Nathan's Nook

[Nathan]

Earlier this year I started doing some MISS (jogging) in addition to my HIIT (sprints). Had never really done MISS and out of convenience, I ended up jogging mostly downhill. After a while, I developed some pain in my right knee (lateral) that was particularly strong when going down stairs. Didn't pay much attention to it for a while, but later did some searching and ITB syndrome seemed to describe the symptoms pretty well. So I dropped all jogging and sprints until yesterday (been a good while now) and started getting into the ITB nightly with my bigger ball. Unfortunately I still have some lateral knee pain (mostly in certain bent-leg positions), although none walking down stairs like before. You have any experience with this kind of thing? Definitely open to suggestions

And yes, coming back to anything 100% after a layoff is a bad idea. I speak from experience as well... My worst was coming back to a crazy arm workout with a friend in HS - literally couldn't bend my arms the next day even if I leaned my body against them! The silly things we do  

[Nathan]

Legs pretty sore today, but not much more than yesterday. Pretty sure it's carryover from the high-rep HBB pistols, so sprints seem fine. Will do another half session tomorrow. Just finished a skill/accessory session.

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

• Ab Wheel: Abs are still fried from skill session on Friday. Tried one rep here and said no thank you
• RTO Support Holds: Stuck with two sets here.
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression and shawarma.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Stuck with singles. May pair next time depending on how I feel.
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Working with reps still.
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Change up how I do these every now and then. Tried compressing and then maintaining while pushing off the floor with arms. Nice variation.
• Natural Leg Extensions Threw in a few sets of these extended clamshells here. Hoping they'll help with the ITB.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Again, keeping it pretty short and simple. Going to have to focus the majority of my effort on light and heavy days more than usual because of the calorie deficit. That's going pretty much as expected so far. Looking to end the quick cut around late/end of June.

Registered for the Singapore ST for Performance workshop yesterday. Can't wait! Gives me some extra motivation to start including my off-day stretch sessions again.

Stretching/lying relaxation to come.

[MattPark]

I had the same thing a few years ago from long distance running. One day out of no where  I started getting lateral knee pain mid run but kept going which was a mistake haha. Afterwards couldn't bend my leg for 3 days as it was excruciatingly painful!! I had to strap my knee up with a compression bandage to limit the rom so I could walk haha.

Took a few months off running, kept lifting fine, pain went within a week but the ITB still was catching over my knee when going into knee flexion but next time I ran same exact thing happened just as bad. So I never ran again haha.

What I found was lots of foam roller/lacrosse ball/barbell rolling all your leg muscles especially TFL I found released the tension from the muscles which were pulling on the ITB. Over a period of weeks I essentially got rid of it. Was the softest my legs have ever been haha. Kelly Starrett said attacking the ITB  directly isn't effective as its literally just a thick fibrous band of tissue and to get into all the muscle surrounding it.

I have never fully gotten rid of it though the catching is gone but I get very minimal lateral knee pain on that side my left side when my quads and TFL are tight and that side is always tighter than my right. I've never had an issue with sprints though.

Hope this provides some sort of help!

[Nathan]

Hey, thanks!

Yeah, I never had any issue at all with sprints. It wasn't until I added in jogging that I had any problem. I think it was the downhill jogs, but who knows. I think I've heard Kelly (or someone) talk about hitting the ITB directly not being effective. I try to roll the whole side of the leg, and I definitely get huge releases of tension - especially up near the hip (maybe TFL?). I have a feeling I need to hit the hip area a lot more, from the HF all the way around back to the glutes. Perhaps even the calves.

Luckily it didn't get bad enough that I couldn't walk, although I did avoid stairs for a few weeks! Will expand my rolling a bit and see how it goes. Thanks again!

[Nathan]

Did another half session of sprints yesterday as planned. Legs seem fine. Had a heavy session planned for today, but moved it to tomorrow due to other plans. Will be my first heavy session since coming off my short break/starting this mini-cut, so will be interesting to see how that goes. Will do full sprint sessions next week.

Nightly stretching and lying relaxation continues. I decided that rather than doing full separate stretch sessions on non-training days I'm going to expand my nightly stretching to touch on a few more areas (HF primarily and a bit more of tailor pose) and throw in some thoracic/shoulder stuff off and on throughout the week. Will see how that works out for a while.

[Nathan]

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last heavy session! I knew it had been a while since I did some schedule shifts, etc. before taking a short break, but when writing out my plan for today I noticed it had been just under a month since the last session. Add to that the calorie deficit and today was a tough one

Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): This felt really solid - probably because I weight less right now!
• Weighted Chin Ups: Tried jumping in at the same weight I left off at, but it was a bit of a struggle. Dropped a couple kilos for the remaining sets and will work back up.
• RTO Dips: These felt fairly tough, too. Had planned for an extra set, so just called it at the original three.
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Pulling into half lay. Not too much of a struggle, but a small bit of regression. Should come back quickly.
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings: These actually felt surprisingly solid. Lower weight again, I assume.
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) Kept the same weight as before, but dropped to 3x3. Tough!
• Deadlifts: Did sets working up 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 100kg. Felt pretty easy before the break, so still doesn't feel too heavy now. Will continue to work up sets and reps before considering ordering more plates  

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and German hang instead of STC today. Progressing weights as usual, but less volume on these movements right now since energy is limited.

Overall felt like a good session considering the circumstances. I should be back up to par and progressing on all movements within another couple of sessions.

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Rested yesterday. Will be going on a little business trip Fri.-Mon. so I'll be doing a bit of schedule shifting again this week. Will be doing a skill/accessory session tomorrow and a light session on Thursday, with sprints today and Wednesday. Decided to keep the sprints at half sessions this week.

Finished today's sprints a couple hours ago. Added a bit of distance over last session, so speed is increasing although probably a fair bit down from where I left off previously. Hard to make a direct comparison since I sprint uphill and I'm using a different hill now. Still some discomfort in the right ITB/lateral knee, but seems to be less than during my first session.

Have added a nightly stretch that looks like what is apparently called fire log pose (agnistambhasana) in Yoga. I start by relaxing until my top knee is close to the foot below, and then make it a forward bend. Hoping that this will help hit piri and even out the external rotation imbalance I have between legs. I really need to get more HF work in, though!

Stretching and lying relaxation later.

[Nathan]

Just finished today's skill/accessory session.

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

• Ab Wheel: Abs still weaker since going into deficit, but managed three sets of five today.
• RTO Support Holds: Stuck with two sets here. Might not progress the sets until I end this mini-cut.
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression and shawarma. Shawarma feeling more solid.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Still singles. As above, may wait until eating more before pairing.
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Almost fell backward today but caught myself and held it there while struggling to push back  
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Still starting with compression before pushing off.
• Natural Leg Extensions Upped the reps on the extended clamshells.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Nice and easy. Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Just finished morning sprints and a nice walk. Great weather! Very little pain in the lateral knee/ITB area during today's sprints. I felt like I was going to take flight on the first sprint... it was all downhill (going uphill) after that  I have to remind myself that I usually don't sprint fasted, so comparing speed (and how quickly it drops off) isn't really fair. Still, the lack of pain and the fact that my body really let me produce some good speed is a nice sign. Hams were completely fried after the last interval, which is unusual for me.

Overall great session!

[Nathan]

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

• Floor L-sits: Abs aren't sore like before, but long holds are still a lot tougher in a deficit.
• Bar Chin Pull Ups: Was able to push out a little bit extra today. Tiny progression is still progression  
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes)
• Ring Rows: Didn't like the angle with these, so I raised the feet. Managed to keep reps same.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Made a distance (lean) mistake and was wondering why the first two sets felt so easy  Corrected and did two more sets at the proper lean.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): Managed to push out a tiny bit extra here too, which is a pretty good improvement since these were grinders last session.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls. Had to stop JC after one set and cut STC because of something work-related. Prehab is feeling closer to normal, so numbers are all coming back up.

Stretching and lying relaxation to come. Will be out of town for a work-related conference tomorrow through Monday, so training and diet on hold until Tuesday 

[Nathan]

Had an enjoyable trip to Sendai. Ate lots of good food, spent some good time with colleagues. Was a nice break from training/diet, although I still kept things moderate and ended up walking close to 30,000 steps per day, so I wasn't just laying around on the beach or anything  

Back into the swing of things today with a hybrid session. Schedule called for a heavy session, but wanted to do my heavy FS/DL at the end of the week. So heavy upper body and did my light programming for legs. May keep this swap going for a few weeks just to mix things up! Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Still feeling solid - getting some good push away from the arms.
• Weighted Chin Ups: Stuck with the lower weight and tacked on an extra set. Will work back up before raising the weight back.
• RTO Dips
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Tried alternating between pulling into and lowering into, but setup doesn't really work for lowering. Will stay with pulls. Added a set.
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings: Added a set here, too.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): Upped these to 3x11. Last couple reps were tough.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and STC. Added a set to JC.

Progress is feeling slow, but I'm still happy overall with the general trend. Was planning to end this mini-cut at the end of June, but I may extend it a bit longer depending on how I feel once the time comes.

Stretching and lying relaxation before bed.

 

[Nathan]

Sprint intervals in the pouring rain this morning. One of the pros of sprinting is that once the sprints start, rain/weather is pretty much the last thing on your mind  Felt nice and strong, and went a fair bit further than usual. Probably still plenty of glycogen in the cells following my short break/trip  

Skill session tomorrow. Stretching and lying relaxation later tonight.

[Nathan]

Short skill/accessory session today. 

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

• Ab Wheel: Still feel weak here for some reason, but managed my 3x5.
• RTO Support Holds: Just one hold today because of some lingering soreness around right scap/neck area.
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression and shawarma. Increase shawarma reps.
• Handstand Presses: Straddle negatives against the wall. Still singles. Felt tougher than usual today.
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Can really feel the lower traps working.
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Did flutters for pike and circles for straddle.
• Natural Leg Extensions Upped the reps again to 10 on the extended clamshells. Get a nice burn at the end.
• Skin the Cats (tuck)

Had more residual soreness today than expected - guessing from Tuesday's heavy session, but even some from stretching. Still overall fine session. Sprints tomorrow and light UB heavy LB on Saturday if all goes as planned. Stretching and lying relaxation later tonight.

[Nathan]

Did a quick sprint interval half-session this morning. Hit around the same distance as last time, so I guess it wasn't all extra glycogen  Haven't decided if I will continue this large deficit into July, but I'll be relaxing the constraints a bit, which means I'll probably start doing sprint sessions fed instead of fasted (whey+banana shake prior). Should be a nice little boost!

Stretching and lying relaxation later tonight.

[Nathan]

Did my light UB/heavy LB session today. Yuri sequences, dislocates, and handstands, followed by:

• Floor L-sits
• Bar Chin Pull Ups: More progression here.
• Pike HSPU (on parallettes): Even at a lower progression these are tough at the higher end of reps. Managed my 3x13 today, will try for 3x14 next session.
• Ring Rows: Added a set and focusing on quality. These felt really good today.
• Pseudo Planche Push Ups: Proper lean. Felt solid.
• Front Squat Pistols: (Butcher's block before) 3x3 again. Started out feeling really heavy, but was better after focusing on pushing the chest up.
• Deadlifts: First rep at 95kg felt really heavy today. Again, think it was form related because 100kg felt light again after some adjustments.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and STC. Was cooking at the same time as I was finishing up my workout and cut the JC for time/convenience. It's not really a focus at the moment, either.

June is coming to a close and I'm still debating what to do diet-wise. Think I'm going to come out of the huge deficit and eat normally on training days while slowly bringing the carbs back up on non-training days. Basically end the deficit really slowly. No particular end goal or anything, so no need to push either way. One good thing is that I've upped my vegetable intake quite a bit during the deficit - want to try to keep it up as I come out. Vitamins!

Stretching and lying relaxation before bed.

 

[Nathan]

Hybrid heavy UB/light LB today. 

Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Increasing hold times here. Still feeling solid.
• Weighted Chin Ups: Increased reps on first set, but dropped back down. Feels so heavy lately  
• RTO Dips
• Front Lever ISO Progression: Four sets. Going to switch to FL row progression here soon.
• Tucked Planche Holds on Rings: Four sets. Will probably switch this one to planche push up progression on parallettes.
• Pistol Squats (hands behind back): 3x12. Ouch!

Followed by:

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

It feels like my heavy work has taken a bigger hit due to the deficit than the high-rep work, which is the opposite of what I expected. Looking forward to eating more and going heavier soon

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Skill/accessory session today. 

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

• Ab Wheel: 3x5 felt more solid today. Think I figured something out with form/tension.
• RTO Support Holds: Back up to two holds. Both felt really solid.
• Rings Muscle Ups: One-armed scap depression and shawarma.
• Handstand Presses: Tried a pike press negative - not happening  Really felt it in the lower back. Finished off with the usual straddle negatives.
• Manna Work: Retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Tried a different hand placement (facing out sideways). No big difference.
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Static holds today.
• Natural Leg Extensions 3x10 on the extended clamshells with no rest aside from swapping back and forth between sides.
• Skin the Cats (tuck): Just went down into a deep GH and stayed there for a bit today.

I'm always avoiding handstand work as much as possible, but I kicked up into a freestanding hold today and it felt magical. Then I did it again and it felt even more magical. Still not enough to make me want to train them more, though  

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

June was the month of (fat) loss. July will be the month of GAINZ!! /maniacal laughter

Just started July off with some sprints... this time fed (not fasted). Felt nice... but that said, I didn't actually get any extra distance over my last session  Regardless, looking forward to bringing calories back up and making some nice progress. Expect strength gains to start rolling again, and I'm going to start working some longer sprints into my interval sessions.

Thinking about bringing back either ballistic or weighted stretching, as well. Nightly relaxed sessions are working well, but would like to make sure I secure those improvements with some end-ROM strength gains. Also, I've been focusing a lot on the hips/lower body. I'd like to bring back more shoulders/thoracic and HF as well. If nothing else, I can't have Kit think I've been slacking for the past year when I see him in Singapore in October  

[Nathan]

Just relaxed and ate normally over the weekend. Today was my first RT session for July. Changed up a few movements, but sticking with heavy UB/light LB on Mondays.

Bounces, Yuri sequences, dislocates, and HS, followed by:

• V-sit on Floor (straddle): Still solid. Going to increase hold time again.
• Weighted Chin Ups: Decided to try clusters (1 rep, 30s rest) with these and dips. Was a bit greedy and tried to jump the weight up to where I was before. Had to drop it midway and the rest of the set suffered, so I rested and then tacked on a normal set to the end. Will do the clusters at the lower weight next time.
• RTO Dips: Clusters here, too. Worked pretty well.
• Front Lever Row Progression: Changed this to FL row progression. Starting with a tight tuck. Not too hard, but will up reps a few times before untucking a bit.
• Tucked Planche Push Ups (parallettes): Switched this one to a dynamic move too. Using parallettes for full ROM. Never worked these before, so fairly tough.
• Elevated Shrimp Squats (one hand forward): Decided to go back to a shrimp progression. Decided for elevated. 3x10 pretty easy. Will go to 3x15 and then increase ROM or perhaps keep both arms behind.
• Glute Ham Extensions: Decided to throw in a hamstring exercise to help balance the SLS work. Realized I can use my weight tree to secure my feet for these. Not sure if this is what they're called, but it's similar to GHR except that instead of keeping the hip extended and dropping down, I'm tracking along the floor with my nose and extending/folding at the hips. I definitely felt it in the lower hams toward the knees.

Followed by:

Prehab: weighted dislocates, Cuban rotations, Jefferson curls, and STC. Moved hands in a bit on dislocates and dropped to 3x2. Keeping CR at 3x7 for now.

Stretching and lying relaxation to come.

[Nathan]

Quick sprint session this morning. It's starting to get hot. Been growing out my hair, but I think I'm ready to give up and chop it off. So much cooler, and so much easier to deal with.

So I've been doing some relaxing stretching nightly for a while now, and I enjoy it but I'd also like to work some more intense stretches in. I think at the beginning of the year I just tried to jump in with too much too fast and burned out. Just takes too much time to try to do everything at once. Today I tried to pick a few good bang-for-your-buck movements and turn them into a short session. I went with hip flexor lunges with a slider, straddle ups, weighted pancake good mornings, skin the cat to German hang, feet-elevated bridges, and solo pec stretch hang on rings. Still playing with reps, etc. but overall a nice, short session that should be fairly effective. Not sure about the pec stretch - might replace that one. Will continue nightly stretching and do this little circuit a couple times per week.

[Nathan]

Sore glutes for the first time in a long time! Auspicious, as Dave would say. Not sure if it was the glute ham extensions, the new weighted stretches, or the sprints, but something did it. A bit of ham soreness too, which is also unusual.

Since I'm switching gears a bit and reevaluating my sessions, I decided to change up my skill/accessory sessions a fair bit.

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

• Ab Wheel: Keeping these in. Usual 3x5.
• RTO Support Holds: Keeping these in for maintenance as well. 2x30s.
• Rings Muscle Ups-->Horizontal Scap Protraction/Retraction: Hadn't been doing MU work for a long time anyways. Decided to really hit the scaps properly from all angles. Horizontal protraction with scap push ups on rings (will probably move this to parallettes so I don't have to adjust the rings mid-pair) paired with retraction in a tuck FL. Really felt the retraction.
• Vertical Scap Depression/Elevation: Here I'm doing the side to side one-arm depression I had been doing, and I've paired it with elevation in a wall-supported handstand.
• Hanging/Inverted Straddle Leg Raises: Doing hanging straddle leg raises with my makeshift ghetto stall bars, paired with inverted straddle legs raises from a headstand position. Did the headstand raises against the wall today, but just realized I should probably do those away from the wall since I don't really need the wall for headstand.
• Manna Work: Continuing with the retraction/shoulder extension in a bent-leg straddle. Tried setting up a self-spot, but didn't really work so I'll just continue as-is.
• Handstand Straddle Press Negatives: (at the wall) Pairing these with the manna work.
• Pike/Straddle Compression: Continuing the compression as-is. Made a tiny little breakthrough today by realizing I should be trying to close the hip angle from both sides instead of just focusing on trying to raise the legs.
• Natural Leg Extensions 3x10 extended clamshells continued. Not ready to totally drop the NLE yet - hoping to add them back in when the time is right.
• Skin the Cats:--> Dropping these from this session since I've already got so much straight arm/scap work.

So it's turned into mostly an accessory-type session, but still with a bit of skill work in there. Overall, I think I like how this felt and I'll run with it for a while.

Stretching/lying relaxation to come.

[Frederik]

I like the fact that you have RTO support in there, as a maintenance thing - I think it is more than that though. Ring Supports build a high level of strength, and not having a strong support makes muscle ups kind of moot as you cannot do anything once you are actually on top of the rings. Ring Supports can be made even more advanced with various swings and rotational movements of the rings. These are tremendous exercises. Maybe one of the most under utilized exercises.

One of my better strength routines had support holds basically every work out. Also alot of german hang/skin the cat, and L-sit holds. All done in the "warm up".

[Nathan]

Hey Fred! Yeah, I say maintenance, but the holds are not really easy. I call them that mostly because I am not focused on progressing the difficulty. I have done them as RTO L-sits in the past, but unfortunately my setup is not stable enough for swings. I sometimes play with widening the hold a bit like I am about to do a cross pull, but I'm certainly not strong enough to play with crosses  

I don't do the support holds on heavy days because I figure I get some good support work during my RTO dips at the top, but I do make sure to include L/V-sit work on my other days!

[Frederik]

@Nathan Yes, you certainly do get some support work in if you are diligent at turning out the rings at the top of the dip. Could be enough. Still I have found that mastering that movement is very worthwhile. This required more than doing dips and muscle ups for me. Also, you do not want your dips to be held back by working the support. The challenge need not be swings with a large amplitude: even making small circles with the hands makes the movement much harder than simply holding a static position. RTO L-sits are brutal when done correctly. At any rate I would not go at this at more than say 50% of max hold. ...  

[Nathan]

Yes, the RTO L-sits are tough. My holds are not easy, but they are not near maximal, either. I've worked up to the current holds over quite a while now. Before I switched to the current semi-DUP programming, I did have supports in every session, so ring support is fairly comfortable. I think I'll try the small circles!