis, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis obliquus) that ended up (temporarily) relieving (right only) knee flexion pain. Yesterday, I decided to double down and troubleshoot my (right) knee pain that's triggered during knee flexion (same pain occurs during squat but given the pain occurs while sitting, figured that's less load and easier to position to massage) and was surprised that massaging the surrounding muscles – massaging itself felt extremely painful but tolerable — ended up bringing major relief, albeit temporary (about an hour or so), allowing me to flex the knee harder but than ever before but without pain As mentioned in the above video, I reckon this has to do with mayofascial release (partially inspired by the video where Kit massages that woman's gracilis during her pancake, and partially inspired by some books I bought — see below) and ultimately, I'm curious as to if there are any pointers or suggestions on what I may able to play with in order to better diagnose the issue (and down the line, the root cause, but that's less of priority right now) for the temporary relief to become one that's more permanent. I think I am on the right track: "...but most people have found that one repetition of the right stretch provides immediate relief—if this is your experience, you know you’re on the right track." Again, this is the first time I am doing manual massage on myself and experiencing relief in this area. For some context, after picking up briefly skimming through the two books mentioned a few days ago — "Rehab science" and "Myofascial Pain" — and after reflecting on my stretching and flexibility objectives for the next few months, I decided to experiment with addressing my (right) knee flexion pain especially since — despite what I consider considerable, for myself, gains in ROM in both hamstring and hip flexors, along with ankle and calve stretching plus strengthening over past few months — this source of pain has not improved much (if at all) over the past 230+ days. Yes — I have some (what I consider for myself) some big (perhaps a little delusional but achievable, I think) goals (e.g. forward fold, seiza position, L-Sit) but want to first eliminate major pains in the body and have annotated a diagram with the target areas (lower numbers mean higher priority). The "Rehab Science" book in particular had suggested massaging (i.e. myofascial release) to begin with and I don't know why I haven't tried that myself 8 months ago. In any case, better late than never because ultimately, I have more information now than before, that massaging the gracilis and other surrounding muscles reduces the pain.

Day 235 of stretching and flexibility journey 3rd consecutive day of lying relaxation practice - I've been performing this practice shortly (but not immediately) after waking up. I find as the day goes on, I'm more resistant to this practice so experimenting with shifting the time window to early in the mornings to see if doing so improves forming the habit Limbered from head to toe - normally, I prefer having some structure and following a routine but today, I felt compelled to just, go with the flow, limbering head to toe (e.g. lats, hip flexor lunge, hamstring elephant walks) and experimented GMB's 3 point bridge, ending with a a few core compression / L-Sit (a huge weakness of mine which I'm certain will be developed overtime) Day 10 of barefoot walking on (homemade) uneven gravel (and a handful stones cheekily "borrowed" from neighbor's lawn) Due to the right plantar fasciitis, I was feeling despair (maybe a little resignation) last week, after taking 2 weeks off of physical activity to rest. But last couple days, spirits are lifted and I'm feeling hopeful Major victory last night with about 30% level of pain at end of the night - over the past few weeks, by end of the day, after taking my dogs for a walk combined with (sometimes) carrying my 5 year old daughter on my shoulders, I feel like a pulsating pain in my (right only) plantar fasciitis but last night, I observed that the level of pain at the end of the day was about 30%. I cannot point to a single thing that's helping but think it's combination of: reducing volume and frequency of training (but still training), foot and ankle and calve strengthening exercises (i.e. calve raises, walking on toes, heel drops) and most importantly: ending the uneven gravel walking session with a single stone lodged into my heel and breathing and relaxing for several minutes

A happy frustration that's serving as a signal that I should hit the sack (screenshot below). After walking on my pebbles — part of treating my plantar fasciitis — I went down a rabbit hole of reading comments and threads; often I use the "like" button as breadcrumbs and just now, got throttle by the system

Day 235 of stretching and flexibility journey > In a similar vein, Liv has strong resistance to doing lying meditation and, during our last conversation, I noted that, often, the practise that one needs to do is the one that one has the most resistance to Stumbled on this comment by Kit and "the most resistance" span resonates with me. I just reset the counter and I'm back again at 2 consecutive days of lying relaxation practice, a habit I am trying to cultivate, one that's more difficult for me to sustain every day. I'm not entirely surprised. Although I am able to stretch every day — becomes there's a physical movement component — I still very much struggle with slowing down and quieting the mind due to consistent whirlwind of thoughts. Giving myself self-compassion and at the same time, continuing to develop perseverance and determination. Summary Followed 17 minute lying relaxation practice (from ST relaxation wiki: 2018 ITS London Day 1) Observation and tiny win: normally the back of my shoulders are lifted away from the floor (i.e. tension) but this time at the start of the practice, I noticed that they (the shoulders) started off resting and making flush contact with the floor. Though cannot point to ONE thing, if I had to guess, the uptick in lying relaxation practice and mindful practice throughout the day helps Observations: struggle with rotating arm and facing palm up; very tight line for me (I believe restriction is felt in pec) First C-R session in 2 weeks - targeted hamstrings, hip flexors, and quads (clip below fast forwarded to appropriate place in timeline) Deliberately limited dorsiflexion during hamstring stretch since toes pointed forwards (not up) felt more restricted and I wanted to target those corresponding muscles Observation: hip flexor range of motion (ROM) continues to increase; I'm able to hold the lunge position longer and able to draw in a few extra deep breathes when driving the heel back towards the wall Observation: in the video, I maybe stretch my back heel (during the lunch positions) maybe an 1 or so but in my body, it felt like a mile Limited workout to 30 minutes - proud of myself for not training to failure and easing myself back in, an unfamiliar feeling; that is, I'm accustomed — when strength training and endurance training — to push push push. Trying to move away from that and towards lower volume, lower frequency in order to avoid injury (although I imagine that at some point I'll want to crank it up to rediscover the moving limit)

Also, although the video covers some tools in the final 10-15 minutes, I thought I drop the website that was shared (and created) by the presenter: https://fibroguide.med.umich.edu/pain-care/self-care/pacing/ Again, you don't need to be officially diagnosed with Fibromyalgia to benefit from the pain care protocols. Of the modules that the (free) resource offers, I think that (for me), the one I can see benefiting me the most is "Activity Pacing", since I can relate to the "People with pain often 'over do' resulting in pain flares up. Pacing can allow activities to get accomplished safely, without flare-ups, and in a manner that conserves energy"

Based on what I experienced over the past 233 days, especially with confidence gained from healing my chronic (20 year plus) right shoulder rotator cuff, I'm sort of discovering (for me) that there are two necessary ingredients for healing pain in my body: Leaning INTO the pain, NOT AWAY Relaxing and relaxing and relaxing while in a state of pain Although I'm sure folks have experienced this themselves and certain that experienced members of this forum understand the reasoning or WHY behind what I'm about to share, but as I put my leg in the (below) cross legged position, and while resting in that position, I feel like a pressure, painful tension build up in (what I think) is the Biceps Femoris and Vastus lateralis / Vastus medialis obliquus. Similar sensation as to what I try to squat. However, when sitting down, after I deliberately contract my hamstrings and isometrically hold for like 10-30 seconds, the pain subsides substantially. So I'm onto something here for myself. Originally, I thought this specific "knee" problem has to do with increase load (i.e. from squatting) but the fact that this pain hurts when I'm sitting leads me to believe the issue stems from both lack of flexibility and/or weakness (i.e. mobility) when put under load. GIF of me contracting the hamstring

Day 233 of stretching and flexibility journey I plan on sitting down for the next hour with my cup of tea and writing a longer post. At the risk of over analysis, I want to a little more closely track my current body pains. If there's anything I learned, over the next couple months, these chronic pains will (hopefully) disappear and although I understand that not all techniques and solutions can be replicated — both in my own body and for other people's bodies — I'd like to come up with a set of hypotheses on what's causing my pain and then through trial and error and some tinkering, see what sicks and what doesn't. Body Scan DOM (delayed onset muscle soreness) located in upper back, around traps and rhomboids - upon further reflection, could also be from the C-R from the recent exercises I added (in video clip below) Unrelated to stretching / muscles but I developed a cold turned into an infection, currently spitting out some phlegm Left hip / TFL chronic pain still present, even when standing idle, without a hip sway, but feels better over last couple weeks of rest - will start rehabbing this with some strength training but more on this in follow up post Resisting the urge to "do more" to speed up recovery. Like so much in life, I'm finding — and constantly rediscovering — the tension between allowing my body to rest, and rehabbing. If there's anything I learned about myself throughout this journey, is that I have a tendency to do too much, not allowing enough recovery. Knowing that about myself, I find that I'm almost every day resisting the urge engage in large volumes and intensities of physical activities that are detrimental to my long term goals. Summary of exercises More walking on home made gravel with an emphasis on maximizing painful sensations in the heel of the foot, shifting majority of weight on to a single point — (as mentioned in the video log) I'm not only focusing on increasing overall foot strength, but I hypothesis that by bringing on the pain in my the specific location(s) in my foot and learning to breathe and relax through them (in the video I captured, there were moments — left out — where I reached a point where I nearly cried but was able to relax and breathe through it) Left shoulder stretch (downward dogs pose but done against the wall) - severely limited ROM and FEELS like fascia adhesion, this sort of sticky sensation. At the same time, the pain is quite similar to the pain I had felt in my right rotator cuff (which I was able to heal and repair during summer, after a couple months of the wall stretch) and though painful right now, I'm fairly confident that this will resolve in a few months (maybe sooner, maybe later). I think that (re)learning how to relax my (left) shoulder so its not always perking up is partially a consequence of the recent relaxation practices Shoulder Exercises Video log of plantar fasciitis recovery journey Don't anticipate anybody to watch/listen to the vlog but I'm hoping to do more of these, mainly for (my future) self.

> If that's the end goal, I suggest grabbing a copy of Overcoming Gravity. It's the gymnastics strength training bible, and it will teach you everything you need to know to start your own programming. Thanks for the suggestion @Nathan. I had my eye on that book last week or so and found several comments (many from you) in the forum where you recommended this book. I ended up purchasing it and it'll arrive this upcoming Tuesday and very much looking forward to digging into it. And before I post another update on DOM (4 days later, I'm feeling tenderness and soreness — the good kind — in my rhomboids. Perhaps related to the monkey gym circuit I followed; could be from the recent pull ups; likely a combination of both. On the topic of books, I recently purchased a couple other books: "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction" and "Rehab Science". The former is listed on the ST recommended reading list and it's been sitting in the corner of my living room for the last 3-4 months; the recent pains (e.g. plantar fasciitis) motivated me to not only better understand pain but to better understand how to diagnose (in my own body) referred pain. For "Myfascial pain and Dysfunction", I've only gone through the first pages of the introduction. And while eye opening, I find the writing a bit terse for me. In any case, will likely refer to it here and not a book I plan to sit down and read through from front to back.

> My recommended resource for anyone wanting to find out about pain that, like pain from fibromyalgia, is chronic and not necessarily related to any current site of injury in the body, is this video, which discusses central pain, and its treatment (inlcudes useful clinical information). @Jim Pickles thanks for sharing this video. I recognize that the comment was from 7 years ago but the video was phenomenal and I believe that I stumbled on it at just the perfect time since I'm currently recovering from multiple (self-induced, apparently) injuries. So many gold nuggets to take away but to enumerate just a few that I find worthwhile: Three underlying mechanisms of pain (i.e. nociceptive, neuropathic, centralized) and how one can/should approach to treating each mechanism The concept of "fibromyalgia" - appreciate his non binary approach and that there's a spectrum and he would not want to reserve the tools that are used to treat fibromyalgia for those who don't fall into the exact definition of fibromyalgia Felt compassion and sadness for my younger self (around 20 years old, 16 years ago) when I was seeing so many different doctors to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), interstitial cystitis, TMJ ... not realizing that these comorbidities were stemming from my brain "30% of people with osteoarthritis of the knee that have their knee replaced don’t get any better. No improvement of their pain" "Tender points counts are totally stupid. those whole person is tender. it doesn’t matter where you push on someoen with Fibromyalgia. if you push on the thumbnail, they are more tender than with someone without Fibromyalgia." The video is quite long (about 2 hours) and for the latter 45 minutes or so, he was going over the various pharmaceutical drugs and I was sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for him to go over non-drug based solutions. Ultimately, I'm glad I hung around to listen to the final 10-15 minutes because I felt so much self-compassion and learned a lot. More specifically, he talks about what typically happens is when someone with chronic flare ups gets a "good day", they end up going all out and re-injuring themselves, what he calls a "maladaptive behavior." This is me in a nutshell. When I've reported injuries over the last couple months, Kit has kindly mentioned in my thread that it's likely a "too much volume" problem and I think I am guilty of ramping up too quickly; I had created a viscous cycle. I'll elaborate more in my own work log but just wanted to say that watching this video was the perfect timing because I was quite literally about to go work out for 1.5 hours since today my plantar fasciitis has not been acting up so much but realized that I would just likely injure myself. Thanks again

Day 230 of stretching and flexibility journey Been full on parenting mode last 2 days (Christmas break for my daughter) and going to put on a little TV of her favorite show so I can squeeze in about 45 minutes of some stretching and strengthening. After reading on the forum about all the benefits of hanging (and single arm hangs progression), I decided to purchase a pull up bar. This is probably the 3rd pull up bar that I've purchased in the last 20 years; back then, my main focus had been on hitting the 20 consecutive pull ups, which I did reach. Presently, more pull ups is not my main focus (although I still consider it a worthwhile goal). This time around, I'm finding the pull up bar really helping with stretching my entire anterior chain (pecs and lats); just hanging there feels incredible and I don't think that I would've appreciated the sensations without dedicating the last 8 months of increasing awareness. Or perhaps I wouldn't have appreciated it as much. Nonetheless, I'm finding the pull up bar really helpful with rehabbing my left shoulder (my right rotator cuff has been healed for a couple months), the pain triggered when putting arms in a position like child's pose. Finally, I *think* that the remaining pain in my body has less to do with restricted ROM and more to due with muscle weakness. For instance, the right knee pain that I feel during a squat can be reduced by increasing awareness to flexing the hamstring; similarly, the pain in my left hip can be felt even when I'm standing in a neutral position, although the pain increases when I sway my hip to the left. In any case, still tweaking and experimenting and going to double down on strength training on hips and feet and shoulder over next couple months, in order to (hopefully) eliminate the remaining body pains.

> Add in some farmers carries into your program Thanks for the suggestion. Curious — is there anything specifically about farmer carriers that makes you want to recommend them?

> Please avoid Gymnastic Bodies. You will find many reasons if you search through the forums. Simply put, the programs are concerned solely with making money. GMB, on the other hand, is a friend of ST (Ryan, specifically, but they are all good people) and makes excellent programs. Lots of free stuff available on their YT channel to try out before investing too. Of course, continuing with the Monkey Gym circuits is great too. Have fun with the DOMS 😆 Thanks for elaborating. Since sharing that I was looking into some strength training programs, I'm currently comfortable with experimenting with following along the monkey gym training (thanks again Ned for linking), along with trying out some of GMB related work. I imagine that sometime in the future, I'll feel more confident with constructing my own programs. Also, the motivation for these strength based training is to eliminate some of the lingering body pains I have that feel different than the aches that I've been able to eliminate (or dramatically reduce in intensity) by stretching.

> My stretched arm both stayed on the wall for the palm facing the wall version this time. I was struggling to keep them on the towel the last time, so it's a huge improvement Nice win! I recall experiencing something similar with that exact stretch. When I had first positioned myself against the wall, I could barely rotate my trunk and I could barely press my stretched arm flush against the wall. And then one day, poof: sort of just happened. Keep it up. > LRP At first, I was like what the f*ck does this mean. And then I recall that you've been so consistent (very admirable) with the lying relaxation practices so I put 2 and 2 together. Then I scrolled up and saw Kit's comment and the acronym has been confirmed.

> An excellent thought! Learn to balance on one leg while standing on the pebbles in the sandbox—while trying to keep the foot as relaxed as you can. Okay, thought this would be a fairly easy task since balancing on a single leg (not standing on pebbles) is fairly easy. But when you bring on the pain cave (in the feet), I'm more wobbly than ever. Also, one of tiny pebbles went rogue and was sitting on hardwood floor, all alone, when I accidentally stepped on it. Fascinating how a single pebble or stone hurts exponentially more than a ton of them spread out unevenly. Anyways, I'm feeling more and more confident that the plantar fasciitis will be something of the past very soon; I know it's been 4-5 days but feeling hopeful. Again, I'll need to remain mindful of the sheer volume of intense exercise and dance I am putting my body under however I feel these feet/ankle/calve strengthening exercises, combined with relaxation and walking on pebbles, will sort me out. Time will tell.

DOM! An unfamiliar and new term and thanks to ST forum search results coming up with Nathan elaborating on the acronym. And totally agree, I expect more muscle soreness over the next couple days

Day 228 of stretching and flexibility journey Mostly limbering (shoulders, neck, hamstrings, hip flexors) this past week, giving my body some time off since even after 7 days, my body is still extremely sore from the 4 hour dance workshop and I'm learning to listen to the body despite resting for that many days does not come easy or naturally Throughout the day, I will walk on my at home gravel (also, my daughter and I love finding new stones when we're out and about and adding it to the collection) I had thought that C-R was the only way to increase ROM however what I'm experiencing is that even as a result of my "limbering" my ROM is increasing and part of that has to do with the fact that I'm able to relax and hold the positions longer. That is, for certain body parts and positions, I'm finding that I'm holding and relaxing sometimes for minutes and the limbering is producing some soreness (not a bad thing). Perhaps I'll reduce the duration of the holds during future limbering sessions My daughter and I collected a handful of stones while we were out and about and added them to the collection Day 01 of strengthening journey Thanks to Ned's suggestion, I went ahead and followed along the monkey gym circuit and read through the corresponding handout guide (super helpful cues and reminders to tighten EVERYTHING in the body during certain holds). As I'm typing this out, I am SORE in a different way than the soreness that typically follows C-R, in a way that reminds me of my weight lifting days. Sort of wish I started monkey gym sooner and at the same time, holding off until I could confidently feel certain muscles engage (like hamstring) is conducive to using proper form During the first round of L-Sit exercise, could not lift both feet off the ground, not even for a split second - love this because I know that, as part of the journey, I'll be able to lift them off the ground in the coming months My core is weaker than I had anticipated - every time Olivia prompted "curl up a little further" I would cry a little inside, my abs begging for mercy Will poke around monkey gym follow along - YouTube recommendation engine suggested a hip flexor and glute strengthening, two areas of mine that I'm finding are quite weak (more supple though, thanks to last 7 months of stretching) Looking back at the footage, I notice that during the "hollow" position, I am compensating since, compared to others in the video, my butt sits higher. Next time, I'll lower my butt position while still doing the tail tuck (helpful cues by the way) Seeing all those folks at monkey gym, I am inspired ... and admire and envy of their ability. I know I am on my own journey, own path, but it is motivating seeing so many strong individuals. Resisting the impulse to buy more books (and do more research) to come up with the "perfect" circuit and for now, just want to get started and build momentum. Of course, I value accumulating more knowledge however I often fall into the trap of thinking and researching and end up procrastinating Could not finish last set in circuit, when Olivia said "Let's do 5 more of these", my body was already (beyond) fatigued by then and I threw in the towel

> There are also a couple of monkey gym circuits on youtube that might also be of interest. Here's one of them. It's my impression (from having tried it at one point) that I'd need to work up to the full volume over multiple sessions or else start with some regressions in the pdf it links to in the description. Whoa. Thanks for sharing @Ned. This is on par with the type of strengthening I'm looking for! The L-sit at 18:00 (ish) minute mark, one of my long term goals (resharing my vision board as a reminder for self)!!! Naturally, I'll skip over the partner based routines (e.g. shoulder stretch at ~6 minute mark) but the rest looks doable.

Day 227 of stretching and flexibility Normally, when I wake up in the morning, I feel pain in two areas: left hip flexor (or TFL) and over the past six weeks or so, plantar fasciitis in my right foot. But today, tiny victory: practically no pain in right foot. I think there's multiple reasons why its healing: Resting - Took a week off of dancing (feels like forever, but in the grand scheme of things, worth it) Walking on my at home gravel setup over the last 3 days - I do wonder: will I need to walk on gravel for the rest of my life if I want to prevent plantar fasciitis from creeping back in? Strengthening exercises (i.e. standing on tip toes, eccentric heel drops) I have the urge to jump into training again and at the same time, I think I'd like to ease myself back into it. Currently exploring strength based programs On another front, I realize that over the past 227 days, I've more or less set aside strength training. I've always had aspirations of doing certain moves and holds from gymnastics, and I'm somewhat drawn to signing up for gymnastics bodies (although I have read numerous threads about ST being banned there). Another program I am looking into is GMB fitness since many of the movements — capoeira like – are similar to what I want to incorporate in my dance. Still another option I am looking into is stepping through the book "Overcoming Gravity", a book that I've seen a few comments where Nathan recommends them. Similar to the starter program here on ST, I could benefit from some structure for strengthening. And then I can imagine, again similar to stretching, creating my own blocks and programs.

Tangent: also love this little touch on the website, the banner at the top. Wishing everyone happy holidays as well