Nathan's Nook

[Nathan]

Thanks, Kit!

 

In my last session, once I had gotten the legs on the floor, I left the weights on my thighs and attempted to push myself forward from behind as Matt suggested. I indeed found my glutes pulling off of the floor and up and over the feet. I did not think to come so far forward as to be able to balance in that position. I will give it a try and report back!

[Nathan]

Did my morning routine and lying relaxation over the weekend. Just finished a light session today. Started with Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• RTO L-sits
  
• Bar Pull Ups: Decided to swap these for chin ups since that's what I'm using for heavy days.
  
• Single Bar Wide Dips: Decided to work the single bar dips with the widest grip I can get on my bar, which really isn't that wide. It gives enough of a new stimulus to work for a few weeks.
  
• Ring Rows
  
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Hit 3x15 here, so going to increase the lean next session.
  
• Shrimp Squats
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. CR still feeling solid. Slowly upping the JC reps. Love the decompression at the bottom.

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, piri, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+7.5kg per leg). Have started stretching the calves before pike bounces, which makes the bounces feel smoother. Also tried raising the feet during the pancake bounces, which made pushing down through the knees easier and felt better overall. Will continue like this and see how it goes. Also tried Kit's suggestion on tailor, but underestimated the pressure it would put on the outside of the feet so had to abort this time. Will need more than a thin yoga mat... Will try again next session.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Just finished a skill/accessory session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
  
• RTO Support Holds
  
• Rings Muscle Ups: Again mostly transitions and FG hangs.
  
• Headstand Presses: Feeling really nice progress here. Love that period of quick gains when negatives are more about the pattern than the strength. Played with various hand placement. Parallettes seem to be a good option.
  
• Manna Work: Decided to add this to skill days. Will be pretty minimal. Did some retraction work with hips on a balance ball. If wrists seem up to it I want to work manna wall slides back in over the next few sessions.
  
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression)
  
• Pike/Straddle Compression
  
• Natural Leg Extensions: Doing these mostly as an active stretch, but maintaining tension throughout results in a nice burn too. Hit 3x8 at current ROM so will increase ROM next session.
  
• Skin the Cats (tuck) and Shawarma
  

Pretty nice session overall today. Now to get a job finished! Lying relaxation to come before bed.

[Nathan]

Keeping up with daily Taiji prep and limbering and nightly lying relaxation even though I don't always write it down. Haven't missed a day of lying relaxation since I started. Truthfully I can't say I've noticed much different, but that might just mean I have a lot more parasitic tension to work through I do find myself repeating "breathe... and relax" during long stretches sometimes though

 

Yesterday evening I did my Yuri sequences, dislocates, HS, and a stretching session: shoulder opener, foot-elevated bridges, HF, adv. piri, pike w/calf focus, hover pancakes, pancake, tailor pose, and I played with figure four. Piri stretches never really click with me, but last night I just hung out in the stretch for a lot longer than usual. I always feel the tension at the crease of the hip on top and in surrounding tissues, but after I hung out long enough that started to fade and I think I might have felt my left piri for the first time   I think I need to stick to long holds with piri for a while so that we can get acquainted.

 

Also, it's been just about two months since I redesigned my training sessions and started focusing more on flexibility, so I'm doing some comparisons. I didn't take pics of everything to start, but the shoulder opener stretch is one that I did get. I posted a comparison on IG yesterday: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCxngaLvKoh/ I feel like it's not bad progress for two months, especially considering how locked up my thoracic and shoulders were to start. Will follow up with more comparisons later.

 

Heavy session to come shortly!

[Nathan]

Just finished my heavy session. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Parallettes: Taking this more toward a MSH progression.
  
• Weighted Chin Ups: First session with 30kg. 3x3 felt pretty solid.
  
• RTO Dips: Added an extra set here today. Difficulty felt around the same, so I may add one more.
  
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Going to keep this straddle and try extending out enough that I can only push 5s or so per hold.
  
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
  
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Took these up to 25kg this time. Pretty tough.
  
• Deadlifts: I think I've settled on a stance somewhere between conventional and sumo. I got into position and then just let my hips choose the width that felt best. I guess they know best, because it felt really solid!
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls. Moving a bit closer with dislocates. Accidentally used the higher weight with CR - wondered why they felt so much harder today

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+7.5kg per leg). Did a long hold for adv. piri and felt the stretch there much quicker today. After doing my pulses with tailor, I found I can simply roll the pelvis a bit while pushing off the wall with my back for an extra stretch. Will work that until I can get some more range folding forward.

 

Posted another comparison on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCz7PgEPKi9/ Butcher's block this time. I was surprised how different it looks, particularly because it doesn't feel like it's gotten any better. Can't wait to see what another two months does!

[Nathan]

Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS yesterday evening before lying relaxation. I'm inching closer and closer to shoulder width on the unweighted dislocates, which is kind of cool.

 

Posted my two-month pancake comparison: https://www.instagram.com/p/BC2ONyUvKkf/ 

I started raising the feet because it felt more stable than letting them hang off the edges of the table, which forces me to really focus on locking the knees out. With the feet raised, it's easier to focus on the fold at the hips. I'm not sure, but it feels like pretty substantial progress for two months. Maybe I'll be close enough by the time the Singapore workshop comes to warrant Kit getting into that gracilis area fascia for me 

[Nathan]

Light session today. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• RTO L-sits
  
• Bar Chin Ups
  
• Single Bar Wide Dips
  
• Ring Rows
  
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Increased the lean a couple cm and dropped down to 3x10. Felt about right, so will continue with this lean until 3x15.
  
• Shrimp Squats: Doing the adv. version with both hands behind the back - 3x13 today. The movement feels quite different depending on how quickly I get my torso against the working leg.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC. Dropped CR back down to the planned weight - much better  

Flexibility: Adv. piri hold. Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg). Nice long hold on the adv. p stretch. I was considering using less weight with tailor at first, but my legs get close to the ground before actually using the weight, so adding extra weight for the bounces seems to make more sense to build strength. Rolled the pelvis forward at the end again and got a pretty nice stretch.

 

Posted my pike comparison yesterday on IG: https://www.instagram.com/p/BC5HUaIvKlR/ As I mentioned there, it's not really a fair comparison for a few reasons. But I feel like even my pike is very slowly improving, which is nice!

 

Lying relaxation to come before bed.

[zenwoof]

Awesome progress pics. Clearly your persistence is paying off!

[Nathan]

Thanks zen!

 

Speaking of persistence, I just took a week off  But it was intentionally, so we'll just call it a deload!   Went on a little trip that included some apartment hunting in a nearby area that we're considering moving to, and then headed further north to Hiroshima where I participated in a Tom Weksler workshop. I've been a fan of Tom for a while after seeing some of his videos on YouTube. I love this one:

 

 

Hiroshima is not close, but it's also not incredibly far so I couldn't pass up the opportunity when I found out he would be doing a workshop there. It was great! It made me realize that I really need a more varied practice. I found out just how limited my repertoire of movement is that is truly within my body and not only my mind (and thus does not require careful thought to produce). The partner work was very interesting, as this is something I have very little experience with. My practices are almost all done alone. I look forward to exploring what we covered more in the future!

 

And now I'm off to do a light session!

[Nathan]

Just finished up the last of my light day menu. Had to split it into several blocks due to scheduling. Started with Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• RTO L-sits
• Bar Chin Ups
• Single Bar Wide Dips
• Ring Rows
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups
• Shrimp Squats

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC.

Flexibility: Adv. piri hold. Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg).

 

Thought that today might be tough after taking a week off, especially considering that the majority of that week I was either slightly or significantly sleep deprived. Overall the session went fine, though, and I managed to progress most of the movements as planned. Maybe I'll be sore tomorrow... not something I get to experience too often

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Taiji prep and limbering this morning, and back at it with my stretch sessions this evening. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by: shoulder opener, foot-elevated bridge, HF, adv. piri, pike w/calf focus, hover pancake, pancake, tailor pose, and figure four. Still just hanging out in the adv. p stretch. It seems to get progressively more intense during the hold, which is interesting. The figure four stretch needs a lot of work, so glad I added that in.

 

Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Seems like forever since my last skill/accessory session. Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel: Increased the ROM a bit on these.
• RTO Support Holds
• Rings Muscle Ups: Transitions and FG hangs.
• Headstand Presses: Went back to the floor with more of a turnout at the wrists. Was getting some pretty solid negative reps pretty much all the way down to the floor. Felt it in the mid-low back.
• Manna Work: Gave the wall slides a go and the wrists felt fine, so I think I'll do a few sets of these each session for a while.
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression)
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions: Increased ROM here. Feels pretty good.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Overall really nice session. Most movements feeling really solid. Have some tightness in my neck/traps that I will try to work out later. Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Yesterday: Taiji prep and limbering in the morning. Stretch session in the evening. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by shoulder opener, HF, adv. piri, pike w/calf focus, hover pancake, pancake, tailor pose, and figure four. Neck/traps was really sore - not sure if it was from the manna wall slides or if I was using the neck too much during the press negatives despite focusing on not. Skipped bridges and did some trap/scalene stretches instead. Lying relaxation before I slept.

 

Today was a heavy session. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Parallettes (straddle)
• Weighted Chin Ups
• RTO Dips: Stuck with 4 sets. Felt solid, so will probably up reps and drop back to 3 and see how that feels.
• Front Lever ISO Progression
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Still tough! Focused on keeping a full grip on the bar.
• Deadlifts: Liking the middle ground stance. 90kg felt easy. Just about out of plates.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls.

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg). Adv. piri long hold.

 

All in all pretty good session, although neck/traps were still really sore. Hoping that dissipates over the weekend! Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Sat/Sun just did my morning routine, Yuri sequences, HS, dislocates, and lying relaxation at night.

 

Was planning on doing my usual light session today, but I still have some trap/neck pain so I swapped out my Tuesday stretch session: shoulder opener, figure four, HF, adv. piri and forward fold piri, tailor pose, pike w/calf focus, hover pancake, and pancake. I've been playing with the forward fold piri stretch, i.e. butterfly stretch with the feet extended further out away from the groin. I like it. It seems to hit the area in a different way than the adv. p stretch. Also tried something new with tailor. Stuck a yoga block behind my back once I got into the stretch, which allowed me to push the pelvic tilt more easily. Worked well, so I will continue like this until I don't need the block any more.

 

Hopefully neck is feeling better by tomorrow so I can do my light session. Lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Did some rolling on my traps/lats/pecs last night before lying relaxation and slept with the shoulders feeling pretty good. Still a bit sore/tight this morning, but felt good enough to do my training. Limbering and Taiji prep in the morning, and light session afterward. Started with Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• RTO L-sits
• Bar Chin Ups: Started off feeling strong, but last set was tough.
• Single Bar Wide Dips: Hit 3x15 on these, but going to do one more session of 3x15 before moving on.
• Ring Rows
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups
• Shrimp Squats: Hit 3x15 on these too. Not sure what I'll switch to next session.

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC.

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, extended butterfly (piri), standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg). Going to continue with the long adv. p holds on my relaxed stretching days and try out the butterfly with ballistics for a while. Seems to be well suited for this style of stretch. Got the yoga block further down behind my back during tailor's pose which allowed me to get some really good forward pelvic tilt. Legs stay on the floor, so it really hits the groin area along with the hips.

 

Don't feel like I upset the neck/traps with anything I did today. Hopefully they feel fine in the morning! If so, I'll probably do a skill session. Otherwise, I might rest a bit longer.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[LukeMM]

You can try to hit 50 reps with the minimum amount of sets, if all variations are too easy.

[Nathan]

Hey Luke, thanks for the suggestion. I've still got a few options, just not sure which I'll go with. I could add weight, but since this is my light session I'll probably just add ROM by doing them elevated or maybe do dragon squats or something more complex.

[Nathan]

Left trap area still not 100% but decided to go ahead with the skill session today. Rolling the pec minor seems to reduce the pain, so I'm starting to think that my tight pecs are the source of more problems than I realized   Been working on that, but may have to up the priority.

 

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
• RTO Support Holds
• Rings Muscle Ups: Decided to use this time to work on strengthening scap depression. Mostly doing some one- and two-arm hanging shrug work.
• Headstand Presses: Did some of the straddle negatives against the wall. Played with a different setup with unfavorable results. Best not to try to get too far from the wall without a good freestanding handstand 
• Manna Work: Skipped this today as I have a feeling the tight pec pulling against the strong depression/retraction needed for these is what upset my traps/neck last time.
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression)
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Took it pretty easy for the most part, but got a bit of quality work in. Headed out for the next couple of days to do some more apartment hunting, so will be getting some good R&R in hopefully

 

Lying relaxation to come.

[AndeL]

Something to try re the pecs, get in a lying pec stretch and have someone do some work on the tight lines post a contraction or two. This really helped me a lot, but go deep on the stretch and the massage too. They can grab the whole muscle/line and stretch it further. Surprisingly this really released my wrists for false grip.

 

Not sure if this will help, but you don't need a good handstand to get away from the wall a bit, just learn to bail. eg you can practice cartwheels & chest to wall overbalance to cartwheel. Doesn't have to be pretty, but this will reduce fear in freestanding attempts. 

[Nathan]

Hey Ande, thanks for the tip. How would the other person assist in the pec stretch? Would they manually adjust the shoulder? Or move the arm? I'm having a hard time visualizing what would work well, but I play with lots of different lines while doing my Yuri bands sequence. It works nicely, although there's a lot of resistance going through the spine, etc. to keep the shoulder in place against the pull of the band.

 

And I actually don't have any problem bailing from a handstand. I rigged together a setup that had my hands almost locked into position and I imagined my feet just barely touching a bar above (with nothing between the top bar and a bar near the floor), but the top bar was too high so I just fell straight through with a bar at the bottom blocking my hands from pirouetting and bars on both sides blocking me from spinning out until I had fallen through the other side. Luckily I don't have any fear problems with falling so my body reacted and I managed to land it with minimal damages

[AndeL]

haha sounds like a bad dream. You should be filming next time you are getting creative 

 

A while back I had a fall when kicking up to a doorway I thought was just the right height, which ended up being a bit too high. I panicked and lost all sense of where I was.

[Nathan]

Ha... funny thing is, I actually was recording. But I work out at home... often unclothed... so while I did feel the urge to share the video, I decided deleting it was best

[Nathan]

Thursday and Friday went out of town. Found a new place... will be moving soon. Did lying relaxation, but otherwise just relaxed. Got a few long (20-30 min.) tailor pose stretches in on the bus too

 

Heavy session today. Started with bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS.

• V-sit on Parallettes (straddle)
  
• Weighted Chin Ups: Progress feels like it has slowed a bit, but progress is progress!
  
• RTO Dips: Went back to three sets. Last set was tough.
  
• Front Lever ISO Progression
  
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings
  
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Still working on keeping a full grip on the bar. Added an extra set. These felt solid today.
  
• Deadlifts: These are still feeling really solid.
  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, and Jefferson curls.

Flexibility: Ballistics for HF, standing pike w/dorsiflexion, seated pancake, extended butterfly, and tailor's pose (+10kg per leg).

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep!

[Nathan]

Yesterday just did my morning routine along with Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS. Quick lying relaxation in the evening. Today was a light session. Started with the Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• RTO L-sits: Did these on the floor today. Been a long time since I did any L-sit work on the floor, so figured I would make sure it was still there. Felt surprisingly strong, so I was happy with that.
• Bar Chin Ups: 3x12 today. These are tough with the short rest. Getting to 3x15 is not fun with this one
• Single Bar Wide Dips: Did an extra 3x15 with these today. Will move on to something else next session.
• Ring Rows
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups
• Pistol Squats (hands behind the head): Started out trying elevated shrimp on the way down into a pistol coming up. Decided to just stick to a harder pistol variation instead, so went with hands behind the head. Will go with hands behind the back after I work up to 3x15. Used this progression before and it worked pretty well.

Followed by:

Prehab: Butcher's block, weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and tucked STC.

Flexibility: Usually do my ballistics today, but lost a good chunk of the day to working out our moving plans. Will do the ballistic session earlier tomorrow, and my more relaxed session in the evening.

 

Lying relaxation to come before sleep.

[Nathan]

Big job due in a couple days. Didn't get in my stretching sessions yesterday, but still did my morning stuff, Yuri sequences, dislocates, HS, and lying relaxation at night. Today was a skill session.

 

Bouncing, Yuri sequences, handstands, and dislocates, followed by:

• Ab Wheel
• RTO Support Holds
• Rings Muscle Ups: Used this time again for some hanging scap depression/retraction work.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall again. No experimental setups this time 
• Manna Work: Skipped this again today. Neck/traps still tight, although it didn't seem to get worse last time, so pretty sure the manna slides at least played a big part in that.
• Tuck V to Partial Press (on parallettes, for compression)
• Pike/Straddle Compression
• Natural Leg Extensions
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Told myself I might do the missed ballistics later tonight, but it's looking like tomorrow night will be an all-nighter. Gonna focus on finishing up this job and get back on schedule this weekend! Lying relaxation to come before sleep.