Monday, February 26, 2007

Priorities.

After the "unique" experiences with my back and then my neck in the last two weeks, two things have become abundantly clear to me:I have to treat RIFGA flexibility and ROM work as the primary focus of my training and kb training as the secondary.ANd I have to treat pressing the same way I now treat squatting. As a flexibility movement with enhanced ROM as the main goal and NOT as a strength skill to be progressed.

Like it or not I have to think more like a yogi and less like a powerlifter.The swing,however, will save my mind as there is nothing closer to how a good squat or deadlift feels in a light weight exercise than the swing and its variations.

Right after I posted Eds squat and was thinking just how much I missed squatting hard and heavy I read about my friend and APC Calif Chairman Bob Packers training accident and how he had torn BOTH quads squatting. Instant karma baby. I knew I had to keep going down the kb swing road which lets me work out hard but doesnt hurt me.

My squat position and depth have never been better because I do so much long duration sumo squat poses in the bottom position and my knee and ankle are steadily releasing.I think I need the same approach for my also damaged right shoulder.This has been a key factor in reducing the levels of pain as well and believe me, that is key now ;) Performance is another world away.And pain free function is performance.

The snatch is fine( as long as I do it right :)) but the presses make me tighter immediately and overdevelop tension in the pecs,front delt and teres major and the shoulder won't sit right. left side is fine but I dont want to overdevelop my strong side even more.I do need to go back to worn on overhead static holds but I need to swing the weight overhead, not press it.

Flexibility and JM /rehab has got to be the key focus for certain parts in order to maintain the correct length tension relationships. And mine are pretty freakin fragile!

1:30 pm
feel almost fully back to normal, neck has released almost 100% thank God.

DARCS
26x20
36x20

44x20
53x20
63x20 x 4 rounds

240 reps/12,720 lbs!

This went very, very well. Found my form very quickly and the flow was great.Felt all hips and legs,not a bit of bicep or shoulder! Felt very strong with the 28 kg as well and that felt good. havent felt 'strong' in awhile.

Tactical Scapula pullups
8,7,6,5,6,7=39 reps

not a bad start.long pauses in the bottom to fully stretch out the shoulder.just about a half rep, no bicep kicking in at all.actually felt like I was following the same path as the stick press, in reverse. AS long as I dont get the biceps involved at the top this should open my shoulder up, not close it down.


Rack walks with Wt Vest
36 lbs + 25 lb weighted vest x200 ft per arm /200 foot per lap

6 laps 1200 total feet.

wow the vest made it much harder than I expected . excellent!Knee held up fine, just my wind and torso strength was tough.especially at the end of the w/o

BW 162
BF 8.7%
Water 60.5%

I keep thinking of Cheks order or training:

1) Flexibility
2) Stability
3) Strength
4) Endurance
5) Power

and to apply it to each bodypart;especially the injured ones.This is conjugate training at its best: continually working on the current necessary aspect of each quality all within the same cycle,instinctively waving the loads and recovery periods to slowly, but steadily ,move forwards.

7 comments:

Chris said...

Rif

Do you think you could post soemthign more about Rifga and the moves / positions /exercises that you use?

I know you put seomthign up a while ago, but soemthign on the seqeunce and hte reasining behind the moves would be useful.

Thanks

Chris

Joe Sarti said...

Nice post, Rif and great insight and it is always good to see you listen to your body ;-)

Stay Strong and Balanced my friend

Mark Reifkind said...

chris

I will do so but remember that the whole idea of it is that is totally specific to MY weaknesses, tight areas, lack of ROM and injuries.
the reasoning behind ALL of the poses is to release a very tight and or chronically spasmed muscle that is causing the joint to be malpositioned in a postural sense.

for instance my abs are ALWAYS getting tight while my opposing spinal erectors loose strength and get too loose very quickly as well. SO I am always on the floor doing upward facing dog pose to open up the abs and tighten up my back.
same with my hammies and calves which get super tight, mainly on my left leg which causes all sorts of pelvic and lower back issues.

when one is symmetrically tight it's one thing, when you are uneven and assymmtetrical it has much worse consequences. the spine does NOT like torque.

Mark Reifkind said...

thanks Joe, I am alwyas trying to figure it out, you know.

Brett Jones said...

Rif,
Great stuff - even as a newbie Pler I find that foam rolling, yoga and stretching to be essential to my health and being functional. Way too easy to end up tight - restricted and hurting.

Royce said...

Rif I'm sorry about the pain man that bites donkey wee wee.
On the other hand I really like this post, I tend to get wrapped up in what weight I'm using ( ego ya' know ).
But Check order of training is totally right on. If I spend 10 15 minutes doing the stretches from ETK and a few JM moves right before I practice my session goes SO much better. I've been skipping them because of school and homework, that's a no no and I have to stop.
Take it easy man, stay as pain fre as you can :-)

Franz Snideman said...

Rif,

glad to hear you are on the mend. Finding ways to open up and undo the years of tightening is essential. What I like about your approach is that you are always trying to stay one step ahead of your body and old injuries.

Keep it up brother, it obviously works for you and allows you to train and do something you love to do.

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...