30+ day ballistic pike experiment

[Matt Hill]

Hello people.

It's my first post here, I'd like to start by expressing my gratitude. I've been dwelling the forums for a little bit of time now & there is an amazing wealth of information here. Besides the direct content discussed, theres been a lot of links to other sources which I doubt I would have fallen across myself. 

Okay, now into the fun stuff. I've been doing a little experiment upon myself, so far, for the last 14 days. I intend to last at least 30 days & if I can stomach it, longer. Pretty high volume, ballistic stretching on the superficial back line.

Part of me wants to extend this experiment to other lines in the body, but, with a history of hip impingement which I only recently overcame, I'm very reluctant. 

Initially this started off as 3 x 60-100 pulses from a pike position. Grasping the elbows and aiming for a target - a stack of books, yoga blocks etc

Somewhere down the line, I think around day 6-7, I decided to throw in another 3 x 60-100 pulses from a supported bent leg front split position, on top of the pike pulses. The Pulses here made by leaning the body slightly further across the front leg, while trying to keep a neutral spine. A very small motion.

So far it has been going great! Albeit, painful. 

Some thoughts on this experiment so far:-

• ROM is steadily improving despite already having already made a lot of headway in the past months. Much faster progress than I had anticipated. My previous practice involved an intense session with Jefferson curls, CR work 1-2x a week. Alongside a 6x a week ashtanga practice 

• There was a mild back ache initially. This was relieved by balancing with more backward bending work & introducing some hanging work to de-compress the spine. I haven't had any major complaints here again since.

 

• The first set of pulses are becoming extremely challenging now. The initial level of perceived discomfort is high. Ashtanga yoga seems to have prepared me mentally for this one. I am able to breath and relax, despite the rather intense sensations.

 

• My passive flexibility seems to have come much further ahead of my active, which I've heard is a recipe for disaster. It seems my pike compression is what is lacking here, HF strength especially. On this note, what would constitute 'too much' for compression work? I'm willing to push it a little bit here in this experiment, just out of personal interest. If someone has heard of success with high volume here, I'm willing to do high volume... Maybe I've got a couple screws loose in my head from my powerlifting days. Or, perhaps I’m just being naive… But a small part of me thinks more could really = more results here, since we’re dealing with a small muscle group and it’s not going to be particularly stressful to the CNS.  Pure strength of course is going to come from lower reps. But in pike compression, am I correct in thinking that the hip flexors/core are acting more in an endurance fashion? (Please someone correct me if I’m going crazy in my train of thought here)

 

• My right leg seems to be stuck in external rotation. I can't quite get to the root of this yet... But it's making stretching the hamstrings on this leg more difficult & impeding progress. Probably related, I struggle to get sensations in piriformis/glute stretches on this leg.

 

Find below where I was bouncing to in day 1 vs day 14. Also a slightly sloppy pike (legs apart), after being squashed down a little by my girlfriend , no-way I could get this deep into the position myself yet.

 

 

[Matt Hill]

Day 17.

 

After bent leg splits today, my leg just didn't feel fully comfortable in a straight leg position. Rather than force myself into it, I decided to take heed. 

Out of interest, I tried a couple sets of head to toe. To my surprise (and delight) I managed to get my head there on the left leg, albeit with the bent knee. The right leg still has an inch to go.

An interesting mental development - I'm starting to become extremely comfortable with discomfort. In some ways, I'm getting a sense of joy out of it. It's an odd thing. It seems slightly perverse. Yet, I found myself with a huge grin on my face during yesterdays stretching session & a very warm happy feeling. I've had this spontaneously occur in yoga practice before, but never when experiencing this magnitude of discomfort. There isn't any suffering at all going along with the rather intense sensations, I can just see them for what they are - sensations.

[Matt Hill]

Day 21 - Progress seems to have slowed down a bit in the pike ballistics. I'm not reaching any further. However, there is definitely a difference in the feeling of it. The ballistics have become slightly more controlled to the same target.

Some experimentation with a new stretch today. Placing a leg high up on stall bars, while staying on the toes of the back leg.

Pulsing, by bouncing the heel of the back leg towards the floor. This has unlocked parts of my hamstrings I've never felt before. I'm likely going to replace the bent leg split with this for the remainder of this experiment.

[Matt Hill]

Okay, It's been 30 days now since this plan came to action.

Wow, time flies by so fast... This has been a great lesson in itself. I'm making a big resolution to myself to optimise my time better and not waste it with unfulfilling actions.

I've tried to make the results as objective as I can. 

I found a video of myself doing a Jefferson curl shortly before this experiment to compare against. There is a mild, yet noticeable difference.

Before (left) the box I'm standing on is in-line about an inch or so above the wrist. 

After the box appears to be in-line with around mid-forearm level.

Could I have made the same progress with a 1-2x a week approach? Perhaps. Yet this has been an interesting experiment either way, at the very least for the mental challenge & lessons learned throughout.

Subjectively, there is a huge difference in the feeling of moving into end ROM now. It is much more relaxed and pleasant than it has ever been before.

 

[Nathan]

Hey, nice work! One thing I will say is that the JC isn't a great position to use for comparison. H2T does definitely help with hamstring flexibility, and particularly so if it's not great when you start, but where H2T really shines is... in the H2T position  A lot of that is the calves, which aren't being challenged at all in the JC position. So it's really only fair to compare your beginning and ending H2T position, and there's no doubt that working H2T is not going to be an optimal use of your time unless your goal is H2T. Most people that do the challenge won't really need the H2T position, so I'd say the biggest benefit for most will be learning to be comfortable with discomfort, along with the experience of clearly pushing your limits and the satisfaction of achieving the end position. I'd say your little experiment was a success, so congrats!

[Matt Hill]

2 hours ago, Nathan said:

Hey, nice work! One thing I will say is that the JC isn't a great position to use for comparison. H2T does definitely help with hamstring flexibility...

Agreed H2T feels much more calve intensive - also with some sensations running into the glutes for me personally.

H2T was only used for a few days of the ballistic work. I achieved it (almost... Leg was still a bit bent) indirectly. 

Just to clarify for anyone reading - The majority of ballistic was done in a pike position, alongside slower pulses in supported front split.

 

[Nathan]

11 hours ago, Matt Hill said:

Just to clarify for anyone reading - The majority of ballistic was done in a pike position, alongside slower pulses in supported front split.

My bad! I guess I wasn't really following along close enough. But yes, regardless of position, ballistics can be a good tool but they're just one of many. I've tried pike ballistics before, and I think the difficulty of getting into a really good position for the ballistic movement tends to reduce the effectiveness. Either way, an inch or two of ROM and the increased comfort in the position are great results for 30 days, not to mention the mental benefits. Keep us up to date with where you take your training next!