Mick's Big Breath At Home

Mick · April 25, 2021

On 4/24/2021 at 12:01 PM, Kit_L said:

Nice! Do please let us know how you feel tomorrow, and the next day. My favourite?

The first and second day was a tiny bit tender but it's more like I imagined it should be, more like just needing time/rest to recover. If I had pushed as hard as this in the past, my hamstrings would have been incapacitated for at least 4-5 days. But, for example, it's now the 3rd day after the C-R session and there is no noticeable lingering fatigue. I'd say this is probably due to more awareness of resting my torso on my upper thigh in, say, the lunge hamstring stretch which allows me to engage and relax the upper hamstring/under-butt on cue... I think in the past I didn't really have this facility so my inner hamstrings were taking the load. Still more work to do with this.

On 4/24/2021 at 12:01 PM, Kit_L said:

Niiiiice! Slopes are perfect for pancakes.

Yes, I remember you mentioning this at Greenwell Point!
I wasn't planning to do any C-R but then I was feeling a little more freedom in my hips. I wasn't sure which contraction to do exactly, so I just squeezed my glutes first with ankles flexed then with toes pointed. This seemed to work okay.

Kit_L · April 26, 2021

My favourite way of using a slope is to actively pull myself to either leg, but only using internal muscles, doing 10 or 15 reps a side, then same at half the angle between leg and midpoint, again on both sides. Then I hold my feet, and do al three contractions (leg curl, press straight leg into grass, lift chest and straighten back and pull back against my hands), then do the breathe-and-relax thing, and go deeper.

Anything that works is good!

Mick · May 2, 2021

On 4/27/2021 at 12:09 AM, Kit_L said:

My favourite way of using a slope is to actively pull myself to either leg, but only using internal muscles, doing 10 or 15 reps a side, then same at half the angle between leg and midpoint, again on both sides. Then I hold my feet, and do al three contractions (leg curl, press straight leg into grass, lift chest and straighten back and pull back against my hands), then do the breathe-and-relax thing, and go deeper.

Anything that works is good!

Thanks, I tried this yesterday evening. I found with the breathe-and-relax part that by internally rotating my arms I could wedge my fingers, with my palms facing upward, underneath my calf muscles. This allowed me to fully relax my torso, hips and legs in the position. If my hips were sufficiently rolling forward I'm guessing this 'hands under the legs' wouldn't be necessary. Having said that, compared with previous attempts, there was a little more space to explore in my hips. I did the series of C-R you suggested twice through with a small break in between. When I got up I thought maybe I had pushed it a little too much for my 'precious hamstrings' and, coupled with the fact I hadn't had the reassurance of my torso resting on my thigh, as in the lunge hamstring stretch, was anxious about how I'd feel today. However, so far, my hamstrings are just a little fatigued and don't feel incapacitated like they usually would in the past.

After the pancake, when I got home I didn't do any more hamstring C-R stretches. But I did the following with C-R:

Bolstered piriformis (left, right)
Wall quad/hip-flexor (left, right)
Frog
Tailor

I finished with a static modified plough.

Earlier in the morning I did quite a decent limbering session, including SL RDL with 20kg kettlebell, and assisted Cossack.

Pat (pogo69) · May 12, 2021

Hey Mick,

Came across this recently.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2418508/off-road-inline-skating

Made me think of you. Off road inline skating is both a) the raddest thing ever, and b) bat-shit crazy.

Mick · January 5, 2022

Happy new year to all!

I thought it prudent to give an update to my log.

From 25th August to 20th October I engaged in Van Zandt's split progression [I have listed specific details of my efforts below.]

Before the 25th August and since my last post, I was basically limbering each day. After the 20th October I have done very little.

Having said that, my experience with the Van Zandt protocol was very positive. I approached it with the perspective and understanding that reps/sets approach is not the ultimate solution. I listened to a podcast recently where a person was describing their creative process and they said, "Structure serves spirit." This was kind of my thinking in applying the reps/sets approach of Van Zandt's protocol. I was following it but I wasn't attached to it. My facility to persist with the program while pushing past range of motion thresholds (without "wrecking" my muscles and having to give my body a break, like I've had to do in the past) was solely due to my best efforts to apply what I have learned from Kit and Olivia; in particular, listening to my body and being aware of what I feel during and after a stretch. This is why I probably had more rest days than what Van Zandt would recommend.

The biggest take away for me was a realization. That is, there is no physical barrier to increasing my flexibility. My body is capable of doing the splits.

I started to feel that as I push into new ranges of motion, as my flexibility changes, I am changing. My thoughts, emotions, beliefs and perspective of who I am changes. With that, there is a part of me who doesn't want to let go. I could come up with any number of excuses as to why I stopped following the protocol on 20th October, however, I believe the real reason is my habituated self didn't want to be left behind.

Please don't misunderstand, I didn't see massive gains in range of motion. But it was enough for me (and my body) to accept that increases in range of motion is just a matter of patience and persistence.

I was going to start the protocol again on 1st January, however my wife tested positive to Covid on New Year's eve and I started feeling the same symptoms, although my test came back negative. We are still not back to 100% however when I feel clear, I will start with the protocol again.

Anyway, for record-keeping's sake here is what I did:
* SS - side-split; DD - downward-dog; FS - front-split (which was more of a hip-flexor stretch, especially in the begin).
* After each session I was spending around 90 seconds in a relaxed modified floor piriformis stretch (my back leg was bent at 90 degrees) on each side. Normally I'd do a bolstered piriformis but I was usually stretching down on the seaside so didn't have cushions.
* When I stopped doing the downward-dog stretch as part of the contraction sets, I also added it to the end of the sessions as a relaxed stretch for 90 seconds.

1 set x 0:30
25/8 (SS + FS)
2 sets x 0:30
27/8 (SS + FS + DD)
3 sets x 0:30
30/8 (SS + FS + DD)
4 sets x 0:30
1/9 (SS + FS + DD)
5 sets x 0:30
4/9 (SS + FS + DD)

5 sets x 0:45
7/9 (DD + SS + FS)
10/9 (DD + SS + FS)
12/9 (DD + SS + FS)
14/7 (DD + SS + FS)
17/9 (DD + SS + FS)
20/9 (FS + SS)

6 sets x 1:00
22/9 (FS + SS)
25/9 (FS + SS)
28/9 (FS + SS)
2/10 (FS + SS)
8/10 (FS + SS)
11/10 (FS + SS)

*At this stage, the length of the holds was becoming too much (time and stretching-energy wise) to do the front and side stretches. Van Zandt recommends just picking one to start with anyway.

5 sets x 1:15
14/10 SS
18/10 SS
20/10 SS

Edit: I forgot to mention that after the 5th set in each session I was holding the stretch for approximately 60-90 seconds with the intent to relax in that end ROM.

I think the fact that I stopped here shortly after I felt that trying to do front and side stretches was too much tells me that when I start again in the next week or so, I will just focus on the side-splits. As you can see, I didn't actually get very far through the whole protocol! Thankfully, as I already mentioned, I didn't have to stop because of any injury or part-injury. And I actually did more continued intensive stretching within this 2 months than I ever have in my life. This gives me hope and awareness of the potential for change when I get at it again.

That's it!

Mick · January 6, 2022

Morning

20kg kettlebell swings - 1 x 10

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Late afternoon