Nathan's Nook

[Kit_L]

Beautiful, beautiful backbend.

[jaja]

Interesting variation! I’m gonna try it asap.

[Mick]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:56 AM, Nathan said:

In the meantime, meditation and stretching continues. I just listened to interviews with Kit and Olivia on the Range of Strength podcast, and I'm feeling more motivated to start pushing ROM more aggressively.

Could you give a bit of detail regarding the difference between stretching 'in the meantime' and starting to push ROM more aggressively? I don't mean general principles. I mean specifically for you & your situation at this moment.

[Nathan]

2 hours ago, Mick said:

Could you give a bit of detail regarding the difference between stretching 'in the meantime' and starting to push ROM more aggressively? I don't mean general principles. I mean specifically for you & your situation at this moment.

Sure! I basically have a handful of stretches that I do daily as maintenance. These will vary a bit depending on how I'm feeling, but they always tend to include passive back bending over the baby whale and hip flexors. Forward and/or rotational spinal movements, neck stretches, some light shoulder work, etc. are also common. I always push my daily limits very gently unless I feel a reason not to (not well rested, etc.), but the emphasis isn't on gaining ROM so much as keeping my body happy.

Another way of putting it is I'm not actively working toward any specific flexibility goals (end positions) at this time. By pushing more aggressively, I simply meant that I'm considering choosing a few goals to work toward more actively. I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking perhaps a nice full bridge and maybe front splits. Side splits is tempting, but I think front will come more easily for me. I should probably focus on my weak links, too, which would be shoulder flexion and addressing a lack of external rotation in the left hip.

I'm planning on sitting down to choose some goals (flexibility and otherwise) soon, but I've been flooded with work suddenly over the past few days 

[Mick]

Thanks for sharing, much appeciated!

After watching a video snippet of you doing Jefforson curls a while back with what seemed like full range of motion in your hamstrings, I had assumed you would be able to do a front split already. Is it because of restrictions in hip flexors? Or could you do front splits in the past and just didn't maintain it?

These are simply curiosity questions.

On a more practical note, I have been waiting for a friend of mine to make a baby whale (he just finished my Sheena board!). But it might be a couple of months before he's done (or gets started!) so after reading your recent posts I just found a video recorded by Olivia - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrdKPJPrIlg - and tried it now. Definitely one I'll start doing regularly from now on so, thanks again!

 

[Nathan]

On 8/4/2020 at 4:55 AM, Mick said:

After watching a video snippet of you doing Jefforson curls a while back with what seemed like full range of motion in your hamstrings, I had assumed you would be able to do a front split already. Is it because of restrictions in hip flexors? Or could you do front splits in the past and just didn't maintain it?

Yeah, I have pretty good hamstring flexibility. I got my head to toe a long time ago. I've improved my hip flexors a lot since then too. Honestly, I've just never tried for the front split. Might be time 

On 8/4/2020 at 4:55 AM, Mick said:

Definitely one I'll start doing regularly from now on so, thanks again!

Awesome! Baby whales are lovely, but you can back bend over anything. Enjoy! 

[Kit_L]

1 hour ago, Nathan said:

Honestly, I've just never tried for the front split. Might be time 

If you can't, then it won't be because of lack of hamstring flexibility! That can only mean hip flexors........

Seriously for a moment, I doubt very much that you can't do front splits.

[Jim Pickles]

Well, if you have the hamstring flexibility, you could lie over your front leg in a split, and this wouldnt involve the hip flexors at all.

Jim.

[Kit_L]

I was speaking about 'normal' people @Jim Pickles!

This was taken at the last public teaching at FalseGrip, in Sydney—I can't tell you how much I wanted someone just to sit on my back leg for a moment!

[Nathan]

3 hours ago, Kit_L said:

This was taken at the last public teaching at FalseGrip, in Sydney—I can't tell you how much I wanted someone just to sit on my back leg for a moment!

Where's Dr. Beck when you need him?  Beautiful!

In other news, I haven't set my new goals yet, but I did decide on one. After listening to Kit's and Olivia's interviews on the Range of Strength podcast, I listened to Emmet's interviews and then decided it was time to check out his HandstandFactory podcast. It had been downloading on my phone for a while, but I hadn't listened yet, so I binged all of the minisodes  With handstands on my mind, I decided it was time to finally conquer my nemesis, and even better if I could help support a friend, so I grabbed their Push program.

I'm also going to start looking for a good hill nearby to start doing my sprint intervals again. Handstand, sprints, and a handful of flexibility goals is probably enough for now, actually. I can always add more later!

[Nathan]

I tried my first session of Push on Wednesday. I picked one of the intermediate templates since it's a beginner program, but nope  I'm thoroughly deconditioned at this point. So I went back to the absolute beginner template yesterday. It's actually kind of nice starting at the beginning! I'm doing the shoulders and pike flexibility templates in tandem, though, since at least my flexibility isn't deconditioned  Pike is adequate, so I'm mainly just adding that for the compression (cramps!). Shoulder flexion needs work, though. And lats are tight, as usual  Let's see if I can finally get that handstand!

[mytype1collagenis2tight]

Hey Nathan, I started Push back in June. Haha I can relate: I did the Beginner’s template for 2.5 mesocycles. I moved on to the Strong-Lacking Flexibility template, started with half rep/set scheme and working my way up slowly. Are you still doing the program?

Personally, I’ve found it to be fun to ‘catch’ a handstand for a couple seconds, enjoying those moments of inertia. 

[Nathan]

On 1/13/2021 at 1:15 AM, mytype1collagenis2tight said:

Are you still doing the program?

You just had to go and ask! 

No, I'm afraid handstand training remains my arch-nemesis... for now. I can definitely relate to the part about catching a handstand, though. I've managed that enough times to know how nice it feels. Hopefully I'll shift back into a training-focused phase before too long 

[mytype1collagenis2tight]

1 hour ago, Nathan said:

Hopefully I'll shift back into a training-focused phase before too long

Hey no pressure from me! Actually was more curious what you thought of the program if you were working it. They’ve put together a great program.

I’ve managed to get by doing 2 workouts a week, max. The glacial pace and low volume I’ve kept to help it truly feel like ‘playing/skill’ time and not outright exercise. I may have a huge banana back handstand still, but it’s loads of fun nonetheless to feel more confident upside-down.

Hope you pick it back up! I bet you have excellent shoulder flexion and could get a stacked handstand relatively quickly. 

[Nathan]

26 minutes ago, mytype1collagenis2tight said:

Actually was more curious what you thought of the program if you were working it. They’ve put together a great program.

Well, I did watch all of the videos and read the manual. The work is top-notch, as I would expect from Emmet. The podcast is great too, if you haven't checked it out yet!

27 minutes ago, mytype1collagenis2tight said:

Hope you pick it back up!

I absolutely will!