Cleaning my Slate!

[tjosh]

Once again my progress has been halted due to injury. I was experiencing great results using Double-D program with Mills and swipes and then the back of my right shoulder started hurting. A few months back it was the left side of my lower back and i have noticed that the inside of my left knee has been hurting sometimes when I am doing the swipes (this may be due to flat feet). So obviously there is some chain of tension running diagonally from left to right.

The only trauma i have experienced in my right shoulder was about 15 years ago playing baseball when I tried to slide head first into second base on a wet field and jammed my elbow into the ground. I can't remember when I hurt my low back first but there have been many times I have tweaked it. I also got slammed on my head about 8 years ago and had a severe subluxation in the area between the shoulder blades, it still clicks in and out in that area. Then about a year after that happened I was doing a seated row and hurt my neck when I was pulling the weight and still feel a sort of strained feeling in the in the muscles on the back of my neck from that.

I have seen a chiropractor and had x-rays and the only thing that showed up was slight tilt in my low back to the left. Doc said it wasn't bad though.

When doing the circular back arches in the advanced warrior wellness I have really noticed that I don't have full range of motion in my left hip, it sort of feels like it gets stuck. When I am leg kicking I notice that I have a lot harder time turning my left leg over.

I have bodyflow, warrior wellness, and clubbells to work with. I would like to put together a program to wipe the slate clean so I can make long term progress.

thanks

[SteveB]

The thing to remember is that WW, BF, and Clubbells are all a part of the same coherant training system, with its core the concept of "being breathed" by performance. keeping this in mind, I would suggest warming up with Body Flow, giving emphasis to slow, stretching movements, working into kinesthetic chains that allow you to stretch the back and hips. Experiment slowly and thoughtfully, being breathed by the motions. Then try a short WW program (about 5 minutes) emphasizing any arcs of motion you plan to use with the CB. then your CB workout. End with a more complete WW workout (perhaps 10 minutes). And the last thing before you go to bed? WW again, for at least 10 minutes. Keep track of your results in your training diary.

Steve

[tjosh]

Thanks for the input Steve!

Robert V reccomended asn you did that I focus on WW more to abate stored tension as well as body-flow, with special emphasis on prone scorpion and shoulder/neck rolls.

I am focusing on striking now and have very intense training sessions almost everyday, so I am taking it easy with the C-bells, just doing one set of 5-10 reps in the morning with basic exercises just to keep my familiarity with them until I can get back to a double-d phase. so i guess i should be doing WW before and after each session and I will be focusing on BF in the mornings as well. I also gohave the Yamuna Body-Rolling ball that I have been using at night.

[rbibbs]

Josh, if you're experiencing increases in tension as a result of Clubbell work, you may be doing too much active training too fast. Mix in more Active Recovery. Everyone who strength trains hits brick walls, perhaps thinking results are directly proportional to effort. But 'results' is a hyperbolic curve; when one exceeds the effort level which their biochemistry can assimilate and recover from, the 'results' curve becomes negative. Good to know where those brick walls are, but hitting them is otherwise counterproductive.

WW and Body Flow are not 'finite systems' unto themselves, but the basis for exploration and discovery. No text or video 'system' can anticipate the range of knotty situations us articulophiles can get ourselves into. In the areas where you feel tension, expand upon the motions you already do. If you have a pronounced tension in one range of motion, explore it more fully. Doing so will cause 'some' discomfort but it shouldn't exceed 4 (scale of 10).

Example: Driving long distances puts horrendous tension in my hips, which often as not migrates to my lateral knee tendons and resides there for 2 months. I just returned from the 6th such trip (800 miles RT). As soon as I got home, I set about exploring and releasing the tension. The exercise I came up with that localized it and allowed me to release it was quite unorthodox and not found on any video 'as such'. I bent over my kitchen stove, supporting myself on one elbow and the opposite bent leg with my hip extended way out to its own side. Articulating to and around that position found the exact muscle that had 'seized' and forced it to stretch back toward normal. Nominal range-of-motion wouldn't have found it or allowed me to focus on it effectively. What I'm getting at is, that was an extension of WW, but not shown "on the screen" as such.

Hope that's helpful.

[tjosh]

Thanks for the insights Rick. I think you are right, I need to expand and explore WW more deeply and adjust it to my specific needs. I guess I was sort of stuck in the simplistic mindset of just doing what was on the screen, but everyones needs and stored tensions are going to be in different areas.

I don't think my problems with the clubbell training were due to doing too much active training to fast, but much more likely due to the fact that I had not "cleaned my slate". My foundation was not ready to be built upon.

THis has happened to me many times. I make great gains for a couple of months and then I get injured. Always back and forth. But now I am committed to not being "injury proned". For example, today my right shoulder felt a little strained due to striking practice, so now I will spend the necessary time and attention tonight that is needed to release the stored tension. In the past I would just push through with no re- or prehab.

[rbibbs]

You're right about the slate/foundation Josh.

Historically all my linear lifting 'experiments' resulted in tendon pulls and by the time they recovered I'd lost all my gains... so I hear ya on the 'injury-cycle' thing. You've got a handle on it. (And figured it out faster than I did.)

Good on ya, mate.

[tjosh]

I don't think I have a handle on it yet Rick, but I am working towards it. Self exploration is a difficult process wether it be in the physical, mental, or spiritual domain(maybe all these are one in the same). Hopefully one day I will have it all figured out :wink:

Lately, through many different areas the same thing has been reinforced over and over again: pay attention. This seems simple, but for me and most other people it is very difficult. I think this is one big reason I have been "injury prone", I was rushing through things, craving immediate results.

[Jay C]

Josh, if you're experiencing increases in tension as a result of Clubbell® work, you may be doing too much active training too fast. Mix in more Active Recovery. Everyone who strength trains hits brick walls, perhaps thinking results are directly proportional to effort. But 'results' is a hyperbolic curve; when one exceeds the effort level which their biochemistry can assimilate and recover from, the 'results' curve becomes negative. Good to know where those brick walls are, but hitting them is otherwise counterproductive.

Warrior Wellness™ and Body Flow are not 'finite systems' unto themselves, but the basis for exploration and discovery. No text or video 'system' can anticipate the range of knotty situations us articulophiles can get ourselves into. In the areas where you feel tension, expand upon the motions you already do. If you have a pronounced tension in one range of motion, explore it more fully. Doing so will cause 'some' discomfort but it shouldn't exceed 4 (scale of 10).

Example: Driving long distances puts horrendous tension in my hips, which often as not migrates to my lateral knee tendons and resides there for 2 months. I just returned from the 6th such trip (800 miles RT). As soon as I got home, I set about exploring and releasing the tension. The exercise I came up with that localized it and allowed me to release it was quite unorthodox and not found on any video 'as such'. I bent over my kitchen stove, supporting myself on one elbow and the opposite bent leg with my hip extended way out to its own side. Articulating to and around that position found the exact muscle that had 'seized' and forced it to stretch back toward normal. Nominal range-of-motion wouldn't have found it or allowed me to focus on it effectively. What I'm getting at is, that was an extension of Warrior Wellness™, but not shown "on the screen" as such.

Hope that's helpful.
I just wanted to thank you for this post. It inspired me to "experiment' to find a release for my shoulder tension. I'm not as verses in the technicalities of the body as most on here but here was my line of thinking. My right deltoid is/was stiff (a combination of pullups, pushups, and punches over the last week or so). I had lost some ROM in reaching between my shoulder blades and in pulling a stretch with my left hand on my right elbow to reach further down the middle of my back. This is a stretch we do in my Krav so I know I had the ROM before.

Anyway, after reading your post I decided to try and do some "circles" with my arm, but had to figure a way to relax the deltoid at the same time ... how would one do that, I mean the delts hold the arm up. Then it dawned on me to grab hold of the corner of the filing cabinet and drop to my knees. Viola, loose muscle and I was able to rotate the socket somewhat and get things more loose. I am now able to reach between my shoulder blades with a RPD of 2. RPD; for the assisted stretch is also a 2.

Hope this helps others as well. I plan to use the pullup bar at home to see how much more I can relax this muscle. I'll report my findings in my CST log.

Jay

[JasonE]

Nice going, Jay! Very creative, and sounds like it's effective too. 8) I will have to borrow that idea if a similar situation pops up with someone I'm helping. :mrgreen: