Matt's Movement Log

[Nathan]

On 11/20/2024 at 1:34 PM, Kit_L said:

If you look at the photograph that accompanies the article that I sent you above

Just noticed I'm in that photo! Good memories

17 hours ago, Matt Chung said:

"Maybe if I just TRY harder in the single leg dog pose, and TRY and hold it longer..", internally viewing Kit's comment as a way to challenge myself.

Yes, we all do this 😂

[Matt Chung]

Day 190 of stretching and flexibility

Target: shoulder (and rotator cuff), ankles, and limbering of calves

Summary

• Explored a new way (for me) for stretching the calve using my balance board
  • I had the urge to buy a wooden slant board, an urge driven by my recent excitement on targeting the calve muscles
  • Not a problem to buy additional props (I generally try to limit external dependencies), but I was aware that it would've been an impulse by to speed up the process
  • With that in mind, I used my balance board to prop and angle my foot, thereby increasing the sensation of the calve stretch
  • Balance board offers me some granularity on what part of my calve I want to target
• During the internal rotator cuff exercise, when the pain came on, I had the thought: "God this hurts, is this ever going to disappear"
  • Then I was reminded by the wall stretch, the instance in which I was performing the exercise every week and suddenly, on the 4th week, poof, the pain disappeared
  • Therefore, I have confidence that with the internal rotator cuff, that pain will eventually leave the body on its own time (come on new fascia!)
• When recording my stretch sessions, I am experimenting with multiple angles (one iPhone, the other an iPad)
  • I'm finding it helpful because I often see that I am compensating in some way, but only caught from a different camera angle
  • Plus it's fun when it comes to video editing (that in itself is enough reason)

Balance Board as a suitable replacement for a slant board

[Matt Chung]

Just some reflections on reading through some of the threads stretch therapy forum. Occasionally, I find myself perusing the forums, reading comments, taking notes, extracting quotes, and so on. And without naming certain people or calling attention to certain threads, moderators and community members here demonstrate a (what I consider) a great deal of patience. What I'm eluding to is some conversations tend to be very ... combative in nature, somewhat confrontational. And while I commend some of the individuals for their conviction and self-confidence (areas in my life I am working on), I can't help but feel sometimes that some of the conversations don't actually move the (stretching) community any further and people willing to die on their hills. Anyways, just some musings here. Overall, I think it's a net win to have people debate and offer their opinions and perspectives (just like I am) but the main point I was trying to drive home is that this little corner on the internet is in my opinion much better than reddit, where there are more trigger happy moderators that would just shut down certain conversations.

Edit: Also, looks like I (probably a good thing) rate limited with engaging with the forum so probably an indicator to sign off and do some actual stretching

[Kit_L]

Hahahahahaha!

The balance board is perfect for that. One more thing: before you get into any kind of serious calf muscle stretch, use the external rotators in the hip joint to try to turn the leg outward (external rotation) in the hip joint and the ankle joint, so whole leg) and watch what happens to the shape of the arch as well as where you feel the stretch. It's essential to bring this rotation on before the stretch is too strong otherwise you won't be able to move the leg at all. This dimension gives you more angles to play with, and different ways of moving the stretch around the calf muscles.

Edited November 28, 2024 by Kit_L
added detail

[Matt Chung]

> turn the leg outward (external rotation) in the hip joint and watch what happens to the shape of the arch as well as where you feel the stretch

Thanks for the additional cue. I tried this — turn leg outwards using external rotators in the hip joint — and only felt a subtle difference and think I jumped the gun, forgetting to do "bring this rotation on before the stretch is too strong ..."

[Matt Chung]

Sunday, November 24th

192 days into stretching and flexibility journey

Though I generally subscribe to the philosophy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and though I am quite proud and joyful with the progress made over the last 6 months, I recently introduced a few somewhat significant changes to my stretching routine. Though I had thoughts on only introducing one of these changes at a time, in order to "measure" the impact of changes, I'm finding both are having positive impact — less soreness, almost complete elimination of plantar fasciitis — so will continue for the time being:

Changes made over last 2 weeks

• Moving my stretch routines from first thing in the morning to later in the evening - I used to stretch within the first couple hours of the morning but now moving the stretches to the evening (see next point)
• Stretching AFTER working out / dance class / training - in my previous point, I had mentioned that I would stretch (C+R included) in the morning and then take dance classes (or train) in the evening, and then the next morning, stretch. And though in general I have been healing faster due to stretching, I'm finding that I'm even LESS SORE after dance training when I stretch (within the following 1-2 hours, when I get home from transit) immediately after dance/training etc
• Limbering calves EVERY DAY - this was the suggestion made by Devika (ST certified and lives nearby in London) and though I have a single dedicated day (Thursday) for the C+R, my plantar fasciitis (first time experiencing it about a month ago, due to — I think — increased volumes of training) in my right foot has more or less almost fully disappeared. Of course, similar to my shoulder, sometimes I question (or have the thought) of "Is the pain really gone?"

Although I don't have the reference nearby, I read from multiple people on the forums (including Kit) that they also do not stretch first thing in the morning.

[Kit_L]

'Very yes' to stretching (used in the way I define it in this article) done later in the day/evening. Limbering/mobility is good to do in the morning, but as I wrote elsewhere, my morning routine is all about having coffee and sitting still and writing. Once I've done those things, then I can do whatever mobility I want to do that day, or not. Stretching done in the evening is always more productive in terms of increases in range of movement which of course is how we use the term.

And stretching after working out (or dance classes or any other kind of exercise) is far and away the best timing for this activity – again as I've written about extensively elsewhere. The best warmup for stretching is serious weight training. But dance classes and anything else that makes you hot will do just as well. This is also the reason I recommend wearing warm garments on the lower half of the body; again something I've written about elsewhere.

[Matt Chung]

This past weekend: Friday night (dance training: 1.5 hours of strengthening, dancing, stretching), Saturday night (3 hours of dance: jamming with others), Sunday evening (3 hour workshop, house dance and yoga combined)

I seldom post my dance related videos here in spirit of keeping this workout log dedicated to stretch only related activities. That being said, every other weekend, when I don't single parent my daughter, I tend to spend those times with friends in the dance community, from Friday-Sunday (this is on top of the weekly Tuesday and Thursday weekly dance classes), normally about 8-10 hours of fairly vigorous dancing (see clips below).

For as long as I remember, on the following Mondays, after the heavily packed physical activities, I tend to roll out of bed very sore, very achy. And these sorts of sensations were consistent for the first year of my dance journey and only in the last couple months has my body started acclimating. Sure, it may be that through sheer load over the last 15 months that my body has acclimated. But I'd like to think that the ease in my body has to do with recent (i.e. last 6 months) of introducing both stretching and strengthening. All that is to say, today is Monday and to my surprise, my body FEELS ready for stretching, minimal soreness (small tiny victory: my hamstring itself is sore and the fact that I can even SENSE that is a tiny win).

Finally, one day in the future, once I become more competent and confident in my stretching progress and skills and knowledge, I would like to do something like below (third video); my friend hosted a dance and yoga workshop and I would love to blend these two practices together and teach others and share the beauty of both. Just putting that in the universe!

Dance Session / Jam

This was the first instance in which I stretched AFTER class, not before. And as mentioned previously, I believe that this has helped in both reducing soreness AND increasing ROM.

 

[Matt Chung]

JUST HAD THE MOST SURPRISING AND TERRIFYING AND UNIQUE (TO ME) EXPERIENCE WHILE STRETCHING.

Will elaborate more tomorrow since getting late my time; in short, after 1.5 hours of vigorous exercise, decided to limber whole body since I was still heated up.

I was doing a side bend stretch and at some point, I felt that my ROM was restricted by a (lack of better word) stickiness like feeling, a build of pressure located in medial glute area (the same area I've commented on in the past, pain that occurs when swaying hips left and right) and .... then ... instead of backing off, I decided to just sit in that pocket for a few more breathes and decided to slowly but firmly continue bending, the pressure in that area continuing to build ... and then ...

I felt and heard (inside my body) a pop, a burst: followed by sudden substantial increase in ROM. I didn't anticipate this to happen and glad I caught it on camera this evening. It's getting late my time but just wanted to quickly share with ya'll my excitement and confusion as to what happened. Still in a bit of (good) shock:

 

[Kit_L]

That, my friend, was a fascial adhesion, which has now let go. This is the science behind that gracilis release you've no doubt seen on that YT video.

Fascia has many extraordinary capacities, one of which is it can adhere to adjacent sheets of fascia if there is insufficient movement to maintain the inherent slipperiness. Slipperiness is another magical quality of this substance—some of you might remember the wonderful Jim Carrey line (from Ace Ventura Pet Detective, from memory) where he says, "it is the mucus that binds us." Well, it is. Like so many things in life, these attributes come in pairs; in this case the tendency to adhere and the capacity to slide. And no less than Dr Robert Schleip told me on a workshop once, "you'll love this Kit," he said, "we ran a series of experiments on hydration regimes and facial slipperiness – and there is no relation between these things we found. The only thing that keeps fascia supple and slippery is movement." Robert runs the Fascia Research Unit at Ulm University.

My guess is that this change will be permanent, assuming you use that range of movement from time to time. What you've experienced IS the method, doing what it should. So many, too many, people stop before this happens and will tell themselves that stretching just doesn't work for them or the method doesn't work for them. We have had plenty of them here on the Forums. Great work, @Matt Chung.

[Matt Chung]

> That, my friend, was a fascial adhesion, which has now let go. This is the science behind that gracilis release you've no doubt seen on that YT video.
 

That was my gut feeling. Unlike the sensation from other muscle under tension, the sensation above felt totally different. Yes, I've seen that YT video, the one where an individual was going for a forward fold and you end up (what looked some what painful) gripping their gracilis and massaging it, suddenly allowing them to increase their ROM dramatically.

> And no less than Dr Robert Schleip told me on a workshop once, "you'll love this Kit," he said, "we ran a series of experiments on hydration regimes and facial slipperiness – and there is no relation between these things we found. The only thing that keeps fascia supple and slippery is movement." Robert runs the Fascia Research Unit at Ulm University.

Fascinating. So, in short, seems like the anecdote quite simply is: move.

> My guess is that this change will be permanent, assuming you use that range of movement from time to time

After I experienced the sensation (i.e. "pop"), I spent a few minutes after just slowly wiggling my body around, wanting to "hold on" to this increased range of motion. Because I did have thoughts along the lines of "will this freedom disappear tomorrow morning?". Next morning (today), I woke up, slowly rolled out of bed, and very very very slowly repeated the same movement pattern (i.e. side bend to the left), somewhat anticipating to be "blocked" again and low and behold: freedom!

In about 20 minutes, I'll be entering a dance class (1.5 hours) and ideally, would stick around after class to immediately stretch but I need to hit public transport back home. I'm hoping that my body doesn't cool down too much (after about 60 minutes of travel) so that I can do my main stretch session, since I've moved the time window from mornings to evenings for stretching.

> So many, too many, people stop before this happens and will tell themselves that stretching just doesn't work for them or the method doesn't work for them

This makes sense. Stretching, to me, is like so many other crafts/disciplines. Take dance, for example. This has been said before but to paraphrase: you are changing, growing, however those changes may not be perceivable. To me, there requires, a little (lack of better word), faith in the process. Related to above, although I've seen (thanks to videos and photos) progress in different ranges of motion, last night was the FIRST time I experienced IN AN INSTANT that much increase in ROM. I'm talking like ... literally ... 10-20 degrees (when I get a chance, out of curiosity, will measure using video footage). Really dramatic change.

[Ned]

I've just caught up on reading your log and it's motivating to see your progress over time.  There are a remarkable number of insights into the process in your posts that I'd be wise to remember and apply as I learn and practice stretching. 

[Matt Chung]

Day 195 of stretching and flexibility journey

This is the third day in a row where I stretched in the evening (experimenting with moving away from morning stretches)

• I deviated from my typical routine, skipping C+R on hamstring and only "limbering" — Almost always, on Tuesdays, I perform C+R on the target muscle groups but tonight I skipped C+R on the hamstrings (still included C+R for hip flexor though) because my (right) hamstring felt sore from heavy dance session on Sunday. Again, the fact that I could even sense soreness in hamstring is a tiny victory. Moreover, practicing listening to my body instead of blindly sticking routines. It's only been in the last 1.5 years that I recognize me "forcing" myself to stick to certain routines or habits was out of anxiety, some nervousness that if I don't rigorously stick to the structure, then "everything" would fall apart. I still get those thoughts, but continue acting in opposition
• Decided to perform a "check in" on the Seiza position progress - one of my (many) goals is to comfortably sit in the Seiza position. I was long ways away a few months ago and while my butt cannot yet rest on the ground, my ankle mobility has improved to the point where I can confidently say that achieving the Seiza position is within reach
• Experimented with driving "butt" back during hamstring stretch - typically, I'll do the (2) two C+R contractions during hamstring lunch stretch, first driving the heel into the ground, followed by "pulling" the heel back towards me, followed by using the quadricep to "push" my leg forward and stretch the hamstring. But tonight, instead of driving the foot forward, I instead "pushed" my hips backwards. Looks similar, but sensation differs.

Day 195 Video / GIF recap

 

 

[Matt Chung]

> I've just caught up on reading your log and it's motivating to see your progress over time.  There are a remarkable number of insights into the process in your posts that I'd be wise to remember and apply as I learn and practice stretching. 

Thanks @Ned ! Though I am in this (i.e. stretching) for the long haul, it's amazing how much the body can progress in as short as 6 months. After reading comment, I actually decided to revisit the beginning of the thread and was surprised to (re)learn insights generated by my past self too Glad to see you are also documenting your progress and looking forward to learning from you as well. Keep it up!

[Matt Chung]

Tonight is calves night.

Using my balance board, I followed the tutorial below (albeit without a partner) and what's absolutely fascinating and totally surprising at the same time was that during this stretch, not only did I feel a foreign (to me) muscle in my calves – specifically while doing the bent knee version, one that I almost never do — but I felt the sensation right above (and to the side of) the knee, where I reported pain back on October 30th. Fascinating ... the fact that I can do a calve stretch and it shoots sensation right around the knee area. To me, that's a good thing and I'm on to something; that is, I'm starting to see/feel the connection between tightness in the calves and problematic knees (ongoing IT band issues, as reported before, for many many years, the reason I stopped running a few years back).

Yes to loosening up these calves! Finally, though I've been stretching and targeting the ankles for the last 7 weeks or so, seems as though they may have hit their limit (to some degree) because of the neglected calves. Just a thought.

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 198 of stretching and flexibility journey

Reflections on fascia release 6 days ago

Ever since I heard/felt the "pop" on Monday (log here) — the fascia release – I've been "limbering" that area of my body, sometimes still anticipating that the restricted range of motion still exists: but the "unlocked" range persists! However, I think because I've been unable to sway my hips (to the left side, the side in which I report "hip" pain) that deeply, the muscles in that area feel (lack of better words) painful, almost similar to lactic acid burning sensation you would get after strength training but more along the lines of the feeling you would experience shortly after rolling your ankle, like that intense shooting burning pain but for my left hip, it's been constant ever since the fascia release. Not necessarily a bad thing because what I am noticing though, though that area feels "hot" and "firey", my movements FEEL more lubricated, like suddenly there's more grease/oil in the hip.

On transitioning from morning stretches to evening stretches

In the evening, ESPECIALLY after a dance class or workshop, my initial stretch positions far exceed the initial stretch positions compared to cold starts. That being said, a few tradeoffs (for me):

• I've "missed" one day of stretching this week - was emotionally drained from working throughout the day, less motivated as a result. Energies were just zapped. Also after a heavy dance work out, it takes me about 60 minutes to get home from central London and by then, my body has more or less cooled down (again, still warmer in comparison to morning cold starts)

[Matt Chung]

Day 200 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary

• Had my (5 year old) daughter all weekend and wasn't able to stretch until last night (Sunday evening)
• Did very vigorous workout and dance for 1.5 hours before transitioning to stretching
• Not quite out of the woods with plantar fasciitis - After watching the clips from the LLD thread, I am going to try and reduce heel striking to see if that helps lessen the pain concentrated in the heel; also had the thought of transitioning back to "normal" shoes temporarily to see if it alleviates plantar fasciitis (as mentioned previously, never experienced this, despite 20+ years of tennis and ~2 years of dance, the onset of pain new; again could be increased volume, could be introduction of strength training exercises including single legged jump ropes)
• Placing a towel under thighs during piriformis stretched worked wonders - I've been holding myself up in "free space" (I remember Olivia using this term during one of the starter course videos) and decided to on a whim place a towel underneath my thigh and lo and behold, I was able to not only relax more, but stretch more deeply by 1-3 inches. Incredible. I'm sort on finding more ways to add "comfort" during the stretches
• Tried alternating pedaling during downwards dog but too much pain in sciatic nerve - gave it a crack (as mentioned in this thread) but still too much pain behind the knees
• Going to try and fascia release my lower back - my calves...they are still what I consider one of the tighest areas in my body and curious to see if doing some massaging on the lower back will help with releasing some restrictions.
• Mindfully adjusted my posture during Seiza position - when I watched back the video from a few days ago, my spine was not vertically aligned, my head tilted downwards. So I remembered that during last night's stretching session and adjusted my position accordingly, sitting more "upright"
• After 2 weeks of introducing quad stretch, I'm already noticing huge increase ROM - I'm not sure what the stretch is called, but it looks quite similar to the "couch" stretch

Additional Observations

• Less painful sensations when "sticking butt out" / driving hips backwards during toe touch - ever since my "fascia release", I noticed my hips ability to move more freely in all different directions, including shifting hips backwards. And just the other day when I bent over at the waist to try and tie my shoes, I notice that my hips were more automatically driving backwards and as a consequence, I felt less "sciatic" pain nerve than I typically feel

 

[Kit_L]

Congratulations on this milestone, Matt. Excellent.

[Matt Chung]

Day 202 of stretching and flexibility journey

Target muscles: hamstrings (C+R), hip flexor (C+R), quadriceps (C+R), ankles (C+R), calves (post work out "limbering")

Random thought: I'm that peculiar person that stretches while standing up riding public transportation; was on the overground yesterday and my left hip felt pain (8/10) that comes on during left sided waist bend so instead of sitting for 30 minutes, just statically stretched in that position for about half the commute, looking like a crazy person (but totally worth it)

Summary

• Experimented with wearing headphones while stretching - I enjoy listening to music (sometimes calm relaxing music, but often house music at ~120 bpm) through speakers but wanted to experience stretching with headphones; enjoyable and yet a bit distracting and at times helped me take a few additional breathes at my end range of motion
• Stretched in evening (opposed to morning rituals) after dance class - again, it takes about 60 minutes to commute from central London back to my flat; in addition, when I return home, I prioritize walking my dogs since they've been inside for several hours. That means, about 2.5 hours elapses before I could stretch, by then my body cooling down. Even then, I still feel my initial ROM is greater than when comparing to mornings
• Sensed I can hold the lunge position much longer during hip flexor stretch - normally, when in the lunge position, when I lift my heel off the ground and then drive the heel back towards the wall, I can barely hold the strengthening position for a couple breathes. However, last night, I realize I can both sustain the position longer AND if I continue to breathe deeply while driving the heel back, I can increase ROM what FEELS like an inch or two
• Significant increase ROM in quadricep stretch - I think in a few weeks, I might actually re-attempt the "couch" stretch (that I had learned through one of Kelly Starlett's books), a position I could not handle many moons ago due to lack of ROM in quadriceps
• Stretched calves in multiple positions - still working through this plantar fasciitis (so intermittent, some days it hurts, some days it's non-existent).

Vigorous 1.5 hour Dance Class that warms up my body prior to stretching

Class ends at 7:30pm; I get home at about 8:30pm; stretch session doesn't start until about 9:30pm

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 205 of stretching and flexibility journey

It's 9:54 am and I woke up this morning (at about 6:30am) with pain in my right upper mid back; could be that I slept wrong (I did wake up with my daughter's stuffed toy located around that position the whole night). In any case, very difficult to roll out of bed and took several minutes with several deep breathes.

This morning, inspired by Ned's movement log, I decided follow a long to a the relaxation exercise pulled from the wiki. The biggest takeaway is this:

• I suddenly became aware how much tension in my shoulders - during the follow along (Oaks Flat, NSW Public Class 2020), Kit's voice said something along the lines of "How do you know if your shoulders are relaxed? They should be making contacting with the floor". The back of my shoulders were elevated above the floor by several inches, even though I thought I was relaxing them. In fact, when "relaxed" them, pressing the back of the shoulders so that they contact the mat/floor, that sensation felt less like relaxing but after 5-6 minutes passed, the shoulders pressed against the floor started feeling "normal".
• 15 minutes of the relaxation exercise reduced the pain in my lower back as well - not completely gone, but intensity has decreased, so much so that I may even be able to carry on dance practice tonight (on the fence at the moment)

[Ned]

> I suddenly became aware how much tension in my shoulders

I've found it helpful to notice whether I'm holding tension in the shoulders occasionally through the day.  Since I started doing that I'm less habitually tight there.  I still tense up and sometimes I notice that as it happens or just before it happens, but noticing the tension has helped a lot with shifting from being habitually tense toward being habitually not as tense (one day it might be habitually relaxed).

[Matt Chung]

Day 208 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary

• Relaxation (17 minutes) script in the morning
• 1.5 hour dance and strength and conditioning (clip here)
• Targeted shoulders this evening and introduced new exercise (for internal rotator cuff) that was shared through a colleague
• Observation: Up until now, I thought my right calve was "tighter" than left but I actually think that's its more flexible, just weaker. That is, ROM in right calve and ankle is greater however when performing single legged jump ropes, my right ankle and calve give out much faster (say I can jump up and down on left for easily for 30 seconds but on right leg, I struggle to finish at about the 20 second mark)

Started the morning with the 17 minute relaxation script; similar to the other day, was able to not only relax my mid back but increase the awareness of how much my shoulders hunch forward throughout the day. Really, the cue of "does your shoulders touch the floor [when laying down]" has me mindfully releasing tension multiple times throughout the day (although I admit, currently, when I pull my shoulders back, that feels like the opposite of relaxing but makes sense given how much tension I hold in the default position)

Last night, continuing on with stretching at night (instead of first thing in the AM like the first 6 months), before bed, after a long (1.5 hour) workout. Focused on shoulders and introduced a new exercise introduced to a colleague of mine, one that REALLY feel and experience the internal rotator cuff in the spot I need it the most. Essentially, it's using a resistance band wrapped around a door knob (clip below) and I can modulate how much tension to apply.

 

[Matt Chung]

Day 209 of stretching and flexibility journey

Summary

• Left glute medius in constant pain and will start trying out strength training - I think there's some connection between my left glute medius pain (felt during hip sway) with my opposite (right) foot plantar fascitiis. Long story short: I'm going to start trying to strength train (not just stretch) the left glute medius specifically, suggestion from this YouTube clip. Through the advice in that video, I have been consistently stretching my calves almost every day and while that has helped mitigate some of the plantar fasciitis, it has not completely eliminated the pain, which feels most painful and stiff when I wake up from bed
• Last night (after 1.5 hours of dance) got home and targeted hip flexors and hamstrings and ankles - although about an hour had passed between ending dance class and starting stretching, my initial range of motion was greater to begin with when compared to a cold start. Will continue stretching in evening for the time being

Today, setting the intention of performing a relaxation exercise and then in the evening, target calves (C+R)

 

[Ned]

I probably don't need to say it, but my like is for the update (not that you're in pain I hope the strength training alleviates that soon). 

Your text in that video resonates with me, I started training (generally not specifically stretching) for function or to move better (in some abstract sense), but it wasn't until I came across Kit's "grace and ease in the body" that I realized that was what I was trying to train for.

 

[Kit_L]

16 hours ago, Ned said:

grace and ease in the body

It doesn't sound like much until you start talking to people and find that almost no one has it! This was the deep reason I developed the deep relaxation habit (stretching and connecting to the body was step one; step two was letting all unnecessary tension go). This has changed my life, and the lives of many others. Keep going!