Strength training for small and flexible people

[Wai]

Hello, I need some advise here on strength training. My background is ballet dancing and swimming as a teenager, racquet games and yoga as a adult. I am pretty flexible, and have no problem getting into bridge, pancake, front and side splits. I have recently started Taiji and found that has improved my lower body strength substantially, not to mention stablisiing the knees.

My problem is getting upper body strength. While practising yoga, I always have problems with stablising my hyper extended elbows in downdog and all the arms balancing poses. I can't do a downdog without feeling strain on either on my right wrist or elbow. I can't do Chaturanga without feeling the strains on the neck and deltoid. Somehow, handstand gives much less problems. For the past one year, I hardly do any these poses but been focusing on gaining better range on my shoulder with Stretch Therapy Exercises. The exercises are great. They have settled quite a few of my issues on neck and shoulder and importantly learned to deactivate overused muscles on the neck, shoulder and arms...  . I am currently running a centre teaching others ST. 

I am small-sized, 5 foot 1 and 99% of students are bigger than me! I wish to gain sufficient upper body strength correctly by using my own body mainly. I need the strength to assist students in class as well as doing simple household chores like lifting a heavy pots.

I am currently doing some simple wall planks, getting the shoulder to protract and using the core. On the floor, I still feel the strain on wrist and elbow. Any suggestions to improve are welcome.

 

[Nathan]

Hi Wai,

There is a little Stretch Therapy guide that covers wrist mobility, bodyline exercises, and basic handstand work, all demonstrated by the lovely Olivia. The wrist mobility sequence will also help strengthen your wrists to a degree. Bodyline exercises are not meant to be strength training movements primarily, but they will definitely develop a good base of strength if you are lacking it, so I think they may be very useful for you.

Once you have mastered those, you can move on to more traditional bodyweight training, such as variations of push ups, pull ups, and more. When you are ready for that, there are many options out there, depending on how much you want to spend and how much effort you are willing to put into designing your own program. For example, GMB (great people and friends of Stretch Therapy) has a program for beginners called Elements that is meant to help develop a basic level of strength and mobility. The Reddit bodyweightfitness recommended routine is an example of a free option. Or if you prefer reading and don't mind putting some effort into designing your own routine, Steven Low's Overcoming Gravity is a superb reference.

Hope that helps!

[Wai]

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for the reply and advise. I have the ST guide - Bodyline exercises but must admit that the last time I read it was months ago.

Yesterday, I did some planks and am feeling both my little finger and outer wrists strained again. Let me go back to the guide, start from zero.. and see how it go for the next week.

[Nathan]

Hi Wai,

Be careful not to push too hard. It sounds like it might be best for you to focus on the wrist mobility routine, and scale the planks down to an appropriate level. You can do this by reducing the lever - putting the knees on the ground or making the torso more vertical, for example. Starting from zero and being honest about what we truly need is always hard. I know, because I get it wrong far too often! 

Keep us updated!

[Wai]

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for the advice and reminder. One of the reasons I started this topic is because i don't want to repeat my previous mistakes again! I have been doing the wrist mobility routine as well as the hand and fingers exercises for the past 10 days. I discovered a very tight point at the left hand little fingers, which probably explains the constant strains i feel on left outer wrist and elbow. Will definitely post updates here.

[Kit_L]

I cannot overemphasise how effective the Bodyline (all the planks) series is. When I was in Sommer's facility attending a workshops there a few years ago, he asked Paul Watson to sit on me while I was in the front plank position—and Paul weighs 110Kg. He sat on my hips without warning, and my body shape did not change (just bounced a bit). I realised then that these "simple" exercises are core, glute, and whole-body strength training on steroids. Twice a week, working up from 5-10" holds, and repeated two, then three times, is all you need. And another person can help (not Paul-style) but by shaking and pressing you while you are in the positions (front and reverse planks, not the side planks) and if you are holding enough tension in all the key muscles, you will feel the bounce I mentioned above: the whole body becomes a spring.

And all the key joints (in Wai's case, elbows and wrists) will get stronger in proportion, too. Gold.

Wai, don't get worried too much about the strains you mention: as long as the discomfort ends when you finish the set, no problem. And with your hyperextended elbows, focus all your attention on holding the elbow straight (don't let them hyperextend and just hang off the ligaments, in other words). Holding the elbow straight against resistance is a key strengthening exercise for all the muscles involved.

[Wai]

Hi Kit,

Over the years the idea of holding my elbows straight have gone through several versions of "straightness", simply because they can move so much. I have come to a conclusion that it should be straight but not in a way that the shoulder is roll forward, which is kind of tough at the moment. The wall and floor front arm and supra spinatus exercises have helped tremendously in this respect but still not great when it is under load.

When I see you in Singapore, please have a look. I was under the weather for the last few days, not been practicing much.

[Cherie Seeto]

Hi Wai,

19 years ago Kit told me to do some strength training to help with hyper flexibility. You and I are about the same height and age but I now have more muscle. Kit was right and the advice still stands. I don’t do as much strength work as I desire but what I have done and do with body weight exercises has meant a type of functional endurance for daily life. It’s a daily tinkering that adds zest for activity. I lean on my wrists, I grip over sized objects for time like a lawn bowls ball (1.5-2kg), pull weeds, prune hedges, cook from scratch, play tennis. I’ll show you a few games when we meet again. Training can be fun and before you know it those pesky complaints have disappeared. 

[Wai]

Very sound advice Cherie. Having sufficient strength is definitely an advantage for people of our size and height. We don't need a kettle bell, carry a filled kettle to the coffee table is a strength training itself. And for me with 2 young children, time is limited. Functional training is more relevant to me at this moment.

I saw Kit in Singapore and we gone through my plank, plenty of room to improve here. Thanks Kit. And I look forward to seeing you too Cherie.

Cheers!

[Wai]

Hello Kit, I have one more thing to clarify on what you've mentioned in the Singapore workshop.

It's about flexible and inflexible.
You said inflexible people like yourself has "hard" fascia (sorry I can't remember the exact words you used) and very flexible people like mine are soft. Then you went to say that injury in the joints are likely for very flexible people.

My questions are
1. When you said injuries likely to be at the joint, are you referring to injuries of tendon, ligament and fascia or something else?
2. Conversely, for inflexible people, does injuries often happen in muscles?

 

[Kit_L]

I was distinguishing between "Viking" or tough fascia and "Balinese Temple dancer" soft fascia—fascia like yours (Wai can bend any finger back until it touches the back of her hand!). I have tough fascia, and was very inflexible until I was 35, but became very flexible. Tough fascia does not mean you can't get flexible, if you work.

People with soft fascia are sometimes hypermobile, too; more often than the Viking types, for sure.

What I recall I said was that joint injuries are more likely in people with soft fascia, not that everyone with soft fascia will have these injuries—I was describing a tendency, as one of the ways of distinguishing between the groups. When I say "injury" I am talking about tendon and ligament injuries (tendons and ligaments are mostly fascia, with differing degrees of dryness and toughness). People with soft fascia, and hypermobile joints, are more prone to joint injuries.

And some Viking fascia types can be quite, sometimes very, flexible. When they hurt themselves, though, it is more often in the muscles than the joints. But this is not a iron-clad law—just a description of tendencies in the two groups. And many people have fascia somewhere in between these two extremes, and we can't say much about them at all.