Fractured Clavicle?

So, I finally got around to seeing the doctor about my shoulder. After I hurt myself about 2 months ago a lump appeared a few days later and is still present. The pain persisted until I went to the doctor about 3 days ago.

The doctor was a little unsure about what the problem might be but seemed to think that I fractured my clavicle and didn’t get it sorted out.

I don’t think there is a lot they can do for a fractured clavicle but rest it, but I carried on training like an idiot.

To be honest I’m not completely convinced that I fractured it as people I have spoken to who have fractured theirs have said they were unable to move their shoulder afterwards. But, on the other hand I fractured my wrist when I was a kid and didn’t realise for two days.

Anyhow, the doctor has put me on something called Diclofenac, and anti inflammatory drug that so far is working wonders with my shoulder.

Tuck Planche (Kind of)

So, this is my (attempted) Tuck Planche. This move is actually extremely difficult, or so I am finding.

I can’t even imagine the amount of strength that is going to be required to hold myself in the Advanced Tuck Planche as I am majorly struggling with the basic Tuck Planche.

When doing the handstand the body’s skeletal structure takes most of the weight and the muscles simply hold the body in place. With the Planche most of the body is supported by the muscles with minimal support from the skeletal structure.

I have been practising this for a month now, and only recently have I managed to hold the Tuck Planche, as briefly as it may be.

For me the most important thing is the fact that I am doing it correctly (as far as I can tell, if anyone has any suggestion please speak up) with my back being parallel to the floor and my legs unsupported on my knees or inner thigh. The Tuck Planche isn’t to be confused with the Crane/Crow stance in Yoga were the legs rest on the arms.

Of course, it’s about leverage, and the more vertical to the floor the spine is the easier this becomes. Saying this, the more vertical the spine becomes, the less it’s a Tuck Planche, and more a Handstand.

I am planning to keep improving this, gaining in strength in order to hold the position for longer.

My arms need to be straighter and eventually I will start to move my legs further out but this is something I am going to progress to and it will probably take some time to achieve.

But, for now I am pleased with this, even though it’s only a 3 second hold :)

And this is what is should look like, in about 10 years! :)



Train on brothers!

My Tiger Style is immensely strong...

So, I was trawling the net ages ago and stumbled across a interesting page about hand-stands. I remember reading something about making a claw shape on the floor for added strengh in the fore arms. I really didn't pay much attention to this at the time but last night i remembered this advice and decided to give it a go.

My God! It really does work. So, if you're having a hard time hold a handstand try the following.


Rather than placing your hand on the floor like this, make a claw shape and attemp to claw the floor. This will provide you will added fore arm strengh.


This technique has improved my handstand by a long way.

Hope this helps someone else.

Viva La Revelucion!

Time Spent Training

I was considering how much time people spend in the gym/training. I seem to be having trouble fitting in everything I 'need' to do.


Stretching (a decent stretch routine can take 30/40 minutes I have found.)
I have also been told that to increase flexibility I should stretch 5/6 times a week. That is basically every time I train bar 1.

I generally work to the principle of about 15 minutes per skill, so I will practice a Pike Press over and over again for 15 mins.
I find this approach is better than doing sets or reps, as sometimes I can do the Pike Press every time, and other days I’m totally rubbish and can’t do a single one (well, not quite but you get my point). So 15 mins of attempting the Pike Press means the time for that exercise is kept in-check.
I try and do 3 skills per workout on off weightlifting days.

Foam Roller (ideally every session for trouble areas), I did a full body Foam Roller last night and that took about 40 mins, so I would say around 10 to 15 minutes per problem muscle.

Weight Lifting – this can take up to about 1 hour per body part.

CV - should be around 30 minutes per day, at a steady rate.

I was reading an article about gymnasts and how they train about 7 hours per day and I can see why they would need to. I Ideally would train around 180 minutes per day to be able to be able to achieve what I want. And that's for a fat, pen pushing desk monkey like me.

How does everyone else manage to cram all this into their sessions?

Foam Roller and Chinese Massage Therapy

Last night I was talking about flexibility (and improving it) with one of the PTs in my gym they mentioned the foam roller. In all honesty I never really knew what they were for and always disregarded them as faddish, in line with the ab-cruncher, exercise blades, recumbent bikes (unless your over 150 years old) and my personal favourite the Ab Lounger 3000. (see pic)

So, I tried the foam roller for myself and was horrified (in a good way) at the results. I have never had a massage but I can imagine that it feels somewhat similar to using a Foam Roller, painful but oddly pleasant feeling.

FAIL!

Anyway, the idea of the Foam Roller is basically a self massaging tool that penetrates very deeply into the muscle tissue and stimulates muscle relaxation.

This is something known as Self-myofasicial release. The very basic idea is that when using the foam roller, we can stimulate the Golgi Tendon Organ that is found at the join between tendon and muscle. Once the GTO is stimulated it relaxes the muscle to gain a greater range of motion.

If you’re anything like me and you only have a certain amount of free space in your brain to retain all of life’s information, then I will sum it up.

1) The foam roller does not increase flexibility (to any great extent) per se.
2) The foam roller increases the productivity of a more traditional stretching routine.
3) The foam rollers is similar to having a deep muscle massage (except cheaper) and will slowly help to lessen muscular scare tissue and adhesion.
4) The foam roller will not wank you off for an added ‘tip’.

So, I am going to start incorporating the Foam Roller into my daily routine and hopefully be able to increase my flexibility to the point were I can do a sitting straddle handstand.

I Heart DOMs

So, I started back doing 6 sets of every exercise last night and I am very sore today. My muscles really hurt (in a good way) and I felt I had a proper work out. I suppose I’m essentially doubling the amount of work I’m doing but I am shortening my rest time so the actually time it takes in the gym is about the same.

I never really feel that a workout of 3 sets is any good, as I always seem to get tired out at the end of a set (unable to do anymore) but with a brief rest (10/30seconds) I’m ready to go again. I know a lot of people thing 3 sets is plenty, and 6 is too many but this just seems to suit me well.

When doing 6 sets my muscles actually feel fatigued at the end of the 6 sets, unlike when doing 3 sets.

Posted by Trextacy on t-nation

Honestly, you aren't being paranoid. There is nothing "natural" about wanting to be unnaturally large, hypertrophy your muscles, gaining 50+ lbs of extra tissue, etc. If you analogize your body to a house, bodybuilding is like adding another story- your energy costs, maintenance costs, etc. will go up. The toll one's body takes constantly creating new tissue, gaining fat, losing fat, the supplements, excess calories, heavly loads, etc. can only cause parts to wear out sooner. Unfortunately, it only takes one critical organ wearing out to kill you. OTOH, oxidative stress is pretty high in those who engage in large amounts of steady state cardio. So, it's not like those folks have it much better necessarily. Bottom line- the pursuit of physical perfection (however you define it) is a young man's dream. Like many things, a young man's dreams seem foolish to an older wiser man. Sure, there are some meatheads out there who wish they would've gone bonkers with the weights when they were younger, but for the most part, most mature, wise, older men would tell you to lift, run, eat healthily, manage stress, but don't put "adding as much muscle to your frame as possible" as a worthy or important goal... Certainly not worth all of the expense, effort, time, etc. that is required. It will just go away, and you will be left empty. As many of us know, it can be an all encompassing, 24/7/365 thing. I am 29 and have a high stress job. I am not yet married, but will be soon. Honestly, if I add some more muscle and transition around age 32-33 to more of a maintenance regime I will be happy. Sure, I would've done things differently in the past, but to he honest the journey and learning process has been fun and valuable, even if my own stupidity/ignorance cost me "gains" in the past. I will always lift and work out, but I will compete with myself, want to look good and be healthy, even if that doesn't mean adding a shit load of new muscle. If I were approaching 40 (like you), I would scrap any dreams about adding more than 15 or so pounds of new muscle. What's the point? You will probably fail (unless you gain a bunch of fat in the process...yippee). But, assume you achieve that goal- you would then just have to maintain it at your age. In all likelihood, you won't, and will just feel bummed about losing it. The excess calories and supplementation it would take you to do that at your age would definitely come at a cost. So, bottom line- "bodybuilding" (the hardcore version that is promoted here) is a zero sum game after a point that does take its toll on a person's body. I say build it while you are young and go for it, but at a reasonable age it's probably time to put one's energy into general health and make dietary decisions based on something other than building new tissue.

Depressed/Happy

So, I haven’t been updating my blog lately due to be a little bit of depression. I’m having major work problems and have felt really down and miserable over the last week or so.

When I feel like this, I miss a few gym sessions but then I get this horrible feeling of ‘well, I’ve missed the gym for 3 days, I’m obviously not that interested in training anymore so what’s the fucking point?’ I ask myself.

5 day off, that’s all I took and I felt awful for it, but I felt great when I went back. I can safely say that I have a mild exercise addiction…but so fucking what!

I am consistently amazed at the influence exercise can have on my mind.

Anyway, I went back to the gym and had a great workout, although I really had to force myself there. Some people need to train when they feel down, let out their aggression. I’m not like this, I’m a happy trainer. If I feel depressed I don’t want to train, I have no motivation and feel tired but the irony is that this is probably when I need to train the most.
Almost instantly after the workout had finished I had this amazing euphoric feeling - I felt great and the problems I have been having with work actually don’t seem as serious as I first thought.

I’m going to end this post with a picture of the most beautiful woman that has ever existed on the earth, the galaxy and the universe, in this dimension and any other dimensions that are, have been or will be.

Kick to Hand-stand Arm Position.

I was totally inconsistent when kicking up into the handstand and I was getting frustrated by this, sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.

The handstand is a great move for fun and for fitness and for the more intellectual trainer, http://evotraining.blogspot.com/2008/08/get-inverted.html read this.

It’s and extremely basic move but I was getting frustrated with my inconsistence with the ability to kick into, and hold the handstand every time.

Yesterday, I realised that my hand and arm alignment has everything to do with being able to consistently kick-up into a handstand.

The original tutorial I followed for the handstand instructed me to kick with straight arms, but recently I have realised that it’s much easier to start from the bent arm position, and quickly straighten the arms once the legs get to the correct balancing point.

This bent arm method gives me more control, and enables me to get the correct balance before straightening the arms and making it look good.

If I kick up with straight arms from the word go, I find that I have to get the kick power perfect in order to control the hand-stand at the top of the move. If the power isn’t perfect, I will topple over (maybe because I'm a little heavy/chubby/cuddly whatever you wana call it).

Hand-Stand Clap, With a sprog on your back!

Dynos and the Monkey Swing

This first move is called the Dyno, great for working dynamic back strengh.
The second move is something I invented, called the Monkey Swing...just for fun...

Gymnastic Style Training Tips

Gymnastic moves require strength, power, flexibility and complete control over the body. For these reasons, strength training is a MUST for gymnastic style moves.

You must approach strength training for gymnastic style moves in a methodical, sensible fashion.

Emphasize the correct Muscle.
When you create a strength training plan exclusively for Beast Skills, I think you should emphasize the shoulders, back, chest, arms, abdominals, and thighs. These are the “order of importance” for your workout. The shoulders are used more than any of the other muscles, and therefore are trained first in a workout when your body is fresh.

Select Exercises for the Beast Skills muscle
There are many, many exercises that you can perform for each of the body parts. Think about what body parts are sore after a practice or performance and consider exercises that will train that area. Generally, you should try to perform 2 exercises for each body part when designing a sport specific strength training plan for Gymnastic style moves.

Start Slowly Then Move Faster
For gymnastics training you should start the exercise slowly and methodically. As your muscles start to tire out, you then try to speed up the repetitions. The weight probably won’t move faster at this point, but the increased effort to speed up will tax the muscle fibers more. Continue until you cannot perform another repetition with perfect form. Use a spotter if training with free weights.

Train the Individual “Heads” Of the Shoulders
The shoulders have three separate heads or areas. They are the anterior deltoid, the medial deltoid, and the posterior deltoid. It is a good idea to train these heads individually. Front raises, lateral raises, and the reverse pec-deck machine are good choices.

Swiss Balls are good for ab work.
A swiss ball is amazingly effective for working your abdominal muscles. It allows you to stretch your abdominals before flexing them. Most abdominal exercises don’t allow for a full stretch of the abdominals, and are therefore less effective for a gymnast, who wants very strong abdominals.

Handstand Push-up Advice

Comrades, my quest to do a fully handstand push-up is finally at an end. I am extremely comfortable doing 1 handstand push-up, but the second handstand push-up still feels a little weak. (I can live with that, now I can do a single one I am so very happy!)

One thing I found that really aided me was being able to do enough hand-stand push-ups against the wall. I would say, about 10 in a row is about right for a skill like this. I found that a lot more strength is required for the handstand push-up (unassisted) than the handstand push-up (wall assisted). This may seem obvious but I was really surprised at the difference in strength that’s required. When doing the HSPU unassisted you need to be able to recruit a lot more stabilising muscles in order to hold the position, without this basic core strength this move is impossible, no matter how big or strong you think your shoulder muscles are.

So, if you are struggling to hold the handstand push-up as you lower yourself to the group, try incorporating some Core Work into your workouts.

Another important aspect is hand/body position. If you don’t have the correct hand positioning then this move it a complete bitch, if not impossible. What I found was that if my hands are too close together, I’m unable to generate the required strength on the positive section of the move. But, if my hands are wider than shoulder width apart I’m able to generate the strength to get me back up. I suppose this really depends of everyone’s body type but it's something to keep in mind.

Another extremely important piece of advice is that the legs should be straight and controlled. If they aren’t, you really are making things difficult for yourself. The perfect way to do this is to squeeze the ankles together and point the toes.

Until you have your legs under control, I really wouldn’t bother with attempting the Handstand Push-up and simply concentrate on achieving a nice Handstand first.

Hope this helps someone.

Train on for the revolution!