Boris' Journey to Self Mastery

[Bumanov]

I've been a long time lurker on this forum. I want to thank all of you for this beautiful space you've created. In an effort to finally solidify and unify all the separate aspects of my movement practice, I have decided to keep a workout log and I feel this is the perfect place for it. 

 

My goals: 

1. Heal my shoulder: PT diagnosed it as impingement from perhaps too many handstands. Definitely postural related, when I fractured my rib I basically curled up into a little ball. There's a dull, burning pain in the anterior deltoid that occurs sporadically during shoulder flexion and abduction. Time to add in a stricter prehab regimen 3-4x a week along with daily soft tissue work. Steven Lowe recommended high reps of internal/external rotation with a band, scapular retraction from a row position and face pulls with the rings/trx. 

2. Learn Acrobatics Skills- I have GMB's Floor 2 program and I am currently in the prep phase of the 5 month program, which consists of a warm-up, tumbling warm-up, and cool down. The goal is to work on skills such as aerial and macaco and then integrate them into my floor play/flow. 

3. Work on my weakest links in flexibility: Middle splits, butterfly, and double pigeon. I injured my knee doing isometric splits holds so I will lay off of those for some time but will do more intense loaded butterfly, loaded horse stance and frog pose instead. I'm curious what my limitation is in butterfly, is it TFL? 

4. Continue to improve pulling, pushing and leg strength. 2x a week bent arm and straight arm sessions. Start with once a week and see how it goes. 

5. Implement lying meditations into my nightly ritual. Would love to implement a morning mediation routine but given I do an hour of breath and movement in the morning already and I would like to sit and enjoy my coffee its been challenging getting up earlier to make that happen. 

Todays Session:

1. Morning Breath work: typical 2 rounds, 120 kapalabahti breaths followed by 50 bhastrika breaths to a retention on inhalation. 2nd round, a la Wom Hof, 40 max inhales with passive exhale into a breath retention on exhalation. 

2. Warm-up/Limbering at the climbing gym: 45 minutes, joint rotations, cat cow, hip limbering sequence (active pigeon to pyramid, Cossack, lizard, deep squat, 90-90), shoulder warm up with resistance bands and hanging scap raises, rice bucket for the forearms/wrists 

3. Climbing: about 90 minutes

4. Tumbling: 15 minutes, forward roll variations (diving, jump to tuck & straddle, jump to 360), handstand to forward roll, cartwheels, front headspring 

5. Cool down: 15 minutes, light Hamstrings and hip flexor stretches, front splits (10 breaths), wheel pose (15 breaths),  piriformis stretch (10 breaths each side), double pigeon pose (10 breathes each side) 

 

Steven Lowe Workshop: 

Worked on front lever, back lever, planche, chair handstands, bent arm press to handstand (so hard!), 1-arm croc. Lecture was based on concepts from the 2nd edition of his book. 

Thank you all for reading! 

[Dexter]

23 hours ago, Bumanov said:

I'm curious what my limitation is in butterfly, is it TFL?

First of all, hello and welcome to the forums!

From my own experience, I believe my TFLs are tight, but they never limit me in the butterfly. Currently heels to groin, with 1 block between my feet, and only a tiny bit left before my knees hit the floor.

[Bumanov]

@Dexter Thank you! Then I'm not sure, my adductors don't feel short, I have a chest-to-floor pancake (most days) and my hamstrings are pretty open. I feel the most tension in my hips on the outside by glute medius and TFL. ITB and Soleus when I massaged are very sensitive. 

 

AM Practice: going to flush it out in writing. Have been doing this particular routine every morning for several months. This has been the natural progression of my morning practice, which when I first started was almost 2 years ago and was the Qigong 8 brocades. 

-Breathwork-2 rounds

-Neck, Shoulder, Hip CARS

-Spine Cat-Cow to Puppy Dog, High Cobra, Prone Scorpion (opposite foot to hand)

- DD to SLDG, Kneeling Lunge to High Lunge x5, Active Pigeon straighten front leg to Pyramid x10 +5 breath hold

-Supported Horse Stance, Spinal Rotations, next variation On Elbows, moving side to side to progressively straighten each leg to flow above on the other leg

-Finish hips with Cossack squat x5 each leg to standing forward fold

-Spinal Waves motion initiating from the pelvis to waves initiating from the head to side bends, demi-circles to side bends to Knee Squats plus rotation to Hip circles, just the pelvis, just the ribcage and finish with whole torso rotations

-Nauli Kriya 2 rounds

PM Practice: location was by/on my favorite tree in Brighton Beach. It has several thick horizontal branches, the thickest one closest to the ground around 8 feet high and a foot thick in diameter

- Tree Play time. crawling patterns, mini flow 

-Shoulder Int/Ext Rotations with Band 4x20-25

- Hanging from tree branch with heels hooked around, scap retractions 3x20, cat balance stance on branch scap protractions 3x30, sitting on branch tucked L-sit scap depressions 3x30

-General stretching using the tree for the hamstrings hip flexors and ITB 

Edit: forgot to add in something new I tried in the PM. Standing on one leg on top of a tree branch for 60 breaths each leg. Started with the right, my usually less stable side, then did the left. I found the balance more challenging on the left side, took me much longer to stabilize than the first leg. I picked a pine cone at eye level as my drishti and treated it as a meditation. This was inspired after listening to Move Smart's interview with Simon Grison. I do some much moving during my sessions, it was fun and challenging to add stillness. 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Bumanov

[Nathan]

Hey, nice routine and practices you have!

As for tailor's pose, or butterfly, perhaps you could post a picture for better feedback. Are you getting legs to floor? Bending forward? How close are the feet to the groin? The pose also stretches the ligaments, so those could be limiting you as well. Personally, I feel piriformis limits me in the stretch because I can get legs mostly to floor fairly easily, but any forward bending is quite difficult.

[Bumanov]

Hi @Nathan! Thank you for your feedback! 

With Tailor's Pose, my heels are about a foot from my butt, but if I want to bend forward I would have to move them even further away. I have attached some pictures, forgive me for the disheveled look. This is me cold in the morning. 

[Nathan]

Hey Boris,

The "goal" is to have the heels touching the groin in tailor's pose. Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe as they move further and further from the groin, the stretch moves more and more into the piriformis. If you look at the angle of the legs and relation to the torso, it basically turns into the advanced piriformis stretch (similar to pigeon pose) being done on both legs at once. Try a few rounds of this:

Followed by a couple of rounds of this:

Use a substantial prop under the front leg for the second stretch. After you've done those and loosened piriformis up a bit, try your butterfly pose again and see how it feels. Also, try putting that yoga block under your bum when doing the stretch until your knees are getting much closer to the ground. That should also help.

Give those a try and let us know how it goes.

[Bumanov]

Thank you @Nathan will give it a go today!

[Bumanov]

After yesterday's period of relaxation (all I managed to do was my morning routine) and lots of eating, I decided to fast for 24 hrs today. I did a shortened version of my morning routine as I woke up a little late and had to make sure to leave early enough to catch the train to class (you can't trust the NYC subways, especially on a day you have a final exam). 

 

Evening practice:

Warm-up:

- spinal waves, deep squat sequence, DD to Updog, SLDD, Kneeling lunge to High Lunge, Active Pigeon to Pyramind, Sumo Squat to Cossack. 

- Scap Sequence: dead to active hang x20, support hold on dip bars shrugs x20, row position retractions x20, Plank position protraction x20

- Cuban rotation x30, Tai Chi Tornado hands (can't think of a better name for this one) x10

- Skin the Cat x9 (much harder with supinated grip) coupled with a few rounds of seated and floor piriformis stretches. They did help me ease into butterfly but the effects were subtle and minimal. Will keep practicing these stretches as they do feel really nice on the hips. 

First Circuit:

- Ring Muscle Up: 5x2 with a turn-out support hold for 10 seconds each one. 

- Front to Back Scale & Sissy Squats: 5x5 each

Second Circuit:

- Pull-ups: 5 sets for 8,8,7,7,7

- A-frame push-ups: 5x7

- Loaded Tailor's Pose w/ 25lbs: 3x15 with 30-45 second hold

- Loaded Horse Stance w/ 35lbs: 3x10 with 30 second hold 

Rehab: only had time for 1 round

- Int/Ext rotation with band 20 reps, I feel like my form during the external rotation is not that good. The elbow really wants to move out but I can't seem to keep it glued to my side body. Should consider using a small towel or something to pin the elbow in. 

- Row position scap retractions 30 reps

- Cuban Rotations 30 reps 

-Active a Hang on the bar, slowly shifting all the weight to one arm while keeping the other for minimal support, 5 times each hand. Hanging in general feels really nice on the shoulders, and this pattern in particular I find very effective. 

 

The right shoulder does not like the pushing movements so much. There tends to be a burning sensation right underneath the anterior border of the lateral clavicle and acromium. I had to really take the protraction out of the rings support hold and focus on depressing the scapulae. 

 

I broke my fast around 8:30pm with some chicken soup (homemade broth), sautéed tofu and veggies, honey Greek yogurt and an apple. Will end my night with some easy hip stretches.

 

Thank you for reading! 

Boris

[Bumanov]

AM Practice was just 3 rounds of breath work and light mobility, moving the joints through ROM. 

PM Practice:

Warm-up: floor release techniques, transitions from supine to prone and back, shoulder rolls, squat sequence, some crawling patterns. Improvised flow, getting it know the hardwood floor better. Couch Stretch (lower leg flush against the wall, other leg in a lunge), Floor Piriformis stretch with a bolster under hip, oh boy was this one juicy, new favorite  

- Tai Chi Hands, Cuban Rotations, Skin the Cats 3x3

Straight Arm Set:

- Tucked Front Lever: 5x15,15,15,12,12 sec

- Tucked Planche with Band Support: 5x12,12,10,10,10

- Dragon Squat (standing on a box) to Pistol Squat to Shrimp Squat combo: 4x2 each leg

- Jefferson Curls: 25lbs, 3x5

Rehab:

- External Rotation: 5lb weight, sidelying position, 4x15

-Internal Rotation with band: 3x20

- Face Pulls: 3x12

-Dead Hang to Single Arm Active Hang: 3x5

 

Starting to realize that there's not enough time in the week to do all the things. I coach rock climbing, and yet all I can manage is about 1-2 climbing sessions a week. Climbing has been on maintenance at the V6-7 level for some time and progress will only come with more practice. Although in the bigger scheme of things, the transition from V7 to V8 doesn't have much carry into other disciplines, so perhaps it's fine for the climbing to be where it is. A consistent yoga practice has really helped me in the past build foundational strength and flexibility. Now I practice maybe once a week, which is better than nothing. Next week I will be in Florida with no access to a gym, so I plan on doing my daily yoga practice. And it seems I really only have time for maybe 2 bent arm sessions and 1 straight arm session. Is it even worth doing the straight arm session to practice front lever/planche, or is there a way to integrate it into a general strength session that I do 2-3x a week where I would add those moves into the skill portion? 

Let's see how this week finishes off. I am meeting with a friend tomorrow for strength training. Will do some tumbling as well since we will be in a nice soccer turf. And Saturday I will do animal crawls and Floreio flows, QDR as well as some acroyoga. 

Light and Love to All,

Boris 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nathan]

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

Floor Piriformis stretch with a bolster under hip, oh boy was this one juicy, new favorite  

That piriformis is a pesky one! Craig (Hammer) has written in his log about another version that you might like to try, too. Initially from @Francesco and I think he wrote about it in his log (Drop the ashes) too, but he hasn't updated in quite a while.

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

Tai Chi Hands

Is this what you referred to as tornado hands? It's not the cloud hands sequence from the Tai Chi form is it? We used to do that separately as something of a warm up.

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

even worth doing the straight arm session to practice front lever/planche, or is there a way to integrate it into a general strength session that I do 2-3x a week where I would add those moves into the skill portion? 

You could use regressions that are easy for you as skill practice, but I don't really see the point. Why not just add them to the strength portion of the session? Or you could use dynamic movements that have good carryover (FL rows or pulls, ice cream makers, planche push ups at the proper regression or pseudo planche push ups on rings, etc.) to build the strength. You'd either end up with the hold or close enough that you'd just need a bit of practice for the skill aspects.

[Bumanov]

2 hours ago, Nathan said:

That piriformis is a pesky one! Craig (Hammer) has written in his log about another version that you might like to try, too. Initially from @Francesco and I think he wrote about it in his log (Drop the ashes) too, but he hasn't updated in quite a while.

Is this what you referred to as tornado hands? It's not the cloud hands sequence from the Tai Chi form is it? We used to do that separately as something of a warm up.

You could use regressions that are easy for you as skill practice, but I don't really see the point. Why not just add them to the strength portion of the session? Or you could use dynamic movements that have good carryover (FL rows or pulls, ice cream makers, planche push ups at the proper regression or pseudo planche push ups on rings, etc.) to build the strength. You'd either end up with the hold or close enough that you'd just need a bit of practice for the skill aspects.

(How do I break up the quote into sections like you did above?)

I'll look for Craig's version thanks! I remember doing this stretch in Liv's Slow Flow program. It was brutal after opening up the hip flexors but effective. I normally have a high stretch tolerance and yet found myself having to back off frequently. 

 

This is what I mean by the Tornado hands, I do the horizontal version with a 5lb plate and pretend I'm holding a bowl filled with water. Do you know the proper name for it?

 

 

That's a great idea! Will just have extra long strength sessions  

With FL rows, the tucked version doesn't give me full ROM because my knees hit the bar. Should I just work with that or wait till my open-tucked position is stronger (can currently only hold that for a few seconds)? 

Thank you for all your help @Nathan! 

[Nathan]

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

(How do I break up the quote into sections like you did above?)

If you highlight a section of text, a little "Quote this" box should pop up and let you quote that text separately. You can also just use the Quote function of the editor if you want to do it by hand.

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

Do you know the proper name for it?

I tried skipping through that and couldn't find him actually doing the movement. Does he ever stop talking and do more than one position?  But I think I know what it is now, and we always called it something like the Chinese tea cup exercise. Tea cup exercise gets a lot of hits for mobility and different martial arts sites on Google.

8 hours ago, Bumanov said:

With FL rows, the tucked version doesn't give me full ROM because my knees hit the bar. Should I just work with that or wait till my open-tucked position is stronger (can currently only hold that for a few seconds)?

Yeah, that's a problem with doing it on the bar. Best thing would be to get some rings  Otherwise, you can just work the limited ROM tuck rows until you're strong enough to do a sufficient volume of advanced tuck (open tuck). Most people do this.

Another thing to try is piking (at the hips with straight legs). Depending on your flexibility, this will end up being pretty similar to a tuck at the top (perhaps even easier if you're really flexible). As you descend, the pike angle will have to open to allow the bar to pass. This makes the bottom of the movement more difficult than the top (compared to doing it tucked), but I find that's actually a good thing since the hardest part of the usual movement is that final bit of ROM at the top. If that doesn't make sense let me know and I'll either film it or make a stick figure drawing or something 

[Bumanov]

@Nathan Totally makes sense! Thank you for your help  And yes, it's the Tea Cup! 

[Bumanov]

Yesterday's Practice 04-28-17: 

- full AM Practice. Felt great not having to be anywhere after, waking up at a comfortable time. Remember to continue to add in Frontal Plane Shoulders CARS (external rotation at the head to internal rotation at the back). 

- The plan was to do a strength session but the body was fatigued after a photoshoot. What it really needed was a connection to the earth. My feet were asking to be let off the alien concrete jungle and into the cold sand of the beach. So I went home and made my way to Manhattan Beach. The joy of dipping my burning feet into the crisp cold ocean water was immeasurable. 

- Played around with some cartwheels and tumbling, crawling patterns, nothing serious. Play time is more fun with other people, unfortunately there is no community in this remote part of Brooklyn. 

- I don't know if anyone has seen this but Jon Yuen does a beautiful movement where from a seated position on the floor where one leg is in external rotation in the front and the leg behind is in internal rotation (with knees bent, Spina calls is the 90-90), he lifts off without hands into a squat. So hard on a wooden floor but I managed to do it on the sand on both sides and flow between the two. Felt some stress on the knees but not in a bad way. 

 

I noticed that one of the most fatiguing parts of my day is my train ride from the city into Brooklyn. My trip back was during rush hour and the train was absolutely packed. The energy to keep still standing without bumping into people around you was only amplified but the chaotic energy I felt throughout my train car. Hundreds of thoughts buzzing continuously, and I felt them. When I tried to focus on my breath, it was impossible, the stench of the everyone crammed into a small space made me not want to take a full breath. Surprisingly this one hour ride was incredibly challenging on my spirit. I felt many negative emotions and thoughts, in particular impatience and annoyance. I could not stay equanimous. Really looking forward to the day I finish school, make some money and move out of NYC, this place only manages to produce unnatural levels of anxiety in people. 

 

Today's Practice: 

- Shortened AM Practice: 2 rounds of breath work, spine waves, shoulder and hip rotations. 

- After my clients I began my strength work: 

 

Warmup: 

- Chinese Tea Cup x7 each direction with 5 lbs weight 

- Ido's Shoulder/Band routine 

- Scapula Sequence 

- Skin the Cat

 

Circuit 1: 

- Pseudo Planche Push-ups on Rings: 3x6

- Tucked Front Lever Pulls on Rings: 3x6

- Leg Raises in parallel bars: 3x15,15,10 (legs raise up into straddle instead of pike, more difficult) 

 

Circuit 2:

- Pull-ups: 3x7

- A-fame Pushups: 3x7

- Loaded Butterfly: 3x15+30-45 sec hold 

 

Rehab:

- External/Internal Rotation w/ Band: 2x20

- Face Pulls: 2x12

- Dead to Single-arm Active Hang with support: 2x10 

 

Best part of my day was going to Central Park to jam with some friends. Did some acroyoga and tumbling. 1-arm croc is feeling solid on both hands. Played around a little with a more that used to scare me a lot, drop-back from standing into wheel pose. Needs some fine tuning and control in the last foot before hitting the ground. 

 

Finishing the night with pull-ups at home and some soft tissue work. Looking forward to tomorrow's workshop with Steve Maxwell! 

 

Thanks for reading! 

 

Love and Love,

Boris 

[Nathan]

18 minutes ago, Bumanov said:

Jon Yuen

That guy is movement goals  So fluid and graceful. Love his vids.

19 minutes ago, Bumanov said:

Surprisingly this one hour ride was incredibly challenging on my spirit.

I know the feeling! I lived in Tokyo for 7 years and rode many final trains. The kind you see on YouTube where they're shoving people into the cars to get the doors closed. And yes, that actually happens!  Anyways, I know how stressful those train rides can be... but at the same time, it's a great opportunity! If you can quiet your mind and find stillness in the midst of all of that, then you should be able to do it just about anywhere 

22 minutes ago, Bumanov said:

Looking forward to tomorrow's workshop with Steve Maxwell! 

Awesome! Enjoy!

[Bumanov]

Hello All,

What a workshop on Sunday! Where to begin? I guess I'll write a bit on my impressions of the man himself. I had first encountered Steve Maxwell when I listened to his talk Breath on London Real and felt immediately drawn to his message and philosophy, mainly because it felt so sympatico with my own. So when I saw on his website that he was doing several workshops in NYC, it was a no-brainer. He's a real old school guy, and for whatever reason (probably because my dad had a similar mindset) I learn well from that style of teaching, no bullshit, no sugar. 

 

I picked the Integrated Breathing one for several reasons:

- from my yoga practice I understood how powerful and life changing the breath and mastery of it can be;

-there are so many different techniques (pranayama, Wim Hof) that it's hard to know which ones to do and when, so it's invaluable to learn from someone with decades of experience in the field and knows what works (for him and his students) and what doesn't;

-I felt I had reached the maximum (in terms of retention and management of energy levels) from the techniques I was currently using, they felt ineffective and I was ready to learn more. 

Integrated Breathing

After introductions and a little history/background, we began with a few different tests. Something interesting he mentioned was that the body does not measure how much oxygen is in the system, but rather how much carbon dioxide. The need to breath during a retention is dependent on your CO2 Tolerance. Another concept that he highlighted was overbreathing, which is something many us do (as highlighted by the first test below) and actually delivers less oxygen to our tissues because it overwhelms the CO2 (he called it the Bora Effect although a google search has not yielded any results). 

1. Breaths per minute: how many breathes do you take in 1 min, do this for 3 rounds to ensure accuracy and take the average. It's difficult to be honest with yourself here. Mine was 16, Steve said a "good" number would be under 12, with 8-10 being ideal. 

2. BOLT/Control-Pause: Body Oxygen Level Test, take a few normal breathes, exhale and retain the breath up to the point when you feel the hunger to breath, which usually precedes the need to swallow (this is not a max hold test, which is where I believe I didn't do this one correctly). Again do this for three rounds and take the average. Mine was 52 seconds, and greater than 35 seconds is considered good. 

The next part of the workshop looked at the structure and anatomy of the breath. Steve differentiated three different breathing patterns: clavicular, intercostal and belly and how with partner touch we can identify which one we use. This was followed by different ways we can restructure our patterns to create deeper breathing. I found that when I place my thumbs into the space btw my 11th rib and iliac crest and breath into them, my right side is stronger than the left, which could be a consequence from when I fractured my rib back in January. 

Techniques to Overcome Oxygen Debt: 

1. Burst Breathing- a Russian systema technique, rapid inhale with a "P" sound on the exhale (Gracie's used this in their Jin Jitsu) similar to yogic Bellows breath

2. CO2 Flush: deep inhale followed by loud audible exhale

It's important to do these techniques as rapidly as possible to repay the debt. The worst thing you can do is a partial glottal closure and make grunting sounds, which only increases blood pressure.  

This next test was very interesting and fun. Steve said it was part of an 18 item test at La Sierra Fitness developed by the first head of the Council of Physical Fitness back in the Cold War days. You run for 2 min at 180 beats/min (we ran in place) then hold you breath. To pass the test, you need to hold you breath for 30 seconds. This was surprisingly difficult, out of our group of 12 guys, only 3 made this benchmark (and one of the guys had been at many of Steve's events before). 

HYPOXY TRAINING

The meat of the workshop. Here Steve went through many different techniques to improve breath control, retention and CO2 tolerance. I'll list a few that we did. This type of training also works to increase levels of EPO (erithropoetin hormone), which increases the blood carrying capacity of red blood cells. 

1. Breath Holding Ladder: For 10 minutes, walking and when under no stress exhale, hold the breath and count your steps, repay the O2 debt and regain your composure, exhale and start again aiming to improve on the previous number and within those 10 minutes get in as many of these ladders as possible. I did about 8 ladders, starting at 25 steps and finishing at 65 steps. It was very interesting to feel that during a certain number of steps the craving to breath was always there (around 20) and would fade only to reappear again later (around 45). 

2. Hypoxy Plank Hold: Hold plank position, exhale hold the breath, repay the dept when you breath in again, regain your composure, exhale and hold again all without coming out of plank. The amount of time you can hold your breath progressively diminishes, and towards the end I was basically doing burst breathing the entire time. 

3. Kettlebell Swings Ladder: exhale, do 1 swing. Repay debt and when you're ready go again, this time doing 2 swings, repay debt and so on increasing the reps by 1 each time. There's no time limit in between sets as it is important to remove stress before the next round. Steve gave us 15 swings as something to work towards. I managed 10. Once you reach your max on an exhale, retain breath on an inhale and do your max swings +1 (so 11 swings on an inhale for me, which was relatively easy). My legs the next day were very sore from this, in a good way! 

We did many different exercises using these breathing techniques. The theme was putting ourselves in stressful situations of high tension, and using the breath to remain calm and solve the situation. Another favorite part of the workshop was a lying meditation we did very similar to the ones Kit has up on this forum. The idea was to release tension by creating even more tension. So after the initial body scan, we would go to our areas of greatest tension, contract them on an inhale, exhale and release them. Then a whole body contraction on an inhale, followed by a relaxation/letting go on a loud AHHHHH. We did this with the front of the body, back of the body, upper body, lower body, arms, and legs.  

In the last part of the workshop we finished with some bodywork by partnering up and walking on each other, a great way to bring awareness to areas of tension (like the calves, holy crap those hurt like hell) and using the breath to release that tension (using Burst breathing). What an incredible day. I felt the effects of the work we did especially on the following day. All the inflammation from my right shoulder (currently dealing with impingement) and knee disappeared. All throughout my day, on my flight to Florida, on my walk around the park I had been practicing these drills. As someone who has struggled to get any sort of consistent sitting meditation going, the walking meditation in combination with the breathing ladders (4 steps in, hold 4, exhale 4 steps, hold 4 steps, to 5 in/hold/ex/hold, 6...so on) has been very effective on improving my sense of well being and creating equanimity throughout my day. One of the most effective and important workshops I have ever attended. 

If anyone reading this has any questions, please feel free to ask

Thank you for reading! 

Light and Love, 

Boris 

 

 

[Bumanov]

Finally back from a much needed vacation in Florida. Besides my regular morning practice, much of my practice was swimming (something I have no technical understanding of) and play time on the beach. Something I implemented from the workshop was a walking breath meditation. I started with the Square breathing, 4 in/4 hold/4 out/4hold and worked up the ladder to 10-11 steps per. Following this I would continue my walk and hold my breath on an exhale, count how many step I could take, inhale repay the O2 debt, regain my composure and start again, each time trying to beat my last number of steps. I tried this on several occasions (long walks on the beach) and manage to get up to 50 steps on a retention. Play time included tumbling and locomotion patterns, many failed attempts at a front walkover (as the first foot hit the sand it would just slide from under me), one-arm cartwheels...

Yesterday's training: shortly after my AM practice, I rode my bike over to the beach and hung my rings.

Warm-up: 

-Shoulder dislocates, band pull-aparts, lateral 45 degree raise, Scapula sequence. 

-Deep squat, Cossack Squats, leg kicks (front, side, back)

Superset 1:

-Skin the Cats 3x3

-Pullups 3x7

-A-frame push-ups 3x10,9,8 (my feet are about 2 feet from my hands, perhaps its time to move to a harder progression and elevate my feet)

Superset 2:

-RTO Support Hold- 3x max time (~25-30 seconds)

-Hinge Rows: 3x12

Superset 3:

-RTO Push-ups 3x10

-Ab Rollout 3x10

In between sets I would be stretching the hips and working on the rotator cuff, instead of leaving all the work for the end. The 45 degree lateral raise feels great on the shoulder, did at least 3 sets of 10. Some internal/external rotation. 

*I saw this on gracefulmovement's instagram, he calls it an advanced pigeon. At a table outside, about hip height, I set one foot on top and first just stretch the glutes/hamstrings. Playing around in this position with movements at different angles and different loads (trying to put all my weight on that leg to stand up). Next comes the juicy part: set the leg up in 90 degree position and lay it flat on the bench. Intense stretch on the outside of the hip, similar to the floor piriformis stretch with support underneath the thigh. Trying to stay in the stretch for at least 2 min was quite the journey. Great way to end the session, I felt so much freedom of movement in my hips after it was incredible. 

Today's Session: full AM practice, got some decaf coffee from the store and headed to a park with some pull-up bars

Warm-up: 

-5 min jump rope

-Shoulder Dislocates, Band pull-aparts, Lateral Raises, Scap Sequence

Circuit:

-Hanging Wipers 5x3/direction

-L-sit on parallel bars 5xmax hold, straight legs to tucked 

-Pull-ups: 6x7,7,6,6,6,6 alternating btw pronated and supinated grips

-A-frame Pushups 5x8

Finished with 3x10 Lateral Raises and about 5 minutes of Yuri's band sequence. Last bit was the advanced pigeon stretch. 

 

Love and Light,

Boris 

[Nathan]

Thanks for the report on the workshop! Sounds like it was great. Tons of similarities to Kit's lying relaxation practices too. The whole part about holding after exhaling was really interesting to me. I find when doing lying relaxation that I often don't feel any need to inhale for a while after exhaling. I've always found this interesting but wasn't really sure if it had any significance.

7 hours ago, Bumanov said:

-A-frame push-ups 3x10,9,8 (my feet are about 2 feet from my hands, perhaps its time to move to a harder progression and elevate my feet)

Guessing that these are pike push ups? I'd say definitely elevate the feet. I never really liked the feet on the ground regression because it just feels so much different to me than the target movement (headstand/handstand push ups). Then again, a lot of that may be due to do mobility/flexibility restrictions. Either way, elevating the feet wasn't a huge jump in difficulty, so I'd at least give it a try and see how it feels for you.

[Bumanov]

8 hours ago, Nathan said:

I find when doing lying relaxation that I often don't feel any need to inhale for a while after exhaling. I've always found this interesting but wasn't really sure if it had any significance.

The idea is that the more relaxed the muscles are, the easier the flow of oxygen is facilitated, while tense muscles/tissues prevent the flow. The need to breath is also heavily fear/stress-based along with the tolerance for higher levels of carbon dioxide. 

8 hours ago, Nathan said:

Guessing that these are pike push ups

Yes! I used to do them with feet elevated, but decided to regress because of my right shoulder and started with an easier progression. There's some discomfort when I do them, it's like a mild burning sensation right inside the acromioclavicualr joint, it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I'll give the feet elevated a try. 

[Nathan]

Interestingly, Kirsty (GMB) made an IG post about these yesterday after we started talking about them. I'm sure your form is good, but her pointers are spot on and it never hurts to review

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT1FaLPgz_L/

Only thing I would add is that it can help to really elevate (the scaps) as hard as possible at the top of the movement.

[Bumanov]

Today's Practice:

Warmup: run, combined with short sprinting intervals. about 10 minutes. Crawling patterns (my favorite, picking about 5-7 patterns we travel in a square that's 15 feet in length making sure to get lateral and backwards movement), bodyline drills. We usually do 3 sets of hollow body holds for 30 seconds each. Inspired by Lachlan's and Tyson Edward's new videos we changed it up, breaking down the hollow body (which they called the 'dish') into parts: upper lower and then the whole, doing each at 30 seconds with no rest in between. By the time you get to the full dish, your core is on fire. We did this for 2 sets then moved into prone for extension work. 

Handstands: 1st set 30 shrugs, 2nd set tucks x5 plus hold, 3rd set max hold with minimal partner assistance for balance. Shoulder felt pretty good, so I'm happy I can start to incorporate a little handstands back into my training. 

Hip Compression sequence: piked pulses x30, flutters x20, heels lifted 1 inch from the ground for 15 second hold. Stretch in between. Straddle single leg pulses x20, lateral pulses x20, circles x20, with stretching in between. Pancake feels great, it doesn't take much warm up at all to get the chest to the ground. 

Strength Circuit: after a scapular sequence for warmup. 

-Pullups alternating grip 5x7 , piked pushups w/feet elevated about 3 feet 5x5, rows 5x8, PPPU on parallel bars 5x5 working on the lean and getting that extra ROM at the bottom. Felt a little tweak in my left mid back close to T6 vert on the last set of push-ups, really strange and not sure why it happened. Luckily nothing serious but it will take some time to heal. Piked push-ups felt great, no strain on the right shoulder, and not as scary with the feet elevated as I once thought they would be. 5 reps felt very manageable, I think it was a good idea to regress for 4 weeks to an easier progression before re-introducing them. 

 

Had an interesting discussion with my girlfriend and friend tonight. I've been teaching my friend for over a year now, and just recently created a new program for him. This is something that has been on my mind for a while: As a personal trainer, in a NYC/instagram world filled with trainers and coaches I'm having many negative feelings about teaching others. I always follow the mantra, "walk the walk" and never teach patterns I don't have a certain level of mastery, I feel the standard I set for myself is high and I work to maintain that standard with my clients. And yet at 27 years old with not even 2 years of "official" training-other-people-experience, I feel so much fear around the question "what authority or right do I have to be teaching others?" when there are coaches out there with so much more experience and talent. Steve Maxwell mentioned several times at his workshop that you shouldn't be taking fitness/life advice from anyone younger than 50-60 years old. Other than the handful of people that have worked with me consistently and who have shown tremendous progress, how do I know that my methods and patterns are effective? This takes years to develop and hundreds of clients (if not more) who are willing to work with me. I need experience to get experience. And any time you are a student, you are simultaneously a teacher. So why does this bother me so much? 

 

Thank you for reading, 

Boris 

[Cam Ogle]

3 hours ago, Bumanov said:

Had an interesting discussion with my girlfriend and friend tonight. I've been teaching my friend for over a year now, and just recently created a new program for him. This is something that has been on my mind for a while: As a personal trainer, in a NYC/instagram world filled with trainers and coaches I'm having many negative feelings about teaching others. I always follow the mantra, "walk the walk" and never teach patterns I don't have a certain level of mastery, I feel the standard I set for myself is high and I work to maintain that standard with my clients. And yet at 27 years old with not even 2 years of "official" training-other-people-experience, I feel so much fear around the question "what authority or right do I have to be teaching others?" when there are coaches out there with so much more experience and talent. Steve Maxwell mentioned several times at his workshop that you shouldn't be taking fitness/life advice from anyone younger than 50-60 years old. Other than the handful of people that have worked with me consistently and who have shown tremendous progress, how do I know that my methods and patterns are effective? This takes years to develop and hundreds of clients (if not more) who are willing to work with me. I need experience to get experience. And any time you are a student, you are simultaneously a teacher. So why does this bother me so much? 

I'm not a fitness professional but am a financial services consultant and give advice for a living. That feeling of inadequacy has been prevalent with me for a long time. Coupled with the fact that I'm 36 and look 24 doesn't help either. One thing to always keep in mind is are you providing value to the client? Are they in a better position than before they met you? And my favourite is would you give the same advice to your mother/father/sister/brother if they were in the same position? If you can confidently answer these questions then you can be confident you are on the right path. 

In regards to Steve Maxwell's position on this, and who am I to question Steve Maxwell, but that's a very close minded view of the world. How would Steve had started out himself if he had waited till he was 50 years old. Let's not take advice from Ido, Joe Defranco, Charlie Francis, Emmet, insert any other sub age 50 coaches name in here, etc. The list can go on. I truly believe the more you know the less you know, but as long as you are open minded to learning along the way then you will always have the best frame of reference for that point in time. 

[Bumanov]

18 hours ago, Cam Ogle said:

One thing to always keep in mind is are you providing value to the client? Are they in a better position than before they met you? And my favourite is would you give the same advice to your mother/father/sister/brother if they were in the same position? If you can confidently answer these questions then you can be confident you are on the right path. 

Great questions! And I can confidently answer yes to all of them. Movement is Healing (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), that is the path I've chosen and I've witnessed what it has done for me and for many of my friends and clients. I tend to go through periods of time when I lose my confidence and begin to doubt my methods, and those questions are a great reminder, thank you for that! Perhaps my issue is with the system created by and for fitness professionals itself, and with NY as an area over-saturated with "experts."  Where are the days of apprenticeship? Perhaps that older model is still alive in other parts of the world, but it is dead in the US, and I wonder why...

And I agree with your point about Steve Maxwell, it is a close-minded view, which is surprising coming from a man who travels all over the world to learn from masters. And yet I do agree with him to a certain degree, and it's part of the reason I was so drawn to take his workshop. It's invaluable to learn from someone with almost 4 decades of experience. Is it right to compare that to someone with "just" a decade and say that man does not have anything valuable to teach? No, of course not. Then what really distinguishes these two teachers and what is it that creates their success and respect in their careers? 

[Bumanov]

Today's Session:

Warm-up:

- supine Pelvic movements, rolling around on the floor, spinal waves, hip sequences 

- crawling patterns and locomotion.

-Pu Bu Slides (with a towel under the sliding foot, works great on a hardwood floor), SS Slides both with foot inverted and toes pointed to the ceiling (hips externally rotated). 

- Shoulder Dislocates, Chinese Tea Cup with 6lb ball 

Core: 

- Hanging Wipers: 4x8

- Parallel Bars L-sit to Shoudler Stand to Croc on each arm back to L-Sit max hold x4

Strength:

-Rings Pull: 1st set regular pull-ups x8, set 2-4 archer negatives (regular pull-up on the way up, extend one arm, lower with arm extended) x3/arm, 5th set pull-ups x8

-Pike Push-ups: 5x7,5,5,5,5

-Bulgarian Split Squats: 30,30,35,40,40x5/leg

Shoulder Rehab: 

-Band Sequence: arms overhead, at T and down at the sides x16 rotations/direction + 16 pulses + hold

-3 sets Band Pull Apart x12, Lateral Raise x12, Face Pull x12

 

Will do more dedicated stretching session later in the evening. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend  

Boris 

 

[Bumanov]

Today's Practice:

Regular AM practice, 60 minutes. Changed up the sequence a bit. From puppy dog pose, I went straight to prone scorpion to continue with the spine and moved the hip CARS fro quadrupedal into the standing sequence. Been adding more reps and less tension in the joint rotations as an experiment, which I think will be more beneficial for the joints as a morning practice. 

After tea, I headed to the beach, hung up my rings. 

Warm-up: 

-Jump Rope 5 min

-Band Sequence: pull aparts, pull downs, dislocated, lateral raises

-Squat sequence, cossack squat 

Core: 2 rounds

-Hollow Body: Upper to Lower to Full, each 30 seconds. Holy crap this is brutal.

-Forearm Side Plank Pulses 30 seconds + Leg Lifts x10

-Superman/Arch Hold 30 sec

-Skin the Cat x3

Skill:

- Muscle Up to Support Hold to Tucked Shoulder Stand back to Support Hold lower down to Skin the Cat x3

Strength:

-Pullups 5x8,7,7,7,7,

-Pike Pushups (feet grounded, didn't have anything to elevate them on): 5x8

- Pistol to Shrimp to Warrior 3 (with hands extended above), staying on the same leg to challenge endurance/balance 5x3/leg

Shoulder Rehab:

-Hinge Rows: 3x10

-External Rotation: 3x15. Used something to pin down my elbow. It's still hard to do with the red band. I don't feel the right engagement.