2023 May Training Reflections
Almost mid May, usually penning monthly reflection thoughts comes at the tail-end of the month. But with a fair bit this time, so before I forget...
Like Apr-- continued with lower reps with more sets on pulls to hit usual daily numbers to reduce physical stress and focus more on joints recovery (elbows and left shoulder).
Started switching to weighted pullups 3 days ago and daily shoulder warmup is an essential daily affair by now. Micro-dosing it throughout the day when getting up from the chair to stretch.
The left shoulder inflammation is much reduced, mobility/ flexibility has improved. Still not optimal of course. However the frequent "shoulder dislocation" and dead-hang exercises have certainly proven effective and useful.
"Shoulder Dislocation" Move
Finally, on 13 May, managed to pull off a somewhat "passable" shoulder dislocation with that same initial broomstick from 2 months ago.
Recalling the agony and angst of not able to move the darn stick past my ears, it was a moment of exhilaration.
Had to start off with resistance bands. Even then, it was still almost impossible to rotate back and forth with ease during the first couple of weeks.. Arms were stretched out almost straight, as if crucified. The thoughts running through my mind each time was
"Will I ever be able to do this with a rigid stick, ever?"
The dark cloud of doubt grows loud in the brain with each attempt . Had to shut out the thoughts and simply continue with the physical motions each day.
Then I remembered something written down in my training notes...
Below is the second/ third take of the day. Still far from perfect, of course.
Weighted Pullups
With all the shoulder and elbow issues-- why am I still going "intense" with upper body training utilizing these joints? For serious injuries-- yes total rest/ break, away from any strenuous activities is non negotiable. e.g with a broken leg bone, you don't go running while in a cast. It's called suicide.
But things like strain injuries-- One need to keep strengthening and working on the areas to aid recovery.
Sensibly, of course.
Hence that leads up to my current regime. Instead of doing the first 40s Pullups in 4 sets under 8 min, followed by another few more sets, these numbers are now spread out in sets of 5 and giving the stopwatch a break. Same number of reps but a different approach.
Stopping the watch, allows for more rest to recharge the ATP in the cells more fully in between. Better form includes proper timing needed per rep which normally means the movement has to be slowed down and eliminate any effort from momentum. All of these are key not just for recovery strengthening but also re-wiring the brain and body from past bad habits in doing pullups.
Having monitored for ~ 2 months and saw the gradual (but not full) recovery in the shoulders, I mentally evaluated that it's possible to ram up things a little by now
One way is to go back to the "all-out" max out reps per set like before. However, that doesn't seem to be a very good idea. I reckon what helps improve the condition so far is staying away from explosive movements isn't a muscle fatigue issue but is very taxing to the joints.
All exercising stresses out the joints regardless of whether it is injured. The key here is to stress it enough to promote growth but not overly exacerbating the present injured/ strain condition
It's like dancing thing-- 3 steps forward 2 steps back! Or that's how I see it in layman terms.
By now even with slow controlled reps-- I know how much is too much. The body will tell you the next morning. Getting really good with differentiating normal muscular aches from aches/ pains arising from further damages to injured areas.
Previous weighted pullups were done with weight vest. Decided for consistency, will now start with dangling plates from a belt. Target: 8 sets of 5 reps with 10kg.
Day 1 started with 5 x 5kg and another 5 x 10kg x 3 sets
Other things, I'm dabbling with in May
Saw a friend doing this and didn't even know what it is called... I thought of it as just some fancy move at first until I figured that it is actually quite useful and fit in with my current mindset of "functional-fitness".
That is a combination of strength, strength endurance, mobility, flexibility and balancing. Things all needed with aging and performing daily task with a certain level of finesse to stay healthy. Lacking in any aspect would compromise the ability of the others in one form or another.
It is, in my opinion, a further progression in the lower limbs works from all those one-legged exercises I've been doing since early Apr. Which was in turn was built up from daily Airsquats since last Oct.
Ultimate aim is to move the hanging leg until it crosses the supporting leg and come out in front and its called a Dragon Squat. I'm just adding the Pistol here in this combo. Probably, the logical course of action would be to go back to training these 2 moves separately before combining them again in a few months time.
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| Screen capture of what the finishing part of a Dragon Squat should look like. |
Cardio? Yes, still continuing with those since re-starting more run last month. Did my usual Quarterly "NO-Training" 2.4km on 11 May. 52 seconds faster than the last round. Looks like the extra mileage recently is working. Or maybe its a combination of more runs, CoQ10 supplement and those new running shoes? :)
