Ned's log

[Kit_L]

5 hours ago, Ned said:

just how much less inclined to relax I am because of the imminent deadline to leave right after an LRP on those days is insightful.

It really shows you how much of our stress we create ourselves—and we're not aware we're doing it. Very insightful, yes. 

5 hours ago, Ned said:

if I keep my front heel down

I can't remember his name, the ATG guy, but I'm pretty sure the heel coming up a bit is not a problem for that exercise. It was the stretching aspect of that exercise he credits with his excellent HF length. It is a great dynamic stretch, I feel.

If you take away the balance component (finger against a wall), and really tuck the tail, square the hips, sink the hips until the back knee touches the floor, and use the back leg's quad to straighten the back leg, and stay there, you can make it an excellent active stretch out of it.

[Ned]

LRP in the mornings.  Waking up earlier makes that easier.  More relaxation through the day and deliberately letting go of tension.  Metta is still sporadic in the evenings.  

Skipping is something I'm still getting used to, right now I'm doing roughly every other day 30s on, 10s off for 8 rounds (went again.  I'll stick with that for another week or two and then increase the number of rounds or interval lengths, not sure which at this point.  I generally seem to hit just over 2 jumps/second (usually 64-66 jumps in 30s).  I mostly feel it in my calves, feet, quads, and glutes none of which is surprising.  I can imagine that this might be the answer to building up enough calf strength/endurance to make the transition to barefoot running easier.

L7 - Pancake preparation session.  I probably should have done this one sooner, but it was good to work through it at this point anyway.

Hip flexor lunge - mostly limited by the hamstrings of the front leg at this point.  There's stretch in the hip flexors though.  Some sideways lean to get the second elbow down after the contractions.  

Sumo squat - I should work more on these.  I don't find them especially fatiguing in my quads at this point--especially with the arms holding me up, but pulling the knees wider with the muscles at the back of the hips is relatively taxing.

Squashed frog - This one still is not my favourite stretch.  I know from previous experiences that more knee padding is in order so I had a folded blanket handy.  I found the most groin stretch in the pelvis tilted forward rather than tail tucked and increased it somewhat when I moved back towards the feet a little bit.  

Elephant walk - My hamstrings are quite a bit tighter today than my normal.  That may relate to the skipping and calf tightness associated with it.  A little bit of sensation in the lower back--especially with the two leg version at the end.  

Under butt - mostly lower hamstring today, very different sensation than when I tried it previously.  

Straight wide legged forward bend - mostly gracilis and a little bit of hamstring + lower back.  

Half pancake - quite intense through the inner thigh/gracilis today.  It seems to also be going down into the inside side of my calf (quite a ways down).  I assume that's some calf tightness from the skipping.    

Internal rotations - nice way to end.

[Kit_L]

22 hours ago, Ned said:

I can imagine that this might be the answer to building up enough calf strength/endurance to make the transition to barefoot running easier.

This is exactly why boxers skip, and I've probably mentioned this in the past. I am doing similar bounces at the moment myself, but without the rope. I have found increasing numbers in any set works the best for me. Once I got up to sets of 300 x 3, calves were rehabbed. And building the capacity to generate and use stored elastic energy is definitely part of the transition to 100% barefoot. 

Re. metta being sporadic in the evenings: I have found an inverse relationship between fatigue and metta, so not surprising. Keep going!

[Ned]

LRP in the mornings.  I'm planning to try metta during lunch break to see if moving it earlier helps with consistency.  

Skipping again yesterday, same 8 rounds of 30s on 10s off.  I'm feeling it less in my calves today than I have previously, but still sticking with the the same volume for a couple more sessions before I change it.  I'm quite aware of an old ankle sprain when I'm doing it, so I'm hoping it helps rehab that some more.  

8x1 pullups + 10kg yesterday.  Shorter rest between sets.  

--- 

4x30s alternating one arm hangs (no rest) - for anyone wondering about the significant time jump compared to recent posts, I wrapped an old wide and thin resistance band around the bar so I wasn't slipping off from lack of friction.  The problem with that method is the likelihood of blisters from too much friction, so chalk or handle bar tape still seem like they are probably  better solutions in the long term.  Pulling myself up high enough to get my other hand up onto the bar to switch was harder than I thought it would be, more practice needed.   

3x12/side sandbag (20kg) split squats

15 minutes in a resting squat - I mostly spent the time exploring hands and wrist mobility.  It's been a while since I sat in the bottom of a squat for a while, but still basically effortless.  

I went through this one today.

Hip circles - tight left adductors with this one today for some reason and somewhat tight right hamstring.  

Side bend - not really significant, but I find I always bring the arm up and and over rather than across and up to bring on more stretch and assume that's a side effect of that movement being patterned from dead hangs and pullups.  

I liked the Sumo squat rotations a lot.  I'm going to incorporate them more often.  Good stretch in the groin.  

Added in some calf stretches before the squat <-> standing forward bend sequence to alleviate some of the tension in the back of the leg.  Limbered into straight legs at the end.

The triangle pose variant and contractions are quite intense today.  My left side is quite a bit looser than the right. 

Hip swing -> lunge was interesting.  My pauses before putting the foot down were very brief, so I'll work on those.  

Seated piriformis stretch.  Very deep with this one today and not a whole lot of stretch on the right side, more stretch on the left side.  

The rotation that followed was novel.  I'm not sure what I make of it, it didn't feel intense so much as unusual.  There was a spot that stretched wonderfully just above my right hip that went away when I did it properly with the slump.  There are some areas in the middle back that clearly haven't moved in that way in a long time too, but they weren't stretched so much as stiff. 

The diamond pose was an interesting comparison with the sensations in the Tailor pose, and I spent some time afterwards working on the same pelvis shifts (I can do that a little bit now, whereas previously there was much less ability for that).  I'm finding more nuances in the sensations in the inner thighs and groin, and also with the muscles at the back of the hips that pull the knees down.  

Back bends - these were much needed today.

I finished off with 20s tucked L-sit that for some reason cramped my triceps significantly since I was focused on pushing myself off the floor.  

[Kit_L]

2 hours ago, Ned said:

bring the arm up and and over rather than across and up to bring on more stretch

I designed the cue (to bring the arm up in front of the body and then overhead) explicitly to reduce the effect on the shoulders, because so many people are so tight there (we feel that movement in the shoulders, but it's because the lats are too tight). And people who have frozen shoulders and other problems of that sort have been able to do the side bend if they bring the arm across the front of their body instead of the usual out and up. As long as you reach as far off the fingertips as you can in the end position, the stretch should be the same.

[Kit_L]

2 hours ago, Ned said:

for some reason cramped my triceps significantly since I was focused on pushing myself off the floor.  

Cue yourself to flex the lats hard first (so pull them down to the hips before pressing yourself off the floor); this can make them do more work (and you could feel a bit less in the triceps).

[Ned]

Thanks Kit, I will give that a try.

Edited to add: That makes quite a difference to the feel of the movement generally and no cramping which is nice.  I made it to 16s with a full floor one with that cue, so that's definitely a piece that I was missing.

Edited January 30 by Ned

[Ned]

LRP in the mornings.  Mindful breaths through the day.  Beautiful sunset over the lake tonight.  

A relatively short session to write about today (longer to do).

I did 8 rounds of 30s on 10s off sessions of skipping on Saturday and Sunday.  I did 8x45s on 10s off skipping today.  Roughly 2 jumps/second.  I'm noticing an old ankle sprain a bit with the skipping (from the beginning), so I'm hopeful that continued practice in the right amount rehabs it eventually.  

10x1 pullups +10kg.  These are feeling a little easier which is nice.  I'm generally pausing for a few seconds up at the top.  2-3 minutes of rest between them.  

Tuck front lever position -> controlled floor dismounts.  I don't really know what to call these.  But when I first tried doing the tucked front levers I had to get into them awkwardly from above, and didn't really have a smooth dismount out of them.  Now I'm trying to build the strength to be able to get into and out of them smoothly.  Getting into them is still not possible without momentum or else a toe hook on what I'm grabbing onto to pull myself into it, getting out of them is now smooth and quiet though.  

Bent leg L-sits - focusing on figuring out lat engagement and the press off the floor more than the core aspect of it.

Single leg dose pose - No ladder bars, exploration of tight lines.  I should have taken a long break between sides.  There was some burn in the trapezius by the end.  

Tailor pose - Heading South for a bit and will likely bring some more weights back with me to see if the weighted bounce technique will work with more weight than I have with me.  Right now, I'm using the spend ~10-20 minutes sitting in the end position between sets of contractions with little bits of rocking the pelvic forward and backwards.  I think I've reached a plateau with this one at the moment, so I'll keep practicing it.  I ran through the hand/finger sequence while I was waiting.  

I ended the session with the Rod of Correction on my calves.  The skipping made that more intense than usual.  

[Kit_L]

21 hours ago, Ned said:

so I'm hopeful that continued practice in the right amount rehabs it eventually.  

What I'm hoping for too. What I know for sure is if I do nothing, no problem ever goes away.

And pausing in the top position of chinups (and trying to pull the bar closer to the throat at the same time) is excellent isometric work (and perfect for people like me who are weakest in that position). 

[Ned]

5 hours ago, Kit_L said:

What I'm hoping for too. What I know for sure is if I do nothing, no problem ever goes away.

That about sums it up.

[Ned]

LRP in the mornings.  Mindful breaths throughout my days.  Metta in the evenings.  

Skipping 8x45s on, 10s off.  I felt much springier today than I have in any previous session.  I'm still noticing it in my ankle afterwards, so I'm going to stick with the slow progression (2 weeks before I can move on) so I don't over do it.  I was doing about 100 bounces each set so my pace is up a little bit from where I started too.  

12x1 pullups +10kg neutral grip.  3s pause at the top.  3 minutes between sets.  It's remarkable how much easier those feel than they did when I started doing them.  

30s/side one arm hangs

Knee ab-wheel rollouts 3x5

Short xc ski along the shore this afternoon ~30-40 minutes, strange texture relative to the powder or groomed trails I've skied on before.  

I was planning to stretch when I got back, but I cooled off too much and now I'm stiff (fell on the way in and worked some of the stabilizing muscles in the legs/hips that I seem to only use in any significant way when skiing).  I'll probably do some limbering with the daily 5 later this evening.  

 

 

[Gareth O Connor]

Cross country skiing...interesting!

[Ned]

LRP in the mornings.  Mindful breaths through the day.  Metta in the evenings.  No longer wanting to be anywhere but here and now.  

Skipping 8x45s on 10s off.  I'm jumping faster than I did (~2.5 jumps/s).

Pullups + 10kg (14 total) as 1,1,3,3,2,2,2.  These are continuing to get easier.  3s pause at the top.  I did 7 at bodyweight after this.  

Bulgarian split squats 2x10/side with 16kg - I'm planning to make these a regular part of the routine for a while.

Romanian single leg deadlifts 2x10/side with 16kg.  

L-sit 1x15s full floor, 2x20s/side one leg up one leg down.  

3x20 captain's chair leg raises - doing them quickly lets me get my toes about level with my eyes.  Before I started stretching my hamstrings were too tight to get my feet level with my hips when my legs were straight.  

Triangle pose - lots of room for improvement here, left side is tighter than the right today.  I did it 3 times on the right and 5 on the left.  I played a little with the hip alignment to find the tight spots.  I'm very aware of just how tight my hamstrings are too.  

Wide legged elephant walk - this feels much more intense than often today, but I'm also working a range of motion that's quite a bit deeper than usual so it feels more like fascia and less like muscle tension.

Half pancake - increased range of motion in this one.  Quite a lot of intensity in the adductors with it, but the bottom of my belly is now touching the thigh of the bent leg (just) with the forward pelvic tilt.  I've started feeling along gracilis during this one as well--not quite the full release, but not a dissimilar method either.  

Tailor pose - a bit of a pulling sensation in the inside side of my right knee today.  I'm not sure on the cause of that since the depth is about usual in the end position.  My contractions are getting stronger there though.  

Wall quad hip flexor - very pleasant one today and (what felt like) a significant increase in end range of motion.  I like noticing the changes in the feeling of the stretch from moving the hips side to side a little.  

[Kit_L]

6 hours ago, Ned said:

No longer wanting to be anywhere but here and now.  

Not that we have a choice! But embracing this reality changes everything.

And very nice progress on the chins, too.