Sunday, April 08, 2007

Remembering that training is not just lifting.

Did my 30 minute walk today after being lazy the last two weeks. The cert is fast approaching and I want to have some miles in my legs. BUT after yesterdays fairly hefty volume and thinking about tomorrows very hi rep darcs tomorrow made me realize my legs were pretty stiff and sore this early AM. I chose not to stretch out first which was a mistake.

I have to remember as I constantly gain more work capacity, have more energy,have better mobility and less pain that I still have to work on all the 'side' modalities to make sure I continue going in this direction.ANd that means paying attention to all the little things; the Rifga yoga poses,continue to assess and correct 'square and plumb' daily, and now that I can such a killer thumper :USE IT. My left knee still tightens up and the left calf has to be way more pliable and 'human tissue like". BUt the better I feel, and the more I do the less energy there is left over for all the 'boring' pre/rehab stuff. But I have to do it, there's just no real choice.

Plus I have to push the left knee's ROM much more diligently.It only bends 90-95 degrees and that aint enough. The least bit of tenision and that turns into 75-80 deg.Gotta stay loose, eh?
Start moving from double to single leg squat stretches.

Gotta stay vigilant.

And that thumper is little piece of heaven. It literally melts the tension right out of a tight flexor. amazing.

7 comments:

Royce said...

Rif I have a question, actually a couple. When a person has tight flexors or muscles that hinder mobility what is thie caused from?
To much residual tension from training? imbalanced training?ijuries? or.......
Also how do you prevent it?

Royce said...

man my spelling sucks, thank god for spellcheck at school or my proffesor would have laughed me out of class

Mark Reifkind said...

royce,

thats a big question.typically the flexor muscles(hip flexors, hamstrings, abs, lats) can get tight and restrict extension( standing up muscles) with too much or too little training( think desk bound sendentary worker).

or by doing too much pecs, abs, biceps etc and not enough back and hips, rhomboids, quads,and triceps( typical beach bodybuilding).

making sure one maintains full ROM for all joints is the first step. If you bench too much and cant get your arms overhead thats a problem. If your hammies are too tight to allow a good lower back arch,thats a problem.All the joints should have as close to normal ROM without restriction as possible and steps should be taken to open up whats too tight and strengthen whats too weak.

Royce said...

Cool Rif thanks. I have never done beach type BB. Always equall attention to both sides of the joint. I hate isolations stuff too, ( curls, pushdowns ect ).
I want to learn how to push my body but stay mobile too.
What are your thoughts on z-health, everybody always raves about it.

Mark Reifkind said...

royce,

z health sounds very very interesting to me.I like everything I've read about it and it has endorsements from people I respect highly. That being said I dont beleive that it is a one stop fix; the practicitioners seem to have apply it often and regularly,especially after heavy loading.Kinda of what I have to do with all my rehab stuff.

I do like the neurological approach though,makes total sense.I just have a HUGE amount of adhesions and scar tissue to deal with.

Mark Reifkind said...

oh yea, most of peoples problems with length/tension relationship inbalances comes from postural problems( sitting, poor alignment) than from their exercise.

Royce said...

Thanks again man.

215, 225 x X x 2, 205 x 1 x 5, laterals rear delts rev pushdowns

 This was a very solid day. I took 215 and it was the strongest one in a long time so I took 225 and almost made it  What I did realize is t...