Matt's Movement Log

[Matt Chung]

Hey everyone,

Keeping with the theme of alliteration (stumbled on Nathan's Nook), I'm creating this workout log named Matt's Movement.

I've been lurking here for the last couple months, when I first learned about the stretch therapy program, and just wrapped up my first pass of the starter course. I had thoughts about transitioning to the mastery course however, I think a second pass (maybe a third, fourth, etc) will increase my own awareness of which muscles I really want to target when I start creating my own routines. My hunch for target areas are: ankles and hips and hamstrings and shoulders (all problem painful areas during 20 years of playing competitive tennis, a period of time in which I did not regretfully did not stretch at all); restriction and weakness and imbalances of these muscles, I believe, now contribute to discomfort during (street style) dance, an artistic and creative pursuit I've taken up over the last year.

So today I am restarting the starter course. While I had documented my journal primarily over video, creating little video recaps (e.g. Day 57, Week 06) that I post on YouTube and Instagram, sharing my journey with friends and family (many of whom are now as a result, easing their way into stretch), I want to, this time around, take some hand written (or digital) notes during each program:

• For a particular position, where am I feeling the stretch? Which muscles?
• What's the level of intensity? Do I need to back off or add my own adjustment (historically I would fight adding an adjustment as to convince myself I wasn't weak and now I have no reservations about reaching for the yoga block for extra assistance)?
• For a particular exercise, what muscles does it intend to target? Is that what I'm feeling (above)?
• During the exercise, are there one (or more) "favorite" stretches that I want to catalog for when I create my own routine? I recall over the past couple months whispering to myself "Holy hell this exercise is amazing" (and then my wandering mind would forget which exercise it was)

[Nathan]

Welcome, and excellent!

9 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

I had thoughts about transitioning to the mastery course however, I think a second pass (maybe a third, fourth, etc) will increase my own awareness of which muscles I really want to target when I start creating my own routines.

Likely a very good idea. While the movements might be the same, your experience of them will almost surely be different the second (third, fourth...) time around, if you are paying attention. Always so much to learn! Are you doing a relaxation practice, as well? That will supercharge your stretching practice. Lots of free guided lying relaxations from Kit here: Relaxation Wiki.

Looking forward to seeing how your journey unfolds!

[Matt Chung]

13 hours ago, Nathan said:

Likely a very good idea. While the movements might be the same, your experience of them will almost surely be different the second (third, fourth...) time around, if you are paying attention. Always so much to learn! Are you doing a relaxation practice, as well? That will supercharge your stretching practice. Lots of free guided lying relaxations from Kit here: Relaxation Wiki.

Yes ! Good point about the experience of them will differ. And yes, doing a relaxation practice along side stretching and thanks for sharing the resource.

[Matt Chung]

Yesterday, Day 61, July 16, 2024

2nd pass at Program 01: spine flexion, extension, rotation, hip flexors, side bend, hip

Main observations

First Exercise

• Spine is actually much more stiff than I had anticipated; so increased awareness of limited range of movement (ROM)
• Spine, sensation is deep in the middle back and first stretch creates fairly pleasurable sensation of lower back
• When gripping the chair and leveraging arms, was able to more comfortably increase range of spine stretch
• Can imagine that spine stretching can help with back bends in the future (far far away and the idea of a back bend makes me nervous at the moment)

Second Exercise

• Felt stretch more in the quadriceps
• Equally stiff between both and left
• I have the thought that quadriceps are so tight such that I wasn't able to "feel" it in the target muscle: hip flexor

 

Third Exercise

• Really enjoyed the exercise and focused on breathing into the spine
• Concentrated on using the arms to get myself into the position instead of trying to deliberate the spine

Fourth Exercise

• Initially was not feeling the stretch in the waist until I aligned my shoulders of using the metaphor (i.e. two shoulders propped up against imaginary wall)
• When reaching over with the arm, initially felt a nerve sensation near my armpit bicep
• Lat was stretched as well and felt particularly "good"

Fifth Exercise

• Probably my favorite exercise because I feel it really deep in my piriformis
• I was unable to get into this position during the first pass and initially (weeks ago) wasn't able to "feel" the piriformis stretch as deeply as now

 

[Kit_L]

Matt,

Do you have the book Stretching & Flexibility? If so, go to the very first exercise, ex. 1, and you will see a stronger exercise that will target that very place that is tight in the middle of your back. The reason we invented the exercise we show in the starter course is that more people found the original version too strong. But I can tell you we taught many thousands of people the same exercise without any problems at all. And the fact that you're using your legs to push your hips forward in this position, while holding your feet, allows you to use as much or as little effort, in the exercise as you want—it is a game changer.

If you don't have S&F, I'll copy the exercise with its photographs here tomorrow.

[Matt Chung]

17 hours ago, Kit_L said:

Do you have the book Stretching & Flexibility? If so, go to the very first exercise, ex. 1, and you will see a stronger exercise that will target that very place that is tight in the middle of your back. The reason we invented the exercise we show in the starter course is that more people found the original version too strong.

Hey @Kit_L

Thanks for suggesting a stronger version of the exercise. Luckily, I do have the S&F book since a copy of the PDF came with either the Starter Course (or the Mastery Course). I just flipped to the exercise (screenshot below) and will give it a shot.

[Matt Chung]

Day 63, July 18, 2024

2nd pass at Program 02: quads, spine extension, lunge, rotation

Exercise 01

• Swaying hip left triggers the 8 week lingering pain in my (I think what is) glute medius
• Above hip pain surprisingly almost disappeared (substantially reduced) after I did a glute focused pilates exercise a couple days ago (strenuous exercise surprisingly relaxed my lower body to a point of almost euphoria)
• When circling hips to the right (and only right side) piriformis muscle feels extremely tight AND there’s a click sensation (best metaphor I can come up with is like it feels as if switching gears in a stick shift car and during that transition there’s lack of lubrication that’s causing “stickiness”)

Exercise 02

• Pelvic tilt plus driving knee back (versus traditional advice os just “kicking the butt”) is the key for feeling the stretch deep in the quadriceps
• Definitely an exercise I am going to add to my list of “favorites” when targeting quadriceps
• Noticed unnecessary tension in left bicep and shoulder while holding strap and after gripping closer to ankle, arm relaxed and tension was focused entirely on the quadriceps

Exercise 03

• Felt some tension in my traps and after quietly (in my mind) telling them to relax, was able to feel the stretch more in the spine

Exercise 04

• Probably one of my favorite exercises (I know I keep saying this) for the hip flexor
• Was a bit confused initially with what the angle of the back leg should be in
• After Olivia stated that the (front leg) ankle should not be trapped behind the knee, that helped clarify
• Accepting that I don’t fully understand Olivia’s suggestion on the WHY and I’m curious and okay with not knowing for the time being

Exercise 05

• Very surprised that I felt tension in my scapula area: did not expect this at all
• And sometimes felt tension in the bottom parts of my trap too

 

[Nathan]

9 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

Accepting that I don’t fully understand Olivia’s suggestion on the WHY and I’m curious and okay with not knowing for the time being

From Liv: "In Stretch Therapy, we typically do all lunge exercises with the front knee angle as open as possible, in order to use the tension produced in the hamstrings on that leg to control the pelvic position, thereby affecting the hip flexor stretch on the kneeling (back) leg."

In other words, the hamstring tension helps keep the pelvis tucked (posterior tilt), which makes the hip flexor stretch more effective. The open position also tends to provide more stability than a closed position, at least until you begin to reach very open angles.

[Kit_L]

May I amplify a tiny amount (I have been out at sea until a few minutes ago!)? All hamstrings originate on the ischial tuberosities (the misnamed "SIT" bones). If you do the lunge with an acute knee angle, all hamstrings (except the short head of biceps femoris) are relaxed—and hence, as Olivia noted above, cannot provide the essential counter-balance to the hip flexors' actions in extending the lumbar spine. If you want to maximise any HF stretch, this extension must be controlled. Opening the knee angle does this. In this exemplar exercise of the ST system, hamstring tension is used to counteract the lumbar extension—so all the work/stretch is experienced by the hip flexors. 

Try it both ways, Matt; the "not knowing" will vanish!

[Matt Chung]

8 hours ago, Nathan said:

From Liv: "In Stretch Therapy, we typically do all lunge exercises with the front knee angle as open as possible, in order to use the tension produced in the hamstrings on that leg to control the pelvic position, thereby affecting the hip flexor stretch on the kneeling (back) leg."

Thanks @Nathan for the reference. And that aligns with @Kit_L elaboration. Also TIL'd that "SIT" bones refer to the the ischial tuberosities (I can barely even pronounce that 😅). In my own words (to ensure I understand), sounds like the the open angle of the knee and ankle creates hamstring tension in order to support the hip flexor stretch. And finally, agree that the "not knowing" will (overtime) become "knowing". Trying not to get overly obsessed with the theoretically side since I have a tendency to distract myself and spend an inordinate amount of time satiating that curiosity instead of building intuition through experience (both are important, just aware of my habits of over-indexing on theory).

[Matt Chung]

Day 64, July 19, 2024

2nd pass at Program 03: piriformis, hamstrings, flexion

Summary: Struggling with experiencing nerve sensation concentrated behind right knee during elephant walk (and variants that require legs to be straight). I'm aware that the nerve sensations will over time disappear as I continue to stretch the hamstring; as such, I'm content continuing to apply other non elephant walk exercises that target the hamstring. Moreover, I discovered for me that if I bend the knees more during the elephant walk, nerve pain disappears and the nerve sensation located behind the knees changes to muscle stretch in the actual hamstring.

Exercise 01

• Sharp shooting sensation pain located (predominately) behind right knee when legs are locked straight (mentioned below, similar sensations that I cannot really tolerate while performing the elephant walk exercise)
• Without feeling a nerve sensation, and keeping my legs locked, can reach maybe 2-4 inches below the knees

Exercise 02

• LOVE LOVE LOVE this exercise and its variants that target the piriformis
• On this second pass, I noticed that my hip flexors are LESS tight.
• Weeks ago, was hard to keep both hips on the floor because I would cramp in the hip flexors. Whatever leg was crossed, my hip flexor would spasm a bit and that's no longer the case (though I do still feel a mild stretch in the hip flexor)

Exercise 03

• As mentioned above, I'm going to continue experimenting with Elephant Walk exercise instead of fully (perhaps temporarily) abandoning it due to nerve pain
• Perhaps will (as self-discovered) bend the knees MORE, which allows me to feel sensation in the hamstring (instead of nerve pain behind the knee)
• Also observed tingly sensation in the (non stretched) straight leg
• Tingly feeling in the toes and a bit of fear with nerve sensation located directly behind knee
• Quadriceps were fatiguing during this exercise

Exercise 04

• Nothing new here not mentioned already but locked knees / straight legs brings on too much nerve sensation for me to tolerate

Exercise 05

 

[Kit_L]

11 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

Moreover, I discovered for me that if I bend the knees more during the elephant walk, nerve pain disappears and the nerve sensation located behind the knees changes to muscle stretch in the actual hamstring.

That is the instruction, if I recall correctly!  "Bend the knees as much as you need to..." The psychology of this is that students hear me say this, but in their minds they see the end positions, and head straight there. This is 100% normal and something that happens literally every workshop! No problem. The back story:

In any forward bend with modestly-to-completely straight legs, the sciatic nerve itself is stretched, especially if you are standing on the floor. This is because the ankle angle (~90°) is added to nerve stretch, as well. To demo. this to yourself, try doing the EW with heels elevated on a 2" or so block, and see what happens. And this is why all advanced hamstring stretches ask the student to pull the toes back in the direction of the knees (as in the seated versions): the increased dorsiflexion further tensions the sciatic nerve, which ends in all the toes.

Pointing the toes (as when you stand on a block) reduces dorsiflexion, which reduces the neural dimension of the stretch; putting a block under the toes when doing the EW increases dorsiflexion, increasing the sciatic sensation. By bending the knees more, as you found, the neural dimension is reduced, and the muscle dimension thus can be felt. It's there all the time, but the sciatic sensation is the stronger, and that's all you feel.

Thanks for this extended commentary, Matt; many teaching points fall out of this. 

[Matt Chung]

8 hours ago, Kit_L said:

That is the instruction, if I recall correctly!  "Bend the knees as much as you need to..." The psychology of this is that students hear me say this, but in their minds they see the end positions, and head straight there. This is 100% normal and something that happens literally every workshop! No problem. The back story:

In any forward bend with modestly-to-completely straight legs, the sciatic nerve itself is stretched, especially if you are standing on the floor. This is because the ankle angle (~90°) is added to nerve stretch, as well. To demo. this to yourself, try doing the EW with heels elevated on a 2" or so block, and see what happens. And this is why all advanced hamstring stretches ask the student to pull the toes back in the direction of the knees (as in the seated versions): the increased dorsiflexion further tensions the sciatic nerve, which ends in all the toes.

Pointing the toes (as when you stand on a block) reduces dorsiflexion, which reduces the neural dimension of the stretch; putting a block under the toes when doing the EW increases dorsiflexion, increasing the sciatic sensation. By bending the knees more, as you found, the neural dimension is reduced, and the muscle dimension thus can be felt. It's there all the time, but the sciatic sensation is the stronger, and that's all you feel.

Thanks for the compassion and I feel more self-compassionate knowing have experienced the same nerve sensations despite hearing "bend the knees as much as you need to..." 😅

And the above makes sense and appreciate the elaborate explanation on the connection between the sciatic nerve as it relates to the elephant walk. Totally wish that I knew the sensations I was feeling while attempting to stretch the hamstring for decades was actually nerve pain AND glad I know this (and experienced it) now.

In short, for the meantime, more knee bending for me 😀

[Kit_L]

54 minutes ago, Matt Chung said:

Totally wish that I knew the sensations I was feeling while attempting to stretch the hamstring for decades was actually nerve pain AND glad I know this (and experienced it) now.

And, like all things, this will pass. Thanks again for commenting.

[Matt Chung]

Day 65, July 20, 2024

2nd pass at Program 04: shoulders and neck

Summary: Due to a "rotator" (I think exterior) cuff injury that was left unaddressed since I was 12 years old (i.e. 2 decades ago), my right shoulder lacks both flexibility and mobility and overall, very restricted and the right shoulder was the main reason I stopped break dancing due to repeated injuries. The main exercise that makes brings on the most discomfort is exercise 03, when you are trying to move your arm into the positions as if you are scratching your back. Prior to the starter course, I was (weekly) practicing "Rotator Cuff Long Stick" (from mastery program) and that exercise has helped alleviate a lot of pain, allowing me (as mentioned before in another thread) to move my arm as if I can tossing a ball, without pain. Finally, right side of neck is extremely stiff (compared to left) and feel tension deep in bottom part right of neck; I'm unable to move my head (i.e. called "head" isolation in the dance world) to the right as much when comparing to the left

Exercise 01

• Right trap feels substantially tighter than right

Exercise 02/03/04

• Similar observation with first exercise: right side stiffer than left and feel sensations in my right upper pec being tight
• Turning head to the right has always been a challenge and when performing (dance) head isolations, right side feelings extremely restricted and the range of motion is noticeably less when I stand in front of the mirror when comparing moving my head to left and moving head to right

Exercise 05

• I feel a deep sensation in the anterior part of my deltoid
• Due to a lingering rotator cuff injury 2 decades ago (about 12 years old, injured my rotator cuff during a serve and was unable, for days, to lift my arm up without being in excruciating pain), this exercise when performed with right arm, has always been very challenging, me unable to essentially scratch my own back (on the right side)
• However left arm shoulder feels pleasant (in that same spot: anterior shoulder)

Exercise 06

• I'd like to try this exercise again without the follow along because during, I was unable to really feel the stretch anywhere in my body, though I felt somewhat restricted

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 65, July 20, 2024

2nd pass at Program 05: adductors, hamstrings, hip flexors, back bend

Summary: Feedback from this forum has proved to be helpful since I was able to experience the elephant walk without nerve pain by bending the knees "as much as possible". And was aware of my own expectations and desire to straighten the legs however (as mentioned below), will gladly take less progress from the observable eye over nerve sensations. Still becoming more aware of what muscles I am engaging since, during the Taylor Pose (Exercise 02), unsure if the cue for "engaging the bottom of the hip muscles" is synonymous with the glute muscles. As for hip flexion, probably one of my favorite exercises and I plan to incorporate this into my future routine since I felt the stretch deep in the hip flexors (and unsure if I "should" be experiencing stretch in the back leg / straight leg's hip flexors). Finally, back bend surprisingly is generating similar nerve sensation in the pec and biceps (I'm becoming more aware of how stiff my upper body truly is).

Exercise 01 - Elephant Walk

• Minor win today: no nerve sensation experienced behind the knees
• Thanks to feedback on this forum, I bent my knees (as much as necessary)
• Of course, naturally, I was unable to straighten the leg as much (not focused on this — just an observation) and will take form of progress over experiencing nerve pain
• Throughout exercise, focused on keeping the belly and ribs touching the thighs

Exercise 02 - Taylor Pose

• Felt sensation in the groin (which I think, based off a quick Google search, consists of the adductors)
• The cue to engage the bottom of the hip muscles feels as if I am engaging the glutes (maybe same muscles, or different, not sure)

 

Exercise 03 - Wide Elephant Walk

• More or less same comments as above (Exercise 01) Elephant Walk

 

Exercise 04 - Hip Flexion

• Favorite exercise for hip flexors and will likely incorporate into future regimen because I feel it deep in the hip flexors
• Although only a couple months into stretch therapy, will say the hip flexor muscle (not very quantifiable) "feels" stronger; same sensation felt during stretch, just less intensity
• Unsure if I (reluctant use of the word) "should" feel the stretch in the hip flexor of the leg that's position behind
• If I internally rotate the back leg (i.e. straighten/align the back leg so its more parallel with the ground), the sensation in the back leg disappears and I feel most of the sensation predominately in the front hip flexor

 

Exercise 05 - Backbend

• Felt a similar tingly sensation, similar to the nerve pain felt during elephant walk, but in the pec and biceps and quite uncomfortable

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 68

2nd pass at Program 06: side bend, hip flexor plus, spine flexion

Summary

• Question: what makes the hip flexor plus exercise "plus"? That is, what does lifting the back leg (with or without the strap) accomplish? In what way(s) — and how come — does it increase the hip flexor stretch?
• Observation: in the hip flexor plus version w/ out the strap, it appears (based off of video and photos) that I'm unable to get my hips square due to (what I feel) as limitations of the quad in the back leg
• In short, the hip flexor plus seems too advanced for me (in terms of coordination and requirement of quad flexibility of the back leg) at the moment and going to stick with more basic one for now

Exercise 01 - side bend

• Imbalance of sensations
• Observation: left arm reaching over, felt strong stretch in waist
• Observation: right arm reaching over, felt more in ribs and lat

Exercise 02

• Observation: felt sensation / stretch in the spine
• Following prompt: on the out breath, increase stretch (though my curiosity asks: why on the out breath and not the in breath)

Exercise 03

• Curiosity: how is this exercise different than the normal lunge in previous programs (i.e. why is the hip flexion plus)
• Curiosity: what does lifting the back foot (with or without the strap) accomplish?
• In other words, WHY? The posture itself requires more coordination and balance and what impact does that have on stretching the hip flexor
• non-strap version: I'm unable to get into the position without (what I observed) compensating
• non-strap version: Hips are not aligned (i.e. tilt) - see second photo below
• non-strap version: The back leg (i.e. leg grabbing) felt restricted in the quad
• non-strap version: in short, feel my quad was too tight for this version

Exercise 04

 

[Kit_L]

On 7/26/2024 at 6:43 AM, Matt Chung said:

it appears (based off of video and photos) that I'm unable to get my hips square due to (what I feel) as limitations of the quad in the back leg

Yes, to be precise, it will be rectus femoris on the back leg that is the restriction. This is completely normal for beginners-intermediate students: rec. fem. is the #1 limiter of extension at the hip, because this muscle crosses both the hip joint and the knee.

This is also the answer to the other question you post about what makes this version of the hip flexor stretch more difficult – the extent of folding the back legs and knee is the answer. When it is fully folded, for example, most people can't get their back leg thigh even close to where they can get it with the back leg just on the floor. This is the reason for all the quad and hip stretch combination exercises on our YouTube channel – go there and have a look.

As well, there is a very significant fascial dimension to this stretch because the quads are such a large muscle group. Many people have found that they can have very flexible hip extension with the back leg straight, and they can also do the quad stretch on the floor where the knee is fully folded, but when both ends of that muscle are stretched simultaneously, as Liv's exercise shows, a brand-new additional restriction manifest. This is why we have so many quad and hip flexor combination exercises.

Edited July 27 by Kit_L
typo!

[Matt Chung]

Day 69 - July 24, 2024

2nd pass at Program 07: foot sequence

Summary

I recall during the first pass of program 07, I had interlocked my fingers between my toes a shot of adrenaline flowed through my body: surprise at the unexpected jolt of pain. Who would've known my feet would've been so sensitive?

This second time around, while the sensation is similar, the magnitude a little less. Similar to other exercises, more tolerable each time around. So I expect the same moving forwards for the feet.

As mentioned in the flat feet thread, my Tailor's bunion / bunionette recently flared up (due to what I think is overuse from a dance workshop that 2 hours long — normally not a problem — and done on both hardwood and bare feet) and this specific injury has made it difficult to take any dance classes (something I've been religiously doing twice a week for the last year) let alone walk. As such, in addition to other muscle groups, the foot is an area that I'm going to devote a little more time since injury in this area prevents me from doing basic physical activities (e.g. walking).

Related, after looking up additional pinky toe strengthening exercises, I decided to have an initial consultation with this individual . Love to see what she has to say and incorporate it with the heel raise exercises Kit had shared in the flat feet thread.

 

[Kit_L]

Do let us know how the consult goes.

Treat that 'heel raise' exercise as real strength training: once the bunionette settles down, try it, but on a more softly rounded surface than the hard edge of a stair, because I think that will put too much pressure on too small an area, and I think that will be painful. If you can find a more gentle curve with about a 2" radius, that will feel much more comfortable. For the first week or two, just learn the movement without going to failure. Once you are confident and the body get used to it, do the exercise twice a week, and go to failure, gently.

I have some other ideas for strengthening the feet, too; i have been play with these since Liv and I got to Nelson bay (temporary home) and walking up and down Mt Tomaree (why we came here).

[Matt Chung]

15 hours ago, Kit_L said:

Do let us know how the consult goes.

Will do! Just had an initial 15 minute assessment yesterday; now recording videos of my gait, squat etc and then will meeting with them tomorrow and definitely will report back here.

 

15 hours ago, Kit_L said:

Treat that 'heel raise' exercise as real strength training: once the bunionette settles down, try it, but on a more softly rounded surface than the hard edge of a stair, because I think that will put too much pressure on too small an area

So, fun fact @Kit_L. A few days ago, I had attempted the heel raise exercise that you had shared in the video, and as you had anticipated, it was a bit too much strain on the 5th metatarsal and believe different part of body was trying to compensate because one clue wasn't able to get my calve/foot to cramp; that is to say, I don't think I was really distributing all my weight on the intended area. But today while watching a movie with my daughter, I wanted to "test" my pinky and big toe strength so I gently place the fleshy bit of my index finger underneath each toe (one at a time) and tried to press down with the toe and within a second or two, parts of my foot started cramping intensely; the intense pain was quite a surprise and I actually found myself initially gritting my teeth and doing deep breaths and praying to whoever above to stop the cramps as to avoid suddenly shouting and scare my daughter from the out-of-the-blue pain 😅. All that is to say, while I'll eventually reattempt the heel raise exercise, I think I'll be experimenting with "easier" variations in the meantime.

[Matt Chung]

Day 71 - July 26, 2024

2nd pass at Program 08: wall pec / biceps, neck flexion, rotation, extension

Summary: Need to add a modification to the bicep/shoulder/pec wall stretch, particularly for my right side due to previous shoulder rotator injury (for about 20 years due to tennis serves and re-injury multiple times including most recently a few months ago during break dancing). With second exercise (arm across the neck, not chest) I lack range of motion (ROM) that would allow me to comfortable grab the side of my head with the opposite arm. Finally, neck stretches (especially on the right side) will be added to long term routines.

Action Items: Find a modification for wall stretch since right shoulder cannot tolerate the pain even with a towel (maybe a thicker towel is necessary and/or partner). Add next stretches (especially turning head left and right)

Exercise 01 - Wall Stretch

• Right side - significantly less ROM than left due to (tennis serves) chronic rotator cuff injury that occurred 20 years ago that never fully resolved (and has stopped me from break dancing in the past year)
• Feeling: at the tail end of holding the stretch, I got this warm fuzzy feeling flowing through my body, putting me in a deep state of relaxation (this has been happening often during the exercises)

Exercise 02 - Arm across the neck

• On both sides: very tight line
• Right arm: Could not grip my head with left arm (felt limitation in lat)

Exercise 03 - Wall Stretch (palm facing away from wall)

• Right side: Didn't quite feel the intended stretch and felt a sharp pain (shoulder rotator cuff injury)
• Right side: Previous shoulder rotator cuff injury making it difficult to get into this position; will need to find an easier modification (and/or partner)
• Left side: felt the enjoyable stretch in pec and bicep

 

Exercise 04 - Neck Stretches

• Right side substantially stiffer than left

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 75 - July 30, 2024

2nd pass at Program 09: hip flexors + quads, back bend, seated rotation, neck flexion/extension

Summary: Definitely adding the lunge & Hip Flexor + Quads exercise to future list: lifting back leg exponentially increases (a desirable) intensity of stretch; had to reposition front leg in order to "feel" (or engage) the back hip flexors and quads (originally the way the foot was position, I felt tension in my front hip flexor, not the target muscle).

Exercise 01: Lunge & Hip Flexor + Quads

• Slowly lifting back knee exponentially increases intensity of stretch (in a good feeling way)
• Had to reposition my front leg (rotate out) in order to feel the stretch in the back hip flexor and quads
• Probably one of favorite exercises, especially the contract and release (C&R) straightening

Exercise 02: Back Bend

• Lower back tends to tighten and whispered silently to myself to relax it (it worked)
• Don't feel this sensation of this exercise as much as other (spine/back) exercises, in terms of muscle awareness

Exercise 03: Seated Rotation

• Feel good sensation in mid and lower spine

Exercise 04: Neck Flexion

• Love the C&R here, really fires up the lower neck

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 76 - July 31, 2024

2nd pass at Program 10: hip flexors + quads, back bend, seated rotation, neck flexion/extension

One line: Collectively my favorite program so far!

Summary

I still get giddy every time I'm able to feel a stretch, an uncomfortable (NOT painful though) sensation in my hamstring, a muscle I haven't been able to access over decades of trying to "toe touch". Interesting experience is that during exercise 03, when gliding the back leg back, muscles in the bottom of my foot cramped; though I panicked and had the urge to bail out of the pose, I just paused, took a few deep breathes until the foot cramp disappeared, and then proceeded to hold the position for remainder. Proud of myself here for working with my mind and body.

Questions

• Do hamstring exercise 01 (hamstring stretch using chair) vs exercise 03 (lunge hamstring) target different (sub) muscles (or areas) in the hamstring? My guess is yes. Both produce a strong sensation yet they FEEL different.
• What is the name of the specific muscles that @oliviaa is referring to when she says "feel the back hip muscles" during (exercise 02) the Tailor pose? Is it some glute muscle? To me, due to lack of anatomy and body awareness, sort of feels like glute (not sure which specific one)
• What muscles require strengthening in order to (without assistance from hands) pull heels towards pelvis while sitting in the Tailor Pose? My guess is hamstrings? Although I don't feel much when trying to pull my legs in, I tried the antagonistic muscle approach and feel my quads engaging when trying to extend my legs out from the pulled in position and for this reason, suspect the "opposite" muscles would be the hamstrings. In this position, I can grab my ankles and physically (with my arms) pull my heels towards my pelvis and in fact, the heels of my feet can almost touch my groin. However, when I release the grip on my ankles, my feet start slowly sliding away from me, my toes moving in the opposite direction of my body.

Action Items

• Add both hamstring exercise (01 and 03) into my long term program

Recap video

Exercise 01 - Chair hamstring

• Generally feeling: LOVE this exercise (again, decades of never being able to feel my hamstrings and suddenly, I do)
• The contract and relax (C&R), driving of heel into the chair, cranks up the intensity to a very pleasurable and tolerable level

Exercise 02 - Tailor Pose

• Question (above) - what muscles is Olivia referring to when she says "back hip muscles" ... is it some glute muscle?
• Laughing below because Olivia said let's count down from "5....4....3...2.......2........2.......1" 😆
• What muscles require strengthening (since I believe I have the flexibility given I can manually/physically with my arms pull my heels twoards my pelvis) in order to pull my heels in towards my pelvis in the Tailor position?

 

 

Exercise 03 - Lunge hamstring

• Very intense (and tolerable) stretch
• Foot cramp experienced in muscles bottom of the foot (of back leg)

Exercise 04 - Wall legs apart

• Pleasant sensation and bonus: Metric (German Shepherd) stopped by and gave me a little kiss

Exercise 05 - Chair piriformis

• Nothing new here, piriformis stretch one of my favorite exercises

[Kit_L]

11 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

• Do hamstring exercise 01 (hamstring stretch using chair) vs exercise 03 (lunge hamstring) target different (sub) muscles (or areas) in the hamstring? My guess is yes. Both produce a strong sensation yet they FEEL different.
• What is the name of the specific muscles that @oliviaa is referring to when she says "feel the back hip muscles" during (exercise 02) the Tailor pose? Is it some glute muscle? To me, due to lack of anatomy and body awareness, sort of feels like glute (not sure which specific one)
• What muscles require strengthening in order to (without assistance from hands) pull heels towards pelvis while sitting in the Tailor Pose? My

Dear @Matt Chung: you are overthinking all this. Q. answers to your questions:

1. Simply, different parts of the hamstrings are emphasised, and for the same reason as one of your earlier questions: if the back leg is extended behind you, then the pelvis is positioned differently to Liv's exercise. It's impossible to cheat in the lunge hamstring; a small completely OK amount of cheating is possible in hers. Both are excellent; both emphasise different parts of the three hamstrings.

2. all the hip flexors: rectus femoris is the main one for most people for reasons I go into elsewhere.

3. None: everyone will need to use their hands to pull the feet into the body. No problem here!

4. About the back leg foot cramp you mentioned later: Try pointing your toes/foot hard—feel that cramp? Completely normal, and happens to everyone. Now pull the toes to your knees: cramp goes. The general principle: any muscle asked to do work in the shortened end range is liable to cramp—any muscle in the body.

Keep going, and in any exercise, try to keep any parts not being used as relaxed as you can. The general rule? No unnecessary tension.