Stability, flexibility, mobility

So for the past year or 2 I’ve really taken on the habit of stretching every night.  Besides the physical benefits of feeling good, it also helps me relax at night and helps keep me in a routine, and gives me some time to wind down and enjoy to myself.  As of the past 2 months, I’ve really been focusing hard on my ankle mobility in a different way than normal.  For the longest time I’ve done the band mobilizations to try and free up my left ankle joint, and while it has definitely helped a little bit, I’ve hit a point where just doing those things are keeping me at the level im at.  I’ve started including calf work every day now, usually 2 sets on off days and 3-4 sets on lifting days because I want bigger calves, and because they actually help my mobility a lot as well.  Using load as a mobility tool in this situation is really really beneficial to me, as I wasn’t able to squat with a bar on my back until 2 weeks ago.  While it is common knowledge that in order to keep our mobility from joint mobilizations we have to use it under load long enough for our body to recognize and adapt to the stimulus, most people’s minds automatically go to the big movements, in this case, squats, to achieve that goal.  What I’ve found beneficial for me is also adding in isolation work specifically for that joint (ankles) creating another stimulus in regards to resistance, which specifically targets that area and not just as a stabilizer or for dorsiflexion.  I am fortunate enough to have a seated calf raise at home, where I’ll usually do 1-2 sets of or I’ll do 1-2 sets of a standing calf raise for 1-2 sets, both for 8-10 reps.  These aren’t bouncy up and down reps, but 5 seconds in the stretched position, 3 seconds lifting, 3 seconds at the top, and 3 seconds at the negative for each rep.  While bigger calves and better dorsiflexion are something that most of us would want, it also helps target strength and stability in the foot, ankle region, and even your knee (thank you gastrocnemius). Which leads me to my next point about stability.

Repeat after me; you will get more mobile/be able to move better automatically just by making a joint/area more stable.  If you don’t believe me, try a simple ER/IR test without having your core braced, compared to the same test with your core braced.  I see a huge difference (especially with internal rotation, which is a weakness of mine).  This was something I didn’t realize was so important until I started following and watching Trevor Jaffe (@jaffestrength on instagram, he puts out really informative content).  Because my body is fucked up and super twisted(getting better, but slowly), without proper bracing or stability work, my squats twist during the descent.  However, after including some stability drills for my core to get stronger, suddenly I am activating the proper muscles in the proper way; their timing is better, resulting in a much better squat pattern, with much less twisting (still a little, but making my lifts 85-90% better just from including 2 exercises in as a warmup is amazing to me).  I’m going to list some of my favorite stability exercises for your core below, as well as a quick description of each in order of affectiveness.  I hope it helps you all as much as it has helped me.  Thank you for reading!

Copenhagen Adductor: For this exercise you need a bench.  You’re going to have one leg on top of the bench and the other leg underneath the bench, and you’re going to use your adductor to pull yourself into a side plank position with one foot on top of the bench.  You can either hold this for time, or move the bottom leg up and down, mimicking the squat pattern.  You’re going to want to do this for both sides.  Generally I do 2-3 sets each side as a warmup movement for the squat/deadlift

Pallof press -> squat: for this exercise you’re going to need a band and something to wrap the band around that is at about chest level.  You’re going to grab the band in both hands and push it out in front of you, taking steps away from where the band is wrapped to increase resistance.  You should be standing with your side to the band.  You are going to squat down and resist the band pulling you towards that direction.  I generally do about 5 reps each side for 2-3 sets.

Bird dog row: For this exercise you’re going to need a bench and a dumbbell/kettlebell.  You’re going to get into a bird dog position on the bench (I.E. left leg and right arm on the bench) with the weight in the other hand.  Holding that position, you are going to do a basic dumbbell row.  I will generally use 8-10 reps here for a couple sets each side.  Don’t use a heavy weight.

Psoas Marches: For this exercise you’re going to need a weight that you can hold in your hand.  You’re going to stand up as straight as you can, holding the weight on one side of the body, and march in place for a given time.  Once that time is up, switch hands and do the same thing for the other side.  For this one I like to do 2 or 3 sets with any time between 1:30 and 3 minutes.  A moderate weight should be used here (30 lbs should be a good place to start)

9/14 training + Friday 9/12

Friday: paused bench: 135x10 185x8 225x6 255x3 275x3 295x3 265x6

Tempo squat: warmup to 5x225x5

Front squat: 3x135x8

Chest supported bb row: 3x135x10

Bird dog row: 3x15x10 each side

Notes: first day with the rack.  Pretty decent workout.  Gonna include a lot more stability work to help my twisting/high hip

Monday: single leg rdl + copenhagen adductor + plate squat: 3x50x10

Db incline bench slow: warmup to 4x75x10

Adducted SLRDL: 2x8 each

Db chest supported row: 3x55x12

Palloff press to squat: 2x5 each side

Notes:  Ended up getting told that someone I taught on Thursday was in close contact with someone who has COVID.  Don't think anything is wrong with me, but didnt want to go over grandpas.  Went downstairs and made the most out of what I could.

Wednesday: 50 pullups, 100 diamond pushups, 100 reps of bis/tris, 100 upright row, 50x50 + 25x50 swings, calves, adductors, split squats, slRDL

Notes: still not allowed over grandpas even tho its been basically a week.  Hopefully by Friday I can go, otherwise I may as well quarantine myself.

Friday: paused bench: 135x10 185x8 225x5 245x5 265x8 245x8 225x9

Tempo squat: warmup to 5x225x5 (warmup includes ab work.. copenhagen adductor + pallof squat)

Rdl: warm up to 3x135x8

Barbell row: 3x135x8

Notes: this was a solid session.  A lot less twisting/leaning in the squat, although there was definitely some as I fatigued. Solid session.

Life update

Hey everybody, this is just an update post to let you know whats going on with me during the pandemic.  A lot has changed,  most of it is very positive, but some has been negative too.  Fortunately, as of this post, everybody in my family is happy, healthy, and safe.  My girlfriend’s family is mostly happy healthy and safe as well, however her grandma from Florida recently contracted the virus and is currently asymptomatic in her nursing home.  I have never met her grandma but from what I’ve seen and heard she is a super tough and stubborn lady that wont give up without a fight.  As for me, I was fortunate enough to find a part time teaching job, and am teaching in person at an elementary school.  There are obviously some risks, and already only a week in one of my students has been marked as a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID19.  I don’t think there is anything to worry about at the moment, as the school is staying super vigilant and we are all working together to do the right thing for each other and our students, but I do believe that these things will be a more common occurrence moving forward.

  A bunch of other things have happened for me earlier this year tho aside from that, which have been really great.  I had the entire summer off with my girlfriend.  We spent so many weekends up at the lake, it was very nice.  Usually we can only swing a few weekends up there, but we’ve spent maybe triple the time up there then normal this year, which is awesome.  For those of you that don’t know, I also am a professional yo-yoer, and have been yoyoing since before I was a teenager.  This year because of the pandemic I took up a new yoyo-related hobby, which was CAD designing yo-yos.  I learned (with a lot of help from friends) the ins and outs of yoyo design and how to draw yo-yos of different shapes, sizes, materials, etc.  As of this post, I have actually had two yo-yo designs of mine get machined into real life yo-yos, with a third one currently being machined.  It is super exciting and is something that I am super passionate about.  Ive developed friends and relationships with a lot more yo-yo ers in the community because of this as well, which is another awesome outcome from this as well.

  On the lifting front, I have been doing what I can to improve not just my general overall health, but the issues my body has had over the past year.  I’ve continued to stretch my high hip and have been seeing some improvements in the last month or so specifically.  I believe the main culprit to this is my right psoas being overly tight and weak.  I have been stretching it daily multiple times a day and doing a lot more core and stability exercises as well (Planning on doing a write up on this in the future). I’ve also been really working hard on my ankle mobility restriction in my left ankle.  This has been improving slowly, but has been at a decent threshold for me during my squats and other lower body movements from warming up with them everyday as well as doing some type of calf raise every day after creating that extra mobility.

  We are also fortunate enough to have gotten some new equipment over the past week.  We set up a power rack in my grandpa’s basement which we all use in order to hit our big lifts(I used it once, not going back until friday after I am sure that I am not a carrier for COVID) and we got some new bars and a weight holder for squats/lower body for the home gym downstairs.  A new bench and some padding for deadlifts will also be arriving soon, which is super cool and is something im really looking forward to using.  The split I am planning on using will be a full body split 3x a week, featuring winning warmups and a very basic/barebones setup, that looks something like this:

Monday: Heavy squat, secondary bench, secondary deadlift, rows, core exercise.

Wednesday: Home gym rep/pump day that is basically 100 reps of body weight exercises + smaller muscles and some type of weighted carry.

Friday: Heavy Bench, Heavy deadlift, secondary squat, rows, core exercise.

The plan is to use the 3/5/1 setup I used in the past for my heavy lifts as I really enjoyed doing that and felt like I made good strength gains with that type of setup.  For secondary work, im planning on picking an exercise for 4-6 weeks and getting stronger in a given rep range with that exercise.  These set/rep ranges will be different depending on the movement itself(I.E. doing sets of 3 for pause squats vs sets of 6 on a spoto press). Hopefully it will work out and be fun and I will fix all my imbalances over time with proper pre/rehab work and learning to use my core better.