Sunday, January 10, 2016

Light and slow Ruck.




My neck is definitely better than it was. The restriction at the occiput is gone but there is still some trap tightness and restriction around C4-7. Slept decent although left levator was tight when I woke up. Moving definitely helps
Definitely going in the right direction, the ribs are barely even noticeable and part of me things she put a rib IN rather than knocked one out. That right side rib cage has been elevate more than the left for awhile.
If she had hurt it it would be killing me today, but it's better. AND the rocktape I put on definitely helps. As usual I don't know why and, as usual I don't care. It works and works consistently. Let the academics figure it out later. I'm using it and glad it's available

But I wasn't even sure I was going to ruck today given that all this started last Sunday after my ruck. I didn't think it was that but I was a bit nervous. I'm totally done with this pain and restriction.
BUT I also thought it might help.Motion is lotion but I made sure to lighten the load, walk with my head as upright as possible , stop and stretch/squat often and go by feel.

I was perfectly ready to call it off if at any time it started going south. Good thing to be two blocks from home for this, too

Also took 30 min and did a proper roll and stretchout as well. That helped a lot. LOTS of neck nods and  side to side rotations. I really really like these and use them ALL the time, in all kinds of movements.

I know they let whatever I'm stretching relax more and it increase ROM fairly quickly. It was key in my squat ROM
I most often do them when rocking on the floor.

Ruck
40 lbs
12 laps
12 iso squat stretches
2 hours exactly
8:10 tenth lap
7:55 twelfth lap

BW 162.2 !
BF 12.5
W 56.8

purposely didn't time the laps til the very end when I was sure I was loose enough. I make sure NOT to speed up, I wanted to see what the average lap speed was. Surprisingly fast but then I realized I was ten lbs light !

Ten pounds makes a big difference

The big takeaway was the result of doing lots more squats with neck nods. Every time I did them the traps relaxed and the rotation and extension got better. SO I kept doing them. By the end of the workout my traps and neck were decidedly better than at the start.

Then I went home and got on the floor and stretched and rolled again. not type or look down

Nothing like a nice tap on the head from upstairs to remind you to pay attention to what is really important in life, and it's not how much weight is on the bar or how many reps I can do.
It's painfree unrestricted movement with your own body and good health!

If you don't listen to the tap the next sound is usually a two by four, and, as I said, I'm done living in chronic musculo-skeletolo pain.

But the key is NOT to stop moving, or training. it's modifying it correctly so that it helps make you heal fast, not fall further down the rabbit hole.

Presses tomorrow which should be fine.
better everyday

datsit
neverquit

9 comments:

Monika said...

It is amazing to me that you always know what to do when you have pain. I'm fairly ignorant about all this, but throughout my life so far, whenever I felt pain in my knees etc. I kept moving. I didn't want to use pain killers etc. It seemed to work, and I'm glad it never got so bad, that I had to go see a doctor.

I don't know if you are willing to give advice, and if not, that's OK. But you seem to know so much about it.
I've been reading everything I could get my hands on about kettlebell training. It says that with kb training you can make your back better, but where do you start?
My son (29), who is obese, has expressed interest in kb training (watching me this past year), but since he's been carrying around so much weight, his back is not the best.
It's not possible to find a kb trainer for us, we learn from DVD's and books.

What can I tell him to start with? He's the most out of shape person I know. :o(

Mark Reifkind said...

Monika

I have learned much from 43+ years of being injured and imbalanced and getting virtually no help from the traditional medical establishment. I had to "figure it out" on the fly and developed a very practical approach to my experiments- if they worked I stayed with them until they didn't seem to be helping and then switched to something else.
The Docs told me to strengthen the muscles so the knee would be more stable. I told it a little too far I guess but it was with good intentions

But that's how I learned, by experimenting on myself and constantly studying the body, and taking what I could from basic healing arts and mixing it with science.

If resting and taking drugs would have helped I would be glad to do that but they don't and I watched it destroy my father from MS.

I learned from Chiropractice that if you got the bones to align spasmed muscles would relax so I tried it backwards: work to relax the muscles to see if that would make the bones align and to a LARGE extent it did, and does.

But not always. then I see a chiro

This is the heart of my BodyMaintenance course. We all have to be able to do the basic maintenance on our muscles and joints.

As far as your son kb training can be helpful for the back but it's certainly not the only tool one should approach it with. I didn't. I did tons of stretching and stabilization work as well

The kb was the only thing that let me TRAIN that didn't hurt my back ( one arm swings only though) and over time built in great stability as well as strength and endurance. But it only is not the answer

He needs to walk off the weight. That and change his diet radically. Tracy did it this way and lost 50 lbs in 3 months just walking 2 miles every other day. Then she took up kbs

First get her book the Swing and have him read that.
Then walk and change his eating
THen get my Mastering the Hardstyle Swing DVD and follow that.

It works but he's gotta want it :)

Monika said...

Thank you so much for your response, Mark! I really appreciate it.

I've got Tracy's DVD's and Mastering the Hardstyle Swing DVD, as well as the book The Swing (and read it).
I think he's finally ready to do something. Walking hurts his back, so he can only do it every other day right now, and nowhere near 2 miles. He's close to 500lbs.
He also changed his diet, and even though it's not ideal yet, it's better then it was.

He KNOWS what's bad for him, and what would be good, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He's also suffering from depression. It's hard for me as his mother to watch him struggling.

I've asked him to watch Pavel's DVD Simple & Sinister, and of course Mastering the Hardstyle Swing, which I bought mostly for him, but so far he hasn't.

I just thought there might be one move I could ask him to do daily, which would strengthen his back, like do 5 kb deadlifts as often as you can throughout the day (just an example)that would get him moving.

Anyway, thank you so much. I'll keep reading your blog, it's inspirational for me, as well as Tracy's.

Mark Reifkind said...

yes my step son was that size, it's very very hard. how's this. get hit a pedometer and have him tally his steps every day.
start wherever he starts even if it's 200 steps a day

the key is building from there. when it's easy do another 25 steps and so on. Have him build, over time to 5000 steps a day. no hurry

If possible get him in a pool and have him move around in there. at that size the water will make him feel VERY good. take SO much pressure off his body.

the kb is definitely not going to help much at this point. simply moving as much as possible all day long and slowly adapting is the key
Also have him look into the ketogenic diet. he can eat a lot of fat protein and veggies just no carbs but at least he can eat a lot.
He might like it. the weight will fall off him
good luck!

Monika said...

Thanks, Mark!!! Have Pedometer (use it myself), and will try to get him to pocket one too. You know how it is, children, even grown ones, don't want to listen to Mommy. ;o) But at this point, I'm really worried. I'm surprised that he hasn't shown obvious health problems yet.

Mark Reifkind said...

most don't want to listen to anybody. Tracy didn't lose the weight until she decided to. I was years before she did but she had to make the call. and or love with the consequences
:)

Monika said...

Oh, I know it from experience. I only got off the couch when I turned 50. I told him that he should wait so long to change to a healthier lifestyle, because I'm regretting it now.
He did lose 5lbs in the last 10 days, just changing small things about his food. He also accepted the Pedometer. At first he said, it was too depressing to see the few steps he took, when 10,000 was the goal. But I told him that he didn't have to tell anybody the amount, it's just for himself to keep track, and try to do better the next day.
Maybe he can do it with small steps at a time.

Mark Reifkind said...

I always say if you can lose 5 lbs you can lose as much as you want. speed is nowhere near as important and trendline. sounds like he's on the path at least
10,000 is the long term goal. 100 more than yesterday is today's goal :)

Monika said...

Yes, thank you! I will remind him of it. :o)

155 x 3 x 5, 160 x 3 x 5, 20 kg swings 5 x 8/8, floor pushups 40, 35

 Thought about going back to 5x5 for a hot second then my left shoulder  reminded me why I stopped doing them before. It doesn't seem to...