hope all is well
aw, thanks for stopping by, guys 
doing alright. will be happy when the silly season is over…
i’m not allowed to use my golf ball, cricket ball, or hard plastic softball sized ball for 2 weeks. might possibly be the case that i’m overdoing the soft tissue work and things aren’t getting the opportunity to recover. less soft tissue work and more stretching. gentle stretching. i’m not so good at stretching. fucking tedious.
bodybalance is going SO GREAT. striking improvement with each time i take the class. couldn’t believe how immobile i was on the first class. still got a lot of work to do but things are feeling an awful lot better already.
chin-ups are coming along. got my 8x2 then 2 singles last time. HELLS YEAH!! should be very close to getting a triple
PT guy probably needs to bitch slap me because i’m all like ‘no but…’ and ‘that can’t be right’ and so on… then takes a while for me to process things and think that yeah he’s probably got a point. i’m just used to being all self reliant and stuff :-/ hopefully won’t drive him too crazy. he got me doing hip thrusts today leaning back on a bench (apparently greater ROM with that than doing them from the floor) with a 20kg bag. i felt like a bit of a moron… coulda humped probably three times that lolz. oh well.
experimenting with hammerthrow style swinging a kettlebell (round and round in circles)…
tyre flipping (only about 40kg apparently)
one legged stuffs (not to self: one legged stuffs make you sore!!)
eliptical. hill sprint type things. 1 minute work 1 minute recovery. i kinda hate this mostly but suppose it is kinda sorta alright…
meh.
enrolled in a course next year to learn how to be a PT. not sure i’m cut out for it. the marketing side of it etc. pays a lot less than govt jobs i’m sure… will keep applying for govt jobs too, i guess. i’m so tired of being broke and do need to get a real job eventually. can’t be the eternal student… but on the other hand… i think i really want this. maybe it will teach me to lighten up and appear more friendly and approachable and stuff. might be good for me. dunno.
hmm.
Well, good luck with that course. The marketing side, yeah. I’m not cut out for business - I failed as a freelance journalist simply because I lacked the drive to ask for work. And whilst I like the idea of training people, all the marketing, as you say, is tiresome. But a lot of people suck it up and do it.
Good work on the chins!
Yo sexy lexy,
Good to see your enjoying bodybalance, cause Im not. I think its my particular instructor. She moves too fast and doesnt explain the moves properley, and the class only runs for like 35 minutes. I suppose it doesnt help I only do it once a week.
And yes, sometimes its best to shut-up and do as your PT says. It kind of gets you out of your comfort zone and makes you try things you usually wouldnt do. You might suprise yourself.
Video of hip thrusts please.
And I think you would be good as a PT. I would hire you.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
And yes, sometimes its best to shut-up and do as your PT says. It kind of gets you out of your comfort zone and makes you try things you usually wouldnt do. You might suprise yourself.
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THIS!! Smart man.
Glad things are going well, Lex. I mean, that you’re trying new things and its sounds like you’re having a good time. What more can you ask?
And oh yes, hip thrust instructional video with Bret Contreras is just Machy’s style…Just watched it on mute but added my own commentary of “oh yeah, squeeze it. That’s right. Mhm…” My assistant looked at me and just shook her head. HAHA!
I’d totally hire you as my PT!! If only so you would bitch slap me
who really wants to listen to their PT?
it always seems like a conflict of interest.
I went so some who were better at communicating then others-
’ you should stop doing x- but I know your not,
so use plenty of ice, keep the ROM xxxx keep your load YYY
vs
blah blah blah is the shit- best thing ever for my xxx but it hurts
’ stop doing it’
what do I do then for legs
‘walk’
yes its goes in circles.
but if you listen it gets better
great Vid makes me re-evaulate my own air humps.
air humping off the benh - puts allot pressure on my neck-
hmmm indeed
Happy holidays, Lexy!! Hope all is well lovey!
Bumping your log again. What’s up? How are you doing?
hi!
still not smoking.
going to do the PT course for sure (enrolled and everything).
i got a bike! i LOVE my bike! i feel free free as a bird! have been enjoying my new and improved stomping ground. forgot how restricted i am with my ankles and not wanting to be curious and explore my environment. will be exploring lots now.
still being obstructive with PT guy. then taking time to think…
i’m scared they will make me weak. people do bosu squats with strength bags and stuff but i don’t see much moving of weights.
um… we are a bit of an injured bunch over here though, eh. guess moving weights does kinda bang you up. only… it is worth it. bit of a trade-off, i guess.
i’ll try and take some vids soon but i think that people in this gym seem fairly self conscious and a computer / vid taking might freak them out a little. i’ll ask or something. people who work there seem reasonable.
apparently i need to relax.
but maybe stiff things are strong?? like stiff hip flexors are strong hip flexors? i don’t know.
harry seems to think i’ll do 5x3, 5x2 chin-ups next time. i’m not entirely sure about that (haven’t done a triple before) but i guess i’ve been making solid progress for a while.
haven’t been doing any oly stuff. just lots of balance / yoga stuff and working on my feet / hips. doing one legged stuff, too. assisted pistols and step ups and trying to get the movement for one legged deadlifts.
tempted to start a new log for the new year.
anyway… will catch up with everyone soon and be around more. just feel like i’m mostly stuffing around right now without much of a plan.
i kinda want a heart rate monitor… meh.
oh. had a fight about breathing today.
i’m used to taking a deep breath in then descending for a squat and maybe doing a little squarp of an outbreath on the way up depending. he wanted me to breathe in on the descent (slow) and breathe out on the ascent. or something like that. when the weights are light he said. not for max. something about the TVA. wtf??
[quote]alexus wrote:
i got a bike! i LOVE my bike! i feel free free as a bird!
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Woo hoo! I got a bike aswell, and it also makes me feel like a real bird.
What kind of bike is it?
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[quote]alexus wrote:
oh. had a fight about breathing today.
i’m used to taking a deep breath in then descending for a squat and maybe doing a little squarp of an outbreath on the way up depending. he wanted me to breathe in on the descent (slow) and breathe out on the ascent. or something like that. when the weights are light he said. not for max. something about the TVA. wtf??[/quote]
I’ve learned this as well. TVA=transverse abdominis. Helps to kind of stabilize the spine. It’s awkward to change if you’re used to breathing the other way, but once you get in the swing of it, it’ll come naturally-in my opinion.
Harry knows his shit! You’ve got the 3 pull-ups. Go get it!
And YAY bike
thanks lula. i discovered i can do the breathing thing his way - but i need to lighten the load considerably. part of it is that he wants me doing 12 reps, too, and i’m all fast twitchy and stuff. like… can’t breathe his way for a set of 12 front squatting 20kg 
in better news… he seems pretty focused on glutes ha:
and i guess i get to feel like a beast for that given weight moved
I’m going to try this type of breathing next squat day. Interesting.
Awesome news about the no smoking, the bike and the pullups! You have to trust Harry’s progession. When you can do 10 sets of 2. It means you ARE ready for sets of 3. There is absolutely no question about this. Rest as much as you need. And get them! Gosh I remember when you got your first pullup… You’re doing amazingly!!!
I’ve heard the safest way to breathe underneath a load is by using the valsalva maneuver, a large deep breath and holding that throughout the entire rep. Seems odd to do otherwise.
nadia - i remember when i got my first pull-up (chin-up) too! i feel like progress stalled with them, rather. harry really has got me progressing along on them, though. quite amazingly, i reckon. i figure i’m good for a triple - but 5 triples?? that seems a little hasty to me. could it be a mistake?? i feel a bit scared to ask and don’t mean to doubt him…
arachne, dani - i’m used to the valsalva maneuver, too. when PT dude tells me stuff like this (that counters everything i thought i knew) i do get a bit grumpy… but it does get me researching his pov afterwards and often i get to learn something new.
so…
i’ve learned that there is controversy. chek (wrote a series of 3 articles for t nation on using your cores natural belt rather than artificial belts) is a big proponent of using the tva to stabilize the core.
something about getting yourself on all fours then taking a deep breath into your belly (not a shallow breath into your rib cage) and feeling your bellybutton move away from your spine… and then using your tva to clamp your bellybutton closer to the spine. thus holding your core stable.
this seems different from the idea that you take a belly full of air and then clamp yourself out away from the spine closer to the belt.
but apparently you can activate the tva without moving your bellybutton towards or away from your spine… and what seems most important is that you use your tva to help brace yourself. and… i’m not really.
i feel myself hanging off my spine rather than using my abs for planks and stuffs.
the idea seems to be that you can activate your tva properly while continuing to breathe for submaximal stuff. like you are supposed to breathe through crunches and stuff. breathe normally through air squats and stuff. i think his idea was for me to do lots of reps with light weight just breathing normally but really controlling the descent / ascent and getting good tva activation. only… i couldn’t do it. too hard.
so… damn him i think he wants me to get competitive about beating him on planks. i said i could (used to be able to) do 3x60seconds with 25kg… he seems determined to keep the weights off me… so retarded variants (kidding, kidding, kinda) here i come. sigh.
it is a pretty crap bike really, i think. but it LOOKS pretty. in a classic / bold kinda way, that i like very much. stupid chain keeps popping off when i change gears while going uphill. that is annoying… it is just a light trail / road kinda bike. nothing special. but beats the feet for me. and i’m not going to be racing cars or doing jumps or anything… yet. could kinda be tempted to get into racing the cars possibly, possibly.
i did that thing i do the last day of the year before the gym shuts.
max deadlift:
80kg.
i’ve done it once before. but this time i was in my vibrams standing on half a foam roller. knees wobbly as fuck. apparently that means i need a narrower stance. should probably have tried for a little more but i think i might have been freaking people out a bit… i’ll snatch it one day. yeah.