From squat to beyond

[João Pedro]

Hello! Since I've been a child I've been blessed with a remarkably tight body, and it probably just got tighter and tighter after I stopped doing physical exercises regularly around 10 years ago and spent most of my time sitting down, either playing video games or studying ( I used to swim and did that from age 3-14ish, and from 14 to 15 I jogged two to three times a week. Since then I tried a few different things but never lasted more than 2 or 3 months).

There's been a few years that I've been interested in having a more flexible/mobile body and getting a bit stronger just to be more functional, and I hope maintaining a workout log here will help me keep doing my workouts instead of dropping them after a couple months.

My current goal is to get comfortable in a squat position and do some calisthenics whilst working towards that.

Edit²: Doing this just to let people know whose content I mostly follow on the internet: Stretch therapy, and the teachers from it, FitnessFAQ, Tom Merrick, CalisthenicMovement, Emmet Louis, Yuri Marmerstein, and CirquePhysio. I kinda just play around with the content from those people towards my goal and see what I find that works the best for me.
So enough talking and let's talk about I'm doing:

Yesterday (Monday 04/01) I did the C-R stretchings from master the squat (E1A,  E2, E3, E4A, E5A, E6, E7 and E8) I still haven't quite figured out the E2 ( standing piriformis), because I really don't feel anything getting stretched when doing it.

After that, I also did a quick full body mobility (or w/e it's called) before doing a small amount of calisthenics (did some sets of pike stands, inverted rows, squats and ab work). Both the mobility and the calisthenics routine are from calimove, I like their approach, and though I'm no specialist I found their routines very well structured and newbie friendly.

I'll try to add some pranayama sessions in the mornings and some daily guided relaxations from here on now too.

I'll also try to update here on a daily basis or close to that. Today I'll come later logging what I did through the day .

Edit: There are two things that I'm doing daily too: squatting (of course, but trying to spend at least 5 minutes through the day in a squatting position) and also hanging from rings (not sure how much time here, but every now and then I just get up and hang for 30-50 secs)

 

[João Pedro]

Yesterday I wasn't feeling so well, so I actually didn't do any training. Today I still wasn't feeling my best so I skipped my calisthenics training one more day and instead went out for a walk. I walked about 4 km in a park and every time I walked across a bar I just hanged there and squated for 30 to 60 seconds each time and that'll be it for today. The walk, hanging and squatting made me feel better, so I hope tomorrow I'm feeling up to par and can resume my training schedule normally.

[João Pedro]

And, here I am again, acting as if I just kept updating this like I said I would.

So, had some busy days and did next to no training at all.

Yesterday (monday) I did get back to it so lets go:

In the morning I did a quick mobility work, following the 5 minutes routine from FitnessFAQ in youtube, then I did some pranayama and after that I did some low intensity calisthenics, 3x40s ring active hold, 3x~40s easy bridge holds (today I'm feeling my hammies sore because of that) 3x60s plank and 3x~40s pyke stand holds.

At night I also did the stretches on the first video of the ABSS program, and the lying sleep preparation from KIt.

Later tonight I'll post again with what I did today
 

[João Pedro]

So here I am.

I started the morning with the 5 minute mobility routine from FitnessFAQ, followed by some pranayama breathwork. I spent some time along the day squatting and hanging from rings. In the evend of the afternoon I followed a meditation audio from Kit and then did the ABSS prog 2.

To finish the day I plan listening and following one of Kit's sleep preparation.

[João Pedro]

And to keep the streak I'm back.

Today I did the FitnesFAQ 5 min mobility routine once again in the morning (I'm liking it, it feels nice afterwards), followed by some pranayama breathwork and then some BW exercises that consisted of: 3 sets of inclined ring push ups, 3 sets of ring rows, 3 sets of jumping squats and 3 "swimmers" (basically an arch body hold but it's reps instead of hold and instead of only lifting your arms you bring them towards your body, pinching the shoulders). I planned on meditating after it but I forgot. In the evening I did a light walk of about 2km, and before sleeping I plan on listening one of Kit's sleep preparation.
 

[MaRo]

Hi, I just read your diary. I am not a ST-Coach or anything, but I share your experience that I have to search for a good piriformis stretch. For me, the best way stretching it is in 90° "pigeon" position with with a lot of pading, then working with small movments.

I don't feel much strecht in standing versions, more in sitting or laying piriformis stretches, but there it is difficult to do smalm movements for me.

 

Wish you good luck and a lot of pleasure with your stretching!

[Pat (pogo69)]

11 hours ago, MaRo said:

I share your experience that I have to search for a good piriformis stretch. For me, the best way stretching it is in 90° "pigeon" position with with a lot of pading, then working with small movments.

I don't feel much strecht in standing versions, more in sitting or laying piriformis stretches, but there it is difficult to do smalm movements for me

Standing piriformis doesn't work for me, either.

I find I get the best results from mixing up the Seated Piriformis on the Floor, and Advanced Piriformis.  I am much tighter on one side than the other, so the effects are very different, side to side.  With the Advanced Piriformis, I need to use a LOT of bolstering under my hips to get into an effective position.

I found the demonstration and discussion about internal rotation from @Emmet Louis in this Piriformis YT video very helpful when playing around with Adv. P:

Lots of good ideas, but the Adv. P stuff starts at around 07'30".

[João Pedro]

@MaRo @Pat (pogo69) Thanks for the tips I'll definitely try them (I didn't watch the full video from @Emmet Louis yet, but I'll asap!) I don't think I have that much trouble doing and feeling a seated piriformis stretch like the E5 from master the squat, but the problem happens when I try the E2 standing piriformis, I don't feel a thing.

Yesterday (21) I forgot to post here because I was tired. I started my day a bit differently, instead of doing the mobility routine and the pranayama I went for a hike in the mountains with my mother and our dog I hadn't been there yet even though it's a 10 min car ride from where we leave if there's no traffic. We didn't measure the distance, but we walked for about 2:30 hours so I'm guessing at least 10k? I didn't do much more besides that, but i think that's good enough for the day. Here's a couple pics of the place.


Today I started the day with the usual 5 min mobility work and a  pranayama breath work (I'm starting to find that my breathing is getting better and more pleasant I guess, kinda like it's more fulfilling. I then did some bodyweight exercises that consisted of 4 sets of band assisted pull ups, 4 sets of step ups, tried to do sets of assisted dips but I was sore in my chest because of the push ups so I ended up skipping it and the I did 4 sets of single leg glut bridge raise. I'll try to listen to one of Kit's sleep preparation before sleeping.

Starting tomorrow I'll try to follow one guided meditation everyday in the afternoon for at least one month. From monday onwards I'll start back on the master the squat and master the shoulders series too.

[MaRo]

Thanks for the pictures, it looks fantastic! It is great to see some landscape of a different part of the world, especially now, as we cannot travel.

[João Pedro]

@MaRo It's my pleasure! If you want to know, this is right outside Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The entire state of Minas Gerais is full of mountains everywhere and the landscape looks pretty much like this (well, actually a lot of places have been mined off by mining companies extracting iron ore and other metals, but there are still some places where you can enjoy some beautiful landscapes)

This weekend I didn't do lots of things, I did pranayama breathwork on both saturday and  sunday, and Abss program 1 on saturday with my partner. On sunday I also did a guided meditation from one of Kit's audios, but I couldn't finish it because well, it's summer and it started getting really hot in my room (maybe I felt so much heat because of the meditation?) and I had to stop because I wasn't able to keep going on the heat.

Today I didn't do anything by the morning because I felt I would do better in the evening. In the afternoon I did some meditation and now at night I did L1, L3 and L4 from master the shoulder flexibility (I don't have the bands necessary to do L2, I tried with mine but wasn't successful) and I did a bit of calisthenics that consisted of:

3 x ~30s pike stand holds
3 x ~30s active hangs
3 x ~40s easy bridge holds (today they felt a lot easier than last week, I got much more glute activation and they did the work instead of my hamstrings like last week)
3 x ~60s plank

I had planned on doing some CR stretching from master the squat or something from the ABSS, but it's 9:30 pm and I got lazy. (I'm slowly getting used to doing exercises again, soon I'll do them more rigorously)

I'll also do the sleep preparation from Kit before sleeping.

[MaRo]

Thanks for this information! I don't know much about Brazil, so it is great to read and see this.
"It's summer.."😄 - I am shoveling snow every morning!

Wish you good persistence with your exercising!

[João Pedro]

Well, that's one thing I never had to do in my entire life, haha.

I didn't post yesterday, but I did some pranayama exercises and walked about 5k during the day. I also did some cossack squats, hanged from rings from time to time and spent some time in the squatting position. I also followed one meditation audio in the afternoon and a sleep preparation at night.
I also noticed that I didn't get any sore body parts from my workout on monday

Today my workout consisted of:
5 minute mobility from FitnessFAQ, followed by a pranayama session
L1 and L3 from master the shoulder (didn't have the time to do L4, it was a busy day) and some cossack squats

3x ~8 inclined ring push ups
3x~8 ring rows
3x~ 10 swimmers

In the evening I did 3x~12 jumping squats, because I didn't have time to do them in the morning, followed by E1 calf stretch ( the straight leg stair version), E3 relaxed lunge and E5 seated piriformis from master the squat.

Unfortunately I couldn't meditate in this afternoon, but I'll do a sleep prep anyways.

 

[João Pedro]

Hello, back to report once again. On friday I did:

-5 mins FitnessFAQ mobility routine
-Pranayama breathwork
-L1 master the shoulder
-L3 master the shoulder
-L4 master the shoulder (still getting the hang of this one, I'm using a broom stick it's not as long as the one Kit uses in the video, maybe that's why I'm still not doing it perfectly)
-4x~6 assisted pull ups
-4x~9 step ups
-4x ~8inclined ring push ups
-4x~10 single leg glute raise

 

On the weekend I pretty much turned into a couch potato except for some short walks for groceries and some hanging every now and then.

Today I did the following:

-5 mins fitnessFAq mobility routine
-Pranayama breathwork (just to be clear, I'm following an online program, and the first part is kind of a training of the breathing system, so I do what the teacher calls "powerful yogi breathing" or "full body breathing" depending on the day. I'm doing it daily and I'll probably do the first part once again before going into more advanced pranayama techniques. I'm really liking the effect that it's having on my breathing capabilities)
-L1 master the shoulder
-L3 master the shoulder
-L4 master the shoulder
- 4x~30s pyke hold
- 4x~30s active hang
-4x~40s easy bridge holds
-4x~ 50 planks (today with the arms a bit more extended to make it harder)

Then I finished the session with some master the squat stretches:
L2 (the ankle roll stretch with a broom stick)
E1 (the elevated straight leg ankle stretch)
E3 (relaxed lunge)
E5 (the single version of the seated piriformis, the first one in the video)
E6 ( Standing knee lift)
I finished the session doing 2x8 10kg goblet squats, just to strengthen the squat after a stretch.
I'll do a guided meditation from one of Kit's audio now, and probably a sleep preparation at night.

EDIT: do the relaxed lunge and the Hip abduction stretches work kinda in the same way? Because the relaxed lunge is kinda hard for me and a bit unconfortable (not undoable) and I don't feel "bad" whilst doing it, but the squashed frog solo feels a bit better to me than the relaxed lunge. Do they have similar effects or they stretch different parts of the hips?

I did the goblet squats because of Tom Merricks recommendation, what are your thoughts on his ankle routine?

 

[Nathan]

7 hours ago, João Pedro said:

EDIT: do the relaxed lunge and the Hip abduction stretches work kinda in the same way? Because the relaxed lunge is kinda hard for me and a bit unconfortable (not undoable) and I don't feel "bad" whilst doing it, but the squashed frog solo feels a bit better to me than the relaxed lunge. Do they have similar effects or they stretch different parts of the hips?

I suppose it depends on how you define "kinda"  Of course there will be some crossover (there pretty much always is), but relaxed lunge targets the hip flexors (rectus femoris not shown):

While squashed frog targets the adductors:

Squashed frog probably feels better to you because your adductors aren't as tight as your hip flexors 

7 hours ago, João Pedro said:

I did the goblet squats because of Tom Merricks recommendation, what are your thoughts on his ankle routine?

I didn't watch the video, although I did glance at the routine in the description. Tom's stuff is generally good (particularly as a starting point), and this seems fine. Tom has worked with Emmet for a while, IIRC, and Emmet has endorsed his stuff before, so that's good enough for me  

[João Pedro]

I see, so that's the difference between then. The curious thing, is that the place where I feel the most discomfort while doing the relaxed lunge is near the groin area and that's also the place I get a rather unpleasant feeling too on the next day or so. From what I understood that must be some pain in the adductors right? Or could the hip flexors be the cause too? If it's the adductors should I focus more on the squashed frog? Anyways, I'll just keep stretching and going on with what I can handle

[Nathan]

2 hours ago, João Pedro said:

The curious thing, is that the place where I feel the most discomfort while doing the relaxed lunge is near the groin area and that's also the place I get a rather unpleasant feeling too on the next day or so.

I'm guessing you're referring to the groin area of the front leg. I suggest taking your time and using small movements to explore as you go deeper into the stretch. Play with moving the knee from side to side (toward and away from the center line) and see how the different positions feel. Experiment with leaning the torso forward and backward. Rolling the area with a ball can help too. You can reduce the angle at the front hip by raising the back foot/leg, which allows you to get a good hip flexor stretch without sinking down so low. Another option I will copy and paste from a different thread:

Quote

As for hip flexors, I'd recommend trying the couch stretch, or wall quad, which you can see Kit demonstrate in this video. However, instead of moving the front leg forward (away from the wall), spend a while closer to the wall, which should still work rectus femoris without putting much strain on the groin area. You will need to really emphasize the posterior pelvic tilt, but if you do this well, you will be able to get an incredible stretch with very little movement. You can try this as an option for hip flexors while you are letting your adductors get some rest for a couple weeks and then try opening up the angle a bit (by moving further away from the wall) to see how it feels later.

Finally, you can always post a form check if you suspect it might be form-related 

3 hours ago, João Pedro said:

Anyways, I'll just keep stretching and going on with what I can handle

Always a good idea!

[João Pedro]

18 hours ago, Nathan said:

I'm guessing you're referring to the groin area of the front leg. I suggest taking your time and using small movements to explore as you go deeper into the stretch. Play with moving the knee from side to side (toward and away from the center line) and see how the different positions feel. Experiment with leaning the torso forward and backward. Rolling the area with a ball can help too. You can reduce the angle at the front hip by raising the back foot/leg, which allows you to get a good hip flexor stretch without sinking down so low. Another option I will copy and paste from a different thread:

I'll try this stretch on my next session.

 

18 hours ago, Nathan said:

Finally, you can always post a form check if you suspect it might be form-related 

Maybe I'll do that on another day, but something weird happened this time, today I'm sore on what I think are the hip flexors (on the outside side of my legs in the hip region) and I don't feel any discomfort in the groin on the front of the legs, so I guess my form was probably better this time, haha.

About today:
Only did a pranayama session in the morning and a guided meditation in the afternoon, I don't think I'll do much more because I'm a bit sore from yesterday.

Edit: I forgot to say that it seems that I'm getting better at my meditation practice, today and yesterday after it I felt even more relaxed than I did in my previous sessions and I even felt like I was a bit high for a few minutes after them.